About eight years ago, I was working as an intern at a trade publishing house. One day I picked up the phone to hear a voice on the other end ask how to go about submitting a query, and how long such things take, etc. When I told him it took about 4-5 months, the conversation went something like this:
Writer: "Four to five months? I could have half a baby in that time!"
Me: "Yes, but what would you do with half a baby?"
Writer: "I don't know, take it to parties, and stuff."
Me: Laughing too hard to respond
The writer is Shan Serafin, and the book, entitled Seventeen, was brilliant. I was so inspired by it that I kept emailing him, and we've been friends ever since. Shan lives in LA, and we've never met face-to-face, but converse over the phone or email frequently or infrequently as time allows.
And this is what is amazing about Shan: when he puts his mind to something, he does it.
Case in point-- available through On Demand you will currently find a film called Forest of the Living Dead, produced, written by, directed by, and staring my friend Shan Serafin You should watch it, especially if you are a horror movie fan.
The movie (not a zombie movie, as you might infer from the title) is about a man haunted by his ex-girlfriend, quite literally. She committed suicide in a mystical forest at the base of Mount Fuji, allowing her spirit to return and wreak general havoc in the life of the man who done her wrong. The story is fresh and original-- it plays on elements I've seen in other ghost stories or revenge stories, but avoids cliche-- the directing is stellar, and it has some genuinely look-away-this-is-creepy moments.
So I highly recommend my friend Shan's movie. If you've got $4.99 and a few hours to kill, surf over to On Demand.
I would be all the more effusive if my friend Shan would ever get around to reading Max and Menna... :)
I don't know if you know this or not, but Aokigahara is an actual place...it's second behind the Golden Gate Bridge for places to commit suicide.
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