Spoiler Warning:
The material on this page contains full story synopses, plot twists, and endings. It is intended for industry professionals, producers, agents, and companies evaluating adaptation potential.
Readers, Take Note:
If you’re here as a fan — this isn’t the place. No, seriously. Turn back now unless you want everything spoiled. Please head to the Books page for spoiler-free descriptions and previews.
Stories Built for the Screen
My work in psychological horror is written with an eye toward adaptation. Each of my novels—They Heinous, First Responder, Bereft Reality, Picking Murphys, Site 123, and others—features layered characters, cinematic settings, and narratives that translate naturally to film and television. With themes of mental illness, systemic failures, identity, and survival, these stories are designed to resonate with both readers and viewing audiences, offering compelling arcs for screen.
I retain all literary, film, and television rights to my works. On this page, you’ll find executive pitches, spoiler synopses, and loglines crafted for industry professionals evaluating adaptation potential. Each book stands on its own, but many interconnect through shared themes and recurring characters, making them suitable for limited series, ongoing television arcs, or feature-length films. Whether you are seeking a contained story with sharp impact or a property that can expand into a multi-project franchise, my catalog offers both.
I am currently seeking literary and film/TV representation to bring these works to a wider audience. My goal is to partner with agents, producers, and studios who share a vision for intelligent, character-driven horror with cultural and commercial reach. For inquiries, collaboration, or to request a full pitch deck, please reach out through my [Contact page]. Together, we can develop properties that not only entertain, but also provoke thought and conversation long after the credits roll.
Rights Statement
All literary, film, and television rights to First Responder, They Heinous, and all other works by James H. Summers are currently retained by the author. No adaptation, distribution, or derivative rights have been assigned, sold, or licensed.
Media Contact
For media inquiries, representation discussions, or adaptation requests regarding the works of James H. Summers, please contact:
James H. Summers
Email: darkfictionauth@gmail.com
Phone: by request
Website: www.peggylanders.com
Please include your name, company, and the nature of your inquiry. Materials such as full synopses, manuscripts, or pitch decks are available upon request.
Film & TV Adaptation Opportunities
First Responder – Video Here
Full Spoiler Synopsis
The night belongs to him.
By day he hides, but at night he works quietly at an eating disorder clinic, offering support to patients whose darkest hours often come when the rest of the world sleeps. He is patient, attentive, a steady voice in the void. But Brad Stevens is no ordinary doctor—he is a vampire.
Between group sessions and midnight confessions, he tunes in to his police scanner, waiting for the next call. When the alarm sounds, he answers—not in an ambulance, but in the shadows. He arrives first, faster than any siren, feeding on the wounded and the dying before carefully erasing all trace of his presence. To the world, he is a ghost, but to himself, he is what he has always been: the first responder.
But someone has noticed. A female EMT, used to arriving moments after the chaos begins, starts seeing patterns no one else can explain. The trail of strange deaths and unanswered questions leads her to a secret she has been searching for—a discovery that will change not only her life but the balance of power between the living and the undead.
Looming over them are two ancient French vampires with hidden agendas, their designs tangled in secrecy, betrayal, and old blood. As their plans tighten like a noose, Brad finds himself hunted as much as he hunts. Old ghosts from his past resurface, and danger follows him everywhere—even to a late-night diner where he lingers too long over waffles, cold coffee, and the sudden reappearance of another woman of interest…
As his enemies close in and his hunger for her sharpens, Brad is torn between survival, obsession, and the impossible task of keeping his fractured world from burning down around him. Watchers in the dark. In a city that never sleeps, the line between savior and predator, healer and killer, is written in crimson. And for the first responder vampire, every call may be his last.
Attraction and danger blur when he crosses paths with her again—a woman whose scars, secrets, and online exhibitionist fantasies carry their own dark allure. He visits her, their romance passionate. Intense. Rehearsed? He knew what she liked; streaming it live over the internet, however, that he knew nothing about.
Now there were loose ends to be addressed. Bloodletting. Cleansing fire… then there were the ones who watched…
Key Pitch Points for Investors
- Fresh vampire mythology: A doctor who works nights at an eating disorder clinic doubles as a secret “first responder,” arriving at emergencies before the sirens — feeding on the dying while masking his true identity.
