Think about it…
Joe
• • •
Ah…so it would have been something like BLOOD DEVIL by Eli Roth & JA Konrath .
I’ve got an April 30 deadline for WOLF HUNT, so I won’t be able to work on anything else until that one’s finished. I know that they’d want me to get started on another project fairly soon after that, and right now I don’t know if it’s going to be a brutal deadline or a generous, leisurely one. So I’ll keep you posted. If you and Blake want to rush forward with DRACULAS, we’ll come up with another idea when my schedule is clear!
Jeff
• • •
Blake and I just spoke. He’s gung ho for going forward. We talked about some of the plotting and divvying up the workload. Basically, we’d each take a character in the hospital and follow them through the vampire outbreak. Maybe 20k words each separately, then bring the characters together for the finale. Structure it like AFRAID: character scene ending in a cliffhanger, go to the next character ending in a cliffhanger, go to the next…
This needs to be three people. I’m crazy busy as well, but I’m lucky to not have a day job.
I’d really prefer working with you before looking for another third partner…
Joe
• • •
I don’t know the timeframe on the new gig. It could very well be a case of “Can you deliver the manuscript in the next 12 months?” Or it could be “We need this by August and here’s a 350-page bible of rules that you need to follow to the letter, while still delivering a creative story with emotional depth and engaging characters, which must not contradict anything in the upcoming unfinished game.” But I can say for certain that until May 1st, there’ll be no DRACULAS work for me.
Jeff
• • •
Oh, poop.
Okay, now I gotta ask others. I’ll start with F. Paul Wilson. But when this gets made into a Wes Craven movie, remember I asked you first.
Joe
• • •
Heh heh. This is the only time in my life that somebody will come to me before F. Paul Wilson. Rest assured that this is a genuine recognition of the impossibility of cramming another 20,000 words into April and not a “Sorry, too busy!” style brush-off of the type I saw (Big Name Horror Author) give an editor at WHC, leading to the editor being red-faced, quiet, and mildly ashamed for the rest of the party.
Jeff
• • •
Has (Big Name Horror Author) published anything since (Well Known Book)?
Joe
• • •
Lots, you illiterate!
Jeff
• • •
I thought he was dead.
Joe
• • •
Well, that’s what happens when you turn 40—the memory and awareness of the world around you starts to fade, big-time.
(This will be only be funny for the next 7 1/2 months.)
Jeff
• • •
Who are you, again?
Joe
• • •
That guy you owe $50,000 for ghost-writing WHISKEY SOUR.
Jeff
• • •
I didn’t like that book. Mixing humor and horror is stupid.
Joe
• • •
Hi Paul—
Taking a complete shot in the dark here, but how’s your writing schedule? Got any free time?
Blake Crouch and I have this insane idea for a vampire novel that would be a cinch to write, and we’re looking for a third collaborator. Everyone does 20k words, split the rights 3 ways.
I know you’ve done vamps before, but this is really a different take on it, and the workload would be light for all involved, and also a lot of fun. Sort of like what you did with ARTIFACT, except more linear, and more commercial. And more violent.
The title: DRACULAS.
It’s a lot like 28 Days Later with fangs. Capitalizes on both the vampire and the zombie popularity currently fueling genre fiction, but with some big twists. Think Night of the Living Dead in a hospital setting.
As I said, this is a shot in the dark. I know you’re busy and in demand. I’ve got four book contracts right now (!), and I’m buried in work, but this idea won’t let me be. Problem is, I just don’t have time to write it alone.
Joe
March 29, 2010
Getting my head sorted out after WHC.
This sounds like fun as long as you don’t have too tight a deadline.
Paul
• • •
Jeff said he really can’t do it, so I asked F. Paul Wilson if he wants to join with us.
Here’s some preliminary thoughts:
Prologue, three newspaper clippings from a cheesy tabloid. Headlines:
“DRACULA’S SKULL UNEARTHED IN TRANSYLVANIA! A Romanian farmer uncovered a skull with unique properties while plowing his field near the town of Brasov. The relic, which appears to be ancient and human, has thirty two razor-sharp teeth where normal flat teeth would be.”
“VAMPIRE SKULL A HOAX?” Discovered by a farmer while sowing soybeans, the humanoid skull with sharp teeth is considered by many to be fake. Fueling this speculation is the farmer’s refusals to let scientists analyze the discovery, claiming it is embodies an ancient curse.”
“MILLIONAIRE BUY’S DRACULAS HEAD!” Eccentric recluse Mortimer Moorecook of Durango, Colorado, has apparently purchased the so-called Dracula skull from the Transylvanian farmer who unearthed it a week ago, for an undisclosed sum. It isn’t known what Moorecook, who made his fortune on Wall Street during the late 80s, plans to do with the skull, though many are hoping it will be turned over to scientists for study. Moorecook was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, and couldn’t be reached for comment.”
Chapter 1
Moorecook gets the skull shipped to him. He’s a collector of vampire memorabilia, and on hand is an historian who had studied vampire legends. When the box arrives, Moorecock cradles the head in his sickly hands—then bites himself in the neck with the fangs. He immediately goes into convulsions. The historian calls the paramedics, who take him to the secluded Miskatonic Hospital a few miles away.
Chapter 2
New nurse first week. Cancer ward. Hates seeing all the dying, but likes the job and needs the money for her sick mother, who’s a patient there.
Chapter 3
Husband and expectant mother hurry to hospital while she’s in labor. Twins. Could be a long labor and complications.
Chapter 4
Lumberjack hurt in accident, recovering from chainsaw injury. Twenty five stitches. He’s so tough he drove himself to the hospital, so his truck—filled with axes and chainsaws—is parked in the lot.
Chapter 5
A gung-ho good ole boy gun-crazy cop (think Kevin Kostner from Silverado) is the boyfriend of the historian. Meets her at the hospital (To propose? Has ring on him?)
Alternate POVs (including draculas), chapters end in cliffhangers. No way to get out of the hospital because they spread too fast and knew enough to shred the tires on all the vehicles outside. Vamps also destroyed phone system. Hospital has a “no cell phone” rule and blocks the use of cells with a jammer.
Dracula rules:
All of their teeth (not just canines) grow long and sharp, so big they shred through their lips and cheeks.
Claws grow. Able to see in dark. Can smell blood like sharks.
Must drink blood every hour, or they die. Any blood: animal, human, blood banks. If one of them is cut and bleeds, the others turn on him and devour him. Lick up every drop off the floor and walls. Fight over bones to get the marrow.