# STEFANO BOSCUTTI
> Official website of the author and screenwriter Stefano Boscutti and his works.
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).

## Pages
- [About Stefano Boscutti](https://www.boscutti.com/about.md) - Stefano Boscutti is an Australian author of startling short stories, screenplays and novels. They’re not the same old, same old. They tend to skitter across satire and crash into irony. With more than a few exhilarating twists along the way. (Ambition gone horribly and hilariously wrong seems to be…

## Posts
- [Deepen the story](https://www.boscutti.com/deepen-the-story.md) - After something happens on the page, after something shifts the air, don’t rush past it. Pause. Take a beat. Let your POV character register it. Not just cognitively, but viscerally. What lands? What lingers? What does it remind them of, whether they want it to or not? Interiority doesn’t require a…
- [Review: “The Wizard of the Kremlin”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-the-wizard-of-the-kremlin.md) - The trouble with power is not that it corrupts, but that it clarifies. In “The Wizard of the Kremlin,” Giuliano da Empoli offers not a portrait of Russia, but a field guide to the management of collapse. How to choreograph disorder until it begins to look like destiny. Vadim Baranov, the so-called…
- [Emotionality](https://www.boscutti.com/emotionality.md) - Structure gives you a functioning scene. Values give it consequence. But neither guarantees the only thing the reader actually cares about - feeling something. Without that, the rest is irrelevant. The reader disengages. Not because the writing is wrong, but because it’s empty. According to Tim Gra…
- [Six types of scenes](https://www.boscutti.com/six-types-of-scenes.md) - Story doesn’t just move. It moves along an axis of value. Something shifts from one state to another. Better to worse. Worse to better. Known to unknown. Tim Grahl reminds us that a love story isn’t built on love alone, an action story isn’t sustained by life-and-death stakes in every moment. Range…
- [Every scene needs a foundation](https://www.boscutti.com/every-scene-needs-a-foundation.md) - Stories are about change. Without change, there’s no story. Yes, this applies to the story overall. But also to every scene that hinges together to make the story. Tim Grahl says it’s critical to get the foundational building blocks of a scene down on the page that ensure something changes. How? By…
- [Review: “Something to Do with Paying Attention”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-something-to-do-with-paying-attention.md) - There are books that reward attention, and then there are books that audit it. David Foster Wallace’s “Something to Do with Paying Attention” doesn’t so much invite reading as administer it, like a slightly underfunded institutional test you didn’t realise you’d enrolled in until you started answer…
- [The problem with modern advertising](https://www.boscutti.com/the-problem-with-modern-advertising.md) - Most people - especially those who work in the media industrial complex - have no idea what advertising means let alone how it works. Advertising is not meant to interrupt and annoy people. Sadly, that’s how small-minded media networks and social platforms think advertising works. That wedging adve…
- [How to make the aha! moment more aha!!!](https://www.boscutti.com/how-to-make-the-aha-moment-more-aha.md) - Have you seen the blunt force mystery thriller television series “Untamed”? It was written by Mark L. Smith (“The Revenant”, “American Primeval”, “Twister”) and his daughter Elle Smith with both doubling as show runners. Given Mark’s pedigree it should come as no surprise that it’s a man vs nature…
- [So you click the link](https://www.boscutti.com/so-you-click-the-link.md) - It’s a survey request from your local politician. With a link to a fairly bland domain name. Seems pretty innocuous. It’s the usual round robin of tepid self-serving questions about reducing cost-of-living pressure, reducing migration to ease housing, reducing tax burden, boosting defense, strength…
- [Corporate fascism](https://www.boscutti.com/corporate-fascism.md) - What’s worse? The fact the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) illegally imprisons individuals? Or the fact those individuals are illegally imprisoned in privately-run windowless detention centers? Or the fact illegally imprisoned individuals on hunger strikes in detention centers are fo…
- [Review: “Blood Meridian”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-blood-meridian.md) - They rode out under a sky blistered with stars and smeared with old wounds. Cormac McCarthy’s violence-riddled western novel is book as scripture. It doesn’t speak so much as howl. The book follows scalp hunters who kill Apaches for bounty and Mexicans for sport and anyone else for the sheer democr…
- [My father wanted a noble death](https://www.boscutti.com/my-father-wanted-a-noble-death.md) - When I was a young man, my father told me that he didn’t want to die in pain or in agony. Didn’t want to fade away in a cloud of narcotics, a mist of scattered memories. He pointed to a pillow and said I would know what to do. Over the years, it became a bit of a running joke. Whenever he wasn’t fe…
- [Ray Bradbury has some questions for you](https://www.boscutti.com/ray-bradbury-has-some-questions-for-you.md) - How long has it been since you wrote a story where your real love or your real hatred somehow got on paper? When was the last time you dared release a cherished prejudice so it slammed the page like a lightning bolt? What are the best things and the worst things in your life, and when are you going…
- [Prince of Thieves](https://www.boscutti.com/prince-of-thieves.md) - When Hermes comes home after stealing Apollo’s cattle, his mother, Maia scolds him over his behaviour. Hermes will have none of it. He explains to her that he doesn’t believe they should go on living obscurely in a cave. He doesn’t believe they should be shunned by the other gods. He believes they…
- [I do not seek, I find](https://www.boscutti.com/i-do-not-seek-i-find.md) - A friend is stuck writing her thesis when, wandering aimlessly through the library, she happens on a carrel where someone had spread out just the article she needed. Antonio Stradivari, walking in Venice one day, comes upon a pile of broken, waterlogged oars, out of which he makes some of his most…
- [Review: “Stories From the City of God”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-stories-from-the-city-of-god.md) - Pier Paolo Pasolini’s collection of stories, sketches and scripts of Rome is a stark, dialectical reminder of a long-forgotten city. A postwar city, a city of dust and concrete, a city of wounds. Pasolini’s writings cover Rome and Italy emerging into the world from 1950 to 1966. From when he first…
- [“BOSCUTTI’S BILL HICKS” (SCREENPLAY) - OPENING SCENE](https://www.boscutti.com/boscutti-bill-hicks-screenplay.md) - EXT. LOS ANGELES - GALAXY MOVIE THEATER - NIGHT An American flag appears upside down, rippling in a slight breeze. A black cowboy boot steps in splattering the reflection in a sidewalk puddle. Then steps forward. We hear BILL HICKS’ whiny voice as we move up his black pants, and long, black coat. H…
