"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms."
—Muriel Rukeyser
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Congratulations, Jane!

I’m very excited to see yet another AEI client announce her website, Jane Tara, author of Forecast (forthcoming from Dorchester and now in development as a film): www.janetara.com Congratulations, Jane! Please pay her a visit down under.

Another great review for David Angsten’s Dark Gold



Review by Rod Lott on Bookgasm

Dark Gold
Author: Rod Lott
Like Scott Smith’s THE RUINS, David Angsten’s DARK GOLD knows that being a young, white American unwelcome in a foreign country is far scarier than any haunted house. For fresh college grad Jack Duran, that happens to be Mexico, where he and two buddies have gone in search of his mysteriously missing, ne’er-do-well adventurer of a brother. Instead, they find trouble – on land, by sea and many feet below.

A pair of hot topless women leads – lures? – the trio to board the luxurious yacht of Leopold Bellocheque, an amiable enough rich black guy who’s perusing the ocean waters for fabled sunken treasure, which Jack’s brother may have hit upon before his vanishing act. Bellocheque knows a little something of the sibling’s disappearance, so he engages Jack and his pals in a little you-scratch-my-back-etc. fair play – namely, help me find the gold and I’ll help you find your brother. Oh, and watch out for that horned “white devil” that supposedly haunts these waters and kills people.

DARK GOLD is many things all rolled into one: a tale of high adventure, a brush with horror, and a white-knuckle thriller tinged with supernatural mystery. Despite the disparity among these genres, the damn thing actually gels, especially for a first novel. This is not a JAWS clone, however much the cover tries to sell it as one … not to mention spoil it, since the identity of the underwater creature is kept under wraps for quite a while, even planting a nice red herring. But it is the pop-savvy pool read that JAWS was, albeit with better sex.

And I do mean better! After a long tease between Jack and one of the aforementioned naked babes, the chapter titled “Consummation” delivers the goods and then some with a multi-page romp that’s one of the hottest things I’ve ever read – graphic without being too overtly pornographic.

So the main question is: How come I didn’t know about this when it was in hardcover? For escapist, jumbled-recipe fare in this sweltering season, it’s tough to beat. (Okay, so Angsten could’ve picked way better sidekick names than “Duff” and “The Rock,” but still.) DARK GOLD marks an awfully polished debut, making Angsten an instant author to watch. –Rod Lott

She pressed a bulging breast in my mouth. I tasted it, just barely, and she pulled it out and gave me the other. I sucked on that one, too, hungrily, until she abruptly wrenched it away. She gave me the first one again, now cool and wet, and I took her nipple between my teeth and tickled its nubby end with my tongue. She tugged it from my teeth, then plunged the other back into my mouth, pulling it out again without giving me enough before putting the other back in. It went on like this, one breast and then the other, back and forth in the darkness until the nipples grew fat and hard and numb from all the kissing and the biting and the sucking they took.

Newsblips

AEI client Robert G. Lee has optioned his spec script DO OVERS to Virgo Films (exec Roderick Davis).

He’s also recently completed the screenplay adaptation of Melanie Lynn Hauser’s novel CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERMOM under option to AEI’s DayStar Entertainment division (exec Greg F. Dix).



Thong on Fire by Noire is #2 on the Essence bestseller list for September.


Buy Thong on Fire on Amazon.

Excerpt from David Angsten's forthcoming novel, NIGHT OF THE FURIES:

The bus took us to a large and crowded beach called Platis Yialos. From there we hiked down a mile-long footpath over headland fields with a view of the sea before dropping down the cliffs to Paradise Beach. By the time we arrived I was starving and exhausted. continue reading…..

More GOLD!


David Angsten's sister-in-law and nephew

Nothing is more satisfying than seeing a client’s book actually getting distributed. Dark Gold by David Angsten hits the Berkeley bookstore!


David Angsten's Dark Gold has just appeared in paperback. David's just finished his second novel, Night of the Furies.

