New Script

Ok then I've finished the first children's story in the Nebulaar series, its now gone to a student who's going to design the characters.  Had really good feedback on the story from people in the teaching profession.

Now onto the next while I'm waiting........

My new project I'm writing is a script called 'Where the shadow falls' it's a dark horror with a religious twist which leaves a lot to the imagination.  The story is set in modern day England with flashbacks to the main characters childhood.  I'm hoping, sorry; not 'hoping' I'm 'going' to create a piece which will make people afraid of the dark and everything they see in it!

Who knows what evil lurks in the darkness......where the shadow falls!!!

Nearly......

Well, now we're back from our hols its time to focus on the last chapter of Samson, my second novel; which to be honest I've neglected over the last 8 weeks! I have been busy typing, I've written a song for my friends band 'Beechwood' I've also done a few poems and comedy sketches for the closet.

But now its time to finish the last couple of thousand words of 'Samson' which will blow you away then its onto a secret project which is.......it could be a biggy??

Windsor High School Visit

So today The Semiotic Networks visited Windsor High in Halesowen where I talked about 'The Semiotic Networks' and writing in general, I even let them into my strange writing mind!!!

Whenever you write you are inviting people to see into your mind and the things you think about!! So if I tell someone I'm trying to think of new and original ways to kill people it does NOT mean I'm suddenly going to become a serial killer it means I'm working on other stories where people get murdered!!!

So I have to say a big thank you to everyone at Windsor High for making me so welcome and for listening to me for so long.....hope you enjoyed it and I hope to see you all again some time in the future?

Projects

Its been a busy time of late, plenty of typing to add to the closet shelf, Samson my next novel is nearly complete.  I've also entered a couple of writing competitions, the first being a comedy sketch titled 'The Supermarket' and the second a 15 minute stage play titled 'The Ghost' they've both been e-mailed so fingers crossed?  I've also written several poems to add to the ever growing collection.

Once Samson is finished I'll be starting a totally different type of project based on a series of new kids characters and stories!!! Watch out for 2013 'The Nebulaars' are coming and they're going to blow you away...........

Blurb

How hard is it to write a blurb.......Jesus I can type for England, idea after idea but the hardest thing in the world is to write the blurb! The one thing people read that decides whether they buy the book or not. You have around 150 words to convince them that they want to read your work, has it got them?  Have you roped them in?  I think that if you're happy with it, then its a good one; you've done all the work typing your 100k words....so you know when you've hit the spot! Have a read of the blurb on The Semiotic Networks and see what you think?

The Semiotic Networks

It just takes one break.......I have a dream for 'The Semiotic Networks' something that has never been done before, never in the history of book, film or television? It would blow it wide open!!! But it takes one break......one great big massive break, so until then it stays buried in my never ending mind.

Come on movie director, agent, TV executive.....take the dip and be the first, and then together we'll blow it wide open!!!  Get ready for a new age of Science Fiction, get ready for the semiotic networks!

DVW Book Club

A big thanks to Dave & Sally at the DVW Book Club for putting 'The Semiotic Networks' on their site, under the Fantasy/Sci-fi section! I've gotta say so myself.....it sounds pretty damn good!!  Check out the link https://sites.google.com/site/dvwbooksorg/fantasy-sci-fi

Mothers Day Poem

We all have a Mom and I hope that everyone who reads this blog understands the words I write as they come from my heart, my Mom passed away when I was seventeen; she was blind, deaf and in the end could not walk.  But she loved me, her only son with all her heart, when she touched my face throughout my teenage years, her touch was gentle, loving and proud.  Looking back, perhaps I was never the best son, but I tried.  I tried to deal with things through the years and now I'm in my forties perhaps as the years have gone on I've become a better person, if she were here now would be proud?  I hope so.........

 

Mom

Mom, Mom; where have you gone,

You left me behind your only son.

I was seventeen when you left me that day,

The tears and the heartache, still have a say!