- [The First Revolution](https://www.boscutti.com/the-first-revolution.md) - It is July 7, 1647. Dawn spills over the Piazza de Mercato in Naples as the fish sellers and vendors gather for the day’s trade. Grain merchants, money lenders, bakers, fruiterers, poets, butchers, vagabonds, jewellers, thieves, scoundrels, acrobats, bandits, travellers, smugglers, spies, assassins…
- [Review: The Little Friend](https://www.boscutti.com/review-the-little-friend.md) - Donna Tartt’s Southern Gothic opus begins with an inexplicable murder of a young innocent boy in the family yard. It’s this memory that haunts his young twelve-year-old sister, Harriet Dufresnes. A brazen child so obstinate and argumentative, she makes Scout Finch look like a lackadaisical underach…
- [Scenes from the city: The revolution will be streamed](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-city-the-revolution-will-be-streamed.md) - It’s a sparkling day. Brilliant blue skies, tufts of white clouds, two hulking armoured trucks lined with armed immigration agents in full military fatigues trundle through the downtown fashion district toward a clothing wholesaler. Screaming alarms and sirens, lights thrashing red and blue. The si…
- [Review: “Annihilation”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-annihilation.md) - Michel Houellebecq’s “Annihilation” turns its way through dull romance, empty politics and day-to-day domesticity. Weaving through economic collapse, moral decline, and existential angst in a near-future France. It is surprisingly unironic. Tinged with gentle, unexpected tenderness. Like many of Ho…
- [Ray Bradbury’s advice to writers](https://www.boscutti.com/ray-bradburys-advice-to-writers.md) - Every morning jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is you. After the explosion, spend the rest of the day putting the pieces together.
- [Review: “My Name is Asher Lev”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-my-name-is-asher-lev.md) - My name is not Asher Lev, but I too have disappointed my parents with art. Asher looks and draws and paints. His father frowns. His mother wrings her hands and stares at the window. Chaim Potok’s ultra-orthodox coming-of-age novel feels like dust and unspoken guilt. It’s a story about a boy torn be…
- [Creativity](https://www.boscutti.com/creativity.md) - Creativity is the key differentiator. Not creativity for the sake of juicing the algorithms, for boosting followers, for chasing money. Creativity for creativity’s sake. For producing stories and art and song and dance for the thrill of it, the pleasure of it. For the self-revelation and continuous…
- [Review: “Caledonian Road”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-caledonian-road.md) - It’s a heavy book. Not just in weight but in literary posturing. Andrew O’Hagan’s novel is about, well, it’s about a lot of things. About London. About money. About class. About art. About politics. About despair. About the past and how it sways and colours the present. How it swerves into the futu…
- [Freefall](https://www.boscutti.com/freefall.md) - Knowledge and meaning are in freefall. We’re seeing system collapse before our very eyes. Everything we thought we could trust is slipping through our fingers, evaporating. Presidents no longer follow the law, politicians no longer practice decency. Scientists are doubted, experts are despised. Edu…
- [Review: “Intermezzo”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-intermezzo.md) - I have finished reading the novel “Intermezzo” by Sally Rooney, and I am sitting in the same chair I sat in while reading it, which is also the chair where I think about what it means to have read something like this. Did I like it? A question with moral weight, perhaps. I liked it the way you like…
- [Scenes from the city: Electric wonderland](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-city-electric-wonderland.md) - A stream of electric vehicles silently slips by you and you realise the future has already arrived. It’s not fully formed but it’s here. China has become the world’s largest auto market, impacting everything from car design to building cities optimised for self-driving cars. Every major auto-compan…
- [Review: “Earthlings”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-earthlings.md) - Sayaka Murata’s “Earthlings” is a very Japanese novel with a very Japanese protagonist. It starts nice and proper like novels do in Japan, with a girl who doesn’t fit in. Japanese novels always have a girl who doesn’t fit in. But this girl, she really doesn’t fit in. Murata writes clean and sharp a…
- [Scenes from the coast: Cyclist](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-coast-cyclist.md) - The dirt road is straight and true. It runs towards the sea between grazing properties pocked with the occasional house set back on either side of barbed wire fences. Dry and dusty and fringed with clumps of parched grass. You’re driving down the middle of the road because you don’t want to hit all…
- [Scenes from the city: Tale of two cities](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-city-tale-of-two-cities.md) - It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times. There are two posters behind the glass walls of the new tram stop in a suburb synonymous with wealth and privilege. One poster is for Lurpak Butter with a glistening, mouth-watering roast lamb being topped with fresh glazed peas and chopped shallots.…
- [Scenes from the coast: Piano](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-coast-piano.md) - The street curves into the coming night. There’s a faint sound of someone playing a piano coming from a house, notes and chords and melody rippling through the air. A song intoning the heavens. A haunting song. A love song. From inside the house, someone is playing Nick Cave’s “Into My Arms” on a p…
- [Hurry up and wait](https://www.boscutti.com/hurry-up-and-wait.md) - Monday is the busiest day to visit the Magic Kingdom with an average wait time of thirty-eight minutes. Not that visitors seem to mind. Sure people can buy a one-time fast pass to bypass the standby line for a popular attraction. But they don’t care because they’re all on their phones. They’re not…
- [Review: “Creation Lake”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-creation-lake.md) - Rachel Kushner’s dispassionate novel has all the makings of an existential spy thriller. There’s a cynical undercover agent, a mysterious sage who communicates only by email and a radical commune of eco-anarchists scratching out an existence in rural southwest France. The undercover agent is a cock…
- [Scenes from the coast: Rays of golden light](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-coast-rays-of-golden-light.md) - Up in the sky, it’s like a miracle. The sun is setting and the clouds above the horizon have heaved and shifted and parted to create a giant sun-filled crucifix, steaming rays of golden light. It’s only for a moment. And then it’s gone.