- Dual tension arcs: Combines intimate psychological horror (Brad’s obsession with patients and a dangerous romance) with a high-stakes supernatural conspiracy (ancient French vampires manipulating events from the shadows).
- Marketable protagonist: Brad Stevens is both a predator and healer — a vampire who straddles the line between savior and monster, creating moral ambiguity perfect for long-form storytelling.
- Built-in romance & obsession: A fiery relationship with a scarred, secretive woman adds erotic tension, betrayal, and voyeuristic twists that expand beyond horror into thriller/romance cross-appeal.
- Franchise potential: With ancient vampires, rival hunters, and Brad’s double life as doctor and predator, the property expands naturally into sequels or a serialized adaptation.
First Responder — Executive Pitch
First Responder reimagines the vampire myth through the lens of a doctor who can’t resist answering the call of crisis. By day, Brad Stevens is a quiet clinician at an eating disorder clinic, guiding fragile patients through recovery. By night, he tunes into a police scanner, slipping into accident scenes and crime sites before the first responders arrive. There, he feeds — carefully, methodically, and invisibly.
But his secret life unravels when a sharp-eyed EMT begins to notice the trail of anomalies he leaves behind. As her investigation collides with his hunger, Brad’s carefully built mask begins to fracture. Add to this the arrival of two ancient French vampires pulling strings from the shadows, a dangerous romance with a woman whose secrets mirror his own, and a web of obsession, betrayal, and blood that threatens to consume them all.
Blending the intimacy of Interview with the Vampire with the forensic grit of Nightcrawler, First Responder is a dark, character-driven thriller made for prestige television or a feature film franchise.
Logline
A nocturnal doctor secretly feeds on victims of tragedy while posing as a first responder, but when an EMT uncovers his pattern, their collision exposes a deadly game with ancient vampires and the ghosts of his past.
Taglines
- Every siren hides a darker call.
- He saves no one. He answers everyone.
- The first responder arrives before the ambulance — and he’s hungry.
Comparable Titles (Comps)
- Interview with the Vampire (character-driven vampire mythos)
- Nightcrawler (crime-scene voyeurism and obsession)
- Dexter (antihero navigating morality and predation)
Format Potential
- Prestige TV series: Episodic emergencies + ongoing vampire conspiracy.
- Feature film: Standalone thriller with room for sequels.
They Heinous
Full Spoiler Synopsis
They Heinous opens with the savage re-injury and abduction of J-Nice, a vulnerable woman recovering from surgery who had been judged “unworthy” of continued physiotherapy after she stopped attending sessions and failed to keep up with at-home exercises. The predator disguises himself as a service worker, invades her home, humiliates her, and vanishes with both her and her dog. This establishes the novel’s core engine: patients who falter in their recovery are being “cleaned up” under the guise of protecting a strained healthcare system.
The narrative splits into parallel perspectives. Sami, a handicapped investigative reporter and recovering alcoholic, notices a pattern of women disappearing after dropping out of physical therapy. Her stakeouts at a suburban clinic—armed with her tactical cane, snacks, and relentless note-taking—document which patients stop showing, which staff members enforce strict compliance, and how the institution quietly discards those deemed failures. Claire, a bullied teenage hacker working for the shadowy CotD network, uncovers deeper digital links: canceled appointments, denial codes, and billing adjustments that line up eerily with the disappearances. Trenton, plagued by violent dreams, experiences nightmares that mirror crimes only discovered afterward, casting doubt on his sanity and hinting at a psychic tether to the violence.
Meanwhile, patients like Susan and Margaret are abducted. Susan’s disappearance after a LARPing session leads to her being brutalized by Nikki, a sadistic figure who stages degradation like theater. Margaret becomes a grotesque centerpiece of punishment, her body exploited to demonstrate what happens when patients “quit trying.” Sami’s suspicion grows around Nick, a dedicated physiotherapist whose perfectionism crosses ethical lines. His clinical notes read like verdicts: rigid judgments about progress, compliance, and worth. His twin shadow, Nikki, thrives on performance and cruelty, reveling in the ritual of suffering.
By Week Two, the horror escalates. Claire is struck by a car, then assaulted at home by the Creepy Thin Man, a red-haired predator from her past who slips into her room only to vanish without evidence. Sami’s anonymous source continues to feed her addresses where bodies will be found—evidence that she is either being helped by someone on the inside or manipulated by the killer directly.
