A couple of days ago we reported that a film adaptation of the video game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was under consideration. The game's hero, Nathan Drake, is a descendant of Sir Francis Drake on a quest for the lost treasure of El Dorado.
Now we learn that ruggedly handsome Richard Castle himself, Nathan Fillion, is campaigning to play the lead. An active twitter thread is underway (#NathanFillionForNathanDrake) that the actor enthusiastically supports. (See a sample tweet.)
You have to admit, there is more than a passing resemblance between Nathan Fillion and Nathan Drake, and Fillion has clearly shown he's capable of being a charming rogue on the ABC series Castle.
What do you think about Nathan Fillion as Nathan Drake? In the meantime, we'll keep you posted on any developments!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Nathan Fillion as Nathan Drake in Film Adaptation of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune?
Dog Boy and Other Harrowing Tales by Erica-Lynn Huberty (Book Review)
Dog Boy and Other Harrowing Tales by Erica-Lynn Huberty. Short Story Collection. iUniverse Hardcover, April 2010.
Dog Boy and Other Harrowing Tales is a collection of six stories by Erica-Lynn Huberty that don't share a common character, time or place, but instead contributes, as a whole, an uneasy sense of the uncertain or unknown.
Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Dog Boy and Other Harrowing Tales by Erica-Lynn Huberty.
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Mysterious Reviews is your source for the latest mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime novel reviews, edited by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.
OMN Welcomes Andy Mulligan, Author of the Young Adult Thriller Trash
Omnimystery News is delighted to welcome Andy Mulligan as our guest blogger. Andy is the author of Trash (David Fickling Books, October 2010, 978-0-385-75214-5), a young adult thriller set in the not-so-distant future.
Today, Andy writes about what readers look for in a book.
But that's not all! You can win a copy of Trash by simply posting a comment with an answer to a scavenger hunt trivia question; more details below!
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Photo credit Jun Santos,
provided courtesy of Andy Mulligan
Hello from the Philippines, where I am bracing myself for the reception of Trash. The big bookstores have taken delivery and are about to put it out on the shelves. And I’m wondering what people look for when they saunter past and think, "Hmmm…shall I buy that one?"
It’s about trash — how depressing!
Are there any elves? I want a book with elves or vampires.
Maybe a quick re-write is in order: "Three dumpsite boys discover in the night that they’re growing fangs, and so begins a rollercoaster bloodbath …"
What do you look for, what do I look for? — I look for a good story, and if the story’s no good I give up pretty fast. All that stream-of-consciousness psycho-stuff — it was fine when I was at college, and — yes — Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway was mind-bending, life-changing. But it was still a hard climb up vertical rock and I don’t want to go back there.
Have you ever read the first chapter of John Grisham’s The Client? I defy you to get to the end of page 32 and put it down. I have seen entire class-loads of children addicted to that book, clamouring for their fix. It’s got good child characters — kids who live dangerously and are drawn to the dodgy things in life — and then a crackling plot.
I was asked by a teacher of nine year-olds the other day if I thought Trash was suitable for that age-group, and first I said "Yes," and then I said "No" — and then I said, "What kind of nine year-olds are they? What are their parents like and what is the school like? What’s the religious faith? What’s the state of their mental health? — I don’t know!" What I do know is that most children like reading what they’re not quite ready for. I also wonder if anyone has been seriously harmed by anything they’ve read … because it’s not quite like swallowing a spiky toy or drinking the bleach — you won’t need your stomach pumped after reading Trash, unless you’ve done something very unpredictable with it.
There’s an extraordinary chapter of Brett Easton-Ellis’ American Psycho called "Killing Child at Zoo." Our hero does the unthinkable: he spots a five year old at the zoo, and murders him, and the account is so real, so ugly, so scary, so total that you’re shunted to a different place. I read this to my class of fourteen year-olds recently, and one poor pupil had nightmares, and I ended up explaining myself in the boss’ office and received my letter of warning, and to this day I’m uncertain. I’m not proud of giving someone nightmares, but on the other hand, that class had an experience of literature many will never forget. They discovered that a good book is beyond television, beyond movies, beyond good food and almost beyond good sex and maybe just about on par with a good rock concert when the band come back on-stage and play "Sympathy for the Devil" or "Stagger Lee" — a good book lifts you up.