- [William S. Burroughs on heroin addiction](https://www.boscutti.com/william-s-burroughs-on-heroin-addiction.md) - It’s 1977 and writer William S. Burroughs is being interviewed on a Canadian television talk show. It’s a simple set. Peter Gzowski is the host in a suit behind a fake wood desk and potted plants. Hot lights, large glass ashtray, yellow legal pad lined with questions. William S. Burroughs sits acro…
- [Review: “A Very Nice Box”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-a-very-nice-box.md) - Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman pull off a neat trick with “A Very Nice Box”. They manage to write an entire debut novel hitting every rom-com beat necessary and then flip it by turning the love interest into the villain who they literally, figuratively and metaphorically trap in a box of their ow…
- [Let’s change things up](https://www.boscutti.com/lets-change-things-up.md) - Yes, it’s a brand new year. It’s time to change things up. To mix things around. To try new things. Uncomfortable things. Unknown things Let’s wind down the regimented publish-a-new-short-story-every-Sunday program. Let’s ease up on the inflexible deadlines. Let’s sway a little. Let’s open up. Let’…
- [“YOU SHOT THE WRONG PRESIDENT” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/you-shot-the-wrong-president-short-story.md) - Thomas faces the consequences of his failed assassination attempt. He sits with a mysterious figure who speaks of presidents and politics, of sin and salvation. A robed figure with the perfect manicure and casual wisdom. Will Thomas learn a hard truth about the path to change? Or will he surrender…
- [Worth a thousand words](https://www.boscutti.com/worth-a-thousand-words.md) - The photograph says it all. Snapped on a phone the moment a Tesla Cybertruck explodes into flames outside the entrance of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. Taken from inside the smooth and polished stone lobby with its towering ceilings and sparkling chandeliers. Through the gold-infused…
- [Let’s riot](https://www.boscutti.com/lets-riot.md) - You need a few things to kick-start a riot. A political ideology isn’t really necessary. Nor is a great deal of planning. What you will need is rabid misinformation, longing for camaraderie and connection, angry and overly emotional online discourse. Oh, and heat. You need heat as in hot weather. R…
- [“AMAZIUM” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/amazium-short-story.md) - In a gleaming high-rise, where designers craft empty words for tech giants, he knows the truth about brands. He walks into a boardroom uninvited, facing down Amazon executives who think they understand the future. They don’t. He has seconds to change their minds. “Amazium” is a kinetic short story…
- [Review: “The Invisible Doctrine”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-the-invisible-doctrine.md) - George Monbiot and Peter Hutchinson call out neoliberalism for what it is. The biggest scam and economic failure of the past forty years. A mockery of economics that reduces every element of society to a transactional net outcome at a constantly lower cost. That turns every citizen into a customer.…
- [“THE JESUS LOOK” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/the-jesus-look-short-story.md) - One morning at the coffeehouse, a stranger sees something in Jake no one else can. Something holy. Something divine. Something lucrative. By the time Jake realises he’s in over his head, it might be too late. “The Jesus Look” is an irreverent short story about finding salvation in the shadows of sa…
- [Scenes from the city: Icarus statue](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-city-icarus-statue.md) - It’s an odd sight at the always hectic airport. Outside the international departures terminal and in the middle of the hurly-burly of frantic passengers rushing to make their flights stands a giant statue of a naked Icarus gazing rapturously upward, his wings fully melted. A mythic figure who defie…
- [“OMNIPUBLIC” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/omnipublic-short-story.md) - Two advertising giants eye each other across the shimmering canyons of New York. One giant will swallow the other whole, and a hundred thousand souls hang in the balance. “Omnipublic” is an advertising short story about desperation and ambition. What happens when an industry that sells dreams forge…
- [Review: “James”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-james.md) - Percival Everett sharpens his pen in this radical retelling of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Everett’s writing cuts like a knife. He takes the bones of Mark Twain's classic American novel and slices it into something new. Something sharp. You'll see some familiar faces. The Duke and the Dau…
- [“GREY NOMADS” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/grey-nomads-short-story.md) - A man stands alone on an empty outback road as a sunset bleeds across the sky. His motorcycle lies twisted in a ditch. There is no blood. There are no wounds. He cannot remember the crash. The road ahead is long and dark, and the stars above hold secrets he may not want to know. “Grey Nomads” is a…
- [Scenes from the coast: New electric scooters](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-coast-new-electric-scooters.md) - The future is coming. There’s no stopping it. There never is. Increasingly it’s coming sooner than expected, a lot sooner and a lot faster. It seems to be accelerating. But isn’t that the nature of time? Everything speeding up everywhere. Out by the coast, the wooden fences between neighbours aren’…
