So…

Sofas safely and successfully sequestered in storage, my stay in Leicester has ceased, and the city sinks slowly beneath the skyline as I set sail (so to speak) to sunny York…

A quick update on what I’m doing with my writing at the moment, in the spare time that I’ve got –  my immediate aim is to finish off the three short stories that I have kicking around in various stages of completion:

Hamlet… In Purgatory – Is the closest to completion. Now on its third draft, I want to add a bit more narrative and tune up the characters a little, and then it’ll be done.

Chocalypse – Next up; the sugar-coated destruction of mankind. What I have at the moment is a bunch of scenes running from the beginning to the end of the story which need tying together. I also need to write a few paragraphs to give the feel that the world really is coming to a sticky end.

The Director’s Vampire – My third story, first of all, probably needs a better title. It has three chapters written and finished, and I want to find a way to wrap the story up over another three chapters or so.

When these are out of the way, the path to Nocturn will be clear and I’ll throw myself into the city of blood and stone once again, going through editing and rewrites, and tying things together more thoroughly in the story. I honestly can’t wait. It’s been too, too long.

Vlad To Meet You

Seeing as I’ve mentioned it a couple of times, it’s what seems to be swallowing most of my writing time at the moment, and I’m feeling too tired to do an interesting blog post, here’s an extract. It’s the beginning of my comedy The Director’s Vamp, in which we find a washed-up Dracula stuck in America and trying to make ends meet acting in a low-budget horror film, which I was going to name ‘The Bloodening’, until I found out this morning that The Simpsons already came up with that one. Curses… Anyway, I hope you like it! 😀

————–

Vlad looked down at himself and sighed. His eyes, the crimson devils that had seduced dozens of maidens over as many centuries, were creased with anxiety as they came to rest upon a stocky, bearded man in a bright green parka.

“You know, I am not so sure about zis one, Mike.”

“Trust me; it’ll look great on camera! This is gonna be the best way to do it.”

Vlad raised a thin eyebrow. “You mean ze cheapest…”

The director waved his megaphone dismissively. “Sure, that too. But hey, good luck finding another movie that’s willing to take on a-”

“Yes yes, alright. I vill do the thing.”

“You the man. Are all the effects in place?”

Vlad surveyed himself once more, narrowly avoiding having a sparkler shoved up his nose as he examined the “effects”. Wrapped around the entirety of his figure was a motley collection of Catherine wheels, Roman candles and a wide assortment of other fireworks.

“It chafes a little,” he complained, shuffling the strap between his legs. Everyone else moved back behind the safety marker, which was Mike’s ‘DIRECTOR’ cap on a stick.

“Vampires can’t have children, right?”

Vlad did not reply, and the director seemed to take this as a positive sign.

“Okay, let’s make some magic happen! Now remember Vlad: you’re in the sunlight, burning up. Try and make it look convincing.”

Vlad patted the arsenal of gunpowder-based entertainment strapped to his body with a grimace. “I vill do my best.”

One of the techies nodded, giving a thumbs up.

“Okay. Aaaand… action!”

A lone man sprinted towards Vlad like the runner of Marathon, lit taper in his hand, and the vampire closed his eyes. A loud sputtering sound filled the darkness.

Here we go…