I've had a few short stories published in local publications, and was a writer and eventually editor-in-chief of the Journal of International affairs. I have a love-hate relationship with the movie "The Matrix" ... when I saw it I was blown away by it like everyone else, but at the same time I was somewhat depressed and practically outraged since I had written (or had written most of) that story 8 years before the movie was even conceived. Granted, some of the elements and definetely the characters were different, but the core story, technology, theme, etc. were nearly identical. So similiar in fact I at one point thought it possible (and still have not ruled it out) that my master's thesis advisor (who is a published SF and non-fiction writer with contacts in "the biz") talked to someone who talked to someone, who talked to the Wachowski brothers, after hearing details of, and seeing notes for, my story: "Project DreamLine." Far-fethced? Maybe ... but I'll always wonder ... dang-it! Just goes to show you, NEVER put off a good idea when it comes to writing. A page a day, a page a day ... and it WILL get done. Wow, thanks for letting me get THAT off my chest in a public forum. ;-) -Tim PS> I have a Masters in English -- writing concentration. My latest project is a script (which was a year and a half in the making) for a featurette-length (about 55 mins) animation (using Poser, Bryce, 3DSMax, Lightwave, Adobe AE, Illusion, etc.) coming out early next year. Thanks to those of you helping with set design. The voice talent is going to be the real budget killer though! Any actors out there???