A good book isn’t a diversion from the subway. A good book should give you nightmares, if you’re sensitive enough to have them.
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Andy Mulligan was brought up in the south of London. He worked as a theater director for ten years before travels in Asia prompted him to retrain as a teacher. He has taught English and drama in India, Brazil, the Philippines and the UK. He now divides his time between London and Manila. Visit his website at AndyMulliganBooks.com.
Andy is on tour all this week (yesterday visiting Library Lounge Lizard and today, in addition to ourselves, Random Acts of Reading), and will also be chatting with readers at RandomBuzzers.com.
We are excited to be included in the Trash Scavenger Hunt. Visit the RandomHouseKids Twitter page to look for today's question. Post your answer in the comments section of this post for a chance to win a copy of Trash, courtesy of Random House.
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About Trash: In an unnamed Third World country, in the not-so-distant future, three “dumpsite boys” make a living picking through the mountains of garbage on the outskirts of a large city.
One unlucky-lucky day, Raphael finds something very special and very mysterious. So mysterious that he decides to keep it, even when the city police offer a handsome reward for its return. That decision brings with it terrifying consequences, and soon the dumpsite boys must use all of their cunning and courage to stay ahead of their pursuers. It’s up to Raphael, Gardo, and Rat—boys who have no education, no parents, no homes, and no money—to solve the mystery and right a terrible wrong.
Today's Featured Free Kindle Mystery: Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey
Kindle Mysteries is pleased to feature a mystery title that is currently available in Kindle eBook format for free from Amazon.com. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically only until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so download it today!
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Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey
A James Stark Supernatural Thriller (1st in series)
HarperCollins (Kindle eBook)
Download Link
About Sandman Slim (from the publisher): Life sucks, and then you die. Or, if you're James Stark, you spend eleven years in Hell as a hitman before finally escaping, only to land back in the hell-on-earth that is Los Angeles.
Now Stark's back, and ready for revenge. And absolution, and maybe even love. But Stark discovers that the road to absolution and revenge is much longer than you'd expect, and both Heaven and Hell have their own ideas for his future.
Winners of the 2010 Barry Awards Announced
The winners of the 2010 Barry Awards were announced last night at Bouchercon. This annual award is presented by the editorial staff of Deadly Pleasures for the best works published in the field of crime fiction.
◊ Best Novel: The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur Books)
◊ Best First Novel: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley 
◊ Best British Novel: If The Dead Not Rise by Philip Kerr (Quercus)
◊ Best Paperback Original: Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley
◊ Best Thriller: Running from the Devil by Jamie Freveletti (Wm. Morrow)
◊ Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
◊ Best Short Story: "The High House Writer" by Brendan DuBois (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
Winners of the 2010 Macavity Awards Announced
The winners of the 2010 Macavity Awards were announced last night at Bouchercon. Named for the "mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot, members of Mystery Readers International vote for their favorite mysteries in several categories.
◊ Best Mystery Novel: Tower by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrell Coleman (Busted Flush Press)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
◊ Best Mystery Non-Fiction: Talking about Detective Fiction by P. D. James (Knopf)
◊ Best Mystery Short Story: "On the House" in Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Level Best Books)
◊ Sue Feder Historical Mystery: A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell (Forge)
Mystery Bestsellers for October 15, 2010
A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending October 15th, 2010 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.
More changes this week (though The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson remains number one). Two new titles enter the list (with two others moving into the top four).
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Entering the list at number 10 is American Assassin, the 11th Mitch Rapp thriller by Vince Flynn that also serves as a introduction to the character.
Before he was considered a CIA superagent, before he was thought of as a terrorist’s worst nightmare, and before he was both loathed and admired by the politicians on Capitol Hill, Mitch Rapp was a gifted college athlete without a care in the world ... and then tragedy struck.