- [“MCPRESIDENT” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/mcpresident-short-story.md) - Five powerful men sit around a mahogany table on a private jet, pretending to enjoy a make-believe meal. It’s a photoshoot meant to show loyalty and camaraderie to the President-elect. Steve Bannon watches from the sidelines, a glint of calculation in his eye. “McPresident” is a biting short story…
- [Review: “Monica”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-monica.md) - Daniel Clowes doesn’t mess about. The opening two-page spread of his heart-wrenching fictional biography jump cuts from amoeba to cavemen to Jesus on the cross to the industrial revolution to the Kennedy assassination to The Beverly Hillbillies. A series of interwoven scenes and flashbacks tumble d…
- [“THE ROAD TO FIEFDOM” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/the-road-to-fiefdom-short-story.md) - Friedrich Hayek sits at his desk, pen in hand, writing the kind of letter that cuts deeper than an apology. His sharp certainty worn blunt by watching his economic theories collide with reality. Free market theories meant to protect individual liberty have become the means to destroy it. “The Road…
- [Scenes from the city: Homeless musician](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-city-homeless-musician.md) - There’s a faint drizzle falling on a grey day. Opposite the art gallery is a park. Verdant grass, proud trees, clumps of flowers in well-cared-for beds. There are deep basalt steps leading to a paved bluestone terrace and a large granite pedestal upon which sits a statue commemorating King Edward V…
- [“PERFECT RED LIPSTICK” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/perfect-red-lipstick-short-story.md) - She paints her lips carefully, precisely, watching the colour bloom. There are dozens of lipsticks in her collection, each containing its own shade of promise. “Perfect Red Lipstick” is a meditative short story about the pursuit of the sublime. What makes a woman spend her life pursuing a single pe…
- [David Milch writes “NYPD Blue”](https://www.boscutti.com/david-milch-writes-nypd-blue.md) - David knows that being alone with his demons in a room with a laptop is not going to produce compelling television drama. In fact, he knows it’s going to end in tears. David’s just come back from another stint in rehab after becoming the head writer and showrunner of “NYPD Blue,” a smart and litera…
- [“DELIRIUM” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/delirium-short-story.md) - President Donald Trump floats naked above the gilded carpet. The air grows thick. Time bends. Reality shifts. Walls breathe and somewhere beyond the concrete and the security cordon, history unravels. “Delirium” is a psychological short story about the illusions of power. What happens when the most…
- [Magnanimous dictators](https://www.boscutti.com/magnanimous-dictators.md) - It’s 1972 and Ennio Flaiano knows he’s going to die. He gets his affairs and journals in order and makes one final entry. It’s about - of all things - beloved dictators. It’s about how dictators have learned how to make themselves loved. It’s no longer enough to reward and punish without reason, to…
- [“THREE MARTINI LUNCH - EPILOGUE” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/three-martini-lunch-epilogue-short-story.md) - Anne Sexton steers wild, cigarette dangling, while Sylvia Plath fixes her lipstick. They are young and brilliant and haunted. They laugh too loud and share too little. The real things stay buried deep. “Three Martini Lunch - Epilogue” is a literary short story about where the real things are. What…
- [A time to die](https://www.boscutti.com/a-time-to-die.md) - It’s 1961 and Ennio Flaiano recounts a story of a sick snake, An ailing python escapes from a little circus in Rome where he used to perform in the evening together with other beasts. The python makes its way to a garden on the periphery of the city. Normally, it would be able to eat a few chickens…
- [“VITAREN” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/vitaren-short-story.md) - In an advertising agency's office high above the city, two creatives struggle with pills and broken pencils. They’re trying to sell a new drug to make people feel immortal. The walls are covered with failed ideas and words they must not use. “Vitaren” is a business short story about running out of…
- [Not until next month!](https://www.boscutti.com/not-until-next-month.md) - It’s July 1958 and Ennio Flaiano runs into an old film extra he’s known for years. Given Rome’s cinematic historico-biblico-mythological re-birth, this film extra has been shuttling from one film to another without even changing his makeup. He is a wise man out of Thebes, an archon of Athens, a cou…
- [“HITLER IN THE BARDO” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/hitler-in-the-bardo-short-story.md) - A lost soul wanders through a supernatural salt mine in Austria, surrounded by the greatest artworks of Europe. Adolf Hitler has just died by his own hand in a Berlin bunker but his consciousness lingers here, desperately searching for his salvation. The smell of gasoline follows him through the da…
- [David Milch teaches a writing class](https://www.boscutti.com/david-milch-teaches-a-writing-class.md) - It’s 1981 and David Milch is an English literature professor at Yale University. He is known for his cerebral and unorthodox approach to writing, for the profanity of his dialogue and for the precision of his plots. His teaching style is also unorthodox. In one class he is lying on the floor at the…
- [“CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/chapter-thirty-seven-short-story.md) - A man walks into a bar, knowing he’s stepping into danger. The front door locks behind him. He’s trapped, outnumbered, but not outmatched. The air hisses with tension as he pushes through the crowd. “Chapter Thirty-Seven” is a brutal short story about the legitimacy of violence. What drives a man t…
