Can't wait!

BELOW (Netflix) - I suppose I should issue a SPOILER ALERT. The film treads familiar sea-monster ground with its giant squid (a la "It Came from Beneath the Sea") complicated by the explanation for its depredations as protecting its iceberg-encased eggs. Nothing new for those of us who have have seen "Gorgo" and "Mothra" and even "Ultraman: Rising." Not bad, but a tale that surely didn't need 6 hours to tell.

KINGCON - Just another reminder that I'll be in attendance. It's dedicated to Stephen King fans but they've asked me to be a guest.  My books will be for sale there, but don't be afraid to bring your collection. I love signing books.

NOR'EASTER - The storm plus the full-moon high tides are hammering the Jersey Shore. All in all the Atlantic tends to be a good neighbor here, but she can get awfully cranky sometimes.

KingCon - I'll be a guest there in Atlantic City - October 22-24. My books will be for sale there, but don't be afraid to bring your collection. I love signing books.

THE PROTEUS CURE was written with Tracy Carbone. A genuine collaboration, not one of those deals where the newbie does all the work and the established writer simply attaches his name. I’m too much of a control freak to work that way. Tracy had the initial idea. My first reaction was that it couldn’t work, but it stuck with me until I realized I was thinking more about Proteus than my own next book. We reconnected for more discussion and, when we developed the final twist, I became psyched. I had to get involved. The process: Tracy would do a few thousand words and pass it to me and I’d do a few thousand and pass it back. We swapped and edited and rearranged and rewrote so many times that neither of us is sure who wrote what anymore. The result is a medical thriller about a cure for cancer—all kinds of cancer. That sounds impossible because there’s a cancer for every tissue in the body, but the Gilchrist siblings have developed an omnipotential stem-cell therapy that replaces tumors with non-cancerous cells. But there’s always a hitch, isn’t there? In medical ethics, the line between right and wrong is often blurred. The Gilchrists aren’t evil. They’re out to cure people of cancer. But Murphy’s Law is inescapable. Something goes wrong during the clinical trial and they’ve got to scramble to cover it up. That’s when people start dying. Amid the carnage, Tracy and I address issues of parenthood and identity. "Paul Wilson and Tracy Carbone have penned a winner. The suspense is razor sharp and the characters masterfully drawn. Paul Wilson is at the top of the game, and Tracy Carbone is a welcome addition to the genre. You'll love The Proteus Cure." – Michael Palmer, NY Times bestselling author of Political Suicide "Wilson is one of the masters of the medical thriller." – Larry King Amazon – ebook and trade paperback

LOLA (2022) (Prime and others) Recently I watched this with some old friends and was stunned by how good it is. I got to thinking: Many gems like this are moldering unseen in the video vaults? Yes, its unprepossessing title is no help, and it’s in the found-footage genre (and black-and-white to boot), which is another strike, so I didn’t have high hopes when the film started. But I was soon mesmerized. The film within the film opens with an enigmatic teaser: A woman states that she’s making this for her sister: "...in the hope that this film will find you...and stop you." We learn about two sibling prodigies, Thomasina (Thom) and Martha (Mars) Hanbury, who in 1938 develop a technology that intercepts electromagnetic waves (i.e., television broadcasts) from the future. It's loads of fun at first as they start using their secret info to swell their coffers. Along the way they become fans of David Bowie and Bob Dylan via future TV appearances. Then World War II breaks out, and the sisters surreptitiously begin warning of air raid attacks on London, saving many lives. Eventually the army tracks them down and they become a self-contained intelligence unit for the war effort. Using Lola, the Brits begin turning the tide on the Nazis. But then things take a dark turn: Suddenly the sisters can't tap into the future music they like. The music has changed...the =future= has changed! In one of the more disturbing scenes, they tune into Bowie-esque singer crooning about the joys of fascism in 1973. And things only grow darker from there. The rest of the film follows the characters as they deal with this scary alternate reality, which takes some fascinating turns. (I'll stop here to avoid spoilers.) It's readily accepted these days that if time is like a river, you can't make changes upstream without affecting the flow downstream. But "Lola" takes place in 1940 or so, before "By His Bootstraps" was written, so the concept of time paradoxes and the like are new to the world. And a word about the "found footage:" It is pieced together from home movies, newsreels, and scenes shot by the Hanbury sisters themselves. The "Lola" crew worked miracles with a tiny budget using vintage 16 mm Bolex and Arriflex cameras with period lenses. Archival newsreel footage is paired with the actors a la "Zelig." The film has dropouts and clumsy editing -- just what you'd expect from found footage. Is it perfect? Of course not. The found-footage conceit is inconsistent at times and the production falls prey to budget constraints. But that doesn't make it any less compelling. The two sisters are wonderful, the plot is engaging, and the Tomatometer rated it 98% Fresh. So how come I never heard of it? Whatever. You don't have that excuse. Do yourself a favor: See it.

NECRONOMICON -- tomorrow I'm heading up to Providence for this. It occurs every other year and is a lot of fun.

OTHER SANDBOXES A collection of my pastiches -- a French word for an artistic work in a style that imitates another. Over the years editors approached me to write stories for anthologies based on other people's characters. Usually I said no, but when I saw the tie-in to the Tim Burton Batman movie, I bearded the editor (Marty Greenberg) as to why I was left out. He said he didn’t know I was a fan. I told him the Hollywood folks had pitched Repairman Jack as “Batman without a cape.” Marty said a Joker antho was in the works if I wanted in. I did. And I had a ball writing it. (People say my Joker was a template for Heath Ledger’s take on the character. I’d like to think so, but who can say?) More offers came along. Many were an easy pass, but who could say no to Mary Shelly, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Dashiell Hammett, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Sax Rohmer, Arthur Conan Doyle? They’re all here, and many more. I commissioned an artist named Gerhart (Cerebus fans will know him) to do the cover. I worked with him on the story-related icons for the art, but then he threw me into the mix. Ah, well. The collection is available in ebook and paperback (but only the pb treats you to the full glory of Gerhart’s wraparound cover).

LOBO'S A FAN! Some sharp-eyed reader sent me this. Check out what Lobo's reading: that's the UK cover of THE KEEP (sans title).

I have no idea why I like this commercial. youtube.com/results?search_q…

The illustrated limited edition is shipping. midworldpress.com/store/p/th…

Just arrived: The new illustrated MidWorld Press limited edition.