? of the Week: SF/F Books That Made You Cry
This week, we really want to know about the SF/F books you’ve read that made you cry. What about those books put tears in your eyes? The last book to make me cry was the 6th Harry Potter book, in part because I had fallen in love with Richard Harris’ portrayal of Dumbledore. I cried from the moment of Dumbledore’s death until the end (a good 40 pages worth of crying) and my sister had to console me. What about you? (To be fair, this feature has never been a weekly thing. So be it.)
Flick Bits: Darkover to Hollywood! (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
From CominSoon.net: Producers Ilene Kahn Power and Elizabeth Stanley have secured the rights to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s renowned “Darkover” novels and are currently developing a multi-platform television series around the saga, the pair announced today. A gifted and prolific science-fiction and fantasy writer, Bradley, who garnered the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2000, was the author of over 66 books and 105 short stories. More good news, right? Of course, this news is far from the real news we want to see: Darkover to the screen! But it’s a big jump in the right direction! Marion Zimmer Bradley is one of the most important authors in SF/F and one who well deserves a debut on our television screens. Let’s hope this comes true! And Darkover does seem to be in good hands: Ilene Kahn Power is perhaps best known for producing TV Movies and miniseries, such as Traffic, Gia, Buffalo Soldiers, and Roswell. Elizabeth Stanley produced The Dark Path Chronicles and Trailers From Hell. We wish them all the success in the world for bringing this to the small screen! ComingSoon.net has some quotes from Power and Stanley, which might be of interest to you all, in part because they demonstrate a certain love for the books on the part of the now-producers. I think it takes a bit of love to make something like this work, don’t you?
Flick Bits: Terry Brooks’ Magic Kingdom For Sale Optioned!
From the man himself: Warner Brothers has optioned Terry Brooks’ best-selling MAGIC KINGDOM OF LANDOVER series of books for Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road Pictures and Andy Cohen’s Grade A Entertainment. Goldsman and Cohen will produce with Weed Road’s Kerry Foster and Alex Block overseeing for Weed Road. Warner Brothers’ Matt Cherniss brought the book series into the studio and will run point. Brooks was represented by Anne Sibbald of Janklow & Nesbit Associates. Weed Road is in preproduction on A WINTER’S TALE written and to be directed by Goldsman. Recent credits include PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 and FAIR GAME. Cohen last produced UNTRACEABLE starring Diane Lane. He’s currently working on the stage show, HEATHERS – THE MUSICAL and the indie film, IN SIGHT. I’ve said it before: this kind of news always makes me grin. Brooks is a widely read author. While I haven’t read any of his novels, I did read his book about writing, which I found incredibly fascinating (more autobiography than writing text). If you’re of the writing persuasion, I’d recommend it. And since I haven’t read Brooks’ novels, I have to ask: Have any of you read them? If so, what did you think? Do you think Magic Kingdom For Sale will make a good movie? The comments are open to all of you!
A New Viking Amoeba Recruit from Myke Cole
We just interviewed him (episode goes live tomorrow), but nothing tides you over like a little bit of art and geek humor! Here you go: The Taephus Commando — Dictavian Scoidius Strength 7; Intelligence 5 Special Ability: Reinforcements (If Dictavian is outnumbered in combat, you may draw enough Viking Amoebas from your Consumed pile to even the odds, starting from the top) (Shadow Ops: Control Point by Myke Cole)
Flick Bits: Tad Williams’ Otherland + Warner Bros. = Feature Film (Your Thoughts?)
If you haven’t heard already, Warner Bros. has acquired the rights to Tad Williams’ science fiction series (Otherland). From Variety: Warner Bros. is heading to “Otherland,” acquiring feature rights to Tad Williams’ sci-fi book series and setting it up with Dan Lin to produce. Studio has tapped John Scott III to script the film, based on the four books published by DAW-Penguin USA between 1996 and 2001 as “City of Golden Shadow,” “River of Blue Fire,” “Mountain of Black Glass” and “Sea of Silver Light.” Good news? You bet. Some of the folks attached to this project have been involved in Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, Gangster Squad, Terminator Salvation, The Departed, etc. John Scott III is currently penning an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Caves of Steel, which better turn out great if he knows what’s good for him… The good thing about this is that it shows how valuable SF/F has become to the Hollywood community. There have been so many announcements for pending or currently-being-produced adaptations in the last five years that it’s rather surprising there are any properties left to snatch up (hyperbole police, anyone?). And if we’re really lucky, maybe Philip K. Dick won’t be the only classic SF/F author to have over 10 of his works adapted for the small or big screen (I’ve intentionally taken H. G. Wells and Jules Verne out of the equation because, from a generic standpoint, they are only SF/F authors in retrospect; science fiction was not codified as a generic tradition until decades after Well and Verne had released their most popular genre works. But you can ignore me on this point and include Wells and Verne as high contenders for the SF/F-author-with-the-most-film-adaptations Award.) In any case, Tad Williams is a fairly recent author. I haven’t read any of his work, but I’m told he’s quite good. Have any of you readers/listeners read the Otherland series? Do you think it will make a good movie? Why or why not? More importantly: what do you all think about all these film adaptation announcements?
The 2011 Google Reading List
Since August of 2011, we’ve been running a special feature on Google+ called “What Are You Reading?” All sorts of people have left their responses, which I’ve taken and entered into a Google Form for everyone to see. Here are some of the relevant statistics: 292 entries since August, not including double entries for individuals who were still reading the same book for several weeks (including myself) George R. R. Martin was the most popular author with 7 entries overall; R. A. Salvatore was a close second with 6 Runner-ups were Anthony Brandt, Jim Butcher, C. J. Cherryh, Larry Correia, Thomas Friedman, Neil Gaiman, Laura Ann Gilman, Mira Grant, Anne McCaffrey, Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, and Connie Willis, each of which had 3 entries each The most popular books were That Used to Be Us by Thomas Friedman and The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northeast Passage by Anthony Brandt with 3 entries each The most popular series was A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin 98 books written by women were mentioned; that’s 33.56% of the entries (to be honest, I expected a worse percentage than this) And there you have it. I was going to put up a gallery of the cover images, but that would take so damned long I’m not going to bother. If anyone else wants to take up that project, let me know. Thanks to everyone who told us what you were reading! Here’s to another year of the same thing! Now a question for everyone: How as 2011 as a reading year? Good? Bad? Why? Leave a comment!