- [Petulant photographers](https://www.boscutti.com/petulant-photographers.md) - It’s June 1958. Italian screenwriter, playwright, novelist, journalist, drama critic and occasional poet Ennio Flaiano is writing another film with director Federico Fellini. They’re chatting about how a society as troubled as theirs, which expresses its frigid will to live more by exhibiting itsel…
- [“MEME MACHINE” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/meme-machine-short-story.md) - In a sterile NATO Command Centre, young Americans gather. They’re not soldiers, but a new kind of warrior. General Scott Rutledge stands before them, his chest heaving with medals and his heart heavy with disappointment. He speaks of a new war for democracy where the battlefield is the mind of the…
- [Scenes from the coast: Ghost trees](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-coast-ghost-trees.md) - As night recedes and morning approaches, the ghost trees drift forward. Draped in mist and fog, branches reaching out towards the edge of the endless road. Pale shapes looming in the haze as cold wind slips around the trunks and ripples through the leaves. Evergreen phantoms coming to life as the s…
- [“THREE MARTINI LUNCH” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/three-martini-lunch-short-story.md) - Two women poets meet at the Ritz. Anne Sexton, brash and bold, arrives late. Sylvia Plath, precise and poised, waits patiently. They drink, they smoke, they talk of men and love. “Three Martini Lunch” is a literary short story about creativity and self-expression, about friendship and poetry. How w…
- [Via Veneto](https://www.boscutti.com/via-veneto.md) - It’s July 1957. Ennio Flaiano sits at a cafe table on Via Veneto under an awning in the late afternoon. People are passing this way and that. They don’t walk to their destinations, they saunter by, brushing past the tables, lingering, as if they were in the main square of a little town during some…
- [“SENSORIUM” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/sensorium-short-story.md) - In an underground soundstage, reality bends. Electronic stars watch as President Donald Trump prepares for humanity’s reckoning. An apocalyptic threat looms. A new future awaits. “Sensorium” is a cosmic short story about the end of the world. How will humanity face its greatest challenge? Can one m…
- [Bill Hicks: Some script ideas](https://www.boscutti.com/bill-hicks-some-script-ideas.md) - Scratching down a few ideas to fold into the script. - Bill’s hulking sidekick and protector is named Lenny Big (who’s taller than Bill who’s a good six feet tall) and modelled after Lennie Small in John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.” Some running gag about fluffy stuffed animals. On the road, Lenn…
- [“PHILIP MORRIS READS THE RIOT ACT” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/philip-morris-reads-the-riot-act-short-story.md) - Philip Morris stands before a class of aspiring art directors and copywriters. They’re supremely confident and totally unaware. He’s outspoken and unimpressed. “Philip Morris Reads the Riot Act” is a creative short story about the clash of generations. What will Philip reveal about the true nature…
- [Review: “The Early Stories”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-the-early-stories.md) - Truman Capote’s collection of never-before-published short stories mixes everything from petty jealousies to the blinding violence of adulthood. Brief, terse stories from Capote as an adolescent and young man writing his way through racism and injustice, poverty and loss. Young people lost in daydr…
- [“RASKO” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/rasko-short-story.md) - You’re writing a screenplay based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”. A contemporary take on a classic story of murder and morality, of madness and reality. “Rasko” is a crisp, compelling short story that looks at what drives the protagonist to slaughter. An unrelenting character study.…
- [Scenes from the city: Speaking in sign](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-city-speaking-in-sign.md) - It’s a busy city corner, roaring with life. Trams are trundling by, cement trucks churn, air brakes hiss, cars blare and swerve past. Pedestrians are hustling past, talking loudly at each other or on their phones. Whistles and yells from nearby construction sites. Bulldozers, loaders and excavators…
- [“TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/trickle-down-economics-short-story.md) - Ted Canard thinks he can do no wrong. Yet here he is on a New York sidewalk, his life ebbing away. Moments earlier, he was revelling in his success, blind to the inequity around him. “Trickle-Down Economics” is an incisive short story about the problems of inequality. How does this happen in the he…
- [A diary](https://www.boscutti.com/a-diary.md) - It’s on the ground. In the grass by the corner of the road. Either accidentally dropped or purposely discarded. It’s a small 2024 diary. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. A cheap, unbranded Moleskine look-a-like. Black soft cover with the year stamped on the front, black ribbon bookmark…
- [“ANTI-NUCLEAR” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/anti-nuclear-short-story.md) - In the dead of night, Richard grapples with a daunting task. Richard must craft an anti-nuclear campaign that will sway an entire nation. The clock ticks. Ideas come and go but conventional methods fall short. Until inspiration strikes at the last minute. “Anti-Nuclear” is a creative short story ab…
- [One-line synopsis template](https://www.boscutti.com/one-line-synopsis-template.md) - On the verge of a stasis = death moment, a flawed protagonist breaks into act two but when the midpoint happens, he must learn the theme stated, before all is lost.
