Yes, Don, I was thinking about you only today. I thought you had obvious abilities too useful and too valuable not to call upon in ones hour of need. Only problem is, I'm into three other projects at the moment. Though you are at the very top of my list as a possible colaborator in crime. I'm sure we could agree terms without too much difficulty. I'm just not sure where I can pick up an extra lifetime on the cheep for all my projects. To be honest, I've been dozing for a couple of years, and now I'm fully awake once more, time is suddenly very scarce. My kids already think I spend too much time writing and babbling about storylines and characters. Now I only write things that amuse me personally, and stories that take-off and write themselves. I try not to get in the way too much. I let the Muses do the hard work.

I suppose one could just use War and Peace as a template and give the characters new names and spice it up a bit, and cut it down to size and exchange the French army for Marines and off we go! Cannibalize, edit and add some gratuitous sex and violence, ditch the Russian ruminations on love and life and... One could also choose the alternative route and do a Dune, but with even more oil/spice references, put the whole thing on a planet like Iraq. Given the extraordinary "characters" in the White House and Iraq, the thing vertually writes itself!

As a final thought I have been thinking about Dumas and his use of cardinal Richelieu pulling the strings behind a weak, lazy and gullible king. I could easily see Cheney morphing into Richelieu in a Peak Oil screenplay. I suppose one could change The Three Musketeers into three/four special forces and make one a woman like Lara Croft.

Actually I like the idea of me taking on the role of Dumas myself, all I need is a ficiton-factory of low-paid collaborators like he had and maybe I could churn out a novel every few months! I should add that I rather like colourful romance, grotesque drama and action. I'm not too good at plagerizing "art novels." I must have read too much Jane Austin! Do you remember what the "pitch" for Alien was, Jaws in Space!