Greetings, old friends.  As you may discern, I've been out of the blogging circuit for a while. Life events, divorce, etc. But I am happy to report I've published a little satire on Amazon, I, TRUMP.  Please check it out if you fancy it. All kicks and giggles. I'm also working on Gray Area 2, the follow-up to my Amazon Best Seller in 2012, Gray Area. Look for it by the end of Summer. I hope all have you have been surviving the pandemic as best as possible. Strange year we've had. 

AS PROMISED

So, I'm finally posting the first chapter to my Mars book below. I'll keep chapters coming, hopefully one or two a month. It is still very much a work in progress, but I'm excited about it. Again, as mentioned earlier, THE GIANT deals with a rescue mission to save a group of families crash-landed on the largest volcano in our solar system, located on Mars. The mountain is called Olympus Mons. I'm adapting the book from my existing screenplay, hoping that with these preliminary chapters and then exposure on Amazon, that it will catch.

Please feel free to weigh in as we go along.

Also, please remember that my film A Fatal Obsession airs on December 20 as a Lifetime premiere. The film stars Eric Roberts, Tracy Nelson and myself. I am currently working on the novelization to the film as well.

Thank you.

Been busy - and free chapters to new Mars book "The Giant - Olympus Mons" and "Kill Match" and "Gray Area 2 - DEAD BEFORE DAWN"

Hi, folks. Yes, I've been off the radar for many months. This will not happen again. I am renewing all efforts to finish several existing projects (Gray Area 2 and 3) as well as introducing two new science-fiction novels. The Giant - Olympus Mons is an adaptation to a screenplay which is already complete and in the beginning stages of being marketed accordingly to the major players in Hollywood.  You can read periodic chapters as I write them in a special section of this website on a weekly or bi-weekly basis until it is completed in 2016. The Giant revolves around a rescue mission on the highest volcano/mountain in our solar system, on Mars, called Olympus Mons. For those sci-fi geeks out there, you will see similarities to Andy Weir's "The Martian" - extensive research mixed with the story of several families trapped on a mountain 110,000 feet high. Olympus Mons, which you can google, is a monster of a hill over 3 times the height of Mt. Everest. Everest would nestle comfortably in the shadows of the Mons' foothills. I spent years researching Martian topography, vulcanism and astronautics. The story is simple:  Ben Teller runs Mars America, one of two outposts on Mars - the other being a facility under the auspices of the Army Corps of Engineers. The first few families of colonists arrive and in an attempted landing run into problems and crash in the caldera of Olympus Mons. A rescue mission must be initiated by Mars America, near the base of Olympus Mons. It's a ticking-clock adventure where the colonists must be rescued in a certain time period lest they perish. Ben Teller and his party must get to them ASAP or all is lost.

Kill Match is a science-fiction story slightly more dystopian in nature. In a near or distant future, Army and Navy now fight one another in a seemingly endless war perpetrated by a supreme being known as the Gunman. It is a war wherein the survivors of an ancient catastrophe, the descendants of Army, who survived in underground bunkers, and the descendants of Navy, those whose antecedents survived in submarines, now battle one another for territory and indistinct political ideologies. Men and women no longer enjoy normal sexual relations - rather, they are bred for military purposes - and bred like animals underground, then rendered amnesiac after any encounter, to ensure combat-ready hate and effectiveness. Things get complicated when a soldier from Navy - Elena - and a soldier from Army -  Landon - who meet on the field of battle and fall in love (illegally. This is Logan's Run meets The Hunger Games.

And for those patient few - chapters to my 2011 #1 Gray Area novel in hard-boiled crime - will also be posted on this blog periodically over the next few months to tease one and all.

Please, gang, when you read the chapters, chime in and let me know you went in for a read so that I can track those of you who are perusing.

I was in Argentina for the summer shooting my film, Tangoman, and I may have to return in a few months to complete filming. We shot some scenes here in Los Angeles with Oscar Nominee Eric Roberts and I'll post that new trailer shortly.

Much more news in coming blogs.

