Neuromancer of the Sprawl Trilogy by William Gibson.
© Ace Trade
The Next Batch of Film Adaptations
By: Pat Ferrara, ColumnistDate: Monday, January 14, 2008
With the start of 2008 comes news of the next round of book-to-screen translations, and if you’re like me this news is usually met with equal doses of boyish hope and fearful skepticism. Because as all of us readers know the translation of a book into a movie is a process of total rebirth, and the results can run from pole to polarized pole.
Top o’ the work week to all of you Maniac readers and welcome to the Buzz. A slow release schedule in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror publishing gives us the opportunity to explore the next wave of book adaptations and glimpse the not-too-distant future of genre cinema.
No matter the medium of its conception, a good story’s ultimate goal is to reach a bigger audience, and to that end the screen translation is the last stop on any source material’s climb to the heights of pop culture status. But the cinematic treatment of our favorite comics, graphic novels, and books is a most dangerous step, and sometimes the ingredients which made our beloved story great are simply lost in translation.
The first book in our discussion is the one I’m most apprehensive about, but only because I feel so invested into it already. Unlike British director Chris Cunningham, TORQUE director Joseph Kahn may succeed where so many others have failed by developing a filmic adaptation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer. Though little is known about the production thus far except for its targeted 2009 release, there are rumors that Hayden Christensen will play the role of Case, the cyber-savvy protagonist of the Sprawl Trilogy. So you see the word “succeed” here may be very loosely defined, because it seems Neuromancer is already on par to rival Gibson’s other film adaptation, JOHNNY MNEMONIC. When I first read Neuromancer I thought the director best suited for the job would be Mamoru Oshii (GHOST IN THE SHELL, AVALON) or SUNSHINE’s Danny Boyle, but I sure as hell never thought about Joseph Kahn, a man who’s made his name in the biz by shooting music videos for Britney Spears. What next, a casting call to Jessica Alba for the role of street samurai Molly?
Another big name in SF literature, Arthur C. Clarke, has two properties currently in film development: the Overlord Earth tale Childhood’s End and the Campbell, Hugo, Jupiter, and Nebula Award-winning sci-fi novel Rendezvous with Rama. The former is being pushed through the pipeline by Universal/Beacon while the latter is in the very promising hands of Morgan Freeman’s Revelations Entertainment (which already has Scott Brick slated to adapt the screenplay and David Fincher attached to direct).
Trying to replicate the success of such children’s fantasy flicks as Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia, United Artists has optioned the film rights to John Flanagan’s eight-book Ranger’s Apprentice series; a saga about an orphan who becomes a ranger to protect the Kingdom of Araluen from evil.
Universal Studios has also optioned the film rights to another children’s series, in this case the bestselling Cirque Du Freak sequence by Darren Shan. Director Paul Weitz plans to combine the first three novels of the Freak series into one horror film starring Salma Hayek and John C. Reilly. If successful three more movies could be adapted from Shan’s work.
Last but not least in the filmic pipeline is E.E. Smith’s groundbreaking 1930s Lensman novels, the first sci-fi set to be considered a print series. Widely imitated by other SF tales, Smith’s Lensman tomes (kicked off by the novel Triplanetary) pioneered the space opera subgenre and influenced such SF gurus as George Lucas and J. Michael Straczynski. Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment and Universal Studios are currently in negotiations for property rights.
New in Hardcover:
Dragonlance Chronicles Vol. 3: Dragons of the Spring Dawning, Tracy Hickman, Margaret Weis, Andrew Dabb, & Julius Gope (Devil’s Due Publishing)
The climactic chapter in Weis and Hickman's acclaimed trilogy! Armed with the legendary Dragonlance, the Companions begin the final battle against the evil goddess Takhisis and her legions! But even as hope begins to spring, secrets long hidden threaten to render their sacrifices meaningless! The greatest conflict they have left is within each of them...
