Bottom line: works in progress are works in progress.

There’s a reason I don’t publish my first drafts and outlines on-line. :)

(Not too long ago, the internet was convinced that ROGUE ONE was “troubled” because of all the reshoots and such. Me, I tend to think that revisions and course corrections are just part of…

How about:

BEAUTY & THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL

Or, better yet, A TALE OF TWO BEASTS.

Bottom line: works in progress tend to be works in progress.

Heck, VOYAGER switched captains mid-production.

About Stoker: Yeah, he’s creaky by modern standards, but I swear to God both DRACULA and THE JEWEL OF SEVEN STARS captivated me when I was twelve. I even reprinted the latter at Tor several years ago, with a gorgeous new cover by Boris Vallejo.

This has nothing to do with the Brendan Fraser movies, which were at least the THIRD reboot of the original 1932 Boris Karloff movie. This is a new take on THE MUMMY, just like the Fraser movie was back in 1990.

There have been many versions of THE MUMMY besides the Fraser ones.

You know, I think my first publication was a letter to Marvel concerning Lilith, Daughter of Dracula, sometime back in the seventies. I still remember that moment: sitting in the back seat of the family station wagon, leafing through some comics I had just picked up at a 7-Eleven—and seeing my own name in the letter…

But what does the “weirdo” stuff have to do with the movie?

Honestly, I’m more intrigued by Sofia Boutella as the Mummy than by the fact that Cruise is in the movie. And by the fact that the basic premise seems vaguely reminiscent of Bram Stoker’s “The Jewel of Seven Stars,” which is probably Stoker’s second-best novel. (After that one about the Transylvanian count.)

Besides the usual suspects (Wonder Woman, Planet of the Apes), I’m really rooting for THE MUMMY to succeed, because the Universal Monsters are near and dear to my heart and I want that new cinematic universe to take off.

I’ve already had my heart broken by VAN HELSING, here’s hoping THE MUMMY rises again . . ..

(And,no…

I grew up in Kent. There were no bikini baristas back then, but I see them now whenever I visit my family in those parts.

My course was at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. Alas, I can no longer recall the name of the professor.

Hey, I’ve seen them down by Federal Way and on the way to Tacoma . . . .

Given that the show is set in Seattle, I keep waiting for the inevitable “bikini barista” episode.

Then again, is WATERSHIP DOWN a fantasy novel? That one stumps me. It feels like an epic high fantasy novel . . . with bunnies. Even though there aren’t really any talking bunnies in it.

As for GAME OF THRONES . . . yep, that’s not remotely a “period” drama since it’s set in an imaginary kingdom . . . with…

It depends, I suppose, on whether it’s set in a world where animals aren’t supposed to talk. “Bambi” is not a fantasy because it’s simply animals speaking amongst themselves. But a movie where a baby deer starts talking to human beings, whose jaws drop in amazement, would be crossing over into fantasy territory . .…

Nitpick: Not sure I’d describe WYNONNA EARP as a “future” Western. It’s set in the present, not the future. It’s more of a contemporary horror-fantasy show: like BUFFY or SUPERNATURAL, but with more of a county-western flavor. Maybe a “supernatural western.”

Unless we’re describing any western not set a hundred…

You mean AVATAR: GAUNTLET surely? :)

And this is where I shamelessly point out that X-FILES anthologies are still being published.

It depends on the kid, of course, but by the time I graduated grade school I had read Frankenstein, Dracula, Doctor Jekyll & Mister Hyde, The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and a fair amount of Poe.

Heck, there’s plenty of violence and scary stuff in…