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December, 2004 Archives | Homepage
Lawrence Block to Write Screenplay for Small Town
Bestselling author Lawrence Block passes on what he describes as "good but not-yet-official news" -- that he will be writing the screenplay for the film version of his novel, Small Town. Block also tells fans that the "film [is] to be directed by an exciting and edgy international director (whom I can't name yet) and starring an A-list actress (whom I can't name, either.) All I can say for sure is that 2005 is shaping up to be a busy year." Small Town, a mainstream novel set in New York City, recieved much critical praise. Devoted readers of Block's humorous Bernie Rhodenbarr "bookstore owner by day/gentleman burglar by night" series were somewhat shocked by the graphic sex scenes in the novel, but they really shouldn't have been surprised. After all, when the first chapter of a book begins: "By the time Jerry Pankow was ready for breakfast, he'd already been to three bars and a whorehouse," the astute reader realizes that what is to follow is most likely not G-rated. G-Rated or R-Rated, if the incredibly talented Larry Block wrote it, we'll read it.
Posted on December 29, 2004
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George Carlin Enters Rehab
Comedian and author George Carlin has voluntarily checked himself into rehab for what he described as a growing problem with wine and Vicodin in an Entertainment Tonight interview. Carlin said he realized the problem himself and decided to take action quickly. Carlin's latest book When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? (Hyperion) is a New York Times bestseller. It has also been banned at Wal-Mart.
Posted on December 28, 2004
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Mysteries and Romance Top Most Borrowed List
Mystery and romance novels topped a most borrowed list started by
4,000 libraries and first published last June, 2004 by the Library
Journal. USA Today reported that mystery writers Patricia
Cornwell, Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, James Patterson, Carl Hiaasen, Michael Connelly frequent the most borrowed lists. And in romance, authors Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown, Danielle Steel; and thriller writers John Grisham, Stuart Woods, Dan Brown had their books borrowed the most. Not surprisingly, these same authors also frequent the national bestseller lists.
Posted on December 23, 2004
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Bloomsbury Buys Walker Books
The New York Times reports that
Bloomsbury Publishing P.L.C., the British publisher of the Harry Potter books, has announced that it will buy Walker Publishing Company, the small, well-regarded independent publisher based out of New York City, to expand its American presence in nonfiction. Walker will remail a separate division. The purchase price will be $6.5 million. Bloomsbury, the British publisher of the Harry Potter titles, has been on a roll lately with the release of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke and the Man Booker prize winning The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst.
Posted on December 23, 2004
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Interview With Bill DeSmedt
The IWJ has an interview with Bill DeSmedt, the author of a Singularity, an exciting new thriller based on the mysterious Tugunska Explosion in Siberia in 1908. In the exclusive interview, Bill talks about Singularity and his decision to launch a new career as a novelist. He also discusses the science behind the book, recent advances in artificial intelligence, and why not teaching evolution and science in schools could spell the beginning of the end of our civilization.
Posted on December 21, 2004
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Interview With Antonya Nelson
The IWJ has an interview with award-winning novelist Antonya Nelson. In her continuing series, "Mothers Who Write," Cheryl Dellasega, Ph.D. talks with Antonya Nelson, author of Female Trouble (Scribner) and Talking in Bed (Scribner). She is the recipient of the Chicago Tribune's Heartland Award, the PEN Nelson Algren Award, the Rea Award, the O. Henry Prize, and a Pushcart Prize. In this exclusive interview, Antonya talks about how she got her start, how motherhood has influenced her work and how an MFA in Creative Writing can help a novelist.
Posted on December 20, 2004
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J.K. Rowling Has Turned in the Mansucript For Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Associated Press reports J.K. Rowling's announcement that she has finally finished the sixth Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. "I know you all expected this to happen on Christmas Day, but I was sure that those of you who celebrate Christmas have better things to do on the day itself than fight your way into my study, whereas those of you who DON'T celebrate Christmas would definitely prefer not to wait until the 25th," she said.
Ms. Rowling said that although she is expecting her third child, she has had the time "needed to tinker with the manuscript to my satisfaction and I am as happy as I have ever been with the end result. I only hope you feel it was worth the wait when you finally read it." We're not worried.
Posted on December 20, 2004
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Interview With Mary Jo Putney
The IWJ has an interview with New York Times bestselling
romance novelist Mary Jo Putney. Her latest book is
A Kiss of Fate (Ballantine), the first in her exciting new
Guardian series, which immediately hit all the bestseller lists.