Ascend: Special Edition HC, Keith Arem & Christopher Shy (IDW Publishing)
Welcome to the post-apocalyptic Purgatory Wars, where the battle over "harvested" human souls has destroyed Heaven and Hell. Sebastian, a young human tragically killed and unwillingly drafted into the war, is reunited with his deceased brother, Gideon, the most powerful angel in the Legions of Heaven, who plans to lead a coup to regain power and restore order. Realizing he holds the key to ending the war, Sebastian must face his brother, before Gideon destroys the cycle of life on Earth.
Maggie Again, John D. Husband (Talywain Press)
Life is idyllic for four rural Indiana teenagers until one of them, Maggie, moves to New York City with her parents in this time-warp yarn set in 1926 and 1984. When Maggie's three friends hop a boxcar to visit her in New York, their journey takes a mystical turn, catapulting them to the year 1984 and, eventually, back again. On their return to 1926, they try to manipulate events in their favor, only to find that "time" is a fickle chronicler of events -- which wreaks havoc with their best intentions.
New in Paperback:
Fields of Honor, Robert Stanek (RP Books)
RP Books is proud to introduce our ultimate edition--a premium trade paperback for the discerning reader. Featuring an exclusive Art of Ruin Mist insert with illustrations from original paintings, and many extraordinary extras, this powerful fantasy novel will delight even the most demanding fantasy enthusiast! Robert Stanek is the award-winning, international best-selling author of more than 65 books for young people and adults. He lives with his wife and children in the Pacific Northwest in the United States, and is intensely fascinated with our natural world. He loves the outdoors and frequently takes his family on short trips to see the natural wonders of the Pacific Northwest, including Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, the Columbia River Gorge, and Puget Sound. Fields of Honor is the continuation of Robert Stanek's multilayered epic fantasy adventure begun with Keeper Martin's Tale and continued with Kingdom Alliance. In his acclaimed Keeper Martin's Tale, he introduced us to the story of Ruin Mist, an extraordinary world of magic, adventure and intrigue. Now in the eagerly awaited follow-up to Kingdom Alliance, he once again proves himself a wonderful storyteller with a gift for fast pacing and believable storylines. Already hailed as a classic, Robert Stanek's powerful series has been enjoyed by readers all over the world. War came to the Kingdoms. Many perished in the turmoil and unrest. An attempt was made to kidnap a princess and assassinate a king. Now, from the ancient past a dark power returns. As prophecy becomes reality, the factions struggle for control, only to further divide the lands. Some would say that King Andrew Alder foolishly agreed to support the Elves of the Reaches, sending men to aid their cause when the causes of all Men in all lands were being put to the test of steel. And in the North, men back their words with action. Against a backdrop of treachery and intrigue, murder and mayhem, the price of free will is high. Many will pay with their lives. Many will succumb to imprisonment and enslavement. For when alliances shatter, old hatreds rise anew and the plotting and scheming begin. Bold, inventive, brilliantly imagined, Fields of Honor is a novel of magic and wonder--a tale of pure excitement you will not soon forget.
Across Time, Linda Kay Silva (Spinsters Ink Books)
Jessie Ferguson's life is going nowhere. She's tried drugs, alcohol, even sex to fill the void that has no name, but nothing seems to quench that dull ache that visits her nightly. When she moves into a restored Victorian Bed and Breakfast, all of that changes the instant she hears a call from the past. A call from her past. A past life two thousand years ago from a place she knows nothing of, from a woman she's seen only in her dreams. It is a past that needs her, a past that has burst through the boundaries of time in order to ask for her help. If you believe in soul mates, if you know you've had a past life, if you've ever wondered who you might have been long ago and who you might have loved, then join Jessie in the first of a series of adventures that takes her Across Time.
