Been too long, true believers. Been a busy writing fool. I also recently had a great time at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference. If you haven’t, do. But I digress. I simply wanted to post a quick blurb for you to stop whatever you are doing, and go read The Passage. Now. From the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a professor at Rice University, author Justin Cronin has crafted a vampiric masterpiece. 766 pages of pure adrenaline, sweet prose, and superb hooks. I may even dare say this horror epic rivals King’s The Stand…
So what’s the hubbub? A truly wonderful narrative thread. Superb characterization. Unique, while staying true to vampire lore. Don’t believe me? From Ron Charles at the Washington Post:
In the same way that “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell” gave us a mature alternative to “Harry Potter,” “The Passage” is for adults who’ve been bitten but can’t swallow the teenybopper misogyny of Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series.
“The Passage,” is a 766-page doorstop, a dystopian epic that’s the first installment in a projected vampire trilogy. Ballantine Books bought the lot for over $3 million, and the film rights to the novel sold before the book was completed.
A vampire fiction epic sold before the manuscript was even done. Movie rights? Well, Ridley Scott gobbled those up way back on 2007. Think: The Next Harry Potter movie franchise. The author’s website is here. Pick up the hardcover at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com. Sony eReader, Kindle, whatever.
Has Penguin launched the first salvo for an iBook? Someone will come up with a name for publishing house Penguin’s version of books for the new iPad. Certainly a step forward from an e-Book.
I have to admit, it’s pretty intriguing.
Good luck doing that with your Kindle. Can’t wait to see the first porn app. Eew.
Okay, been like 4ever since I posted. Been too busy writing manuscript numero tres. Coming along, coming along…
Anywho, thought I’d jump back in and toss out a random quote out there from a writer. It’s from a horror novel, published in 1885. French.
What do the sentient beings in those distant universes know, more than we do? What more are they capable of doing than we? What do they see that we have not the least knowledge of? Some day or other, won’t one of them, crossing space, appear on our earth to conquer it, just as long ago the Normans crossed the seas to subjugate people who were weaker?
We are so infirm, so helpless, so ignorant, so small, we others, on this spinning grain of mud mixed with a drop of water.
Winner gets a copy of the book. Not signed. Writer is dead, dead, dead.
Ever wonder who to call when you need to fact check the validity of that doomsday virus? Or if cauterizing that severed leg is factual enough to extend suspension of disbelief? This month WIRED magazine spoke to the doctor who Stephen King gives a ring, when the Master of Horror needs to fact-check his latest dismemberment.
According to WIRED, Russ Dorr has been assisting King on such fact-checking since 1974. Dorr, a physician’s assistant in Hampshire, has reportedly helped on The Stand, The Shining, Pet Sematary, Misery, Cell, and King’s latest novel, Dome. Here’s a tidbit on the working relationship from the article:
On Dome, the two worked together more closely than ever. Each week, King would email the latest 50-page segment to Dorr. “Stephen’s doing the heavy lifting, getting the stuff down on paper,” Dorr says. “But then he’ll email or call with questions.” How does a guided missile work? What does a 20-year-old Geiger counter look like? Where would you go to find a B-52 bomber? “Methamphetamine. Jesus! I had to find out how to cook crystal meth, all the ingredients,” Dorr says. “It’s amazing the stuff you can find on Google.”
You can read more on Dorr and his work with King, including a recent homage by the author, online at WIRED.com.
I was saddened this weekend to hear of the passing of the poet Jim Carroll. Back in college, I liked to play basketball, writer, and wish I had the cajones to do real drugs — so Jim was always a great fit. And his writing was simply out of this world fantastic. If you haven’t read his stuff, I’d recommend picking up a copy of his urban coming of NY age story Basketball Diaries. Carroll writer’s “ear” was simply phenomenal. His prose fantastic. Like all writers do, I tried to copy his greatness, failed, but learned a lot. Carroll died of a heart attack last Friday in Manhattan. He was 60.
Here’s an LA Times piece, “Remembering Jim Carroll,” by poet Lewis MacAdams. I’ll borrow an excerpt from the column, quoting Jack Kerouac.
That’s when the poet Ted Berrigan took him to visit Jack Kerouac, who took a look at some of Jim’s writing and said, “Jim Carroll writes better prose than 89% of the novelists working today.”
It’s still true. To read the Rolling Stone obit, click here.
There’s a link within the story above that takes you to the Rolling Stone archives, and an 1999 interview with Carroll, where the poet speaks of a new book, touring, and Kurt Cobain.
I’ve been UBER busy working on Les Moribund, so I haven’t posted in way too long. Still, I thought this was interesting. The book trailer for the follow-up to Quirk Books’ best seller, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. In case you haven’t been following, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters tweaks the text of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility with scenes with monster lobsters, deadly octopi, sea serpents and pirates. Here’s a bit from Editor Jason Rekulak.
