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!
Episode 85 — An Interview w/ Myke Cole (a.k.a. Sergeant Tibbs)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/www.archive.org/download/TheSkiffyAndFantyShow85seasonThree–AnInterviewWMykeCole/Sandf–Episode85–AnInterviewWMykeCole.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSIf we had known that the military would play such a prominent role in our recent episodes, we probably would have made January “Military Month.” But sometimes things are hard to predict. In any case, this week’s episode involves a little fellow named Myke Cole, who joins us to talk about Shadow Ops: Control Point, the military and genre fiction, and so much more. There’s a lot of tasty in this episode! Listen away! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 85 — Download (MP3) Intro and Discussion (0:00 – 1:19:24) Myke Cole’s Website Myke’s Twitter Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
A Special ToC: Years’ Best Dark Fantasy & Horror (2012) from Prime Books
You might notice something a little “special” about the following table of contents for the 2012 Years’ Best Dark Fantasy and Horror collection from Prime Books. But you’ll have to look at the list to find out what it is: “Hair” by Joan Aiken (The Monkey’s Wedding & Other Stories / F&SFJuly/August) “Rakshashi” by Kelley Armstrong (The Monster’s Corner: Through Inhuman Eyes) “Walls of Paper, Soft as Skin” by Adam Callaway (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue #73, July 14, 2011) “The Lake” by Tananarive Due (The Monster’s Corner: Through Inhuman Eyes) “Tell Me I’ll See You Again” by Dennis Etchison (A Book of Horrors) “King Death” Paul Finch (King Death) “The Last Triangle” by Jeffrey Ford (Supernatural Noir) Near Zennor by Elizabeth Hand (A Book of Horrors) “Crossroads” by Laura Anne Gilman (Fantasy, Aug 2011) “After-Words” by Glen Hirshberg (The Janus Tree and Other Stories) “Rocket Man” by Stephen Graham Jones (Stymie, Vol. 4. Issue 1, Spring & Summer 2011) “The Colliers’ Venus (1893)” by Caitlin R. Kiernan (Naked City: New Tales of Urban Fantasy) “Catastrophic Disruption of the Head” by Margo Lanagan (The Wilful Eye: Tales from the Tower, Vol. 1) “The Bleeding Shadow” by Joe R. Lansdale (Down These Strange Streets) “Why Light?” by Tanith Lee (Teeth) “Conservation of Shadows” by Yoon Ha Lee (Clarkesworld, August 2011) A Tangle of Green Men, Charles de Lint (Welcome to Bordertown) “After the Apocalypse” by Maureen McHugh (After the Apocalypse) “Lord Dunsany’s Teapot” Naomi Novak (The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities) “Mysteries of the Old Quarter” by Paul Park (Ghosts by Gaslight) Vampire Lake, by Norman Partridge (Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 2) “A Journey of Only Two Paces” by Tim Powers (The Bible Repairman and Other Stories) “Four Legs in the Morning” by Norman Prentiss (Four Legs in the Morning) “The Fox Maiden” by Priya Sharma (On Spec, Summer 2011) “Time and Tide” by Alan Peter Ryan (F&SF, Sept/Oct 2011) “Sun Falls” by Angela Slatter (Dead Red Heart) “Still” by Tia V. Travis (Portents) “Objects in Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear” by Lisa Tuttle (House of Fear) “The Bread We Eat in Dreams” by Catherynne M. Valente (Apex Magazine, Issue 30, November 2011) “All You Can Do Is Breathe” Kaaron Warren (Blood & Other Cravings) “Josh” by Gene Wolfe (Portents) Okay, so figuring out the special thing in the list shouldn’t be too hard, since I put it in bold and all… Congratulations to Adam both for his publication in BCS and his first anthologized “Best of” story! We’re sure his career will soon collapse under his mounting alcoholism… (we kid, of course — love you, Adam!) It might also interest folks to know that Maureen McHugh has a wonderful story in here, which is also in her collection of the same name from Small Beer Press (which I just finished and loved to death). And since I played a crucial role in getting Adam’s story published (yeah, I’m taking credit), that means this collection has not just one amazing story, but two. That alone is almost worth the entry price.
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?