In the exclusive interview, Mary Jo talks about the Guardian series,
which combines historical romance with paranormal elements. She
also discusses her evolution as a writer, and why she thinks
literary snobbism towards the romance genre is merely a disguised form of sexism.
Posted on December 18, 2004
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Judith Regan and the Affair From Hell
Judith Regan, the President of HarperCollins' ReganBooks, is the driving force behind a multitude of bestsellers from personalities such as Howard Stern, Wally Lamb, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Michael Moore. But even the most savvy businesswoman in the world can have lousy taste in men. This week, the entire world learned this week of her affair with America's former top cop Bernard Kerik. Kerik, who was married at the time, apparently carried on an extramarital affair
with Ms. Regan and some other poor woman at the same time. The trysts took place in a Battery Park apartment that overlooked Ground Zero in Manhattan. The revelations over Kerik's affairs, his dubious business venture and his illegal alien/nanny problem forced him to withdraw his name from consideration as the next Homeland Security chief. Ms. Regan was the editor for Kerik's 2001 autobiography The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice. Kerik brings new meaning to the term "multi-tasking." Cop, political campaigner, husband, father, employer of illegal aliens, instigator of shady business deals, philanderer -- one wonders when Kerik found time to write....
Posted on December 16, 2004
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Hanks to Star in Da Vince Code
The Write News reports that Tom Hanks has been cast in the lead role of the famed symbologist Robert Langdon in Columbia Pictures' upcoming film adaptation of Dan Brown's bestselling thriller The Da Vinci Code. The movie will be directed by Ron Howard from a screenplay by Akiva
Goldsman, both of whom won Oscars for A Beautiful Mind.
The Da Vinci Code has been on nationwide best seller lists virtually
non-stop since it was released by Doubleday in 2003, including 87 weeks
at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Over 20 million copies of
the novel are in print worldwide and the book has been translated
into 42 different languages.
Posted on December 15, 2004
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Senator Barbara Boxer Becomes Novelist
The Write News reports that Chronicle Books will publish a novel by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and author Mary-Rose Hayes in November, 2005. The novel will tell the story of a character named Ellen who steps into her husband's campaign
for the Senate after he is killed. Ellen wins the election but on the eve of a crucial senate vote, her personal and political worlds collide when her right-wing adversaries recruit a former lover to sabotage her credibility and career.
Posted on December 13, 2004
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Readers Want Perricone's Anti-Aging Advice
Nicholas Perricone, MD's new book, The Perricone Promise (Warner Books) has hit the #1 spot on Hardcover Advice/How-To New York Times Bestseller List. Demand for anything "Perricone" has also regenerated sales for his
previous # 1 bestselling title The Perricone Prescription (Harper
Resource), pushing it to the simultaneous #1 position on the Trade Paperback Bestseller list of the Times. There are currently more than three million copies of Dr. Perricone's books in print. His latest relase, The Perricone Promise, offers advice for youthful skin focusing on diet (including 10 superfoods), nutritional supplements and topical applications. Click here to read an excerpt from the book.
Posted on December 10, 2004
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Mom Wants Catcher in the Rye Banned
The Culture Wars are edging towards a full conflagration as a mother in Maine spearheads the effort to keep J.D. Saligner's Catcher in the Rye from being read by the freshman class at Noble High School in North Berwick, Maine. Andrea Minnon had never even heard of the famous coming-of-age story of 16-year-old Holden Caulfield until her 14 year-old son was assigned to read the book for school. Horrified by the "immoral" themes of the book, Ms. Minnon wasn't content to stop her son from reading the book. She wants the entire freshman class not to have to read it. No word yet if her son has gone into therapy yet from the mortification of being a high school boy whose mother is leading a crusade against classic literature.
Posted on December 9, 2004
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Children's Books Inside Cheerios Boxes
Cheerios is giving away more than five million children's books free inside Cheerios boxes in a promotion that runs from November, 2004 into early 2005. Cheerios, First Book, and John Lithgow officially kicked off this year's Spoonfuls of Stories program during National Children's Book Week, November 15 - 21, 2004. The promotion will include five books from Simon and Schuster's children's book division including Micawber by John Lithgow, illustrated by C. F. Payne. The books are specially-sized to fit inside cereal boxes.