I know you’d be proud of my family and life,

But I miss you so much, it still cuts like a knife.

So clever, so loving, so gentle and brave,

True for your life from cradle to grave!

For all the things I did wrong in my youth,

I apologise sincerely, my words speak the truth.

Maybe one day I’ll see you and say it true,

Mom, Mom; I love you….X

By

Dean Horton

Deanhorton70@hotmail.com

www.thesemioticnetworks.blogspot.com

www.facebook/thesemioticnetworks

twitter@DeanH_Author

BBC School News Report

A big thanks to the pupils and staff at Hillcrest School and Comunity College in Dudley, West Midlands, for making me welcome on Thursday 16th March.

The pupils interviewed me as part of a project they are doing with the BBC, the interview can be seen by following the link below.  I've got to say they did a really profesional job, well done to all involved you are a credit to the school and the area, once again thank you.

http://www.hillcrest.dudley.sch.uk/content/school_report.html

Why the idea?

Why the idea, where did it come from?
The idea for The Semiotic Networks came several years ago when I was putting the Christmas lights up around our house!  I'm scared of heights and had this idea about a man falling from a ladder where he then ends up in a coma, while in a coma he wakes up in a parallel world?

How can this happen?
I've always wondered why they have the signs in hospitals about turning off your mobile phone?  Why?  What does the simple mobile phone do to hospital equipment?  Enter the idea about bluetooth affecting the life support machines, causing the patients to wake in a parallel world?

What happens in this parallel world?
The victims are alone and afraid each of them waking at the scene of their own accident to find everyone has disappeared.  They search for signs of life but the world is empty.....until they find The Semiotic Networks; a hidden channel on their TV set, here they can find other victims like them and communicate!

Is it safe in The Semiotic Networks?
Noooooooooo cue 'The Bald Men' they are people who have died in the world of the semiotic networks, forever trapped to hunt the living!  Very nasty people!

What should we do?
Next time you go to hospital switch off your mobile phone! 

Other Projects

Taking a break tonight from 'Samson' my next novel to write a couple of poems for the Olympics, I'm planning on entering one into a competition and publishing the other on here....once I've decided which ones going where??

I've also got a few ideas that I'm penning regarding comedies, totally original, taking the mick out of everyday life and I reckon they'll be hilarious????

Why we write?

What can be better than to write something and you know you're pleased with the end product but then to have someone say 'hey....that was superb, I really enjoyed it!' 

I love writing, and all sorts of writing from poetry to stories both short and long.  To have people read what we write and appreciate what our imaginations have come up with; well that's the ultimate accolade and if people don't enjoy what we write they are entitled to their opinion.....but we'll continue doing what we do and that's writing.  Good old fashioned writing, without the writer there are no books, there are no TV programmes, movies, newspapers or poems!!

Pretty important aren't we.......and we'll keep producing our craft, we'll get rejections, but we won't stop we'll carry on with idea after idea, because that's what we do, putting our thoughts into words. 

We write because we enjoy it and we want others to read what we write and we want them to enjoy our every word, sometimes we fail and sometimes we don't and each time we get a good response from our words, well that makes it all worthwhile.......oh and thanks God for editors, cause we all make mistakes!!!!

Bluetooth.......do we really know what we've created?????

Questions

We visit hospitals and see the signs.....please turn off your mobile phone!! 
What happens if we don't?
Do we really know what all this new technology does???

Feedback

Got to say I was a happy chappie tonight........had some feedback from someone I don't know on 'The Semiotic Networks' page on facebook, she loved it and said I've got to write a second.  When you write you want people to enjoy what you've written and when you know people do, well that just makes you feel...........DAMN GOOD!