Shadowbridge, Gregory Frost (Del Rey)
Sprung from a timeless dream, Shadowbridge is a world of linked spans arching high above glittering seas. It is a world of parading ghosts, inscrutable gods, and dangerous magic. Most of all, it is a world of stories. No one knows those stories better than Leodora, a young shadow-puppeteer who travels Shadowbridge collecting the intertwining tales and myths of each place she passes through, then retells them in performances whose genius has begun to attract fame… and less welcome attention. For Leodora is fleeing a violent past, as are her two companions: her manager, Soter, an elderly drunkard who also served Ledora’s father, the legendary puppeteer Bardsham; and Diverus, her musical accompanist, a young man who has been blessed, and perhaps cursed, by the touch of a nameless god. Now, as the strands of a destiny she did not choose begin to tighten around her, Leodora is about to cross the most perilous bridge of all–the one leading from the past to the future. Shadowbridge is the first novel in a two-book adventure.
The Green Lion, Leigh Grossman (Wildside Press)
An innkeeper's son takes a dead man's armor and weapons, only to find himself enmeshed in a magical conspiracy. After his life is saved by a mysterious noblewoman, she promises him answers and more - but Falorn soon finds himself betrayed and on the run instead, chased by her father and fiance and other, unknown attackers. Among the dead man's possessions is a mysterious, otherworldly piece of ivory with an almost-living green lion on it. The card gives Falorn strength, but also brings him enemies, and it makes him a part of a mysterious fellowship that he doesn't understand. The key to understanding - and survival - lies with Sera, the young noblewoman who saved him, and who he in turn rescues from her abusive family. But Sera vacillates between loving and secretive, between caring and betrayal - either because of her own cards or because of her abused childhood. And in a world where Falorn's life is threatened every day, and in which the card he carries is drawing him into politics and war, he may not live long enough for her to tell him the truth.
Ascend: Special Edition, Keith Arem & Christopher Shy (IDW Publishing)
Welcome to the post-apocalyptic Purgatory Wars, where the battle over "harvested" human souls has destroyed Heaven and Hell. Sebastian, a young human tragically killed and unwillingly drafted into the war, is reunited with his deceased brother, Gideon, the most powerful angel in the Legions of Heaven, who plans to lead a coup to regain power and restore order. Realizing he holds the key to ending the war, Sebastian must face his brother, before Gideon destroys the cycle of life on Earth.
Northwest of Earth: The Complete Northwest Smith, C.L. Moore & C.J. Cherryh (Paizo Publishing)
75th Anniversary Edition! Among the best-written and most emotionally complex stories of the Pulp Era, the tales of intergalactic smuggler Northwest Smith still resonate strongly 75 years after their first publication. From the crumbling temples of forgotten gods on Venus to the seedy pleasure halls of old Mars, Northwest Smith blazes a trail through the underbelly of the solar system in 13 action-packed stories you won't soon forget.
Kamikaze Girls, Novala Takemoto (VIZ Media LLC)
Life in the boondocks of rural Ibaraki prefecture is anything but glamorous, and to escape her humdrum existence, Momoko, a "Lolita," fanaticizes about French rococo, dreams of living in the palace of Versailles, and decks herself out in the finest (and frilliest) of 18th century haute couture from an expensive Tokyo specialty store. Her dreams of an idyllic existence are rudely interrupted by the appearance of Ichigo, a tough-talking "Yanki" motorcycle-chick (on a tricked-out moped) who's part of a girls-only biker gang known as the Ponytails. Together, this unlikeliest of duos strikes out on a quest to find a legendary embroiderer, a journey that takes them to back-alley pachinko parlors, chic boutiques, and epic bike-punk battles. Novala Takemoto's hit novel [ital.] Kamikaze Girls [ital.], already a cult-classic in Japan and the inspiration for an internationally acclaimed film of the same name, is more than a quirky coming-of-age tale, it's a new way of life. Edited my Masumi Washington.
