Dru, Steinbeck and the Book of Deer

Dear Juliet I don't know if the emotional floodgates are opening, although it's quite likely. Yes, there are worse solutions than Ben & Jerry's. I think I'll get through one myself tonight. It's absolutely normal sometimes to feel the need to sob your guts out, and I think it would be/has been very good for you. How are you feeling now? I just filed photographs all afternoon and I have three calls this evening, might dance in the street again afterwards! Not quite like opening an emotional floodgate, but it's healthy. You'll be on my mind. There's nothing wrong with having eyes red-rimmed from crying, it's just part of who you are. You don't have to be perfect. Even Gene Kelly occasionally missed a step! I'll check in and see if there's been any activity on the blog when I get back tonight. Probably about 3.00 pm your time. Everything will be okay. Love, James

Dear Juliet I see you read a few blogs last night? Well, if you're having a bit of a crisis don't worry, I'm here. And as Frasier Crane would say, "I'm listening." It's all right. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. Everyone has these two o'clock in the morning moments; where reality crashes in and you feel like the wreck of the Hesperus , storm-tossed amidst heaving seas. I'm not too bad myself, but I usually feel pretty grouchy and hopeless in the mornings. This too shall pass. Have a hug: 🤗 It's actually been a slow news day here, so I was thinking of showing you a few old shots from Needles in Death Valley. That segued on to thoughts of whether you might retire from a declining Hollywood and buy a flat in Primrose Hill, but I won't dwell on that. So: 1) You've got my contact details if you need to unload (reminds me of that time you were being overwhelmed by moths and spiders in London in 2011 and we spent half the nigh...

Dear Juliet I'm not sure, but I think things are fairly stable at the moment? If so, good. I've had a hot day seeking out new tyres, and a haircut. At work tonight, hopefully I won't bump into any vampires in the woods. Pills should finish at the end of the month, I have leave from 24th August to 11th September. I'm not going to tease you by suggesting I go to Los Angeles or Seattle. It'll possibly be Glenfinnan but I might try somewhere further afield, like Baku in Azerbaijan. So apart from a brief break in Baku, I should reliably be around. You don't have to do anything other than be yourself and merely be . The future seems a little calmer and more cloistered. It feels like I'm writing to you as I remember you. A little fragile and uncertain as of yet, but I think you're there. And that's the most important thing. The feeling that you're coming back to yourself. Would you like a T-shirt from Baku? Or perhaps a flying carpet? Love, James

Dear Juliet Actually, that title's out of date. Events have superseded it. This is good news, I think. I watched your panel interview in Buffalo . You look a bit tired maybe, but okay. I like your new outfit: blues and a big floppy hat. I also listened to your two spooky tales on Re-Vamped and (noting seriously that I'm not a qualified therapist), as I understand it children of narcissists both crave intimacy and are also absolutely terrified of it? So, in the the first tale there's a cabin in the woods in which a candle burns... Oh, a candle, yes . And essentially, the kids who go there just get terrorised and killed. End of. The terror is real. They're toast. That's it. But in the second tale , Jennifer (not Juliet of course) goes into the woods and is terrorised by a vampire. However, this time she escapes, but as she does so he gestures cordially for her to proceed on her way . She's safe. This time, anyway. So I might be wrong, but to me it seems you'v...

Dear Juliet Dark title, I know, but I'm semi-reliant on whatever pops up from my warped subconscious! I'll admit I wish I could have seen you and James act in a film version of Spike & Dru : the Graveyard of Empires . I had and still have doubts whether de-aging technology could work well enough to convey all the wonderful nuances you two could bring to an ensouled Spike and Dru fighting evenly with each other, but I have to admit it looks like it's becoming flawless. Hence the AI "actress" Tilly Norwood who'll shortly be starring in "her" first film ... I'd rather the work went to a human actress, but the future is upon us and it might even be happening at the right time. Anyway, lit a candle at church for you again: And got the hedge cut: Hot here, but no wildfires like the one which seems to be getting started in L.A. County . So I guess that's about all I have to say for today. I don't know if Drusilla could tend her flowers in my...

Dear Juliet Thanks for reading my last blog so often. I was exhausted at the time of writing, might have been franker than usual... But it's all true anyway. I think I did see that lost story arc, and I recently (and very carefully) tidied up any grammatical errors in all four of the Dru novellas. In particular,  Spike & Dru : the Graveyard of Empires was moved back in time to the end of 2019 to account for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. It does indeed feel like I'm the only person alive to have the restored print of Lawrence of Arabia , and that no one's interested in watching/reading it. Perhaps, like Lawrence, I was the only person who could see how we could metaphorically take Aqaba . However, no one wanted to listen to the ragged rascal who'd just walked out of the Nefud ... But a book (or books) is forever. The Yellow Brick Road is still open. It always was. If any of the remaining cast is interested, the only thing to do is have a full read-through ...