April 3, 2012
March 27, 2012
Empire of Blood Concept Art
Some concept art for “Empire of Blood” project by Jelena Đorđević. Project co-written by Magnus Aspli.
March 4, 2012
Love In The End Times
A page from my story Love In The End Times, art by Luke Parker. Letters by Magnus Aspli.
January 4, 2012
Competition
A brief overview of the “FOOD CHAIN BOOK 2: COMPETITION” anthology from Incubator Press with the art of Stefano Cardoselli from my script Homininae Victus Mortuus featured.
http://incubatorpress.com/food-chain-book-2-competition-line-up/
June 10, 2011
June 5, 2011
Our Best Shot Inks
Enric Simon has finished the inks for “Our Best Shot”, which should be out from Incubator Press later this year.
June 2, 2011
Future Quaked
My short story “Rugged Romper”, illustrated by BMB, is out now in issue #17 of the award winning British anthology magazine Future Quake
Copies can be found here http://www.futurequake.co.uk/shop.php
A review can be found here…
http://massacreforboys.blogspot.com/2011/04/futurequake-17.html
The highlight of which is “I particularly liked the last couple actually – the atmospheric Robo Sapiens by Mark Smith & Steve Howard and then the short and spikey Rugged Romper by Michael Deshane and BMB“
March 26, 2011
The Blood On Her Lips Is Mine
A short script I began the night I heard that Hammer Horror Scream Queen Ingrid Pitt (http://www.pittofhorror.com/) had passed away.
I’m collaborating with artist Max Akbar (http://maxakbar.deviantart.com/) on this one.
Basil Gogos painting of Ingrid was an inspiration as well (http://www.basilgogos.net/)
The Blood On Her Lips Is Mine
PAGE ONE (5 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
Night time. An old cemetery. A man, Glenn, stands between tilted, sinking, monuments and moss covered mausoleums. Under a full moon thick fog swirls up to his chest. He wears something like a backpack, but it is in shadow.
A creature, a male vampire, stands, snarls, its teeth bared, a few feet in front of him in the fog.
GLENN (THOUGT CAPTION)
THIS MUST BE THE BOYFRIEND.
PANEL TWO
Glenn has raised a flame thrower and blasts the creature with fire.
GLENN (THOUGT CAPTION)
I WORK IN AGRICULTURAL SALES.
GLENN (THOUGT CAPTION)
HE PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW THAT.
PANEL THREE
(Change of location) Daytime, almost sunset. A country mansion. Four cars are parked in the large circular driveway. Near the entrance to the home a beautiful woman in her twenties, Katherine, has a radiant smile as she shows her mother an engagement ring (a large one).
In the background the girl’s father and Glenn look at each other, expressionless.
GLENN (THOUGT CAPTION)
JUST THREE DAYS AGO IT WAS THANKSGIVING WITH HER FAMILY.
GIRL’S MOTHER
WAIT UNTIL YOUR SISTER GETS HERE AND SEES THAT.
PANEL FOUR
Night time. Inside the country home. The family, almost a dozen members (including children), is in a spacious dining room, seated around a large table. The girl’s father is at the end of the table near large windows and a door to a backyard. Katherine, on one side of her father, looks at Glenn with adoration, her radiant smile on her face, one arm slung around his shoulder. Her mother sits across from Katherine on the other side of her father.
Two seats at the table are conspicuously empty.
The hands on a wall clock read 8:02.
GIRL’S MOTHER
THIS IS JUST LIKE INGY WITH THAT NEW BOYFRIEND.
GIRL’S MOTHER
TWO DAYS AGO SHE CONFIRMED, THEN…NOTHING. NOW IT’S DARK AND NOT EVEN A PHONE CALL.
PANEL FIVE
The group has all turn to look out the window. A silhouette is visible outside. A ghostly white palm is pressed against the glass.
GLENN (THOUGT CAPTION)
HER MOTHER NEEDN’T HAVE WORRIED.
GIRL’S FATHER
WHAT IS THAT?
PAGE TWO (5 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
A pale, face is at the rear door. It is the sister, Ingy, her head tilted back, her eyes bloodshot, fangs exposed.
GLENN (THOUGT CAPTION)
HER SISTER WAS HOME TO SEE US ALL.
GIRL’S FATHER
INGY?
PANEL TWO
Katherine’s mother is by the door and reaches to open it. Katherine is beside her. Glenn has risen from his seat and has his hand out in a “stop” gesture.