Thanks

OUT AND ABOUT & BACK IN THE HOOD

I've not posted much of late; I've been rather busy with the post-production of my first Tom Sizemore film "Blue Line" which wrapped a few months ago. We hope to shoot the rest early next year. I have also been involved in writing my next Lifetime film along with a film called Tangoman ... which I've completed the initial stages of shooting here in Buenos Aires, Argentina ... where I currently am posting to all of you out there. Tangoman will feature the revered music of Astor Piazolla, who rose to fame and prominence for his work in the 60s, 70s and 80s. All this activity has of course caused unforeseen delays in my sequels to Gray Area, which I still hope to have completed by the end of the year. More details to come on upcoming events as they develop. Stay well and be careful out there ... sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you!

Stuff in the Air!

So, I believe March and April had to be two of the crappiest months I've ever known. Forget about the Malaysian Flight 370 pulling a Twilight Zone episode or the Korean ferry disaster. Those are pretty miserable events, but look at what is happening in the Ukraine and here in the U.S.  A very pretty girl in Connecticut was stabbed to death at her school by some crazy little bastard who said, and I quote, upon being captured:  "Wait, I'm not done killing people." And then we have that idiot rancher in Nevada, spouting filth about slavery and folks of color.  Then ... and I don't think I'm the only one voicing my perennial pithy ire ... there's the tax thing.  I dunno ... sometimes life is just plain overwhelming.  Okay, I'm done on my rant, thank you very much.

Other news:  I launched The Lynx Factor, my first book of three, in the series. This was done in February. Other books will be launched in May and July. The Lynx Factor is in the Ludlum genre of terrorism and espionage. Peter Lynx is the most unique hero you will ever encounter. An ex-Navy Seal/mortician who must deal with Al Qaeda on American turf.  I continue to labor away on my sequels to Gray Area and I would have been done with them months ago had not the need to pay rent reared its ugly head with work. My film A Fatal Obsession, starring Eric Roberts, took up most of January and my other film, Changing Lives, starring my friend, Mark Dacascos (who is also directing) took up February and March. Five days have already been shot in Moscow, with remaining shooting to resume in May. I shall be in Russia for a week or so at that time.

So there's the latest update, ramblers.  Keep reading! And stay out of trouble. And to those writers in the fore, remember:  Write about something worth reading ... or do something worth writing about.  Cheers!

ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT

So, as mentioned in my prior blog, I wrote and co-produced this film, A Fatal Obsession, in Connecticut this past January. Film stars Eric Roberts and the very dear Tracy Nelson (she has been in two other movies of mine for the Lifetime Channel - The Night Caller and Her Perfect Spouse). On Saturday evening, February 22, Entertainment Tonight featured my young producer, Richard Switzer, wherein he discussed the movie and how he found the script that attracted such notable talent. He was quite generous with throwing my name about as well.

Please enjoy the link below to the show's segment on Switzer, myself and A Fatal Obsession.

Rolling 'Fast and Furious' for 2014!

Sorry, folks - I've been off the radar these past few months, but my excuse is terrific: I've been producing back to back movies since late December.

My first film, which started shooting January 1, was A Fatal Obsession, starring the fascinating personality of Eric Roberts and the veteran talent, Tracy Nelson.  We're shooting for a Lifetime Channel sale.  Shoot was great but it was shot entirely in Groton, Connecticut, which was enjoying the wrath of the polar vortex (if you remember that sexy climatic term) and thus I was freezing my nuts off most of the shoot. I was one of the co-stars, and as luck would have it, a lot of my scenes were exteriors, i.e., outside in the friggin' cold.  But it all went well, so no complaints.

I returned to L.A. and a few days later, began shooting a movie I did NOT write, but had a decent role in and co-produced, Buddy Hutchins, starring Jamie Kennedy and the legendary Sally Kirkland. We wrapped that a week ago, and since that time, I've hustled to finish the first book of three in the series, The Lynx Factor. Fans of Russell Blake, John Irving and Robert Ludlum will enjoy this action story about an ex-Seal and mortician who must deal with terrorists taking over his apartment complex and threatening to destroy L.A. with a dirty bomb launched from stinger missiles smuggled in from abroad. I's not your conventional adventure - Peter Lynx is a quirky hero who suffers from perpetual bad luck, which he refers to as The Lynx Factor. I think you'll all love it. I launch the first book this weekend, so look out for it.

I have another movie I wrote shooting in Moscow, late March, early April, so will be out of commission again until mid-April, but will be better at keeping you all apprised of activities in the next month or so. Hopefully, things will have settled down in the Ukraine by then.