Wow. I am still … what’s a good word … “stunned”. There we go. That’s the word. I’ll tell my good news in a moment.

I started writing stories in grade school. I write short stories, non-fiction articles, novellas, novels, and screenplays. The majority of the stories have been in the speculative fiction genre. I sold my first short story, a horror tale called “Blood Alley” in 1997 to a small magazine called Nightmares. I was paid $10.00. I was thrilled. I never cashed the check. The magazine folded before my story was published. Way of the world.

While growing up—and I haven’t finished growing up yet—I always loved the movies. The western is my favorite genre. But I loved the s/f world too. I watched and re-watched movies like Fantastic Voyage, Forbidden Planet, House of Wax, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Jason and the Argonauts, Mysterious Island, Planet of the Apes, Psycho, Them!, The Thing, War of the Worlds and the James Bond series. {Sidebar: One of my favorite all-time moments is in Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. The Monster is chasing Bud and Lou. They push a heavy bed in front of a door then lean into it with their entire body weight and … the door opens the other way! :)}

{Second sidebar: I still clearly remember being allowed to accompany my older cousins to the movies one Saturday afternoon. This was a major event. I wasn’t a “baby” anymore. They took me to see Boris Karloff in Black Sabbath. I had nightmares for years after seeing that film but I never told my folks because they wouldn’t have let me go with the guys again.}

On television I watched Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, The Time Tunnel, and The Wild, Wild West. Later I would be addicted big-time to The X-Files (at least until Duchovny left). {Another sidebar: The day before our wedding, Annie and I snuck off to see the X-Files movie that had just been released. Addicted, yep.}

In books I read Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Jack Finney, and Robert McCammon.

Today, in my DVD library, the s/f section is larger than even the western section. (Okay, I own way too many movies but that’s another issue.) There are classics like the first three (or is it the middle three?) Star Wars films, the Indiana Jones movies, Alien, Aliens, Jaws, Jurassic Park and The Terminator. But some of the movies I watch again and again are not classics. They are just kick-ass, fun movies – The Deep Blue Sea, Deep Rising, Dog Soldiers, Field of Dreams, The Green Mile, Hellboy, Independence Day, Predator, The Relic, and Tremors. I just picked up copies of The Changeling, The Exorcist III, and Waterworld.

Okay, back to my news. About “five” years ago, I caught up with an old friend from our novel workshop days. Mark “Arachnid” Sevi had sold over fifteen screenplays. Among his credits are Serial Killer, Excessive Force II: Force on Force, Sci-Fighters, Relentless II: Dead On, and Arachnid. His latest work, Pterodactyl, is the highest rated original movie to be on SciFi Channel.

Mark and I have co-written a handful of screenplays together. The latest is a sci-fi horror tale called The Nest. The story has no political or philosophical agenda other than to be an edge-of-the-seat, scare-your-socks-off, fun time. We enjoyed writing it. We are a good team.

On Friday, Mark called me. A production company wants to buy The Nest. They want to make a movie out of it. Stunned. Disbelieving. Whoa … this is way too cool. I am enjoying the moment. If nothing else happens, if the whole thing crashes-and-burns later, I am enjoying this moment. Yep.

Now I’m going to go kick back and watch a movie. When the screenwriter credit comes up I’m going to picture:

Screenplay by
Mark Sevi & Christopher Stires

Oh, yeah, I am enjoying the moment.