Brief

Upon finding a portion of a demonic composition left behind after his father’s suicide, a musical prodigy becomes entrenched with a dark muse that requires sacrifices of the most gruesome kind for the music is completed.

What We Liked

The premise is strong and compelling. The writing to so very good. The imagery jumps right off the page and the musical device used makes the story unique. It is flawlessly paced, highly stylized and original.

Film: This is tailor made for a film adaptation. The juxtaposition with beauty, music and violence would translate quite well to the big screen. The highly stylized presentation would be easy to transform into intense visuals.

TV: This is much more suited for film adaptation, but it could potentially be developed into a limited run series on television. However, it is not for the faint of heart so mainstream television is out of the question. It would have to find a home at a cable or streaming outlet.

Key points: Unique; Musical; Timely subject matter; Highly cinematic; Genre mixing

Synopsis

Lucien Beaumont is an incredibly smart musical prodigy. His life is completely uprooted when his beloved father and mentor commits suicide. Lucien’s mother is a junkie and his dad was the only thing holding her together. She is always heavily medicated and leaves Lucien to fend for himself while she spends her life in bed. Because of her inability to cope, they are forced to leave their beautiful home to live in a condo that embarrasses Lucien. He is also forced to leave his prestigious private academy for a public school. Lucien is angry and becomes a loner and a social outcast in his new school. When he gets into an altercation with a bully named Ari Cole, Lucien is blamed and sent to talk the school counselor, Ms. Kane. He feels unfairly maligned and targeted at school and begins to entertain fantasies about violently hurting those who pick on him. He finds a friend in Max, a chubby music student who looks up to him. They decide to try out for the glee club together. Lucien is absolutely blown away by the beauty and talent of a girl named Violet. After her audition, she insults Lucien and he surprises everyone by belting out Beethoven. This begins his love/hate infatuation with Violet.

After the audition, Lucien is approached by J.C. and Asher. They are the resident bad boys of the school and Lucien impressed them with his musical prowess. Lucien, Max and their two new friends decide to defy convention and start their own choir, calling it the Black Heart Boys’ Choir. Lucien finds an unfinished piece of music left behind by his father. The powerful piece of music heralds the apocalypse and Lucien becomes obsessed with finishing it. He and the choir plan to perform it once it is finished. Lucien’s dad was working on the piece with his conductor friend, Philip Gravetree. Lucien pays him a visit and Gravetree tells him to abandon the piece. He warns him that it is evil and was the reason for his father’s death. Lucien is visited by a demonic black unicorn called Amduscias. Lucien has a horrific fantasy of killing Gravetree and as the violence unfolds, Amduscias reveals more notes for the masterpiece.

Wanting more to be revealed, and realizing that blood must to shed to achieve this, Lucien visits the family who is now living in his old house. As a murder fantasy blurs with the real life violence, Amduscias reveals more notes of the music. More bloodshed will be needed to finish. When Lucien notices that Violet has been abused by her lowlife boyfriend, Leo, he wants to defend her. He enlists the help of his choir and as they are beating Leo within an inch of his life, Amduscias reveals more sections of music. Max is so bothered by the violence that he leaves the choir. Max tells Ms. Kane what happened and Lucien is questioned.

J.C. and Asher are so angry with Max for telling on them, that they decide to sacrifice him. The kidnap Max and his girlfriend and take them to their abandoned practice space. They torture them both and murder Max’s girlfriend in front of him before calling Lucien to join them. Lucien doesn’t want to kill Max, but he knows he must. Amduscias reveals the rest of the masterpiece as Lucien murders his best friend.

The boys need a 4th member of the choir to replace Max. Violet will be the perfect addition. They murder her father, kidnap her and force her to sing with them. They plan to perform the piece at a school dance. They arrive at the dance decked out with guns. They perform the music accompanied with blazing gunfire. Ari is one of the first killed and others fall like flies. As the music reaches a climax, Lucien and his choir are shot by police responding to the school massacre. The final notes of music usher in Lucien’s death and it is finished.

About The Author

Curtis M. Lawson is an author of unapologetically weird fiction and dark poetry. His work ranges from bleak cosmic horror to technicolor pulp adventures. Curtis is a member of the Horror Writers Association, and he is the host of the Wyrd Transmissions Podcast. He lives in Salem, MA with his wife and their son.