Current Projects
I’m always working on something, because doing nothing is pointless.
I often find myself torn between the drive to finish that next little paragraph and the lure of starting a new exciting project and putting the difficult one in stasis.
The resultant flux creates a handful of nigh-complete items. This is where my slew of half-finished and concept-stage ideas live. Please feel free to peruse my handiwork and ask for any more details or information. Some of these have more detailed pages, as you can see from the top navigation bar.
So, here’s the roll call so far:
Aegis: A fantasy novel set in a world just breaking into the machine age from a long period of medieval strife. The most complete example I have of this setting is the ‘Arcturus’ short story that will be in Splinters of Truth. There are five dominant nations on the world of Tigris, each with their own ideas about the nature of magic and God. Conflict is inevitable, more so when the people of Midia are thrown into revolution by an ill-omened coup.
Sleepwalkers: A roleplaying game with modern supernatural setting. This is a complete product, lacking only some rigorous mechanics testing. For as long as there has been death and dreaming, there have been shaman and their spirit worlds. All such worlds are glimpses of one place; the Fringe. Just as sleep takes us close to death, the Fringe is both dream world and purgatory- and it’s far from empty. Not everyone who dies goes away. In this RPG the players can choose from five types of Sleepwalkers; modern day shaman who venture into this strange world and encounter the dead (and worse) within. This setting is also the basis for a straight novel I’m currently working on, since RPGS have a limited audience.
Cream: A television comedy. I have a complete pilot script. The show follows a gay 20-something called Jason Brown, a London mid-level business consultant dragged back to his home town (my own Stoke-on-Trent) to deal with the death of his father. The problem is that aside from outgrowing his Robbie Williams obsessed family, he has certainly outgrown the idea of continuing his father’s summer business- selling ice cream from a van. He reluctantly agrees to give it a go, but soon gets dragged into the micro politics of the local vendor turf war. Naturally, the turf war spills over into his attempts to woo an old flame. All is fair in love and ice cream.
The following are concept-stage ideas only (with considerable development, but only in scribbly note form). More information will be added when progress is made.
Sangoma: An RPG of struggles beneath the sun, which I may turn into a novel. Set in post-apocalype Africa, handfuls of survivors struggle against a global disease, the ravages of hunger and desolation, the wildlife of Africa and the desperation of their fellow man. Ancient faiths burned into the soil begin to rise again- a new wave of spiritualism, born from the ashes. The Sangomas return to the land, bringing the words of their ancestors. Will they heal the world, or repeat the mistakes of the past?
Worldview: A possible computer game or TV script. Which personality are you wearing today? Download new IDs for your Memedex implant. Got a date? Romantic and Charming are available as a discount pack, this week only. Idos accepts no responsibility for loss of original personality.
The Inquisition: Probably for TV or radio, if I could ever get away with half of it. This idea was born from daft conversations with a uni friend. With a half-god, half-mortal at the helm, the news covered by the Inquisition is almost as insane as the crew. His name is Mortod, but today he’s a microwave. Brainwrong would explain what’s going on, but the only thing he can say is “I am Brainwrong”. You get the idea.
Finder’s Fee: A TV script, somewhere between comedy and guttermentary. Michael Hutchence is literally homeless and crazy when two students start a video documentary of his life. The show hits the road when a local girl runs away; her desperate parents promise a reward for any information that will get her back and Hutch steps up to the challenge.