This one will stick with me. Also has me side-eyeing my ChatGPT...

 

Energy: Exacting. Astute. Intense. 

Scene: 🇺🇸 Los Feliz and Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

Perspective: A screenplay writer nominated for an Oscar but navigating demands from the studio executives to kill off a main character on his successful show. We also get snippets of a screenplay featuring our main character in strange situations. 

Timeline: Present-day (2024ish), with scattered flashbacks to 1996, 1999, and 2001. 

 

🐩 Tail Wags: Action-packed without being exhausting. Over-the-top but Real. Thought-provoking sci-fi creativity. Symbolism and commentary about capitalism, art, self-acceptance, and so much more. The balance of horror genres. The character dynamics. This universe (with its own version of classics like The X-Files and Warner Bros. Studio). Audio narration with sound effects and full cast for the screenplay parts. 

 

🤓 Reader Role: Deep in Misha’s mind piecing together the puzzle.

 

🗺️ World-Building: Immersive, vibey, chaotic. Less is more in the horror descriptions so they’re easier to imagine. A whole alternate universe that closely mirrors ours with nuanced lore (like Camp Damascus!). 

 

🔥 Fuel: Character evolution, world-building, and race against time. Is Misha losing his mind or are his characters coming ot life and stalking him? How is this happening? What will the outcome be if he can’t figure it out in time? 

 

📖 Cred: Allegorical techno sci-fi realism with a touch of satire

 

British punk music. Tall grass in the breeze. Bicycle horn. Cigarette smoke. Matchbooks. Black lamb. Brunch. Airplane cabin. Mob boss. Ash. Blood. The Oscars. Studio soundstage. 

 

Content Heads-Up: Anxiety. Outing (as teen; violence, rejection, blackmail). Homophobia (systemic, peers). Blood, injury, dismemberment. Body horror, torture, gore. Vomit. Parasites. 

 

Rep: Asexual. Aromantic. Bisexual. Gay. Heterosexual. Cisgender. American.

 

📚 Format: Everand Audio + Library Hardcover