The novel crescendos in confrontation: Sami’s investigation finally reveals that Nick and Nikki are the same person. Nick, the rigid healer, and Nikki, the sadistic predator, are two fractured identities of a single individual living with untreated, unacknowledged mental illness and struggling with transgender identity. Some days Nick arrives at the clinic, setting impossibly high standards for patients. On others, Nikki emerges, punishing those who falter, abducting and staging their suffering as both a performance and a perverse form of justice. The split is invisible to most—colleagues see only professionalism, patients see only judgment, but Sami witnesses the deadly oscillation.
In the climax, Sami corners Nick/Nikki with enough data, witness notes, and hacked records to prove the killings. But rather than writing a neat exposé of a serial killer, she pivots her story. Sami reframes the crimes through the lens of mental illness, systemic neglect, and identity misunderstood. She recognizes that the killer’s worldview—removing “time-wasters” from a system already on life support—was shaped as much by the broken healthcare maze as by personal delusion. She withholds the name, choosing instead to expose the systemic failure that allowed Nick/Nikki to believe their killings were a twisted form of help.
The novel closes unresolved: victims silenced, survivors traumatized, the Creepy Thin Man still at large, and Sami shifting her reporting from crime to a broader, more dangerous exposé. Rather than simply solving murders, she aims to hold a mirror to society’s complicity—how labels like handicapped, noncompliant, or undeserving become lethal when weaponized.
Key Pitch Points for Investors:
- Multi-layered psychological horror that blends true-crime procedural energy with systemic critique.
- Unique protagonist: Sami, a handicapped, recovering alcoholic reporter whose resilience becomes her investigative edge.
- Contemporary themes: systemic healthcare failure, transgender identity, mental illness stigma, voyeurism, and journalistic ethics.
- High-stakes thriller tension: abductions, stakeouts, hacking sequences, staged ritualistic abuse, and escalating confrontations.
- Twist: Nick and Nikki, thought to be separate predators, are revealed as one fractured individual whose untreated mental illness and identity struggles drive both halves of their violent duality.
- Ending sets up sequels: Sami reframes her story, trading a “serial killer caught” narrative for a deeper examination of societal systems, while open threads (the Creepy Thin Man, CotD network) promise further danger.
They Heinous is not just a horror novel—it’s a layered franchise foundation that interrogates mental illness, the healthcare system, and the peril of good intentions warped into violence.
They Heinous — Executive Pitch
They Heinous is a psychological horror thriller that blends the relentless tension of Silence of the Lambs with the systemic critique of Spotlight. When women who’ve “failed” their physiotherapy vanish, Sami, a handicapped investigative reporter and recovering alcoholic, follows the trail. Her relentless stakeouts and the hacked data of Claire, a bullied teen prodigy, reveal a chilling truth: someone is “cleaning up” patients deemed undeserving of care in an already strained healthcare system.
The predator appears in two forms: Nick, a perfectionist physiotherapist, and Nikki, a sadistic abductor who stages degradation as ritual. The shocking reveal—Nick and Nikki are the same fractured individual, living with untreated mental illness and wrestling with transgender identity—forces Sami to shift her exposé from simply unmasking a killer to indicting the very system that enabled them. The climax reframes the murders not as random cruelty, but as the violent outcome of a culture that labels, discards, and neglects.
With serial-killer suspense, systemic resonance, and a unique heroine, They Heinous is built for adaptation as a prestige thriller series or feature. It’s a story about identity, obsession, and the peril of believing you’re doing the right thing—for all the wrong reasons.
Taglines
Chilling / Horror-driven
- Some patients miss their therapy. Others never come back.
- Care ends where obsession begins.
- Discharged from treatment. Condemned to death.
- Not everyone who heals deserves to live. Not everyone who hurts deserves to die.
Thematic / Social Commentary
- When healthcare decides who deserves to survive, horror takes the night shift.
- Labels don’t just wound—they kill.
- A broken system breeds broken justice.
- Noncompliant. Unworthy. Words become weapons in the wrong hands.
Cinematic / Pitch-ready
- A reporter hunts a killer. The truth hunts her back.
- Two faces of compassion. One truth of horror.
- Justice means nothing if the system itself is guilty.
- They thought they were saving the system. They were destroying lives.