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| Credit: Pixabay.com |
I have some Lightning News Flashes for this post. The month of April
has sadly seen the loss of two science fiction writers but it’s
also seen some good news, too. New
TV shows based on science fiction and fantasy novels have been
announced as being in
the works and also an
Edgar Allen Poe Museum has
acquired a genuine letter written by Poe. For
longer versions of these stories, click on the links below.
Obituaries
Science fiction and
fantasy author Vonda McIntyre passed away at age 70 on the first of
the month. She wrote several Star Trek books, including the novel
adaptations of movies ST II: The Wrath of Khan and ST III:
The Search for Spock. Her 1978 novel, Dreamsnake, had won
both a Hugo and a Nebula. According to Geekwire.com, McIntyre started
the Clarion West writers’ workshop in Seattle in 1971. Geekwire
also says she completed her last novel, Curve of the World,
“in less than two weeks before her death” from pancreatic cancer.
The New York Times says that “she was one of [science
fiction’s] leading women”.
April also saw the
loss of acclaimed science fiction author Gene Wolfe. He died at age 87 last Sunday, 14 April.
Two of his most famous works were the novella, The Fifth Head of
Cerberus, and the series
of novels, The Book of the New Sun. According to EW.com, he
was most known for the latter which is set in a distant future when
Earth’s society regresses back to a medieval-like way of life.
From Book To TV
And here’s news on
some of the latest books in science fiction and fantasy that are to
be adapted into television shows . . .
The Line Beyond,
by Torsca Lee: This dystopian novel, about an epidemic rising from
extinction and an escapee from an apocalyptic religious cult, has
been selected by Radar Pictures and Marlboro Road Gang Productions to
be made into a TV series. There is no known premiere date for the series yet.
Brave New World,
by Aldous Huxley: Alden Ehrenreich, who portrayed Han
Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, will play the role of
John the Savage in a TV series based on Huxley’s 1932 satirical sci
fi novel. According to Sciencefiction.com, the series will debut on the new
streaming video service, NBCU, which will go live in 2020.
Sciencefiction.com says that, originally director Ridley Scott
planned to adapt the novel into a full-length feature film but the
plan did not follow through. Not that the TV series can’t do well,
but I would like to have seen Scott follow through with his plan. It
may have been interesting to
see how he would have
directed the movie
which, like the novel,
would be set in a
utopia. He directed
1982’s Blade Runner
which is set in a dystopian future.
Sleeping
Beauties, by Stephen and Owen King: Sciencefiction.com has also reported that the father and son authors
are adapting their science fiction horror novel into an AMC TV
series. The book is set in the near-future when women in a small town go into
a strange dream sleep and, if wakened, become psychotically violent.
One of Poe’s Letters To Be Exhibited At Virginia Museum
The Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, has acquired an original letter by
Edgar Allen Poe which will be put on display from 25 April to 31 July. According to the museum’s blog, the letter was written to an uncle of Poe’s in regards to the
author’s attempt to establish a literary magazine. It was written
“less than a year before Poe’s early death”. The blog states
that the letter was donated to the museum this month by the
great-great-great granddaughter of the uncle. Okay, so this is not an
original, handwritten manuscript of one of the author’s classic
stories such as “Fall of the House of Usher”. But, because he
became so popular since after his death in 1849, “his letters are
both scarce and highly sought-after by collectors”, the blog
explains. The letter will give scholars more insight into his short
life and his writing career.
And those are the
Lightning News Flashes in science fiction and fantasy for the month.
The next post will probably not be until the following Wednesday.
That will be the first Wednesday of the month which is when I post as part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG), a
blog group that discusses the challenges of writing and how to deal
with them. So there may not be a post next weekend. The following
weekend, however, I am going to try to have a Book-To-Movie review.
Hopefully I’ll see you at the IWSG post!
Have you read any of
Vonda McIntyre’s or Gene Wolfe’s work? What do you think of the
upcoming science fiction and fantasy TV shows mentioned above? Have
you visited any of the Edgar Allen Poe museums? Please feel free to
share your comments in the box below!
Until next time . .
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| Credit: Pixabay.com |
Thanks for all the info. Sad to hear about those who have passed on.
ReplyDeleteIt's always sad when a great writer dies, especially if it's one whose work you've always enjoyed. It's like you don't even want to think of the reality that they're going to pass on someday; you want them to be immortal.
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