The latest news updated on 5/17/2006
After a year and a half and some serious critiquing the second novel was written into an acceptable screenplay. It was also renamed from "The Underworld" to "Project Fallen Angel."
Ember Reign
We have been contacted by six other publishers who are interested in the rewrite of the novel series.
Ember Reign book one is being edited. Loosly based on the original. We still have Megan Martin and her friend May saving grandma's farm, the neighbor's horses, and then some.
The first changes deal with Megan's age. In the original we read that Megan was 10 when her grandpa Fred died and grandma sold Megan's pony Sparky without Megan's consent. In the rewrite Megan is 12 and on the farm with her grandparents. Grandpa gives Megan Sparky as a gift and the reader is there to see it as it happens.
In the original we read that Megan stepped on a nail and got in trouble. In the rewrite we are there with her and Sparky as it happens. We find out why grandma hates Sparky and why she sends Megan home. We find out when and why grandpa Fred gives Megan a kitten she names Scratches.
After the death of her grandpa Fred, Megan's grandma sells Sparky back to the neighbor. Megan is furious and breaks all contact with her grandma for five years. It's Megan's friend May who finally convinces Megan to return to the farm to help her grandmother.
Five years later Megan and May are not fifteen they are seventeen. The action happens quite a bit faster. It's Megan and May who discover that someone has poisoned the Butler's horses including her beloved Sparky. It's Megan who tells her grandmother what is going on at the neighbors.
There's a creepy character, a hobo Martha allows to live in the west barn down on the corner. Jud has long hair, he's dirty and unkempt and carries either an axe, hatchet or big knife everywhere he goes. To make things worse, he's keeping his "good" eye on the girls.
In the original story Megan talks to her cat but that's about the extent of it. In the rewrite Megan actually communicates with her cat Scratches. She talks to the cat, the cat understands. The cat responds and answers and Megan usually understands. This connection between Megan and her cat causes May some uncertainty. As Megan says, cats do not speak English, they speak "cat" and sometimes it is difficult to understand them.
There's more to Megan speaking to her cat than meets the eye. When Megan was twelve she also talked to Sparky and when Sparky answered Megan frequently understood. You see even without the crown Megan has a gift, she can communicate with some animals.
In the original story Simon Banister wants Martha's farm for farming land for a chain of super centers he's building. He's still working that direction but he's even more interested in some of the artifacts that Fred acquired over the years. Maybe he's after Megan's crown and the medallion.
In the original it took Megan and May quite a bit of time to learn how to use the crown device. In the rewrite Megan uses the crown more than May and it frequently takes them places they don't want to be then it fails causing Megan to work on it to get it to transport them home. Sometimes it takes them into serious jeopardy leaving only moments to beam away.
In the original there was a humorous yet mysterious angel named Payah. In the rewrite the angel is quite a lot less visible, even more mysterious, and no nonsense. More like a real angel. He does communicate with Megan through the white crystal, as the white crystal.
The original story was written for young adults but was what you might call "squeaky clean." The rewrite is still for young adults but the language and violence is quite a bit more realistic. The rewrite is not for little children.
In the original certain interesting and important characters were not introduced until novel six. In the rewrite the adults working Black Op's and ultra secret projects are being told side by side with Megan's story. Megan and May will not become aware of the other characters until later on but the reader will be aware of them. Their plot and Megan's plot are different sides of the same story.
More later I hope.
