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The Books:
Symphony Fantastique
This historical fiction of Romantic composer, Hector Berlioz blends 60% factual information with 40% fantasy, as Berlioz corresponds with Walt Whitman and become friends with the Algerian rebel leader, al-Qadir. Through connection with the French Masons, Berlioz carries a letter from al-Qadir to a French general, and the letter effects the outcome of the revolution overthrowing the monarchy of King Louis-Philippe. With Franz Liszt, Berlioz discusses their mutual friend, Frederic Chopin. Berlioz also meets Tzar Alexander II of Russia, who takes him on a wild sleigh-ride, being chased by wolves through the forest. He discusses life with Tchaikovsky and Dostoevsky, and falls in love with fictional character, Amelie Chanson.
Daily Life
A collection of poetry and prose from 1980 to the present, covering subjects as diverse as passionate love, carnivorous eating, politics, cats, religion and suicide. This book also includes watercolor paintings and the first version of the music manuscript, Absinthe Preludes.
Two Tales from Beyond
This hardcover contains two separate science fiction/fantasy stories: Ghata and the Green Fairy and Shokia and the Passion-seekers. Ghata and the Green Fairy weaves a love story between a human diplomat, Shokia, and a Hokvene, photosynthetic tree-being, Ghata. Political unrest spreads across the Universe, when it is discovered the valuble sustance, the basis of all economic activity, Zorkol, causes mutations in the DNA of all lifeforms. In the sequel, Shokia and the Passion-seekers, wefollow Shokia as she discovers a previously unknown, non-corporeal lifeform. The passion-seekers spread havoc across the Universe by feeding on the emotions of corporeal beings. In they end the passion-seekers save the human race and prevent the destruction of planet Earth.
Troop Journal 1945
Charles Roland Berry's father, Roland Edward Berry kept a journal of his deployment to India and south China during World War II. With only a few editorial changes, this book is taken directly from the unbound sheets of this handwritten journal. This in not the usual war story, but a psychological journey of a 22-year-old, pulled away from the familiar civilization of the United States, and dropped into India and China, just after the Japanese had been forced out of Burma. The book gives detailed descriptions from a young soldier's point-of-view of India and China during this period, and the interactions between the British, the Americans, and the native peoples. |
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The Screenplays:
Lao's Quiet Way
Lao-su, a shopkeeper in Chinatown, San Francisco finds a data CD which contains BioCreation software. BioCreation allows the accelerated regeneration of human tissue, including complete growth of new organs: hearts, kidney, livers, and lungs. The U.S. government, the Chinese government, and the software developer, Second Genesis, all claim ownership of the CD, but Lao refuses to turn over the CD to anyone, until he talks privately with the President of the United States. Lao introduces the President to the philosophy of the Tao Te-Ching, and demands, in a very polite way, the President do something about homelessness in America. BioCreation is finally delivered to the world as open source software---that is, it is made available for free, to any scientist or doctor who wants it. This is a giant leap forward in medical science, and the whole world benefits.
Two Fists for Cuba
1950's Classic, The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi, is set in modern Cuba. Father Ramon, a local parish priest talks daily to Jesus on the Cross, and has fist fights with the Mayor of Remedios, Cuba. After meeting a businessman from Canada, Father Ramon becomes involved in convincing President Raul Castro to work with U.S. Richard Lugar in efforts to convince the U.S. Congress to repeal the Cuban Trade Embargo. Jesus is also involved in this discussion.
Most of the action takes place in the Cuban village of Remedios, telling the story of Father Ramon's interaction with the Mayor, and with the local Communist leadership. There are two love stories: The Canadian and a Cuban girl, and Father Ramon and his former girlfriend who now lives in Miami.
The Gods of Aztlan
Taken from the famous Mexican legend of Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl, we follow the story of the Aztec Princess and her Warrior lover, Popo. We meet Aztec gods and goddesses: Xochiquetzal, Goddess of love and beauty, prostitutes, earth, flowers, plants, hummingbirds and butterflies, games, dance, chocolate, arts, weavers and craftspeople; Tlaloc, God of Rain and Water, jealous husband of Xochiquetzal; Tezcatlipoca, God of Night and the Smoking Mirror, Lord of natural forces, war, temptation, sorcery, heroes and beautiful girls; he is also the lover of Xochiquetzal, and Chalchiuhtlicue, Goddess of rivers, childbirth, and all running water.
Southern Aztlan is at war with Northern Aztlan, and Xochiquetzal helps the Aztecs re-conquer the northern terrriories which were stolen by the evil Emperor, Ladron Blanco.
Haida Autumn
A Haida warrior falls in love with a Salish girl, and protects her, keeping her from being taken during Haida slave raids. The imagery of Haida art is essential to this story, with scenes of cutting a giant tree, carving a canoe, putting hot rocks inside to make the water boil and soften the wood to stretch out the sides of the canoe. Traditional totem carving, weaving and potlaches are given in historical detail. Scene One is a visual feast, presenting a Haida slave raid on a Salish coastal village, and the Haida's escape through Pacific mist, home to the Queen Charlotte Islands. |
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