Open windows
Sadly, my screenwriter friend and I did not make the semifinals of “The Next MacGyver” contest, to wit:
Thank you for submitting your TV series concept(s) to “The Next MacGyver” competition. We received nearly 2,000 entries from around the world and each was carefully reviewed by numerous people with experience in both entertainment and engineering. The submissions have finally been narrowed down to 12 finalists, and those people have already been notified. We will make the finalist names and show concepts public at www.nextmacgyver.com in early July. If you have not been notified that you are one of the top 12, your entry is no longer being considered. Nevertheless, we very much appreciate your participation in this potentially historic contest to identify and develop a TV series starring an iconic female engineer as a main character.
Best,
Nicole Flores
National Academy of Engineering
I cannot imagine what they were thinking, but never mind. The Lady has other fish to fry! If she actually fried fish. I believe Grannie Protheroe has that privilege. To abuse another metaphor, when doors close, windows open, so we’ll keep an eye out for one of those, shall we?
In other news, I returned last week from a trip around the Southwest, in the Four Corners area. We were doing a photography safari for images to go on book covers … which means that Gloria Meriwether-Astor’s adventures in the Weird West are becoming more reality than possibility.
The only question I must ask myself is, “Will there be zombies?” In other words, how weird do I want things to get?
The Magnificent Devices series hasn’t really been notable for its weirdness, and I’ve had correspondence from some of you expressing your relief that this is so. (I suspect fear of zombies is behind it.) Being of a practical turn of mind myself, I like things to be rooted in, if not reality, then at least possibility. So this will require some more thought. I did buy a number of reference books in Taos, though, on supernatural occurrences and beliefs in the old Spanish West, so considering the stubborn entrenchment of the Royal Kingdom of Spain and the Californias upon the left coast of the Americas, this may become something Gloria is forced to deal with.
In an upcoming post I’ll share some of the pictures I took in the beautiful southwest desert. I hope you’ll enjoy them!
No zombies. You can write without.
LOL. All right then!
Yes, leave the steampunk zombies (and related gas-mask fetishism) to Ms. Priest. Your writing is elegant, and is *about* elegance, along with adventure and excitement. It is an exquisitely crafted balance, and you do it better than anyone!
Oh bless you! That’s it, then. No zombies. There are plenty of supernatural goings-on in the Old West without them.
Not to put ideas in your head, but you already have artificial intelligences aboard the Lady’s airship. Carrying that further to mechanical gunslingers or an elegant Western version of Ms. Shelley’s Frankenstein would be quite fitting for your talents.