- [“LET’S KILL ANDREW TATE - PART THREE” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/lets-kill-andrew-tate-part-three-short-story.md) - In the sweltering heat of Bucharest, three unlikely conspirators converge. They plot the demise of Andrew Tate - a man who peddles misogyny and violence - with determination and dark humour. But fate has other plans. “Let’s Kill Andrew Tate - Part Three” is a thrilling short story about the scourge…
- [Hitler or John F. Kennedy?](https://www.boscutti.com/hitler-or-john-f-kennedy.md) - Who did the most for their country? Who built a highway through their nation? Who boosted employment? Who reduced inflation? Who passed environmental protection laws? Who established financial assistance for low-income families? Who introduced a physical fitness challenge for schoolchildren? Who in…
- [“LET’S KILL ANDREW TATE - PART TWO” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/lets-kill-andrew-tate-part-two-short-story.md) - Two men walk to an apartment filled with books, their intentions heavy in the air. The plan seems simple. Fly to Romania. Find Andrew Tate. End him. But nothing is ever simple when it comes to killing. “Let’s Kill Andrew Tate - Part Two” is a provocative short story about the problems of modern mas…
- [Noticing the trees](https://www.boscutti.com/noticing-the-trees.md) - Dr. Anna Lembke specialises in treating addiction. Increasingly she treats people addicted to their phones. She sometimes urges her patients to unplug from their phones and undergo a dopamine fast for one month. That’s usually how long it takes for the brain to start rewiring. But even unplugging f…
- [“LET’S KILL ANDREW TATE - PART ONE” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/lets-kill-andrew-tate-part-one-short-story.md) - In a dimly lit bookstore, two men stand amidst shelves of worn paperbacks. Edward and Tyler are taking stock of more than just books. As they sort through self-help tomes and discard hollow promises of wealth, a dangerous idea begins to form. “Let’s Kill Andrew Tate - Part One” is a subversive shor…
- [Hitler or Oprah?](https://www.boscutti.com/hitler-or-oprah.md) - Who’s the pet-loving vegetarian? Who has a thing about personal hygiene? Who’s into weight loss and being the best version of themselves? Who gives away cars to complete strangers? Who’s the environmentalist? Who’s the animal rights activist? Who can be polite and utterly charming when they want to…
- [“FELLINIESQUE” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/felliniesque-short-story.md) - A documentary crew chases the elusive Federico Fellini through the labyrinth of Cinecittà Studios. Chaos ensues as the maestro flees, leaving a trail of clowns, cowboys and a tilted Christ statue in his wake. “Felliniesque” is a cinematic short story that bends reality and fantasy. Will Fellini spi…
- [No name, no fame](https://www.boscutti.com/no-name-no-fame.md) - Public recognition is a driver for many mass shooters. Hundreds of mass shooting events every year take thousands of innocent lives. What drives someone to publicly kill another human being? To blithely wipe out human life? Bizarrely the general motive is a quest for significance, for a feeling tha…
- [“NINETEEN FORTY-FOUR” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/nineteen-forty-four-short-story.md) - In war-torn Berlin, a man sits alone, writing. His hand trembles. His words scatter, dark and dangerous. This is Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda master, clinging to his lies as his world crumbles. “Nineteen Forty-Four” is a historical short story about the ruin of absolute power. What’s the pr…
- [La Compagnie des Autres](https://www.boscutti.com/la-compagnie-des-autres.md) - It’s not your usual advertising agency. It’s not filled with your bright young things, your momentary dreamers. Your digital hipsters and social media mavens. Your performance marketers with Nazi haircuts and overgrown beards. Your wily t-shirts and programmatic ad buys. La Compagnie des Autres spe…
- [“NINETEEN THIRTY-FOUR” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/nineteen-thirty-four-short-story.md) - In the heart of Berlin, Joseph Goebbels sits at his desk. Hitler’s propagandist is crafting myths, rituals and hatreds with cold precision. Outside his office, Germany hums with the life he shapes and moulds, a vast machine under his relentless control. “Nineteen Thirty-Four” is a historical short…
- [Review: “Loyalties”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-loyalties.md) - Suffer the children. Delphine de Vigan’s sparse, delicate and disturbing novel intercuts the lives of two young boys propelling headlong into a fatal oblivion. Childhood trauma underlies and unseats all the characters from a divorced mother, unemployed father, perverse parents, lost teachers and -…
- [“NINETEEN TWENTY-FOUR” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/nineteen-twenty-four-short-story.md) - In the bitter streets of Berlin, a young Joseph Goebbels wanders alone. He is hungry. He is shamed. The world has failed him. Hyperinflation and record unemployment are roiling Germany and laying the state to waste. Political shockwaves are ripping the country apart. He buys a newspaper with his la…
- [Take more risks](https://www.boscutti.com/take-more-risks.md) - Our world has never been safer. Sure, there are wars and uprisings (with collateral damage) here and there. But generally speaking, not even a global pandemic can wipe us out. We’ve become incredibly risk-averse. Industrial fatalities are far and few between. Most factories have become beacons of w…
- [“A NOTE” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/a-note-short-story.md) - The room is empty now. A cleaner picks up a discarded note, hastily scribbled on legal paper. Full of panic and desperation. “A NOTE” is a political short story about power slipping away and frantic plans to hold on. In the aftermath of a political storm, this single sheet of paper may change every…
