April 2007

I know it’s been a while since a new ALTEN novel was published. Part of that delay involved working on the MEG movie, part on promoting The LOCH for a new publishing entity, Tsunami Books (see below). All of this delayed the sale of The SHELL GAME, which I hope to resolve soon. Here’s this month’s complete update:

MEG Movie: New C.O.O. at New Line takes over
Richard Brener, the new Chief Operating Officer at New Line Cinema, will be guiding MEG’s future at New Line Cinema. This is very good news as Mr. Brener BELIEVES in the franchise. A new script will be budgeted in April and we hope that will lead to a greenlight soon.

Tsunami Books going out of business
Tsunami was a new boutique publisher whose first book was The LOCH. Tsunami later bought the publishing rights to MEG from Bantam/Doubleday just before New Line Cinema announced the movie deal. Unfortunately, the movie’s delay, as well as cost overruns and distribution challenges hurt the company, which will officially close its doors soon. Rights to The LOCH and MEG will be re-sold to another publishing house, who will schedule the mass market paperback release of The LOCH (in late 2007 ?) and a re-release of the new version of MEG. If you own copies of these Tsunami books they are about to become a collector’s item. What remains in the warehouse will be offered to high schools in April. I will update you as to who the new publisher will be next month.

My Work Schedule
Books are time-consuming and the research exhausting. The Shell Game took two years and I needed a break before attacking the next novel. Last Fall Nick Nunziata and I wrote a script called GRIM REAPER which turned out so well, I may write an accompanying novel. I also wrote a comedy script which I have optioned to film producer David Foster and his partner, Ryan Heppe. David’s films include The THING, Short Circuit, Collateral Damage, among many others. I am currently finishing a second draft. then it’s time to settle into a new novel, most likely MEG: Hell’s Aquarium. Whichever novel is up next, I will announce a new character contest in May.

JAWS: 30th Anniversary DVD
I have had the privilege of working with MEG fan and cover art designer ERIK HOLLANDER for the last six years. Besides being an incredible graphic artist, Erik is also a gifted film maker. He and his team have created a new DVD called THE SHARK IS STILL WORKING. This JAWS tribute is narrated by Roy Scheider and features never-before-seen interviews with Steven Spielberg, Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and the rest of the Jaws cast and crew. Peter Benchley appears in what would be his final interview before his passing. (the documentary is dedicated to his memory). A boatload of successful filmmakers stops by to share the various ways Jaws impacted their lives and careers. Those include Kevin Smith, Bryan Singer, Robert Rodriguez, and Eli Roth. And yes a certain MEG author makes an appearance as well!

Erik is asking MEG fans to support his work and help it get released by signing a petition he can show interested studios. The wesbite is www.sharkisstillworking.com Click the link below to sign the petition.

Sign Petition

Living Tips
This month’s LIVING TIP was sent in by a woman who suffered a heart attack and has something important to share:

I’m having a Heart Attack!

I’ve meant to send this to my women friends to warn them that it's true that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing a heart attack...you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the movies. My heart attack was completely unexpected, it occurred about 10:30 p.m. with NO prior exertion and NO prior emotional trauma. I was sitting all snuggly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me,and actually thinking, "A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up." A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach, which doesn't do much good, as your esophagus and throat muscles are in spasm and it hurts to swallow.

This was my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m. After that had seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR). This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws.

AHA!! Now I stopped puzzling about what was happening. We all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of a heart attack happening, haven't we?

I said aloud to myself and the cat, "Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!" I lowered the footrest, dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, "If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help. And if I wait any longer, I may not be able to get up in moment."

I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the paramedics. I guess when one reaches them, your address automatically flashes on a screen, as the operator verified my address immediately and asked my symptoms.

I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts, ma'm. She said she was sending the paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in. No, I didn't take an aspirin, as I'm allergic to it, but I did take a 100 mg magnesium oxide capsule which bottle I keep handily in reach on the kitchen counter...which is a small detour on my way to the front door with about a 3/4 glass of water to get it dissolving ASAP into my bloodstream.

Magnesium relaxes blood vessels as it dissolves to get them expanded to let blood get through the constriction of the vessels. I then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in their examination lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way. But I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the cardiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance.

He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like "Have you taken any medications?") but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again...not waking up until the cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed two side-by-side stents to hold open my right coronary artery and now was being taken into the CCU, and looking up at the three anxious faces of Karen, Mark, and Wendy. Since I'd been a patient at St. Jude in 2002 for my TIA treatment, they had my emergency info in their system and had called my kids. I spent two days in CCU and two in general ward, then was discharged.

I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4- 5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents.

Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you to know what I learned firsthand, as a Certified Medical Back-Office Assistant in Internal Medicine Clinics, and as one who has lived through a heart attack due to:

1. Being aware that something very different was happening in my body .not the usual men's symptoms, but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act ). It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last!) MI because they didn't know they were having one, and commonly mistake it as indigestion take some Maalox or other anti-"heartburn" preparation. and go to bed hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up which doesn't happen.

My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a "false alarm" visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!

2. Note that I said "Call the Paramedics," Ladies. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER. You're a hazard to others on the road, and so is your panicked husband/friend who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road, and so are your kids or friends a hazard as well As sure as I sit here, they will get the attention of a cop who will pull you over for speeding-- more wasted time.

Do NOT call your doctor--he doesn't know where you live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do--principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified later.

3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count -- I did, and do, too. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high, and/or accompanied by high blood pressure.) MI's are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there.

Let's be careful and be aware.

If you have a Living Tip you’d like to share with others, e-mail it to me at Meg82159@aol.com

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That’s all for now. Stay well, please help me spread the word about my work, but most of all know this author appreciates you.

Sincerely,

Steve Alten, Ed.D.