I seem to be forever asking myself, “What if?”
An idea pops into my head and refuses to leave me alone until I make something of it.
Some of these stories have been with me for decades. Others are much newer. Some are complete. Some are being submitted. Others are still finding their shape.
Welcome to Bucket List Books, the publishing home for my growing catalogue of original stories.
OX
Logline
When a young man discovers that humanity’s history has been shaped by beings hidden in plain sight, he must decide whether the truth will destroy him… or transform him.
“What do you become…when the truth breaks you?”
About
If Bucket List Books has a flagship, this is it.
OX has been riding around in my head for over twenty years. It spent much of that time tucked safely under the bed, gathering dust while life happened. Every now and then I’d pull it out, make a few notes, then tuck it away again.
One day, a friend finally said, “Enough. Pull it out from under the bed, dust it off, and make it go.”
So…here we are.
Twenty years is a long time to live with a story. I’ve picked up a few scars along the way, and somehow they found their way into the story.
I’ve waited this long to tell it properly, so I’m not interested in rushing it now. Every draft gets me a little closer to the story I’ve been trying to tell all these years.
Stage: Issue #1 Script Complete | Series Development
THE GOOD DOCTOR OBIYA
Logline
Each time an impossible case arises, the demon Iblis must reunite with the brother who no longer remembers him, hoping that this investigation will finally break a centuries-old cycle of forgetting.
About
The Good Doctor Obiya is a supernatural mystery series rooted in Jamaican folklore.
Recently retired police investigator Dr. Ignatius Obiya believes he has left his most challenging cases behind. Unknown to him, he has also forgotten who he truly is.
For centuries, Obiya has lived as a supernatural being passing as human, so completely that he now believes the disguise himself.
To Iblis, watching his brother pass as human isn’t the tragedy. Watching him forget who he really is, is.
At its heart, The Good Doctor Obiya is about family, memory, and identity. It asks what happens when someone spends so long pretending to be someone else that the performance becomes their reality.
Stage: Issue #1 Complete | Anthology Submission | Series Development
SCHOOLED
Logline
When two boys skip school, they stumble upon a horrifying secret that changes the lives of four friends forever.
About
Schooled is a coming-of-age horror comic that follows Benny, Jeremy, Freddy, and Wilson, four boys whose carefree adventures lead them into a nightmare hidden in the river that runs alongside their small town.
What begins as a day of skipping class quickly becomes a mystery involving illegal dumping, strange green toxins, scavenging crows, and a discovery that should have remained buried. As the boys struggle to understand what they’ve witnessed, they find themselves caught in events that will shape the rest of their lives.
Stage: Part One Script Complete | Ready for Art
OOBE
Logline
An elderly woman confined to a care home discovers one final chance at freedom through an extraordinary out-of-body experience.
Stage: One-Shot Development
THE CONTRACT
Logline
When women around the world quietly decide to rewrite the unspoken contract of parenthood, society is forced to confront the true value of care, responsibility, and choice.
About
The Contract is a short comic told primarily through images and narration rather than dialogue. It explores the invisible expectations placed upon women and asks what might happen if those expectations were challenged on a global scale.
Designed as a visual story, the script relies on sequential storytelling, allowing the artwork to carry much of the emotional weight.
Stage: Script Complete | Ready for Art
SPACE TRASH
Logline
A mismatched crew aboard the aging freight galleon FG Sandford travels the galaxy salvaging forgotten cargo, abandoned technology, and discarded dreams, only to discover that yesterday’s trash can become tomorrow’s greatest treasure.
About
The FG Sandford is home to an unlikely family of scavengers.
Its captain, Barak, is a burly, bearded former religious zealot whose faith may have changed, but whose convictions still steer the ship.
Bradipo Urso is equal parts jester, storyteller, and opportunist, keeping the crew laughing while never revealing every card he’s holding.
Then there’s Lugash. Born Lugasa, the crew’s silent assassin has spent a lifetime navigating questions of identity and belonging. Lugash’s story continues in the companion series, The Taking of Names, which explores another recurring Magnus Michaels theme: passing, the distance between who we are, who others believe us to be, and who we choose to become.
Together, the crew turn salvage into survival while uncovering mysteries hidden among the galaxy’s forgotten relics.
Stage: Issue #1 Outlined | Script Approximately Two-Thirds Complete
THE TAKING OF NAMES
Logline
Born Lugasa but living as Lugash, a silent assassin struggles to reconcile identity, loyalty and survival while serving aboard the FG Sandford.
Set in the Space Trash universe, The Taking of Names follows one of the crew’s most enigmatic members. Like The Good Doctor Obiya, it explores the idea of passing, the tension between who we are, who the world expects us to be, and the identities we construct in order to survive.
Stage: Concept Development
BECAUSE YOU’RE A GIRL
Logline
In a society where girls are valued only for their ability to bear children, a young woman must decide whether to accept the future chosen for her or redefine what it means to become a woman.
About
A Young Adult novel exploring identity, tradition, courage and self-determination through the eyes of a young heroine confronting a society built on generations of expectation.
During the 2023 National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge, I wrote just over 50,000 words. Then the dust settled on the manuscript for a few years. Now, I’m reverse-engineering the outline into the novel I envisioned.
Stage: Outline Development