Archive for August, 2008
This week has turned into something of a perfect storm for me - one of those freak moments when many events coincide to create a whole larger than the parts - though, I hasten to add, in a good way, not in a smashing-up-ships actual storm way.
Firstly, I've just emerged blinking from the studio at BBC Broadcasting House, where my radio adaptation of Tayeb Salih's classic novel Season of Migration to the North has (almost!) completed recording. This is my first Radio 3 project, and it's been very exhilarating - I'll write more about it when I get my daylight eyes back.
And also, this week, Debatable Space continues to be the SF/fantasy/horror Book of the Month in Waterstone's. Sales are brisk I'm told, and, the telling detail here, the books are £2 cheaper than they will be on the 1st September.
And on top of all this, I've discovered (rather belatedly, since I haven't had time to read the Radio Times) I have an episode of Heartbeat being broadcast this Sunday, 31st August. This is the first ever science fiction episode of Heartbeat; and, buoyed up by my success in selling this notion, I'm now pitching a proposal to the BBC about an an alien family that moves in to Albert Square. (They will be squat and bald-headed and will talk in an eerie whisper - ah, you guessed it! Phil Mitchell was part of the advance party of the alien invasion!)
Next week things go back to normal. I'll spend my time worrying about being late with my deadlines, no one will phone me, and my emails will all be spam or virus threats. But for these few days, it's nice to savour the adrenalin-rush that comes from having a show in post-production, and a show on the telly, and a book in the shops, all at the same time.
This in from my spies in Sheffield...
The Waterstone's blurb is 'Imagine Firefly rewritten by Iain M. Banks', which I rather like....
Brian Ruckley has written a delightful blog featuring the Bart Simpson blackboard about the forthcoming movie version of the classic graphic novel The Watchmen. Like Brian and many others, I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this movie.
But this report shows that there is a real danger the movie will never get released at all. There's a copyright dispute between two studios - Warner's, who just made the film, and Fox, who claim they owned the darned rights.
And chillingly, Fox have said that if the judge rules in their favour, they would prefer to kill the movie entirely rather than take a share of the profits. This would be a shocking waste of creative talent. Come on guys! Can't this be settled amicably?
I'm reminded of a previous incident where a great film wasn't released because of copyright issues - Luchino Visconti's Ossessione, an Italian language version of the James M. Cain roman noir The Postman Always Rings Twice. Stupidly, Visconti made the film without even trying to acquire the rights - I suspect he didn't realise you had to - and the film was lost to audiences for decades. When it finally surfaced, it turned out to be one of the greatest film noirs ever made.
So let's just hope we don't have to wait twenty years to see how The Watchmen comes out...
I've just discovered that Orbit are recklessly giving away free copies of Debatable Space every Friday lunchtime, from this week until the end of August.
All you have to do to be eligible is sign up as a Fan of the exciting Debatable Space Facebook site. Click here for further details of the comp, and click here to get straight on the site.
I love the idea of a book being on Facebook - let's face it, my novel has more friends than I do, and a far better social life! In fact, my book has travelled around the world, and has been read by lots of charming and likeable people. Whereas I sit in my attic and work, and fester, and rarely see anyone from one month to the next. (Hmm, maybe I should be reincarnated as a novel?)
The Facebook site also features the Afterword to Debatable Space, which was included in the trade paperback but isn't in the new mass market edition. You can find this under Notes.
If you already have an edition of Debatable Space and get a new free copy - then that's your chance to give it away to a friend who you think might be seduced by its evil appeal.
Hurrah! Signed copies of the mass market edition of Debatable Space are now available from my local bookshop, the adorably named The Bookseller Crow on the Hill. Mr Crow was delighted at the brisk trade he did in internet sales of the large format edition, via this site. And he's now acquired a pleasingly large stack of the little beasties, which are available at the discount rate of £7.19.
I've just come across an interesting new site, recommended by SF Crowsnest; it's called SF Diplomat and it has some very good in depth articles on SF and movies. And this one in particular I like; a list of the best SF movies of 2007, including quite a few I haven't seen yet.
It's been a good year for Debatable Space, and indeed for me. I've been delighted at the many nice responses I've had from SF fans. And I've also been thrilled at the reaction from friends who aren't SF fans who have loved the book, and said nice things about it, and, most importantly, let's face it, cutting out the wishy-washy mimsy euphemstic shilly-shallying, have bought the book.
In fact, I had a meeting this week with a producer who had (accidentally) bought two copies of the book from Amazon. That's the way to do it! Buy more! If you need something to go under that wobbly table leg, buy Debatable Space! It'll do the job nicely.
Oops, okay, sorry, I went off the rails a bit there. That's writers for you. We want to be loved, we want to be creatively fufilled, but most of all, we want to have our books bought.
Sad, I know.
Anyway, continuing this theme, of books being bought, I'm delighted to say that Debatable Space has been re-born (or rejuved?) in its new format mass market edition.
The cover is very subtly different, it's smaller, it's got a nice quote from Eric Brown on the front, and an interview with me in the back. But basically, I have to admit, it's exactly the same. So, damn it, if you already have a copy of Debatable Space, there's really no point you buying this new version. Don't bother. It's okay. I shan't be offended!
The new and smaller (and just as enjoyable (I hope!)) Debatable Space is published on the 7th August, which is next week isn't it? (I have trouble keeping track of time (there, another unnecessary bracket!) these days). Available in all good book stores, including and especially Waterstone's, who have been wonderfully supportive of the book, and have, ahem, sold copies of it.
And for those who haven't read it yet, but plan to do so - I hope you find it a strange but satisfying journey into a weird imaginative place.
Was it worth the wait? Does it justify the hype?
Hell yes! I loved Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (which as well as directing, he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan). It's exciting, exhilarating, it's richly written, it's a class act all round. And Heath Ledger's Joker (apparently modelled on Sid Vicious - how come all the best characters in movies are based on music biz stars? think of Captain Jack Sparrow, based on Keith Richards) is (I'm putting in another section in brackets here, for no good reason, I just love 'em!) utterly brilliant and compelling.
It's a weirdly structured movie though. The genius idea is that the Joker brings anarchy to the city - this isn't an old-style Batman villain dastardly plan, it's a subtle strategy to shatter the very fabric of goodness in society. (I'm not giving any specifics here, and I don't think that counts as a spoiler.) Harvey Dent, the DA, has a role to play in the Joker's evil thing; and it's wonderful stuff.
But before we get to this, the meat and blood of the story, there's an awful lot of other stuff to get to, involving the Far East and Mob money. And I have to say, it does make the movie very long. I loved the whole thing; but my adrenalin would have raced faster if it had been shorter.
Morgan Freeman is eerily superb in his role as the gadget guy, Lucius Fox. And Michael Caine clearly had a clause inserted in his contract that this time he would have to have a couple of major scenes and great speeches, to make his role more than incidental. He does have those scenes, and those speeches; and boy, he's stunning. Caine has such composure and stillness, and Christian Bale has the charisma sucked out of him ever time he's fool enough to stand next to our East End boy.
Next year's comic book blockbusters are The Watchmen, and Wolverine: Origins. Can't wait...