Dru, Steinbeck and the Book of Deer

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Dear Juliet Actually, that title's out of date. Events have superseded it.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 ...

Dear Juliet Just watched that Golden Girls DVD, and it brought back memories of Point Lobos. Amidst everything else, I was able to see the show at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands for the first time in years and in a small way it really helped make the trip. Sadly, Betty White lived in Carmel, wanted to go back there from L.A. for her last days and couldn't manage it. You'll be all right. You'll make it. And if you're thinking of Buffy , although the odds are against us and the situation is grim, I'd say there is a way back if cast and fans club together. I'd just want to check the lost story arc cuts the mustard and stress the necessity of everyone speaking with one voice. The Fargo Farrago plus foreword sums everything up , and oddly enough the thing to remember is that there's no pressure. A book (or in this case, four novellas and a novel) is forever. Fifteen or sixteen years is nothing to it. I occasionally make the point that The Great Gatsby was a failu...

Dear Juliet Just a quick and silly one as I've just woken up! Don't worry, I'm here, I'm not going anywhere (except possibly Cleethorpes), I've cut the hedge and got the photos from the last couple of trips ready to go to this photo lab near Newcastle for printing... Try and find some old and interesting photos for you now... The Natchez in New Orleans, Elvis in El Paso... Girl at the Grand Canyon, Betty Boop on Route 66... Christmas in Needles, cute one of you! I just need to wake up now... Love, James