The Crimson Warrior, Cathy Dannhauser (Wheatmark Press)
A deadly plague completely destroys the human race. The only evidence of human existence is the remaining artifacts, now pawed around by the Earth's new masters. But then again, cats are curious creatures. The cats have lived in peace for many years. Now their very existence is threatened by the hounds. Once dogs, these horrible creatures were too violent and ruthless to be accepted by their own kind. As they ravage the Earth, conquering civilization after civilization, the cat clans desperately search for a warrior to help them unite against this formidable force.
Best Short Novels 2007, Ed. by Jonathan Strahan (Prime Books)
The novella is the perfect length for science fiction - long enough to work through an idea, but short enough to have maximum punch. Award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan has collected eight exciting new novellas by Kage Baker, Cory Doctorow, Jeffrey Ford, Robert Reed, Chris Roberson, Michael Swanwick, Ysabeau S. Wilce and Robert Charles Wilson in this stunning best of the year anthology.
New in Audiobook:
The Lost World, Michael Crichton (RH Audio Unabridged)
It is now six years since the secret disaster at Jurassic Park, six years since the extraordinary dream of science and imagination came to a crashing end--the dinosaurs destroyed, the park dismantled, the island indefinitely closed to the public. There are rumors that something has survived… Narrated by Scott Brick.
Alright that’ll do it for this week. Check back next Monday for all the latest info on current sci fi, fantasy, and horror book releases. Questions or comments? Hit me up at Pferrara.mania@gmail.com.
KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHN.
Joseph Kahn.
2009 Release? in the middle of a strike? when Bats' flies without the aid of my size 13 clown shoe.
Britney Spears may be doing a great impersonation of a nicely formed vagina held hostage by insane hillbilly white trash, but her music videos have almost uniformly been fairly slick works of cinematic pop culture.
It would probably help my argument here if I knew which Joseph Kahn directed, but I'm faaaar too lazy to go look it up at the moment, so we're all going to assume I'm essentially correct, right, good. OK.
David Fincher started as a music video director.
(and he went on to make that cinematic work of feature film art: Alien3 - Ed)
*WHAM*
(ow. OK, bad example - Ed)
Go Away Ed.
Moi, is not an Alien3 hater. I am in the minority I guess in that over-all I enjoy the atmosphere and I think it has some of the better thespian acting in the Alien franchise. Fincher's music-video roots really showed in the incredibly annoying (read: repetitive, redundant and for this viewer unenjoyably nauseating) (as opposed to enjoyably nauseating - Ed) ..upside down chase scenes in Alien3.
Yet he then went on to make the impressive Se7en and the imo 90's decade-defining and brilliant Fight Club.
So I won't defacto be holding the mv's against Joseph Kahn...either.
I'm more concerned with the cast and the budget.
The cheap-shit route doesn't work for Gibson's work and neither does the art-school-excuse-for-cheap-crap approach either, largely because in my observation, the only reason any major studio will greenlight either sort of cheap-shit movie, is because they're _solely_ interested in banking on the hardcore fans, name recognition and buzz from the former, making it an extremely modest couple of million greenbacks globally.
You know, they figure they can make back slightly more money than it costs to make.
If you're a starving multi-millionaire with a string of trim on the side to upkeep, a couple of extra million dollars, even if it's only 1 million dollars, doesn't hurt.
That Frederick's of Hollywood pleather lingerie and Colt-45 isn't cheap, you know!
I'll look to the budget, if Neuromancer is in the 75+ million range, we're good to go, otherwise, I'm going to pretend it doesn't exist.
I am already preparing my alibi for when the studio head is found in Larry Craig's washroom with a vibrating tap-dancing clown shoe inserted into an orifice.
Neuromancer is my all-time favorite genre novel, and so, not unlike a penis approaching Britney Spears' vagina, I remain cautious and apprehensive, and yet I am in the process of serenading her with romantic Dukes of Hazzard General Lee car-chase-music and am putting on 13 condoms just in case I give in.
OK, I think I lost the metaphor somewhere there.
(-- *point left* *jog right* --)
regards,
Michael X. Maelstrom