Jim Grant / Nevada AppealAuthor David Earle with his latest book “Life is but a Dream.”
For Carson City resident and author David Earle, 2012 was an exciting year that set the stage for an even better 2013. The veteran playwright’s first novel, “Life Is But A Dream,” was published last year by Lulu and its screenplay received multiple awards at the Action on Film International Film Festival in August.At the festival, “I had the most nominations of any writer and walked away with the most awards,” Earle said.Those awards were “Best Dialogue for a Feature,” “The Arthur Rosenfeld Award for Dramatic Writing” and runner-up for “The AOF Award for Excellence in Writing.” It was also nominated for “Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Feature.” Currently, several major motion picture companies are reviewing “Life Is But A Dream,” and Earle is Down Under for the international premiere of his play, “Postnuptuals,” which is scheduled for 24 showings during the Sydney (Australia) Mardi Gras Festival.“Postnuptuals,” which premiered last year in Hollywood and received several nominations at the AOF festival in 2011, is a “screwball comedy” about newlyweds whose wedding night is interrupted repeatedly by in-laws, the best man, the ex-fianc, and a jilted drag queen, who the groom apparently married during a drinking binge in Las Vegas the year before.“It’s a laugh-out-loud comedy with connections with Las Vegas,” Earle said.An experienced writer, Earle has sold several screenplays and stage plays, including a screenplay to an independent film studio that has yet to get a green light for production.Born and raised in Anaheim, Calif., Earle lived in Orange County and Hollywood where stage- and film-connections are as common as asphalt. In 1999, he moved to southeast Florida, where he began writing “Life Is But A Dream.” In 2005, he moved to Carson City to be closer to his parents and sister’s family.These days, Earle can often be seen at Carson coffee cafes typing away on his laptop.“I’m not one of those writers who can sit in a closed-up room and write,” he said. “I need atmosphere.” In these prime spots for coffee and people-watching, the novel “Life Is But A Dream” was completed and the screenplay written.Earle has been writing “all my life,” but said “Life Is But A Dream” has been a special experience from the very beginning.“With all my other stories — four plays have been produced — I don’t remember where the ideas came from,” he said. “With ‘Life Is But A Dream,’ I know specifically where the idea came from. I was at a South Beach (Florida) Starbucks feeling kind of melancholy. I started questioning life.”Then he wondered, “What if this is all simply a dream or just a past life, that I will realize as being such when I wake up in the future?”Whereas reincarnation stories tend to deal with past lives in historical settings, “‘Life Is But A Dream’ is a reverse twist on reincarnation,” Earle said. “What makes it unique is that it begins in our present, but it is our present that turns out to be the past life for the main character.”The story begins with Roger Owen, an African-American family man living in New York in the year 2011. The morning after his 40th birthday, he wakes up to discover it’s the year 2125 and he now inhabits the body of Sydney Hamilton, a 66-year-old Welshman and Harvard professor of history.Earle said he wanted the characters to be very different in background, looks and ages.“‘Life is But a Dream’ encompasses the thoughts, emotions and reactions of a man who wakes up in the body of someone he does not know with the realization that the only life he has ever known is gone — his wife, his children, his entire family, friends and loved ones, including himself — are all dead and he can never go back and pick up where he left off,” Earle said.In addition, he discovers that a man is trying to kill him for reasons lost along with all Hamilton’s memories.“Life Is But A Dream” also tells the story of three romances: Roger and his wife, Laura; Sydney and his wife, Margie; plus the blossoming romance in the 22nd century with psychologist Dr. Jessica Wynn, who helps him deal with his new realities. The story blends romance, mystery and suspense with a little science fiction.“It’s time travel without the use of a time machine,” Earle said.Currently, “Life Is But A Dream” is only available from online sources, but Earle hopes to see it in bookstores soon.“It was slow coming out of the gate but it really is picking up speed. It’s available all around the world. I don’t know why, but it’s doing really good in India. The only thing I can think of is the reincarnation aspect.”Minden resident and graphic artist Wendy Hoag created the book cover for “Life Is But A Dream” as well as a book trailer, which can be seen on YouTube.For more information on “Life Is But A Dream,” and a link to the trailer, go to its Facebook page a www.facebook.com/lifeisbutadreambook/.