GIRL’S MOTHER
WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT THERE? GET IN THE HOUSE.
GLENN
WAIT!
PANEL THREE
(Change of location.) Night time. The cemetery. Glenn, flame thrower in hand, watches the vampire as it smolders and staggers off into the fog of the cemetery.
GLENN (THOUGT CAPTION)
LITTLE KNOW FACT: FLAME THROWERS ARE LEGAL FOR CROP BURNS.
GLENN
I’M LETTING YOU GO, BECAUSE TODAY I CAN SYMPATHIZE.
PANEL FOUR
Glenn stands at the entrance to a very large vine covered mausoleum, flame thrower at the ready. The heavy brass door is broken open and hangs at an angle. A sledge hammer and pry bar are beside it.
GLENN (WORD CAPTION)
OR IS IT EMPATHIZE? DOES IT MATTER?
PANEL FIVE
Glenn sends a blast of flame into the mausoleum.
GLENN (WORD CAPTION)
I SUSPECT IT DOES.
PAGE THREE (5 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
Inside the stone chambered burial vault. Glenn stands in the doorway. There are several coffins recessed in the walls and two old coffins, their lids slid off and leaning against them, raised on stone pedestals. The one closest to the entrance is burnt and has little wisps of smoke drifting up from it.
Katherine’s father stands behind the burnt casket and holds his arm were his jacket is blackened.
GIRL’S FATHER
YOU CAN’T DO THIS, GLENN.
GIRL’S FATHER
THEY’RE MY CHILDREN. I WON’T LET YOU.
PANEL TWO
(Change of location) Inside the country mansion. In the foreground Glenn flies to towards the table. Blood and teeth come from his mouth.
In the background Ingy, crouched and looking feral, snarls and shows her fangs. She holds Katherine, slumped and unconscious, in one hand. Blood runs out of Ingy’s mouth and down her neck. Her other hand it extended from the shove she gave Glenn.
GLENN (WORD CAPTION)
I HAD BAD TEETH AS KID. GOT THEM FIXED THREE YEARS AGO, JUST BEFORE I MET KATHERINE.
PANEL THREE
Glenn, his eyes rolled back in his head, crashes mouth first into the edge of the dining room table, scattering dishes. More blood and several teeth fly.
A clock in the background show the time as 8:05.
Family members are huddled in fear in the background.
GLENN (WORD CAPTION)
INGY RUINS SEVENTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS WORTH OF DENTAL WORK.
GLENN (WORD CAPTION)
AND I LOSE A COUPLE OF MINUTES.
PANEL FOUR
In the foreground is Katherine’s open purse. Visible inside the purse is a greeting card with a picture of a teddy bear. It reads “You Are Going to Be A Grandmother!” Beside it is a vitamin bottle marked “Prenatal Vitamins With Folic Acid“.
In the background Glenn, blood pouring from his mouth, his shirt soaked in blood, leans unsteadily in the doorway and looks out into the backyard.
Beside him the clock on the wall reads 8:15.
GLENN (WORD CAPTION)
WHEN I COME AROUND THEY ARE GONE. HER FATHER, EVER PRAGMATIC, DID WHAT HE HAD TO GET THEM OUT AND SAVE THE REST.
GLENN (SHOUTED)
KATHERINE!
PANEL FIVE
(Change of location) Inside the crypt. Glenn stands with his flame thrower and faces the girl’s father over a coffin. Ingy lies in repose in the coffin, with her hands folded together on her chest.
The girl’s father pleads.
GIRL’S FATHER
DON’T DO THIS.
PAGE FOUR (3 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
The girl’s father, tears in his eyes, slams a stake two-handed into Ingy’s heart. A geyser of blood shoots up. Ingy’s eyes have flown open and her hands are clawed in pain.
GIRL’S FATHER
THEY’LL KEEP GOING AFTER THE FAMILY AGAIN AND AGAIN!
PANEL TWO
Glenn blasts the father with the flamethrower. Ingy’s hand hangs out of the coffin, limp.
GLENN (WORD CAPTION)
SHE’S MINE.
PANEL THREE
Glenn stands over the casket with Katherine in it; his hand rests on her abdomen. Her eyes are open, bloodshot, and look up at Glenn. There is blood on her lips and a small drop runs down her chin.
Visible for the first time, there are two holes, punctures, with a small amount of blood crusted around them on Glenn’s neck.
