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A cozy mystery is one that takes place in a small town, or community, where we have some sort of amateur sleuth who is solving a murder. We don't actually see or read the details of that murder, or any other murderous violence throughout the story. But it's there, affecting the characters in the story. The Adam Parker Mystery series approaches the cozy mystery sub-genre. But I go a bit too far with the violence for it qualify. Still, it has the same tenets with my amateur sleuth, some murders off-screen, and the small town atmosphere. The inspiration for Adam Parker partially came from my enjoyment of mystery stories. Novels, television shows, movies — I've experienced plenty of cozy mysteries in those mediums. (That em dash is human created, not AI) A few years ago, I attended a film festival in a small town in Vermont. It was a nice weekend, and the town absolutely had that Hallmark movie charm. It didn't take long for the idea to form for a cozy mystery set in this small town. Now, the other spark that lit the fire to write this story came from multiple conversations with a producer friend of mine. We wanted to create something we could potentially sell, that would look to capitalize on the Hallmark movie trend. Thus, A Sister in Need , was born. A Sister in Need Synopsis Laura Bellmore is found at the bottom of a cliff. Dead. But only her sister, Megan Collins, believes there to be foul play. Escaping her stalled existence of a life of, Megan travels to Northbury and finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy set to quiet anyone who knew Laura and the reason for her death. Megan is helped on her journey by the sheriff, Melody Crane, and a friend of Laura's, Tanner Hinton. The trio navigate the dangerous, rumor-infested lifestyle of small-town living to uncover the reason behind Laura's death as well as series of murders that plague the once, quiet town of Northbury. Pretty standard synopsis for a cozy mystery, right? And for the most part, the script is cozy (if you'll allow me). Check out this excerpt. This is one of those scripts, which lent itself to the possibility of future stories within the Megan Collins universe. Megan Collins' Mysteries The Coldest of Feet The Bellmore Inn is booked for the whole weekend for a destination wedding. The entire wedding party arrives, but one by one the members of the party keep turning up dead. The bride and groom ask Megan for help, as she matches wits with a murderer with no clear agenda.   The Festival Witch Northbury High School hosts a Halloween festival every year and the whole town is usually in attendance. This year’s festival is one to remember as a group of kids enter the corn maze and exit with one less teenager. But the kids all have the same story of seeing a witch in the maze and watching her kidnap their friend. A skeptical Megan investigates and becomes increasingly concerned that the children may be telling the truth.   Holiday in Northbury The holiday season is upon the town of Northbury, but that excitement is tempered when a rash of burglaries in town has everyone on edge. But when one of the robberies ends with a murder, Megan discovers a link to a past case involving Melody’s former boss and mentor, Wyatt Tuttle. So, clearly, I had a plan for this story, and quite frankly, why didn't I keep going? Hallmark! Call me. :)

