Michael Jackson and The Alien Within

I've a personal anecdote concerning Michael Jackson. Years ago, my grandmother took us granddaughters on a cultural tour of the Far East. Okay, it was really an extended shopping trip, but we did do some cultural stuff. Anyway, we went to China on a day trip, and one of the stops was to see a "typical" Chinese village and then tour a "typical" Chinese home. So we were taken to this woman's house, and once we reached the parlor, we noticed a framed photograph of our hostess and Michael Jackson. Needless to say, we made some noise about it. When our hostess saw our interest, through our interpreter she asked whether we knew him. Well, of course not, but then we told her who he is, and so on. At one point, she interrupted and the interpreter told us she wanted to know why we kept referring to Michael as "her". Well, we said, it's because he's a man, not a woman. Our hostess shook her head. We nodded. She shook her head. We kept nodding. When she finally decided we were telling the truth, her eyes grew absolutely huge. She kept looking from the photo and then to us, and back to the photo. She looked at the picture one more time, then turned and with a wink, grinned at us as if we'd just let her in on a great big secret.

I'd have loved to have told Michael this story. I wish I had.

So--what does MJJ have to do with TAW? Well, when I was writing it, I wrote it with a soundtrack in mind, in case it was turned into a movie. When I finished it, I checked the songs I'd included and most of them were Michael's. I saw that, and decided that when TAW is made into a movie, I will give especial credit to Michael for writing the soundtrack.

One more thing...did I ever tell you that I'm going to make TAW into a movie?

Stay tuned.