USA Today reports that J. Michael Straczynski’s self-published Babylon 5 scripts are among some of the biggest selling print-on-demand books.
Pern novels optioned
Canadian production company Copperheart Entertainment has optioned Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series – all 19 books – to adapt them to film.
Harry Potter update
Book 7 is ‘likely’ in 2007, according to Bloomsbury’s Liz Calder.
Dinosaur named in honor of Harry Potter. The skull has been donated to the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
Helena Bonham Carter will play Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, replacing Helen McCrory. Casting for several other roles, including the young Marauders, has also been announced.
Flashing back to Kill Bill…
Neil Gaiman & Adam Rogers explore The Myth of Superman.
Del Rey moving into graphic novels
Del Rey’s new territory: original graphic novels. First up, a new Shannara story by Terry Brooks.
I doubt there’s anything Star Wars in the pipeline, since obviously Dark Horse holds the rights to publish SW comics, but I wonder if there’s wiggle room in the contracts that would allow Del Rey to do adaptions. Dark Horse certainly isn’t interested, (Their last attempt was way back in 1998) and the graphic novel treatment sure would make certain parts of the NJO a lot more digestible.
Sentient meat!
A short-film adaption of Terry Bisson’s short story “They’re Made Out of Meat” won grand prize at the Science Fiction Museum’s First Annual Short Film Festival. Watch the film, or read the original story. (via Boing Boing)
What, no Lord of the Rings?
Bladerunner, A Clockwork Orange, Sin City and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (which one?) are on The Guardian‘s list of the 50 best book adaptions. Ewan McGregor’s breakthrough film Trainspotting also made it.
Publisher’s Weeky on genre
Two articles on genre fiction from Publisher’s Weeky: Too Geeky for Its Own Good? looks at science fiction and Fantasy Goes Literary is about – duh – the mainstreaming of fantasy. (via Galleycat)
Scholarship to honor Octavia E. Butler
The Carl Brandon Society is starting an Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund to send writers of color to the Clarion Writers Workshop. Currently seeking donations, they plan to award the first scholarship next year. (via BoingBoing)
Ever hear Sauron sing? You’ll love it.
You know, it’s probably not a good sign that the last of these four photos from the stage version of Lord of the Rings reminds me of Showgirls.