Waiting on the doctor...

...and planing to take my laptop to the Genius Bar to find out why it's gotten so quirky, so I worked on a new version of the synopsis. This is a full-page one that covers most of the story, but not all. Maybe this is better than rest. Maybe not. I dunno. But it does help me see where I need to go.

THE ALICE ‘65

by

Kyle Michel Sullivan

Books are ADAM VERLAIN’s life, so when his university asked him to hop over to Los Angeles to pick up an extremely rare first edition of “Alice in Wonderland”, he was happy to bring this precious cargo back to London. Wouldn’t even stay the night.

What he didn’t count on was CASEY BLANCHARD, the top line movie star who inherited the book. She wants Adam to accompany her to a movie premier to show up her ex-boyfriend, LANDO GRISSOM, this year’s big, bad, brutal, butch, beautiful, action-movie hero. It sounds like she wants to make the guy jealous, but Adam senses something lurking behind her demand.

Problem is, Adam didn’t even bring a change of clothes, so he needs to be made presentable for the premier’s red carpet, and right now. But Casey has just the guy to do it – ORISI, a sneering Beverly Hills style-guru who doesn’t understand the word, “No.”

Orisi’s regime starts with a bubble bath…then a tres-cool haircut…and a boss manicure…and the latest in facials…and a personalized cologne…and pink…uh…salmon colored briefs. “They even gave me a bloody pedicure,” cries Adam. “I’ve never had one of those.” “Obviously,” Orisi shoots back.

Then comes the ten-thousand dollar tux. Adam doesn’t even want to touch in it, let alone wear it. Still, he’s ready…and he turned out too nice for Casey. But it’s too late to undo Orisi’s brilliance.

Of course, Casey and Lando see each other at the premier; it’s the last movie they made together before breaking up. And during dueling interviews, each tries to outdiss the other, with Adam caught in the middle. Then at the party, which is at Lando’s Beverly Hills home, Adam is ejected. Worried about Casey, Adam tries to sneak back in. Instead, he almost drowns, ruins the tux, does his own verbal sparring with Lando, and nearly becomes dinner for a pet black panther named Gertrude. He also realizes why Casey was really using him – as an insult to Lando.

By this point, Adam fears he’s fallen down his own rabbit hole into Hollywood’s madness, especially when he discovers the book has vanished, that Gertrude escaped and wants to be his girl, and that someone is watching and hoping the book shows up in the right hands, so it can be stolen away. What’s even worse? Despite all the chaos and duplicity, Adam’s falling for Casey.

Will he make it back to London with the “Alice” intact…and his heart unbroken…and his sanity still a part of him? Will his quiet, cloistered life ever be the same? Or could it be he’ll merely awake and find it was all just a dream of wonderland, from long ago?