During this now closing year of 2023, I’ve had the honor of writing blog pieces for Film Masters. This is a recently formed company that is getting some great classic monster releases out there on Blu Ray. I can’t think of a better way to close out the year here and look forward to 2024 than by mentioning them, and here’s a piece I wrote for their blog about Christmas ghost movies.
Writing
Brief Writing Update
Everything intended for 2023 is shifting into this impending year of 2024. Expect some updates on the Phil Tucker script book along the way to a publication later in the year. And new fiction projects are on the way. Will be back in February … best wishes to all for a wonderful New Year!
This Year’s Posts, Script Book Set for 2023
And I’ve been absent from here for a while. Probably my longest absence, in fact. Been having a year of what expert writer Dean Wesley Smith calls “life rolls,” and the old schedule has been thrown seriously out of alignment. Some bloggers have streaks, and lately my blogging streak has been absences.
Anyway, onward …
These three posts will be it for this year. A lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, and I’ll be back in January. And, specifically:
- The script book for Phil Tucker’s Space Jockey is planned for 2023.
- A number of other writing projects are set for 2023.
Stay tuned …
Update on Phil Tucker’s Space Jockey
In July of last year I announced the upcoming print debut of the script from Phil Tucker’s lost film Space Jockey. Intended for this fall, the project hasn’t moved along as quickly as intended, so this is the inevitable production delay. But this time next year is now the projected release date and there will be more to share along the way.
See you in 2022, and stay tuned …
A New Year, My Third Novel and Much More Writing on the Way
Been away too long as is often the case, but back with my third novel Attack Therapy, which is also the third part of my ongoing Maize Noir crime fiction series.
A lot of writing stuff is on the way for 2021, including at least two more novels and of course, the script book for Phil Tucker’s Space Jockey later this year.
For now, here’s the Attack Therapy cover and a little sample. Back with more writing stuff in February …
“I’ll put my money where my mouth is,” Val whispered. He switched on a tiny flashlight and kept it focused, barely angled forward on the floor.
His lithe form traveled invisibly past Tim’s chair and one side of Marcus, extinguishing the light as soon as he reached the door.
He put one hand gently on the lever and silently turned it. Then, almost embracing the door to keep it steady, he slowly leaned it open and stepped outside.
Tim felt a cool rush of air flow inwards, knowing well the stuffiness of his own office and then relief at the change in pressure.
It only lasted a second, long enough for Marcus to see the pale light outside frame Val in the doorway as a tall shadow grabbed him and pulled him down, slamming the door shut again.
Copyright 2020 Anders Runestad
Phil Tucker’s Space Jockey: A Lost Script Found
It is my privilege and my pleasure to make a huge announcement.
The script for Phil Tucker’s lost film Space Jockey has been discovered, thanks to a copy of it kept by an original cast member. The film remains lost to the best of my knowledge, but Tucker’s script for his lost film has surfaced.
In September 2019, I was contacted by Tok Thompson, professor of Anthropology and Communication at the University of Southern California. Tok’s mother Donnis Stark Thompson, recently departed, had lived a full and fascinating life that included an early stint as an actress. And when Phil Tucker shot the lost film in Fairbanks, Alaska during the late summer of 1953, she was part of the cast. Years later among his mother’s belongings, Tok’s family discovered her copy of the Space Jockey script. Contacting film journalist Phil Hall, Tok was advised to contact me about the script because of my Phil Tucker book I Cannot, Yet I Must.
Thanks to Tok graciously sharing the script, I’ve been able to read it and, thanks to the copyright research of Elias Savada, it’s been confirmed that Tucker’s script was never copyrighted or renewed. As the script is public domain, I am pleased to say that it will be published in the year 2021. Also, there are hopes of performing it in some manner.
As this project is in development and ongoing, I’ll have more to post as the year keeps rolling on, with a publication date to be narrowed down and announced later. I hope that everyone out there who is a fan of Robot Monster, Phil Tucker’s movies, and cult cinema in general is as excited about this project as I am, and I look forward to you being able to experience this lost original script by Phil Tucker.
Stay tuned!
New Novel: Spider’s Wine
This is my second suspense novel, with the third coming soon. Enjoy an excerpt below, and click here to get the rest:
Every inch of glass from the rear panel was obliterated into a not very fine powder coating.
He shook as he turned around, desperate for any hint of where the blast came from.
There was another squeal and the rumble of acceleration.
And Brad had no time to fear or to even think.
Screw Punch Now Available, and More on the Way
It was such a doozy writing a 100th post that my next update took too long to get here.
But my first novel Screw Punch is now out.
And two recent short stories are also available, both with long titles that I’m here going to just call Power Plant and Nocturnal Incident.
Two more novels in the Maize Noir world of Midwestern themed crime fiction are coming, Spider’s Wine and Attack Therapy. They are written and on the way this year, but now is the time for Part 1 of this loosely connected trilogy. So, without further ado, let’s close with an excerpt from Screw Punch:
She had nothing left to do but help Kim find her tool and get out of there.
So she paused to look into a wall mirror above the little microwave that sat on the inadequate table. Her hair had been pulled up in a pony tail that she now released to shake her hair around and regather in her hands.
As she shaped her hair together into a thick stream, she noticed absentmindedly that the closet door was open by a small crack.
She looked up critically at the mirror, noticing straight white-blond hairs that were escaping her pony tail and that she smoothed back over her scalp with both hands. Then she pulled off the hair tie, rested it on two fingers, and grabbed all of her hair and bunched it all within one petite fist.
And then she stopped, frozen, and hair began to drift down. In the mirror, her eyes enlarged and her mouth opened silently.
A pair of eyes was staring back at her from the closet.
My First Novel
And my 100th post!
More soon. For now, here is the cover . . .
New Short Story: TRANSFIGURATION
Head on over to Amazon and check it out:
The final part of the movie ended eight minutes before class was over, and the teacher spent the time asking everyone if the movie matched how they envisioned it from reading the play, talk that was half-audible from the whirring rewind of the old VHS tape. Brian was buoyed at class being almost over, the comfort of casual conversation going on in the background, and the machine noise as he drew in the folder creases. Soon, the bell rang and they were dismissed. Brian was out the classroom door with his typical energy, into the main hallway, and then climbed the main stairwell to a large window.
The sky was almost black.
He stuck his head out of the partially opened window to see no sun. The darkness covered most of the sky, only a hint of the morning’s blue in the east but the smeared charcoal faded into gray in the west. There the rain was already falling, and soon it would run down in cold jets from a dark silver sky over the school.
“Partly cloudy, chance of rain.”
Brian turned slowly and walked to study hall. It was on the first floor, a short distance with no rush, and all he had to do was descend further downwards.
Copyright 2018 Anders Runestad. All rights reserved.
RUNESTAD WRITES 