Still Writing This is pretty wild. I was going through my old browser bookmarks and discovered this blog article I wrote over 9 years ago. It was during my graduate class, where we had to start a blog and actively chronicle our journey. It was a writing class. This is the last entry from that class. What's amazing is that I'm writing about the same things I talk about today, and my takeaways at the bottom of the article is how I started writing books and novellas. This is the beginning of me writing my very first book. Enjoy! Thank You August 9, 2016 All we are is what we put out in the world. Through conversation, body language, long stares from across a crowded room, a smile, welled-up eyes, that moment of speechlessness when your emotions overtake you. Everything we are is in all of those moments. For me and for all of us in #506iv, it's in our writing. I remember a conversation I had with a indie film colleague about other people's feelings on his work, on my work, on all of our work. I said a variety of things, but it boiled down to this: "We can't control how people will react to our material. We can only control the material" Thinking back, I wonder if that's true. After the writing, I have to promote. I write query letters and pitches. I enter contests and festivals. I submit articles for publication. I'm putting my name out there, but where I was pinning the cause of my acceptance or rejection on the subjective nature of the business, maybe I should be looking at the way I'm presenting my work. I may find more fault with myself than the subjectiveness of others. I control the way people respond to my material, by the way I present it. This class, I've been challenged to dissect my name and how it's discovered on-line. The ease that my real name is searched for in Google. The difficulty that people who don't know me can find my website. I share many of my articles and published work, but I wonder if I'm sharing it the right way. I have to focus on my brand. I'm not the biggest fan of that term. For me, it's synonymous with being phony. Being out of touch with others. A brand isn't approachable. A brand isn't personal. But, it's what we all are. Even if we use a different term like image or reputation, it means the same thing. Perhaps, it's time to own it. I'm faced with another choice. My writing voice. Much of my writing has been from a place of "high on the mountaintop," preaching to the people below. This was never a conscious decision. It was not my intention to place myself on a different status than my audience. It was just how I wrote many of my articles about the film business and my experiences, but my tone betrayed my intentions. I didn't know why. I didn't know how to amend that tone. Professor Kalm challenged (yes, another one) me to be more personal in my writing. To interject more life experience in my writing. To be more honest and open, but to get to the point. (Thank you, Struck and White ) Not that I wasn't honest before, but there was always a wall. Something that stopped me from letting others see me. I'd be honest, but not enough. I'd be open, but leave out other thoughts. I would tell myself that no one wants to read it, but in reality I was too afraid to share it. So I accepted the challenge and focused on being more personal and open. I still work on it and will continue to work on it in future writing endeavors. I chose indie film as my beat because I've lived inside indie film for so long and while I'll always enjoy discussing film, breaking down the industry and simply watching stories. I'll probably still write about indie film. But the indie film beat is not my greatest takeaway from this class. I am a writer. I always will be a writer, but it's time I work on becoming a better writer. In my head I hear the advice I've heard countless times before. "Write. Write. Write." and "The only way to become a good writer is to keep writing." Yes. Those are great pieces of advice and I could continue to write and write, but never push myself to grow as a writer. I could keep writing, but never learn how to be a good writer. #506iv helped me realize that I needed and wanted to work on the craft of writing. I don't know my future. I don't know where my writing or the rest of my graduate studies will take me, but I know I'm on a new path. A trajectory that will involved my writing in some form. It was probably fate that brought me to #506iv this summer session. Stephen King's memoir On Writing was one of our suggested readings in the syllabus and I was already 100 pages into the book. I began this class before realizing it and now it's tough for me to leave. "I don't want to go." - The 10th Doctor (David Tennant)

I've been clamoring about the 2nd Parker book for a while now. (You bought it, right?) And as soon as I finished publishing Adam Parker and the High School Bully , I went right into a new project - A play called May 19, 1999 which takes place during the opening night of the premiere of Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace . Now, I'm currently writing a few short stories that take place in the fictional town of Brookville. I introduced the strange town of Brookville in the 2nd Parker book, but since you already bought it, you know what I'm talking about. But before the Brookville short stories. Before the Star Wars play. Before Adam tackled his toughest foe. I wrote a script set during the Spring of 1944 that tells the story of how Frank Sinatra helped stop a Nazi sleeper cell from stealing uranium for their own atomic bomb. Intrigued? Check out this excerpt . All right. Back to Brookville. You know...from the Parker book.

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! I'm speaking, of course, of one of my great unrequited loves: Filmmaking. A short film I produced with my good friends at rMedia and many other great people in front and behind the camera way back in 2020. I always tell the anecdote of us wrapping filming on Sunday, March 15, 2020 and what happened the next day? The state pretty much shut down because of the Covid-19 pandemic. But that's in the past! We're looking to the future. Noppera-bō had a nice festival run in 2021, as evident on my promotional page . But every now and again, I'll submit it to a festival. And looks like we're taking our short film out for another viewing, as it was recently selected for the 1st Annual Connecticut Frights Film Festival happening at the CT Horror Fest this year. I plan on being there, so if you attend the fest, come find me!

My latest novel, Katie Kennedy , was reviewed with the help of Reedsy Discovery. Reedsy is a site that helps writers and other creatives connect, find work, get paid, get noticed and all sorts of good stuff. I actually found my editor for Katie Kennedy on Reedsy. They also have this new section called Reedsy Discovery, where you place your book up and people can review it, celebrate it, help promote it and just get the word out. It just went live on the site a few days ago and I've got my first review. Here some highlights: "Worth reading 😎 A fun, female-driven read for those who enjoy Marvel and origin stories." "...the writing is engrossing, the author did an excellent job incorporating 80’s nostalgia through fine attention to detail." "...the customary hero vs villain showdown at the end does not disappoint, showcasing the sisters’ combined powers and intellectual problem-solving." "...I found the book enjoyable and am looking forward to the next Katie Kennedy installment!" Read the full review!

