April 2008: lane in the fast life

New

First new large-scale fiction project in four years... Lane In The Fast Life

All new story by the author of Extra Heroes: Patterns & Choices. To be written for Script Frenzy in April.

http://www.skewedperspective.com/litfl/

--Dean

Hmmm... More going on?

So, where have you been? Well long story. Or, maybe it's not so much a long story as it just felt long. The Extra Heroes book was written in literally the one-month gap between my two grad degrees, as a part of National Novel Writing Month. As much as I enjoy creative writing, I made a concious decision to put things on hold so I could complete my PhD. That was 2004. So I am thrilled to say (for my sake and my family's) that I have recently completed my PhD in Education! And what that means is I am now able to begin to write creatively again. In fact, as my dissertation was in review last November, I did begin a new story.

Coming up I will participate in Script Frenzy, the script (movie/comic/play) sister to National Novel Writing Month in April 2008. No promises, but I am looking at some Extra Heroes characters. Also, now that my daughter is getting closer in age for the Extra Heroes: Kids stories, I may return to those to expand and develop those ideas a little more.

So, the official word is that I'm back on the writing block, but no firm word of exactly what it will produce. I do love the Extra Heroes world dearly, but some ideas may not fit neatly there. That said, I will return to it-- and the partially-finished second book will get another look (working title: "The Kind of Ideas").

--Dean

2006-2007: Heroes Extra?

NBC, "Heroes" and me...

For those curious, and especially for the many emails and calls I received in the last two years or more, I have had contact with NBC in regards to similarities between my book (published in 2004) and their more recent two seasons of the TV show "Heroes." NBC's lawyers felt that the similarities were too broad for any real foundation and also remarked that they did inquire to the creators who said they had never read my book. The most important thing they did do in official letter however, was acknowledge that my book does exist and did exist first. This helps prevent those same lawyers from trying to suggest I am in some way trying to copy them (ironic given my book was written years ahead of time, but certainly possible in this litigious world). Thankfully, the end of Season 1 had sufficiently diverted from any previous plot similarities, so I was relatively satisfied. That is, until Season 2. It was truly bizarre that it began with a trip to Montreal and a few other striking similarities, but again diverted away.

So we're left with what we're left with. I appreciate the comments and concerns the readers sent me, who watched as slack-jawed as I did at the first few episodes.

--Dean

2004-2008

Old news...

-Dean