CHAPTERS: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25

BONUS CHAPTERS: TBD

LOGLINE

In this sometimes farcical, sci-fi thriller with a Romeo and Juliet twist, a time traveler from 1988 embarks on a mission to find an antidote for his girlfriend, who is in a coma. However, he risks becoming stranded in New York in 2025 when an internet writer uncovers his secret and decides to write a GUIOPERA about it.

UPLOADED

Friday September 5, 2025 – 4:00 PM (Central Time, USA)

CHAPTER 1

“BAD DREAMS”

A dot in the darkness of space grew until it became apparent that it was a body with flailing arms and legs that kicked violently as it swam against a tide of cosmic dust and particles of matter. 

Through gases and constellations, the body flew recklessly toward the light until it pierced a wormhole, at which time it began floating in the dense, otherworldly atmosphere. 

Inside an orange membrane, similar to an amniotic sac protecting a fetus in the mother’s womb, we meet Iakopo Ioane, aged 23, for the first time. 

His bronzed Polynesian features were caricatured behind the opaque, orangy film that cocooned him from the elements. His hands pushed against the walls of his embryonic capsule. 

His eyes were closed but not as tightly as an unborn baby’s—more like he was meditating as the cocoon drifted toward an opening that pulsed in the distance.

Beneath the sanctuary of this event horizon, New York City bustled on a Friday at dusk. 

Behind the wheel of a tired looking sedan sat Cooper, a Caucasian man in his thirties, balding with a cartoon-like complexion. 

Cooper braced himself, tonight was his first gig as a bodyguard-driver. 

As a beat cop who had been repeatedly overlooked for promotion, his only regret was that he hadn’t grown a pair earlier to make the decisive move for himself and his family.

In civilian clothes, with his badge on his hip, which was a requirement whenever he carried his firearm, Cooper looked just like he had made Detective Third Grade, or second, or even first, for that matter. 

Cooper turned up the radio playing “Bad Dreams” by Teddy Swims as he imagined himself walking down the alley as an NYPD detective in slow motion—wind caressing his aerodynamic bald head, trench coat swaying….

The fanciful thought was fleeting as Copper locked eyes with his Uber ID photo on the dashboard. 

It glared back at Cooper with the same contempt and disdain he held for himself deep within.

The self-loathing pity party festered as it always did, till Cooper’s face reddened, and he began heaving at his ineptness. 

As he reached for the door handle, the alley behind the Park Royale hotel lit up.

Above the clouds, the cocoon membrane that once protected Iakopo peeled away in flames as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere. Iakopo awoke to the rush of air that distorted his features as he hurtled toward his final destination.

Cooper gagged again, barely managing to keep from vomiting. He reached for his phone and found it just as the car door opened, causing him to fall out.

The alley blazed brighter than high noon on a summer’s day, not to mention the deafening noise of a wormhole emitting an animate object from a stabilized fissure created by exotic matter.

The last thing Iakopo remembered was seeing New York City unfurling beneath him as he flew toward it.

Cooper had to choose! It was either to record what was happening or control his urge to purge his self-loathing. Usually, he was able to make it to a toilet or a waste bin out of sight. 

The common occurrence had earned Cooper the nickname “Spew” at the precinct.

Covered in his own puke and retching, Cooper staggered to his feet, phone on record as he aimed it all around him like a weapon.

They say that the impact of a traveler landing at their final destination is comparable to a hydrogen bomb explosion, which is greater than an atomic bomb. The entry is felt only by the participants or players in the event. 

However, the key players are protected from the blast, which is meant to close the wormhole they just exited.

Shards of glass from the exploding windows of Cooper’s car sprayed his face before he heard the tumultuous sound of the family car imploding.

“Slipping into bad dreams, where there’s no you and I…” 

Iakopo opened his eyes. The catchy tune echoed in his head as his ears were blocked for some reason. He raised his head slightly so he could see where he was.

He lay on the roof of a collapsed vehicle in an alley. Next to it, a man covered in vomit and dressed as a cartoon character held a calculator over him. Or, was it a dictaphone? Whatever it was, he held it like his life depended on it.