Two decades of cutthroat, partisan politics has left the CIA and the country in an increasingly vulnerable position. Cold War veteran and CIA Operations Director Thomas Stansfield knows he must prepare his people for the next war. The rise of Islamic terrorism is coming, and it needs to be met abroad before it reaches America’s shores. Stansfield directs his protÉgÉe, Irene Kennedy, and his old Cold War colleague, Stan Hurley, to form a new group of clandestine operatives who will work outside the normal chain of command—men who do not exist.
What type of man is willing to kill for his country without putting on a uniform? Kennedy finds him in the wake of the Pan Am Lockerbie terrorist attack. Two-hundred and seventy souls perished that cold December night, and thousands of family and friends were left searching for comfort. Mitch Rapp was one of them, but he was not interested in comfort. He wanted retribution.
Six months of intense training has prepared him to bring the war to the enemy’s doorstep, and he does so with brutal efficiency. Rapp starts in Istanbul, where he assassinates the Turkish arms dealer who sold the explosives used in the Pan Am attack. Rapp then moves onto Hamburg with his team and across Europe, leaving a trail of bodies. All roads lead to Beirut, though, and what Rapp doesn’t know is that the enemy is aware of his existence and has prepared a trap. The hunter is about to become the hunted, and Rapp will need every ounce of skill and cunning if he is to survive the war-ravaged city and its various terrorist factions.
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Just making the list in 15th position is The Charming Quirks of Others the 7th novel in the Isabel Dalhousie series by Alexander McCall Smith.
Isabel has been asked for her help in a rather tricky situation: A successor is being sought for the headmaster at a local boys’ school. The board has three final candidates but has received an anonymous letter alleging that one of them has a very serious skeleton in the closet. Could Isabel discreetly look into it? And so she does. What she discovers about all the candidates is surprising, but what she discovers about herself and about Jamie, the father of her young son, turns out to be equally revealing.
Isabel’s investigation will have her exploring issues of ambition, as well as of charity, forgiveness, and humility, as she moves nearer and nearer to some of the most hidden precincts of the heart.
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The top four mystery bestsellers this week are shown below:
Please visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo Optioned for Film Adaptation
Deadline|New York is reporting that Working Title Films has optioned the film rights to The Snowman, the seventh Harry Hole mystery by Jo Nesbo. (The cover and link to the right is for the UK edition; the US edition will be published next year.)
“I’m very excited and a little worried,” the author said in a statement. “I’ve turned down offers for making movies about Harry Hole for so many years, so for me this is like putting my baby on the bus to the big city for the first time. But it feels like she’s ready for that now and I am really glad that she is going to be with a quality producer.”
Harry Hole is a police detective in Oslo (Norway) who is brought in to investigate a missing woman. When he realizes her disappearance may be related to a number of cold case crimes, he discovers he's just a pawn in a deadly game with a serial killer.
ITV Commissions Television Adaptation of A Point of Rescue (The Wrong Mother) by Sophie Hannah
In a press release today, ITV announced the network had commissioned a two-part television adaptation of Sophie Hannah's third novel of psychological suspense, A Point of Rescue, which was published as The Wrong Mother in the US.
Point of Rescue (working title) will star Olivia Williams as DS Charlie Zailer and Darren Boyd as DC Simon Waterhouse, investigating the deaths of a mother and her five-year-old daughter. Another woman, Sally, the mother of two young children, hears of the news and realizes the dead woman's husband is the same man Sally had an illicit affair with last year. Is the man a killer -- and should she be concerned about her family's safety?
Read the first chapters of The Wrong Mother below.
Watch this Entertaining Trailer for The Defense of Thaddeus A. Ledbetter by John Gosselink
A few weeks ago when we were highlighting new October mysteries for kids, we listed The Defense of Thaddeus A. Ledbetter by John Gosselink as one of the titles.
Today, a post on GalleyCat alerted us to a new trailer for the book, which you can see below. It is an exercise in both creativity and simplicity -- and best of all, it's a lot of fun to watch.
