Book News                                                 April/May 2007
     
   

      

      A GRIMEY BOOK
      Big things are expected of Paul Stewart and Chris Ridell's newest
      creation Barnaby Grimes. Barnaby is billed as being "a tick-tock lad,
      running errands in his city, day and night, and 'high-stacking' around
      the rooftops in search of new mysteries to solve". His first mystery
      involves "The Curse of the Night Wolf", and supposedly marks a
      change of direction for the ever-busy author/artist partnership of
      Stewart and Ridell, in to the realms of the horror-thriller. A second
      adventure, "Return of the Emerald Skull" has already been pencilled in
      for January 2008. Barnaby high-stacks his way into UK stores from
      7th June...

     30/05/07


      A PLEASANT FILM
      Goodness, book/film deals are all the rage right now. The latest tome
      to hit the movie trades is Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant. Apparently,
      Warner Bros. have won the bidding for rights to the book and all future entries
      in the series (possibly up to nine more titles!). Which is terrific. Derek
      Landy hails from a scriptwriting background and his book reads just like
      a movie. His boney hero could look fabulous on the Big Screen. According
      to Variety, Pete Czerin and Graham Broadbent of Blueprint Pictures are
      set to produce the first comic-horror adventure, with Landy himself
      adapting the story...

     23/05/07


      

      THE EMBERS OF A FILM
      Walden Media are bringing Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember to
      the big screen. First published in 2003, "The City of Ember" is the
      first of three adventures set in a pitch dark realm, where the only
      source of light comes from a failing power plant. The new film will
      be directed by Gil Kenan ("Monster House") and produced by Walden
      Media and Gary Goetzman and Tom Hanks (yes, that Tom Hanks)
      via their company Playtone. What's more, a release date of October
      10th 2008 has already been pencilled in to the schedules. Walden
      Media are, of course, the folks behind the new "Narnia" films and the
      recent adaptation of "Bridge to Terabithia". They're currently filiming
      Susan Cooper's classic The Dark is Rising with Ian McShane and
      Christopher Ecclestone in the cast, and their busy slate also includes
      forthcoming film versions of Wendy Orr's Nim's Island and Edward Gorey's
      The Doubtful Guest - the latter being brought to life with the help of 
      the Jim Henson Co...

     14/05/07



      

      AN IMMORTAL SCREENPLAY
      Crikey, New Line cinema aren't hanging around. They've already hired a
      screenwriter for the movie adaptation of The Alchemyst: The Secrets of
      the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. That's the hot new novel from Michael
      Scott which doesn't even hit book stores until the latter half of the month.
      The hired hand is Eric Bress, who's probably best known in the UK as
      being the co-writer and co-director of  the "The Butterfly Effect", and
      co-writer of "Final Destination". As for "The Alchemyst", well, it's the
      first in a series of adventures which teams the immortal Mr Flamel with
      a pair of young teenagers as they're pursued across the America by an
      array of mythological creatures...
.
     14/05/07


      

      A GOLDEN POSTER
      The first "Golden Compass" film poster has been revealed this week.
      And it's rather smart, as it goes, with Lyra and Iorek the warrior bear
      in a suitably snowy scenario. New Line's multi-million adaptation of
      Philip Pullman's celebrated book reaches cinemas on December 7th.
      and if it's as good as this first imagery suggests, it could be a fabulous
      Christmas present for us. Which would be a huge relief. Adapting the
      "Dark Materials" books into a film trilogy is a perilous process,
      given the provocative themes within them. Will it all be watered down,
      or worse, filtered out altogether in the name of Family Entertainment...?

     08/05/07


      POTTY FOR POTTER
      Once again, it seems the world has gone potty for Harry Potter.
      Amazon have revealed that US pre-orders for "Harry Potter and
      the Deathly Hallows" have already passed the 1m mark - the milestone
      being reached just 94 days after the publication date was announced.
      Compare that to "Half Blood Prince" which reached the same total in.
      174 days. Meanwhile, here in the UK, Amazon pre-sales have just whizzed
      beyond the quarter million mark too. That's an awful lot of books,
      and we're still two months away from publication. Have you
      ordered yours yet?...         
.
     08/05/07


      

      GREAT SCOTT!
      Look out for Michael Scott's novel The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the
      Immortal Nicholas Flamel which reaches UK stores 24th May. There was
      a big hoo-hah about the title last November, when the film rights were
      sold to New Line for a pretty penny, in advance of publication.
      Nicholas Flamel was, of course, a very real historical wizard
      conspiring for eternal life. Scott takes the fellow's work and runs
      with it, headlong in to a modern-day fantasy adventure...       
.
     02/05/07


      

      SIGNING SEASON
      Want to grab yourself a collectable book? - Dean Vincent Carter
      is selling a limited number of signed and numbered copies
      of his second novel, "The Hunting Season" via his web site.
      Needless to say, the Gnome's already bagged himself a copy...

      22/04/07


      

      A FILM - BY ZEUS!
      Rick Riordan's moving Heaven and Earth in the movie world this
      month, with news that his first Percy Jackson book, The Lightning Thief
      is being adapted into a film by none other than Chris Columbus, of
      "Harry Potter" fame. Meanwhile, the third Percy Jackson adventure
      The Titan's Curse is now upon us...

     20/04/07


      VARIOUS NEWS
      At last! - Steve Augarde has given us a sneaky-peek at the cover
      for the third book in his "Various" trilogy. These terrific books focus
      on the adventures of the last of the Little People, and "Winter Wood"
      will round off the adventures begun in "The Various" and its prequel
      "Celandine". Check out the mock-up on Steve's rather informative blog...

     09/04/07


      

      BONESHAKER
      Move over Harry Potter, Skulduggery Pleasant has arrived. Mr Pleasant is
      a sharptalking skeleton detective. No, he doesn't detect our skeletal friends,
      he is a skeleton. And somehow he's got himself mixed up with young
      Stephanie and a dark plot that will throw the world into chaos. Harper Collins
      are giving Derek Landy's creation a big, big push this Spring. Hence the
      promo video, above. But does it live up to all the hype...?

     02/04/07


   
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