- [Techno-pessimist](https://www.boscutti.com/techno-pessimist.md) - Will all the techno-optimists please shut the fuck up. We’re continually mistreated, manipulated and harangued by the tech industry. Product after product is designed to work against our best interests. Our data, thoughts and connections are mined and sold six million ways from Sunday. We are const…
- [“GODLESS” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/godless-short-story.md) - You’re adrift in an ocean of darkness. A primal fear twists through you as the heavens disappear before your eyes. Do you give in to the rising panic? Or marvel at the cosmic transformation? “Godless” is a short story about the revelations awaiting you. About the choices you will face. 1,000 words…
- [Review: “Prophet Song”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-prophet-song.md) - It is the darkest of times. Paul Lynch’s beautifully titled and beautifully written novel follows one woman’s attempts to save her family in a contemporary Ireland slipping further and further into authoritarian rule. Eilish Stack is left to care for her four children and ageing father after her hu…
- [“NUCLEAR” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/nuclear-short-story.md) - Peter Dutton answers the call on the first ring. As the opposition leader his polling numbers are in the toilet again and there’s hell to pay. He thinks his well-rehearsed lies about nuclear salvation will save the party, save the day. He’s about to find out how wrong he is. “Nuclear” is a scathing…
- [An ice story](https://www.boscutti.com/an-ice-story.md) - A hundred and thirty years ago the only cooling method people had was ice. Men known as ice cutters would go out into the woods and out onto frozen lakes, saw ice by hand, haul it to an ice house where it would be stored and then delivered by hand to those lucky enough to afford an icebox. In the 1…
- [“ENGLISH MAJOR” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/english-major-short-story.md) - Dr. Hawthorne stares at the students’ essays in front of her. She scans the words, detached, programmatic, lacking any spark of original thought. All regurgitated by artificial intelligence. “English Major” is a short story about what it means to be human in an era where technology is rapidly evolv…
- [Review: “More Better Deals”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-more-better-deals.md) - Joe R. Lansdale lets rip with a novel about love and lust gone horribly wrong. There’s an ambitious schmo and a scheming dame. There’s gritty and witty characters aplenty. It’s the old let’s-kill-the-deadbeat-husband-for-the-insurance-money-so-we-can-take-over-an-East-Texas-drive-in-and-pet-cemeter…
- [“MICKEY MOUSE OVERDRIVE” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/mickey-mouse-overdrive-short-story.md) - Mark Toole has been a cast member at Disneyland for more than thirty years. Mark’s the oldest costume Mickey Mouse by a country mile. It’s a tough gig being dressed in a life-size costume that weighs as much as a small man, performing with pep and pluck for thousands of families and children every…
- [Propaganda](https://www.boscutti.com/propaganda.md) - If Aldous Huxley could see us now. When he wrote “Brave New World” almost a hundred years ago, Aldous envisioned an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated and pharmaceutically anaesthetised to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order…
- [“A CHILD” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/a-child-short-story.md) - You were born for this. From the moment you could prop your head up as an infant, you sensed something wasn’t quite right. All you saw was the clumsy plotting all around you. “A Child” strips away nostalgia and sentiment to reveal some honest truths. Are writers born? Or made? 500 words / 2 minutes…
- [Review: “You Think It, I’ll Say It”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-you-think-it-ill-say-it.md) - Curtis Sittenfeld sure knows how to turn out a short story. “You Think It, I’ll Say It” is a collection of her sassier-than-normal short stories where plain-faced and plain-spoken women tend to get the upper hand. If Sittenfeld’s sharp-witted protagonists aren’t writers in flux - magazine writers,…
- [“WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/warning-distressing-content-short-story.md) - The old poet would say hello to everyone. So everyone is shocked when he seems to have simply vanished, disappeared. After a lifetime of living in the city, no one can find him. “Warning: Distressing Content” is a vivid short story about the rise of gentrification and the fall of humanity. What do…
- [Let’s end the technopoly](https://www.boscutti.com/lets-end-the-technopoly.md) - Technology is accelerating faster than ever. And it’s no longer taking us with it. Technology is leaving us behind as it vaults and skitters into a post-human future. Spasms of electrical circuits, spitting out strands of code and silicon across every area of life. Media and communications theorist…
- [“THE REAL THING” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/the-real-thing-short-story.md) - Rob Malone is about to learn the real secret of Coca-Cola. It’s not what he thinks it is. Not even close to what he imagines. “The Real Thing” is a corporate short story about safeguarding the company’s most precious assets. About the true nature of the most famous beverage in the world. 2,000 word…
- [Brittle white roses](https://www.boscutti.com/brittle-white-roses.md) - You drive past the country cemetery on a cool morning. Rows of the dead long buried and long forgotten. Weathered headstones and tombstones. Markers half-sunken into the earth. A small memorial garden shaded by outstretched gums. On the lawn along the road you see small clumps of perfect white rose…
- [“TONGUE” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/tongue-short-story.md) - A young boy hurtles through a thick forest, pursued by a pack of angry boys. “Tongue” is a chilling short story about blindly following rituals and traditions, about the secrets that bind us together. About the sacrifices we make. What will happen when they catch the young boy? What terrible fate a…