China Miéville and the Arresting Image by Curtis Hox (Guest Post and Giveaway)
What is it about China Miéville that makes him so good? Among other things: language, brothers and sisters, language. A recent article in The Guardian states, “Miéville has always worn his influences on his sleeve – Lovecraft, Peake, classic and new wave SF, fantasy, comics and the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing games he played as a kid.” Yep, he’s made of all the icky stuff we’re not supposed to take seriously, yet he serves it up as if it’s la grande cuisine. And while his use of syncretic use of genre is what appeals to his fans, his language skills take the right kind of risks that mark him as more than just a story teller. The dramatic novel is supposed to be about story and readers’ emotional connections to story. And that’s all it’s supposed to be about. Anything that gets in the way we’re to spit out like a troubling fishbone. In fact, in the popular How to Write a Damn Good Novel, we’re explicitly told that English professors have ruined our expectations of reading and writing fiction because they’ve taught us to mine novels for literary symbols instead of looking for texts that transport us into narratives. In essence, elitist gatekeepers have taught us that good fiction does something else besides focus on story, story, story. The problem with this story-centric line of thinking is that the reading experience is often much more than simply identifying with a character overcoming his or her core conflict to achieve resolution. While that central aspect of story is satisfying and should be what most dramatic fiction is about (because most readers want that), the splendid experience in reading something that jumps out at you and makes you pause is its own reward. In fact, it stops the narrative in its tracks because it’s so good that it demands you to take notice. I know; most editors cringe because this arresting of narrative is the very devil that seduces so many writers to punch out purple prose. In those cases, the pauses make us gag. But there’s something wonderful when story and language work together to create magic that resonates. For example, Miéville’s writing is full of such gems. Granted, his narratives require work. They’re often highly textured, with odd references and, often, jarring imagery. (And, this is intended). The language is designed to transport the reader, sure, and Miéville does this well, taking us to an enchanted London or to Bas-Lag’s New Crobuzon. And his stories are thought-provoking as well. But the language emerges in a way that’s exemplary. For example, poetry abounds in lines such as, “the miasmic entities drifting at head-height like demon-faced farts” or “fields were full of the corpses of souls.” Moreover, as I read Kraken (2008) his craft of painting a picture for the reader strikes me as a fundamental mechanism of how he uses language for effect. For example, in Kraken he writes, “The door to the bedroom opened and there was Dane, his fist clenched, dark as a man-shaped hole.” When I read “man-shaped hole” I stopped and lingered on the image as the scene sharply focused. It creeped me out. I could have kept reading, of course, but the effect was staggering. It’s why I read novels. He nailed it. The magic that happens with that most elusive of practices, poetry, occurred. I believe that’s exactly what Miéville intended (even though, I’ve been trained to think the Intentional Fallacy is sacrosanct). In fact, as a reader, I feel he crosses the great divide, taps me on the shoulder, and communicates directly to me. Literary theorists may debate whether this is possible. But, that’s a unique kind of channeling that goes beyond simply telling story in the most arresting way. It does this and more. It resonates. I got my money’s worth on that one line. ————————————————————- The Giveaway We’ve got one ebook copy of Curis Hox’s Bleedover to give away to one lucky reader! To enter, leave a comment or send us an email at skiffyandfanty[at]gmail[dot]com (make sure your comment has a contact email). It’s that simple! You also have the opportunity to win a $50 Amazon gift card! You can find details about that here. The ebook giveaway ends on Feb. 1, 2012 at 11:59 PM EST. The Amazon gift card giveaway ends in 26 days. ————————————————————- Author Bio Curtis Hox scribbles science fantasy novels. He’s written six unpublished novels, which include his debut science fiction novel Bleedover and the forthcoming YA Transhuman Warrior Series. This article is part of the 2012 Bleedover Blog Tour. Check out Curtis Hox’s next tour stops and join the Bleedover Blog Tour Giveaway to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card. For more information, visit www.curtishox.com.
Episode 83 — An Interview w/ James L. Sutter (a.k.a. the Soul Man)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/www.archive.org/download/TheSkiffyAndFantyShow83seasonThree–AnInterviewWJamesL.Sutter/Sandf–Episode83–InterviewWJamesLSutter.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSJames L. Sutter, author and editor at Paizo, joins us for a brilliant discussion about media tie-in fiction, Middle Eastern settings, the after life, atheism/theism in fiction, his debut novel, Death’s Heretic, and many more fascinating topics. But before we devolve into lackluster puns about death, ghosts, souls, and so on, we’ll just direct you to the episode! We hope you enjoy the interview! (You’ll notice that the numbers changed again. This will be the last time. There’s a little note at the beginning of the episode that explains everything.) Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 83 — Download (MP3) Intro and Interview w/ James L. Sutter (0:00 – 1:19:02) James’ Website James’ Twitter Paizo Publishing “The Gray Zone: Moral Ambiguity in Fantasy” by James L. Sutter “Fantasy and Moral Ambiguity: Repetition Rears its Ugly Head” by Shaun Duke Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