You can buy DARK GOLD at your local bookstore and online at
Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

"Like Benchley's JAWS, David Angsten's debut will once again chase swimmers out of the water. Fraught with shivering suspense and a hauntingly eerie atmosphere, DARK GOLD grips with a feverish intensity. As literate as it is frightening. Read it with both a silver cross and a spear gun at your side." --James Rollins, the New York Times bestseller of Map of Bones and Black Order

"Take another look at this book's cover. What's hidden inside will make your eyes widen." --DAVID MORRELL, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF CREEPERS

"A pastiche of Crichton, Lovecraft, Jules Verne, and Robinson Crusoe." --Entertainment Weekly

From PUBLISHERS WEEKLY:

"Take a quest to find a lost brother, hot sex with incredibly beautiful babes, a giant man-eating beast that may or may not be a god, a sunken ship and a fortune in gold. Throw in some evil, demented villagers and a pirate or two, place these plot elements into the hands of a stylish, intelligent writer, and you've got yourself a page-turner that will take readers back to the days when a good book meant you stayed up all night under the covers with a flashlight.

Jack Duran heads to Mexico with his two pals, Duff and Rock, on the first leg of what they plan as an around-the-world adventure. Their immediate goal is to find Jack's errant brother, Dan, who has been missing for months. They become involved in a treasure hunt led by the mysterious Leopold Bellocheque, a Bahamian businessman with a fancy yacht and the aforementioned babes as his crew. The hunt quickly develops disastrous and deadly consequences. Screenwriter Angsten's tall tale is for grown-up boys who lust for swashbuckling literary adventure set in tropical climes.

Extra batteries for that flashlight are recommended."

Newsblip

Serdar Ozkun’s The Missing Rose has been sold to Japan (Village Books) and Korea (Woongjin Think Big).


RACING THE DARK by AEI client Alaya Johnson has been chosen as a Featured Alternate in the Science Fiction Book Club's Late Holiday catalog.

Newsblip for Royce Buckingham’s DemonKeeper (Putnam)

Demon Keeper
by Royce Buckingham
Teen / Pre-Teen Fiction
"Oh to have a sequel of this one come out. I'd snatch it up in a heart beat. Poor Nat, left alone to fend for himself and take care of all the little demons in the house. Plus the big bad demon in the cellar, all to keep them under control and out of the hands of the Thin Man. What a fun read, great humour and action and I really hope a sequel comes out!"
Buy Demon Keeper on Amazon
Review of Forecast
by Jane Tara
"We’re thrilled that the second review of AEI and Writer’s Lifeline client Jane Tara’s Forecast is as positive as the first! Plus, we’re making progress in setting her story up as a film to be shot in Sydney, Jane’s home town."

...Rowie desperately wanted a change. But sometimes she wondered if she'd ever have the courage." Continue reading…..

Inspiration

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself.—Alan Alda [via M.J. Ryan, The Power of Patience]

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.—Margaret Thatcher [via M.J. Ryan, The Power of Patience]

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself…every day begin the task anew.—St. Francis de Sales [via M.J. Ryan, The Power of Patience]

George Lucas put up his own money to make Star Wars because no one believed in his vision. By the time the movie came out, he was completely broke. But he ended up becoming phenomenally wealthy precisely because he had been unable to sell any of the rights to the film or sequels. --M.J. Ryan, The Power of Patience

Keynote talk at the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference, July 29, 2007

THE VISIONARY BRIDGE

Each of us stand on the smallest and most dynamic and most important bridge in human experience—one that everyone would like to be standing on but few have the courage to attempt. It’s the bridge of VISION--that links dream with reality. It’s a very small bridge and very narrow and uncomfortable when you first step onto it. But the longer you’re on it, the more maneuvering room you realize you have. The more comfortable it becomes standing on that razor’s edge. You learn to tap dance. You learn to enjoy the dance, to sing while you dance.

As storytellers who are here this weekend because you actively pursue your vision, you know full well how narrow the bridge we stand on is, how fragile. But you should also know that we’re heroes for attempting to cross this bridge. I’d like to begin my remarks by reading you a poem by perhaps the greatest Greek poet since Homer and Sappho. His name was Cavafy, and he lived in Alexandria, Egypt, and died less than a hundred years ago: Continue reading…..