In Praise of Old Friends

I fear that my prose is no longer cutting edge, but of an old school. The influence of texting that I try eliminate from the scripts of people who attend my course, might well be just me being an old fart rather than my establishing any high standards. But there was a time when I was definitely in the avant-guarde. I still consider myself as avant-guarde, though perhaps it is the avant-guarde of the eighties! Either way cutting edge was what it was all about and here is a little blast from the past that I discovered lurking on the web... You probably have no idea what that means but essentially, it is the advertising brochure for DOC CHAOS! A TV series that me and Dave Thorpe wrote. In fact it was the first thing that either of us got paid for. Sadly, it was not made. And the subsequent long drawn out saga of rewrites and comic book versions and attempts to find someone somewhere to take it on, led to a rather embittered break up between me and Dave and us never speaking to each other ever again.We were desperate for success and tantalizingly close and completely uncertain on what we were doing wrong, if anything, and uncertain about which direction to take our careers. Uncertainty, fear of exploitation, fear of more years on social security, fear that neither of us wanted the same things, all led to a break up. Sounds like the typical first wife story. However, unlike with most people's first wives, who they still think should rot in hell, it is strangely gratifying to discover that Dave has an award winning novel out and commissions to write more. He's also been having a few adventures off in Brazil by the looks and so he should!  Check him out at: www.davidthorpe.infoIt is also gratifying to see that he still has less hair than me and is considered, as ever, cutting edge and writing for the young. Which makes me wonder whether I am not still cutting edge! I mean, I was always more cutting edge than he was! ... See? No matter how long it is between meeting up with old pals, you just slip back into the rivalry - er, relationship - as if it was yesterday!