The Defense of Thaddeus A. Ledbetter, written for middle school readers, is designed like a case file, describing the circumstances that led eighth-grade student Thaddeus to be sentenced to an in-school suspension.
Ward Larsen's Thriller The Perfect Assassin to be Adapted for Film
In a press release today, Oceanview Publishing announced it was partnering with Amber Entertainment to develop feature films and other media entertainment adapted from its catalog of titles.
The first film to be produced is an adaptation of The Perfect Assassin by Ward Larsen, a tale of espionage and intrigue in which an American doctor's boat is taken over by an Israeli assassin while she is sailing across the Atlantic.
"Oceanview Publishing focuses on works that exhibit a strong sense of place and setting; compelling protagonists and supporting characters; tension that builds throughout a book's narrative; seamless, gripping, and suspenseful storylines; and authenticity," said Robert Z. Gussin, the publisher's CEO. "With that in mind, we're confident that Oceanview's titles are uniquely positioned to make the transition into film and television."
RED Opens in Theaters Friday, October 15th
Tomorrow, Friday October 15th, RED opens in theaters.
Starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, and John Malkovich, the film is adapted from the graphic novel RED by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner.
The four principals used to be the CIA's top agents -- but the secrets they know just made them the Agency's top targets. Now framed for assassination, they must use all of their collective cunning, experience, and teamwork to stay one step ahead of their deadly pursuers and stay alive. To stop the operation, the team embarks on an impossible, cross-country mission to break into the top-secret CIA headquarters, where they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history.
Meet the team below; find more videos on the Yahoo: RED page. This is one of the few films we're really looking forward to seeing this year. What about you?
Mystery Trackers: The Void, the Collector's Edition is New at BFG
Games of Mystery is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery casual game from Big Fish Games released today and available to BFG Club members. You can find out more about these games by visiting our Mystery Games: Big Fish Download Games page or by clicking on the links provided below.
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The Void family mansion used to be a gorgeous home ... until Dr. Malleus Void inherited it. Legend has it that the creepy doctor spent his time doing terrible experiments in the home, and it has been abandoned for an entire decade. After three world famous celebrities go missing inside the house, it’s up to the Mystery Trackers to go inside the house and solve its mysteries once and for all.
This is a special Collector's Edition release full of exclusive extras you won’t find in the standard version, including additional gameplay, an integrated strategy guide, original soundtrack and concept art, and more.
Mystery Trackers: The Void, Collector's Edition may be downloaded and purchased for $13.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (180.82 MB) may be downloaded and played for free for one hour; the full version is 705.07 MB.
Watch a preview video below:
Get any standard game for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. Other benefits include the $2.99 Daily Deal, Tomorrow's Game Today, and special member rewards. And if you purchase any 6 games within a single month, you earn a free game with the Big Fish Game Club Monthly Punch Card! (Collector's Editions earn 3 punches each, half-way towards your free game!)
Read Ms. Terri's reviews of the adventure and casual mystery games featured on this site, including Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy, Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses!, Enlightenus, and many more!
Big Fish Games: Bestsellers
Big Fish Games: New releases
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Games of Mystery is your source for mystery-themed video, electronic, and board games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Samuel L. Jackson Developing Holmesian Crime Drama for The CW
Variety is reporting that actor Samuel L. Jackson is developing a crime drama for The CW.
Titled Hawkshaw, the storyline features a 20-something man who believes he's a descendent of Sherlock Holmes -- or may, indeed, be Holmes himself. His therapist's sister, a cop, discovers Hawkshaw's power of deduction can help her solve crimes.
Paramount Options Film Rights to Out of Range by Hank Steinberg
Deadline|New York is reporting that Paramount Pictures has acquired the film rights to a book proposal from Hank Steinberg, who created the CBS series Without a Trace.
Titled Out of Range, the storyline features a man who, together with his children, watches helplessly as his wife is kidnapped, which puts him in the center of a world of international espionage. Steinberg will also write the screenplay.
Out of Range will be published by HarperCollins in 2011. It is Steinberg's first novel.