Source: The Write News
Posted on December 9, 2004
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New Line Axes God From His Dark Materials Trilogy
Times (U.K) reports that New Line Cinema, which is turning Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy into three films has decided to hit the delete key when it comes to religion in the films, a move which has infuriated some fans of the books but which bothers Mr. Pullman not at all. In the books, the church is an evil, powerful force which is reminescent of the Catholic Church during the Spanish Inquisition. The church is overcome by two children searching for truth. Chris Weitz, the director of the film, has announced that references to the church are likely to be eliminated in his film. Meanwhile the "Authority" will become "any arbitrary establishment that curtails the freedom of the individual". Pullman himself seems fine with turning the evil church from the books into a more secular, evil organization which serves the same purpose in the books -- to be the villain of the piece. Pullman reportedly has said that the Authority could represent any repressive establishment -- political, totalitarian, fundamentalist or communist. In an interview with The Times last year, Pullman was asked whether turning his books into films would compromise his vision. "Why say yes when they come to you with large amounts of money? I can't imagine why," he replied, laughing. New Line believes that making a church the villain would kill the box office in America. And they're probably right.
Posted on December 8, 2004
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George Tenet Makes the Deal
Former CIA Director George Tenet has inked a deal with Crown Publishing to write his memoirs in a deal that said to be in the seven figure range. The bidding was fast and furious between a dozen publishers, reports The Associated Press. Tenet, who has long been known as someone who could keep his mouth shut, never said much publicly about the whole WMD/bad intelligence/Iraq invasion issue other than the agency "wasn't at its finest" in the months leading up to 9/11 or to the Iraq war. Next week, the newly-crowned Master of Understatement will receive our nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Posted on December 7, 2004
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Women Into Book About Why Men Aren't Into Them
The book that promises the inside scoop about men, He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth To Understanding Guys, is a big hit at bookstores. The book began with a meager printing in September
of 30,000, but sales have soared to over 1.2 million copies sold. New Line Cinema even has plans to turn
the nonfiction book into a major motion picture. New Line Cinema has acquired the rights to the bestselling
nonfiction book and has struck a deal with authors Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo to adapt the book into a
feature screenplay. The principle behind the book is that if
he isn't calling you, asking you out or sleeping with you then
he isn't that into you. The problem some critics have with the book
is that if the guy really does like the girl and the girl reads him wrong and thinks he is not into her and then
dumps him -- possibly after reading the advice in this book.
When asked by CNN why there is no She's Just Not Into You
book Behrendt replied, ""Sure, we could have written that
book. And about eight guys would have bought it."
Sources: CNN, Salon.com, The Plain Dealer
Posted on December 7, 2004
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New Line Acquires Rights to Marquez Novel
New Line Cinema has acquired the rights to Nobel Prize winning author
Gabriel Garcia Marquez' novel Love in the Time of Cholera from producer Scott Steindorff and has hired Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood
(The Pianist) to write the screenplay. Marquez had sold the rights to Steindorff earlier this year in a multi-million dollar deal with
Steindorffr. First published in 1985, Love in the Time of Cholera
traces the Job-like vigil of Florentino Ariza who waits for over half a century to claim the hand of Fermina Daza, the woman he loves.
Former President Bill Clinton once described the novel as "the greatest novel in any language since William Faulkner died."
Source: The Write News
Posted on December 3, 2004
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Truman Capote Manuscript Found
The BBC reports that the long-lost manuscript of Truman Capote's unpublished first novel has been found and will be auctioned this week at Sotheby's. Capote claimed to have destroyed the novel, entitled Summer Crossing, which told the story of a 17-year-old girl who has been left in New York while her parents jet off to Europe for the summer. Sotheby's Vice president for books and manuscripts Justin Caldwell said that the book was written before Breakfast at Tiffany's and contained some of the same themes. Caldwell said that the find is "a remarkable literary discovery."
"It will undoubtedly provide invaluable insights into this major writer's formative years as work on the novel occupied Capote both before and after his first published novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, which made him a cult figure in American letters," Caldwell said Monday. The missing manuscript was found in a box of old papers that had belonged to Capote's former housesitter. The manuscript is expected to sell at auction for at least $70,000, which should provide quite a nice Christmas for the relatives of said former housesitter.
Posted on December 1, 2004
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Anxious Times
Thanks to layoffs, deadly diseases, horrible weather and
the ongoing threat of terrorism millions of Americans are
suffering from axiety disorders today. Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Richard Restak
has written a book on the subject called, Poe's Heart and the
Mountain Climber: Exploring the Effect of Anxiety on Our Brains
and Our Culture. Restake told Newsweek in a recent interview that he become motivated to write the book after 9/11 when he saw that people were "were frightened, fearful
in ways they hadn't been before." There are many causes of anxiety
but Restake suggested that video media can play a big role. Dr. Restake said, "video image can be anxiety-arousing by having people
exposed to images before seen by only soldiers or EMTs or doctors."
Source: Newsweek on MSNBC.com
Posted on December 1, 2004
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