For some time, I was fascinated with events surrounding the original 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. I mean, I still am, but when I was researching the time period for my script Kiddo and, then Super Chief, I felt a desire to start and then complete a short script around that night. Hence, 22 Miles From Trenton was born. Summary: October 30, 1938. Orson Welles infamous broadcast of the radio play, War of the Worlds, plays on the radio which causes a panic in real life for some people including 12 year-old Penny, who thinks her older sister is in trouble. Penny races into the night to save her sister from the oncoming alien invasion. Fun Fact: This project was in-development for a while and we had plans to make this short film happen, but we got advice from a producer that it would be easier to get money for a feature rather than a short film, so I started working on a longer version. But everything I wrote felt like I was making a story longer for no good reason. Some stories have their length and nothing more. And, obviously, we ended up not doing the feature or the short. This wasn't a fun fact, was it? Check out an excerpt from the script.

Before the third trilogy. Before the Disney+ shows. The return of Star Wars was a huge deal in 1999. Episode I: The Phantom Menace was set to release on May 19, 1999 and everyone wanted to see it. When I worked at the movie theater (Shout out Showcase Orange!), managers and staff got to attend late-night screenings of movies. Back then, screenings were needed to make sure the film prints were attached properly and sometimes, you got to take family and friends. For Episode I: The Phantom Menace , the screening was a hot ticket. My dad was my plus-one and he NEVER went to screenings. Kevin was one of my good friends back then. He was a huge Pearl Jam fan, a fellow movie theater employee, a great friend who loved movies just like me, especially writer-director Kevin Smith, but there was nothing he loved more than Star Wars. He passed away 19 years ago this past summer and it sucked. Losing anyone sucks and I've lost a few, like most people have in their life. Kevin wanted to be a filmmaker like me and when he passed, I wrote to get through it, but I never wrote something about him or for him. I dedicated a book to him, but it wasn't about him. Then I had the idea for the May 19, 1999 script and I knew this was the story. Synopsis below: Three childhood friends and aspiring filmmakers — Kevin, Darren, and Reggie — struggle with broken promises, jealousy and the overwhelming desire to avoid talking to an original Star Wars trilogy purist, Lyle, who may or may not be dating his cousin. They are joined by film snob, Xavier, who doesn’t like Star Wars, but is in line for the event experience and a group of super-fans who refuse to hear any negativity about their beloved franchise.   It’s the night before May 19, 1999, and movie fans gather at their local cinema, standing in line, waiting to watching Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace . A lot of things can and will happen. A girlfriend is found out she’s been faking her excitement about the movie, an epic Star Wars vs. Star Trek battle is fought, the classic fight between commercial and indie film lovers, friends have their friendship tested and much more! This was written, intentionally, like a Kevin Smith film. Heavy dialogue. Pop Culture references. Long monologues about the beauty of cinema. It can be a play or it can be an indie film and I would love to have be produced as both. But I didn't write this to make a movie. I wrote this for my friend.

A story set in the 80s wouldn't be complete without an evil corporation looking to stop our protagonist. When I began Katie Kennedy, I knew I was telling a story with multiple themes, with two of the bigger ones being an origin story of a superhero in a small town and corporate culture in the 80s. Epsen Pharmaceuticals was born from the latter. When you're placing a corporation in a small town, it inherently becomes a major factor in that town. People move there to work for Epsen. The company has a massive influence on the town and the decision making in its local government. Epsen would take the advantage of being in a small town, having less attention focused on its day-to-day, and ultimately create a stronghold in its local area. Of course, we're dealing with a fictional story, set in the 80s, and my imagination, so why wouldn't there be underground levels where experiments were happening? The first half of Katie Kennedy takes place in the offices of Epsen. We meet Katie's co-workers and managers. We learn the dynamics of the workplace. We see who runs the show. Then, later on in the story, we eventually learn about the dark side of Epsen. Katie's newfound abilities have piqued the interest of those in charge and Epsen wants to know more. While Epsen becomes an antagonist to Katie, they're also a big part of her origin story. Through their experiments and nefarious ways, they help show Katie how powerful she can be. They also wind up creating a final antagonist or final boss, for those video gamers out there, that Katie must defeat to protect her family and the town. But where does Epsen fit into this universe? While Katie Kennedy is where we first meet Epsen, I'm confident it won't be the last time we hear from them. After all, their treacherous reach will no doubt span decades. If you're interested in learning more about Brookville, check out my other stories: Paradoxed, The Corn Maze, The Brookville Arms and All Things Weird: The Jar of Pandora.