GLENN (WORD CAPTION)
AND I’M HERS.
Romeo Zero – Trampled
Here is the script for a short I’m collaborating with artist Stefan Ristic on. Check Stefan’s art at…
http://storykilla.deviantart.com/
Romeo Zero – Trampled
PAGE ONE (3 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
Large panel. Daytime. A four lane street in a poor/trendy/artsy part of a metropolis in the not so distant, not so happy future. Many of the store fronts are boarded up. Those that are open offer artist’s supplies, African video rentals, falafel or 15 minute massages.
A street artist (Romeo Zero) paints with chalk in the middle of the road. He puts the finishing touches on a copy of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The painting looks like a document on aged, sepia toned paper and is one hundred feet long and all four lanes wide. The edges have been painted to look charred and burnt.
Romeo wears a gray jacket, white shirt, red tie, a bowler hat and a skin tone mask with a green apple in the middle of it; he looks like a character from a René Magritte painting.
Peaceful protesters, gathered behind Romeo, carry signs with slogans like “No One Is Illegal” and “Stop The Arrests“.
At the front of the protestors, behind Romeo, is a girl in short dress and combat boots wearing a t-shirt which has an “A” for “anarchy” inside a heart printed on it. She blows bubbles with a child’s toy.
PANEL TWO
Close up of Romeo as he paints. The girl with the anarchy heart is behind him. Bubbles float past.
PANEL THREE
Seen from behind Romeo, a trail of bubbles floats from where the girl blows them through the air towards a point where, half a block away, dozens of police in day-after-tomorrow riot gear beat their riot shields with batons.
The protesters and police are separated by Romeo’s painting.
PAGE TWO (5 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
Bubbles float towards the riot police, who watch them drift closer.
PANEL TWO
A bubble bursts against the shield of a riot cop; all the police nearby look at it. An officer speaks.
RIOT COP OFFICER
Right, boys. That’s assault.
PANEL THREE
The officer screams and points and the men around him charge forward, firing tear gas and rubber bullets, with their shields up like a Roman phalanx.
RIOT COP OFFICER
Get ‘em!
PANEL FOUR
Romeo has jumped to his feet and runs, using a hand to hold his hat on his head. Behind him the young female “anarchy heart” protester takes a smoke trailing tear gas canister in the face. All around tear gas canisters bounce and spray smoke.
PANEL FIVE
In the foreground protesters are beaten by police.
In the background Romeo, mask in hand (now revealed as a young man in his twenties), has run down a side alley, looking back as he runs.
PAGE THREE (6 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
Romeo has come out of the alley into a nicer looking neighborhood with cafes and bistros. People in suits (“business men/women”) sit in the cafes reading newspapers open to the “Business” and “Finance” sections.
There are office towers in the background.
In the foreground is litter in the street – a paper coffee cup from a trendy coffee chain store and a crumpled newspaper.
PANEL TWO
Romeo scoops up the crumpled newspaper and the coffee cup.
PANEL THREE
Romeo sits at an outdoor table at a cafe, surrounded by other people, all dressed in business attire. He tucks his mask into his jacket pocket so it looks like a kerchief. The empty coffee cup (tipped on its side) and the crumpled newspaper are on the table with his bowler hat beside them.
Police, with their batons out, run out of the alley in the background.
PANEL FOUR
Romeo, seen from the side, has put the newspaper up in front of his face like he is reading it – just like all the business people around him. He has righted the coffee cup.
The police run past Romeo.
PANEL FIVE
A riot policeman who has run past stops and turns to look back – something about Romeo has his attention.
PANEL SIX
A ring of large, angry police surround Romeo. One of them has used his baton to crumple the front of his newspaper so they can see Romeo’s face.
PAGE FOUR (4 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
Romeo looks at the front of his paper. He is reading the “Arts” section. The headline of the arts sections is “Raphael’s Portrait of a Young Man found in Swiss bank vault”.
PANEL TWO
Romeo looks the newspapers of all the business people around him. They are all reading “Business” or “Finance”, sections.
PANEL THREE
In the foreground the coffee cup and newspaper are garbage on the ground again. Romeo’s bowler hat lies beside them.
In the background Romeo, riot cuffed with a black bag on his head, is dragged off by the police.
The business people look up from their newspapers with mild interest.
PANEL FOUR
Large panel. Bird’s eye view of Romeo dragged, bleeding, across the ruined, smeared painting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
