Writing and Acting
His sister told the press that Steakley went to Hollywood at the invitation of screenwriter L.M. "Kit" Carson. He sold a film treatment, and played a bit part ("Local 1") in at least one film, Don't Open the Door!, but "he stayed out there a few years and just hated it." Steakley (whose childhood fantasy was reportedly to be a science fiction writer) returned to Texas, and wrote. He had his first professional short story publication, "The Bluenose Limit", in the March 1981 issue of Amazing Stories; and another, "Flyer", in the September 1982 issue. He published two major novels, Armor (1984) and Vampire$ (1990). According to his website, he worked on the incomplete Armor II for years.
Steakley was the writer for, and played a nameless bit part in, a 1997 film, Scary Texas Movie. In 1998, John Carpenter directed a screen adaptation of Vampire$ (retitled Vampires), which starred James Woods as the leader of a Catholic Church-sanctioned team of vampire hunters. Steakley played one more nameless bit part in the 2000 film Playing Dead, directed by Brad Keller (Scary Texas Movie was Keller's first film as a director).
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