I never intended to create a world where all my stories existed, but with every story, I kept repeating the same towns and locations while writing. And not even in the books, I was consistent with these characters and locations throughout short stories, books, feature scripts, web series scripts and more. The town of Brookville was a location that was where I set all the stories where strange things happened. The four novelettes/novellas I wrote, which are out now, all took place in the town at various times. I even went back in time to the origins of the town in one story — The Corn Maze. I had Adam Parker visit the town in the second book, Adam Parker and the High School Bully, and dropped some clues to the town's spooky reputation. When I started writing Katie Kennedy, I knew it was going to be set in a small New England town, and given the genre of the story, Brookville was the logical choice. This time we were visiting Brookville in the mid-1980s, so it was an opportunity to envision the town in a different way. In some of these stories set in Brookville, the town would be a supporting character, but for Katie Kennedy, not so much. But that didn't mean I couldn't have some fun. I was able to set up a few more potential avenues of storytelling, the highlight being the evil company known as Epsen Pharmaceuticals. So, the story of Katie Kennedy is now part of the Brookville lore. I'm hoping to continue her journey, however long it may go, which will undoubtedly add more to the town of Brookville. If you're interested you can find Katie Kennedy on paperback, kindle and other ebook formats.

Do you like monster movies? I do. Always have. Even the ridiculousness of Godzilla and King Kong running side-by-side in their last movie was awesome to watch, and yes, I was laughing while watching. But I didn't care. A few years ago, I wrote a monster movie that took place in the late 30s originally titled "The Creature of Gilbert Island" and I realized that was a mouthful for a monster movie, so I trimmed it down to "The Creature." Synopsis for The Creature: 1938. Hurricane brings destruction and a 40-foot prehistoric creature to Gilbert Island. Cut off from the mainland, the sheriff, a local delinquent and an unlikely group of islanders fight for their lives.1938. Hurricane brings destruction and a 40-foot prehistoric creature to Gilbert Island. Cut off from the mainland, the sheriff, a local delinquent and an unlikely group of islanders fight for their lives. Just thought I'd share. If you're interested in reading an excerpt of the script, here you go!

Not a re-cover. Not a re-design. A brand new story. A brand new book from me. My new book, Katie Kennedy, is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle version. Katie Kennedy is definitely inspired by a lot of the stories I experienced while growing up in the 80s and 90s — in print, on the small screen and, of course, on the big screen. Those who know me personally, know my love of cinema. And yes, shocker, I wrote something that takes place in the 80s and is about something fantastical. On brand. To be honest, I struggled with what to do with this book. I took on a multiple-month campaign sending query letters to potential literary and managers, in hopes of obtaining a publisher for the book. But, alas, that did not occur. (One day, Michael. One day.) Katie Kennedy follows a week in the life of a young woman living in the mid-1980s, who develops extraordinary abilities after encountering a meteor. Soon she’s battling an evil corporation, misogyny in the workplace and trying to save her sister from a villain, a man made of gas. Bonus! It takes place in everyone's favorite small town of Brookville, CT. Check out some other stories that take place in Brookville - Paradoxed, The Corn Maze, The Brookville Arms and The Jar of Pandora.

Quick Announcement. All my books are now available as Epubs! What's that mean? Well, you don't only need to have a kindle to read my stories in ebook form. You have the option to choose any digital book reader as your way to experience my stories. Links to the Epub pages are below, if you're looking for a new summer read. Adam Parker Mystery Series Adam Parker and the Radioactive Scout Adam Parker and the High School Bully Welcome to Brookville Series The Brookville Arms The Corn Maze Paradoxed All Things Weird: The Jar of Pandora Of course, if you're more of a paperback reader and you love the feel of a book in your hands, all my books are available in paperback on Amazon. Just head on over to the book pages on the site and follow the links!