Chapter 5 'The Bald Men'

Peters had almost got back to the car.  It was parked about two hundred metres away, exactly where he had left it earlier.  He blew out his cheeks before he stopped to see where he had travelled from; turning, he looked into the distance, realising the mileage he had covered.  As his eyes scanned the horizon a movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.  There's a man!  He was around twelve hundred metres away but there, right in front of his eyes, was a man; most definitely it was a man!  He wasn't facing Peters; he was walking the other way.  He had a strange walk, almost chimpanzee like, slightly crouched, his clothes tattered, his head bald.  The man looked as though he was searching for something.  Peters watched the man for a minute, pondering what he should do shall I call him?  he asked himself.
   "Hello" Peters shouted.

The bald man stopped suddenly.  His body straightened upright, his senses alert, his head turning left and right, looking up, down and all around.  He leant his head to one side, listening, looking around for the source, wondering to himself if his own mind had been playing tricks after all the searching he had been doing.  Did I hear a sound, a voice, a human voice?
   "Hello! You there!" Peters shouted loudly.  The bald man snapped his around to look directly at Peters.  "Yes, you! Hello!"  Peters waved his arm above his head, watching as the bald man let out some kind of howl, then it made a loud Cak.....cak, cak sound.  The first thought that came into Peters head was of the dreams he had endured over the past few nights; he had heard that exact same sound!

OUT NOW.....The Semiotic Networks
Get ready for the nightmare of the semiotic networks, get ready to disable bluetooth!!

Question

So you go to the hospital to visit a relative or friend and you see the sign 'please turn off your mobile phone' do you turn it off or leave it on like 90% of other people?

The Semiotic Networks

What would you do???
You wake up at the scene of your own accident, everyone has disappeared, you're alone, you're afraid!! You search for your family, friends, neighbours, anybody; but the whole world is empty, abandoned cars line deserted streets, shopping bags and rubbish litter the towns and cities, but still you search!!
Then one day you see a man; a bald man looking, searching; searching for what? You call out to him "hey you there" his head snaps round to face the source of the sound; to face you, he begins to sprint toward you, faster and faster, his speed unlike anything you have ever seen and that little voice inside starts saying this isn't right. At that moment you do the only thing you can? You RUN for your life! Get ready for the nightmare of the semiotic networks, get ready to disable bluetooth!

Dudley Wood Visit

Picture from the school visit to Dudley Wood, where I wrote a poem and a short story, trying to get the children to use their imaginations.  After the readings we had a question and answers session where they really grilled me!!!!

Pictures from radio interview!!

Pictures from the hospital radio interview on Wednesday 25th January, Interview took place at City Road Hospital.......

Radio Interview

Wednesday was a busy a day.......At 18.20 hours I got interviewed on The Birmingham Hospital Radio, the interview lasted 20 minutes where Brian asked me everything on The Semiotic Networks and how I got into writing.  The best part is that the interview was live and went out to all the hospitals in Birmingham and will go out every day for the next seven days at various times, so a big thanks goes out to Brian, Ian and Bob....cheers guys!!!

School Visit

This week saw me visiting Dudley Wood Primary School, where the teachers wanted me to talk to the year 1 and year 2 pupils about reading, writing and using your imagination.  So with that topic in mind I wrote them a poem about the school and what they do in the school throughout the day, I then read them a short story that I typed on Friday night called 'The Lion Tales of Dudley Wood'.......the whole morning went really well.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff and children for making me most welcome, I enjoyed it thoroughly and I hope it gave everyone an insight into writing and using your imagination.  Also I should thank the school for putting my blogspot in the newsletter......so thank you Dudley Wood!!!

Dudley News 19/01/2012

Great news this week had a piece in another of the local papers 'The Dudley News' this piece was better than the piece last week, with more info on The Semiotic Networks.  Gotta work hard now getting the name out there!!!!

Halesowen News

12/01/2012 - Had my first bit of publicity on marketing 'The Semiotic Networks' it was a small article in a local paper 'The Halesowen News' I found out I was featured after several phone calls!!  It was a mixture of pleasure and annoyance.....I was pleased that 'The Semiotic Networks' was in the paper but annoyed as the article was cut short, or seemed to be?  Anyway beggars can't be choosers and it helps get the name out there!!!!