- [Starting a fire](https://www.boscutti.com/starting-a-fire.md) - John August reminds you that as a writer it’s your job to burn the house down. Splash metaphorical or real gasoline all over the place, strike a match and let it fly. You need to burn down houses. You need to push characters out of their safe places into the big, unsafe and scary world. And you nee…
- [“CNN” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/cnn-short-story.md) - Another day another presentation for creative director Philip Morris. Philip is holed up in a luxury hotel suite, sweating the details for a major strategy presentation to the new chairman and chief executive officer of CNN. “CNN” is a short story about the future of news media in a world where med…
- [Review: “I Hear You’re Rich”](https://www.boscutti.com/review-i-hear-youre-rich.md) - Diane William’s short story collection of flash fiction is sure to take your breath away. Quick, slight, incisive. Like ribbons of dreams flung into the air. Softly coloured paper ribbons unfurling, sometimes tearing and shredding. Surreal in a no-nonsense, no-fuss Midwestern kind of way. Rivers of…
- [“ENNIO FLAIANO HAS A DREAM” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/ennio-flaiano-has-a-dream-short-story.md) - Ennio Flaiano hasn’t been sleeping well. The celebrated writer and poet - and occasional screenwriter - is behind on several projects. Deadlines for two film scripts have come and gone. Production companies are chasing him for meetings. All the while Rome is in the full bloom of spring, spoiled wit…
- [Scenes from the coast: For a few chips more](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-coast-for-a-few-chips-more.md) - As the ten-piece band on stage roars through one classic Ennio Morricone track after the other, one woman keeps diving her hand into a large bag of potato crisps. Keeps pulling out one thin chip at a time and placing each one between the fingers of her other hand. Keeps munching each chip between h…
- [“IMPERIUM” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/imperium-short-story.md) - It’s been a long day. President Donald Trump and Steve Bannon have finally slipped out of their fat suits and are settling in for the night. Vintage champagne and imported sashimi are served in a second oval office soundstage within a nuclear-proof silo deep under the White House as both men ponder…
- [Scenes from the coast: A fistful of chips](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-coast-a-fistful-of-chips.md) - It’s a coastal country hotel with a reputation for outstanding live music. Green hills rolling down to the sea and a low-key welcoming outdoor performance space that’s drawn the likes of Ed Kuepper, Kevin Welch, Mia Dyson, Don Walker, Steve Kilbey et al. This evening it’s The Counterfeit, a ten-pie…
- [“THE STAIRWELL” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/the-stairwell-short-story.md) - You’ve been trying to avoid them after you left your old life. But they’ve finally found you. And they’re not going to let bygones be bygones. “The Stairwell” is a quick literary short story about life. And death. 500 words / 2 minutes of erudite reading pleasure Keep scrolling to read online. ‘We…
- [“TEACHING PRIVATE SCHOOLGIRLS HOW ADVERTISING WORKS” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/teaching-private-schoolgirls-how-advertising-works-short-story.md) - Philip Morris stumbles into a classroom to give a talk on advertising. Critical thinking. Media literacy. Societal dynamics. Market analysis. Consumer behaviour. External factors. Internal drivers. Creative engagement. Strategy development. Campaign generation. Value perceptions. Status referencing…
- [Colonial drug dealers](https://www.boscutti.com/colonial-drug-dealers.md) - Our modern world was built on imperial and colonial drug dealing. Trading in tobacco, sugar, tea, and opium was the foundation of our modern Western world. Britains’s empire upon which the sun never set, the slave trade and conquest of North and South America, the Caribbean, and South and East Asia…
- [“MAESTRO” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/maestro-short-story.md) - Bradley Cooper is desperate for an Oscar. Nominated for so many Academy Awards he’s lost count, “Maestro” was to be his masterstroke. True to the title, the bombastic biopic was produced, written, directed and starred Bradley in the lead role. It was tailor-made to win Oscars. Now Bradley is meetin…
- [Scenes from the coast: Birds on a wire](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-coast-birds-on-a-wire.md) - Up on the overhead electrical lines are four birds. Feathered dots against the endless silver blue sky. All looking north into the hot sun.
- [“X” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/x-short-story.md) - Elon Musk is jetting across the world to yet another apology tour. With his companies on fire and public opinion turning against him, he’s in the worst mood of his life - enraged that no one understands him and haemorrhaging billions of dollars. “X” is a business short story about the problems of b…
- [Do horses fly?](https://www.boscutti.com/do-horses-fly.md) - It was pioneering photographer Eadweard Muybridge who made history by proving that horses lift all four feet when in full gallop. On June 15, 1878, Muybridge used a bank of cameras and high-speed stop-motion photography to capture a horse in motion in real time for the first time. Muybridge had imm…
- [“ABC” (SHORT STORY)](https://www.boscutti.com/abc-short-story.md) - You’re in an ABC waiting room. You’re waiting to make a presentation to save Australia’s state-funded broadcaster from its own mismanagement, its own demise. “ABC” is a corporate short story about the inevitability of change. Can you afford to wait any longer? Rated PG / 1,000 words / 4 minutes of…
- [Scenes from the coast: Supermarket shopping](https://www.boscutti.com/scenes-from-the-coast-supermarket-shopping.md) - You rush into the supermarket to pick up a few staples. You spot a man pushing a shopping trolly towards the checkout lanes. There are only three items inside the metal trolly. One packet of honey soy chicken potato chips and two huge 55” 4K Ultra HD Smart TVs picked up from a nearby shelf. Packed…

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