“Who are you? What are you?” The nervous man had an American accent. 

Iakopo lifted an arm to see if he could. It felt fine. He looked at it and realized he, too, was wearing a cartoon costume of some sort. It was more comic book than the man standing over him. The man’s outline was more refined, like he was from a children’s book.

“Who… are you?” Iakopo stuttered as he noticed a sign that said “ALFABET JONES MUSIC LAB.” 

Wow, Iakopo realized he was in New York outside Alfabet Jones, the famous music producer’s bar.

Just then, a door opened across the alley from the bar, and Iakopo heard a familiar voice. “My driver is meeting me here.” It was Jacobe Castro, Diwa’s dad.

What the hell was he doing here? Iakopo leapt to his feet. 

“What the?!” A shocked Iakopo managed as he landed outside the door to the bar, a good ten meters from the crumpled car. 

Iakopo ducked inside the bar as Jacobe, an impeccably groomed, wealthy man of Asian descent, stepped into the alley.

***

Inside the bar, Iakopo marveled at the memorabilia on the walls, all his heroes, from Nile Rodgers and Bowie to Madonna and Jellybean Benitez, and LA Reid and Babyface.

“Can I help you?” On stage, Cassidy Butch, also in caricature, and a country singer, from her cowboy hat and denim outfit, was engrossed in the same thing, the spew-covered guy in the alley pointed at him.

“What’s that you’re looking at?” In an attempt to buy himself some time and out of genuine curiosity, Iakopo asked.

“What? This?” Cassidy held up the small, rectangular device, which displayed images. “Yeah.”

“It’s the iPhone 16 Pro Max,” Cassidy proudly proclaimed.

“Oh!” Iakopo nodded knowingly, not wanting to look stupid.

“Can I help you?” Cassidy repeated.

On the noticeboard, a bright pink flier stood out: “Songwriter Needed!”

“Ah, I’m here for the songwriter job,” Iakopo pretended.

“Where you from?” Cassidy’s Tennessee roots shone through her southern accent.

“Australia, I mean New Zealand.” On hearing his admission out loud, Iakopo knew he was in trouble.

“Cool jacket. Do you have a demo reel? Cassidy enquired.

“A tape?” Iakopo shrugged.

“Online?” Cassidy added.

The rest of the interaction echoed in Iakopo’s throbbing head as he looked down at himself and his cartoon costume. At least he had on his favorite Marlon Brando biker jacket, he thought.

Up till now, it hadn’t dawned on Iakopo that he might be dreaming. And if he was all he had to do was wake up to end this nightmare. And where was Diwa?

“I love you and I need you to set me free, from all of these, all of these…” Teddy Swims reiterated.

The music was everywhere. Iakopo could feel it inside him, on his skin. It radiated from every object in his orbit as the room began spinning.

TO BE CONTINUED

YOUTUBE MUSIC LINK 1: Teddy Swims – Bad Dreams (Official Music Video)

CHAPTERS: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25

BONUS CHAPTERS: TBD

GUIOPERA ’25 CHARACTERS

Cooper, a police officer in his 30s, is frequently overlooked for promotion, so he moonlights as a driver and bodyguard for Jacobe Castro when the tycoon is in New York.

Jacobe Castro, 44, arrived in New Zealand aged twenty with his mother and just a suitcase; since then, he has transformed his dreams into a global hotel empire.

Alfabet Jones, an ’80s and ’90s music producer who no one has seen in nearly thirty years, is rumored to have released new material, or is it just another internet hoax.

BUY LINKS

Amazon | iTunes | Spotify

BUY LINKS

Amazon | iTunes | Spotify

BUY LINKS

Amazon | iTunes | Spotify

BUY LINKS

Amazon | iTunes | Spotify

BUY LINKS

Amazon | iTunes | Spotify

BUY LINKS

Amazon | iTunes | Spotify

CHAPTERS: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25

BONUS CHAPTERS: TBD