“…I didn’t want to go out with the one-millionth vampire novel that’s going to be published this year. I know there are a lot of vampire fans, but the genre feels exhausted to me. Whereas Sea Monsters allowed us to draw inspiration from so many rich and diverse sources—most obviously Jules Verne novels and Celtic mythology, but also Jaws, Lost, Pirates of the Caribbean, even SpongeBob Squarepants! I think Pride and Prejudice and Zombies fans are counting on us to deliver something original, and I don’t think they will be disappointed.”
And here’s the trailer:
The book hits stores on 9/15/09. For more information, go to www.quirkclassics.com. The Facebook page is here.
Yes, you read that right. Japanese horror author Koji Suzuki is printing his new novella on toilet paper (taking a stab at potty horror, following in the footsteps of Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher).
Suzuki’s new story is aptly titled Drop, and has the evil spirits inhabiting the…toilet. This bit from the Telegraph.co.uk:
(Suzuki’s) latest work is set in a public toilet and plays on Japanese superstitions that ghosts and evil spirits inhabit the smallest room in the house, which is why they were traditionally relegated to the most distant part of the home. Parents still tell naughty children that a hairy hand will seize them when they have their pants around their ankles if they misbehave and drag them down into the dark water below.
Ewww…
Suzuki’s other novels include Dark Water and Spiral.
So the question remains: on what kind of toilet paper will the story be printed? The same company who once printed TP with information on what to do in the event of a natural disaster — the Hayashi Paper Corporation. This time, in blue with the occasional bloody splatter.
I’ve been stupid busy with the new manuscript, so I apologize for being absent from the blog for too long. Still, that’s a good thing — seeing how much progress I’ve made over the last two weeks. But enough about my work.
I received an e-mail from one of my many mailing groups, that I thought worth passing on. A chance to get a signed copy from Borderland Press of Whitley Strieber’s superb vampire novel, The Hunger. If you’ve never had a chance to read this story, you need to. Streiber’s early work is truly fabulous, both The Hunger and The Wolfen stand as two of my all time faves. In fact, The Wolfen is one of the creepiest novels around.
There are 250 copies available. They are being sold at $50 plus shipping ($45 if pre-ordered). They’ll ship in June. You can find out more by calling Borderlands Press at 1.800.528.3310 or e-mail sales@borderlandspress.com. Signed and numbered, the sale is limited to 250 copies.
I guess directing Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons’s did something to the redhead. Now, Variety is reporting that Ron Howard is eying the directing duties for the as-yet unreleased H.P. Lovecraft comic The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft. Universal and Howard’s Imagine Entertainment have reportedly picked up the film rights to the mag, due in stores April 8th (Image Comics). This from Mania.com:
Mac Carter and Jeff Blitz created the comic, which integrates biographical elements of author H.P. Lovecraft’s life with elements of his horror novels, setting up Lovecraft to battle the very demons he wrote about, which are released from a cursed book. Carter, known for directing commercials, is set to write the script. Both he and Blitz will be executive producers. Howard and his Imagine partner Brian Grazer are producing. David Bernardi and Chris Wade are co-producing.
As you’ll read in any copy-and-pasted run through of this story, Lovecraft died in 1937 and is considered one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th century. Still, with all props to Howard it’s difficult to imagine Lovecraft getting the right treatment from the director. If the project goes through, here’s to hoping they get Lovecraft right.
You just have to love that headline from the Thursday edition of the Evening Bulletin, eh? Lol. Go read the book, you’ll understand what I mean. Yes, Lovecraft was the man of making things go bump in the night. Now is that the sounds of rats coming from my walls?
Following Stephen King, another Horror writer is skipping print and going Kindle only. At least as a short-story primer for a novel. In a nice bit of promotion, author Tom Upton is releasing a four-story Kindle download for under a buck, as a teaser for his upcoming horror novel. Here’s a bit on the deal, from PRlog.com:
Tom Upton, author of Just Plain Weird and Morning Doves, said there are no plans to release a hardcopy issue of “Four by Horror“. “‘Four by Horror’ is really just a sampler,” Upton explained. “I think it’s only fair to offer readers a low cost example of what I’m doing in the horror genre. As a reader, I’ve always hated paying a lot of money for a book only to discover that I didn’t particularly like the book for one reason or another.”
The idea is getting quick traction across the internet. The Kindle-only release is in advance of Upton’s new horror novel, Scarecrows, to be out in spring ‘09. According to PRlog, Four by Horror reached Amazon Kindle 17th in Short Stories sales, and 82nd in Horror.
