missing lloyd chudley

i was just checking some film info on imdb.com tonight and came across a new film coming out based on a philip pullman book (the golden compass). well, he's the author of a victorian mystery trilogy that i'd hoped to write screenplays for one day, but i was beaten to the punch this last year when the bbc put out a tv movie of the first book, ruby in the smoke. tonight, this made a connection in my mind to lloyd alexander another young adult author i love, whose books i hope to write screenplays for one day. to my dismay i saw a beginning and ending date by his name. no, there are no movies in the works (according to imdb) but this was no longer on my mind.

lloyd chudley alexander died on may 17th. just a few weeks ago. a few months back, i'd gotten an address for him from his publisher. i'd wanted to write him and tell him how much i loved his books and check on the possibility of obtaining rights to write a screenplay. i know the latter part can be done through others; i know that authors probably get loads of letters - but i felt saddened to think, that i had a small window of time to get a letter to him, and my brief delay had cancelled that possibility. how can you not love an author who describes one of his main characters like this:

as for theo, he loved virtue, despised injustice, and was always slightly hungry. apart from that, he was reasonably happy.

i named my first cat after theo when i was ten years old. hopefully one day i'll be able to dedicate a film to lloyd chudley.

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