Interviews for 5/8
Entertainment Weekly profiles Michael Chabon, author of The Yiddish Policemen's Union.
(There's also an LA Times story about Chabon and Yiddish Policemen's Union that I found at the Register-Guard. And here's another similar story from the Minneapolis Star Tribune.)
A recent Stephenie Meyer book-signing (for her new novel Eclipse) was themed as a "vampire prom," reports AZCentral.
SciFi Wire chats with the Campbell-nominated Scott Lynch about his debut novel The Lies of Locke Lamora.
Episode 36 of The Sci Phi Show is an examination of science and religion starting with Isaac Asimov's classic story "Nightfall."
SFX interviews Ian Cameron Esslemont, co-creator of the "Malazan" world with Steven Erikson and author of Knight of Knives.
Strange Horizons reviews Mat Coward's short-story collection So Far, So Near. ("Mat?" Perhaps he should get together with Frazz's Jef Mallett in a search for missing letters...)
Jeff VanderMeer talks about the experience of being a judge for the Eisner Awards, and interviews his fellow judges and awards administrator Jackie Estrada.
Jeff VanderMeer also interviewed Elizabeth Hand about her new novel Generation Loss.
Bloggasm looks back on Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day.
Comments
Hearing all this talk of the new Chabon release makes me a little sad…
A year ago, I would have been thrilled and probably obtained an advanced reading copy. He’s been my “favorite” author since I first read his debut novel THE MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH back in the early 90s.
But I can no longer support the work of an author who has no regard for the story and characters that put him on the literary map.
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a film version of MOP coming out later this year… Written and directed by the guy who brought us DODGEBALL, in which he’s CHANGED 85% of Chabon’s original story. And the sad part is… Michael Chabon himself APPROVED of the script!
WHY would he do this? I can only think of one possible answer: $$
If you are a Chabon fan, esp MOP, I suggest you do NOT see this movie. You will be sadly disappointed at the COMPLETE removal of the gay character, Arthur Lecomte, and the fabrication of a romantic love triangle between Art Bechstein, Jane Bellwether, and a bi-sexual Cleveland Arning. And really, what is MOP without the presence of Phlox Lombardi? Alas, she’s barely in it.
Posted by: franQ | May 8, 2007 10:24 AM
franQ: You may have unrealistic ideas about the power of a writer in Hollywood; getting a book made into a movie at all (even a completely unrecognizable one) is rare, and the book that is carbon-copied as a movie is essentially non-existent.
Even a short book would turn into four- or five-hour movie without drastic cutting; books simply have a lot more story than movies can fit. I don't know anything about this particular case, but this is pretty much what happens when any book is filmed: the core of it comes through (if everyone is lucky, and the filmmaker's vision is similar enough to the author's), and the rest drops away.
Posted by: Andrew Wheeler | May 8, 2007 10:44 AM