Ron Howard to direct H.P. Lovecraft film?

I guess directing Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons‘s did something to the redhead. Now, Variety is reporting that Ron Howard is eying the directing duties for the as-yet unreleased H.P. Lovecraft comic The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft. Universal and Howard’s Imagine Entertainment have reportedly picked up the film rights to the mag, due in stores April 8th (Image Comics). This from Mania.com:

Mac Carter and Jeff Blitz created the comic, which integrates biographical elements of author H.P. Lovecraft’s life with elements of his horror novels, setting up Lovecraft to battle the very demons he wrote about, which are released from a cursed book. Carter, known for directing commercials, is set to write the script. Both he and Blitz will be executive producers. Howard and his Imagine partner Brian Grazer are producing. David Bernardi and Chris Wade are co-producing.

As you’ll read in any copy-and-pasted run through of this story, Lovecraft died in 1937 and is considered one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th century. Still, with all props to Howard it’s difficult to imagine Lovecraft getting the right treatment from the director. If the project goes through, here’s to hoping they get Lovecraft right.

That said, go read the novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Here’s a link to a downloadable version.

    “NORTH END GHOULS AGAIN ACTIVE.”

You just have to love that headline from the Thursday edition of the Evening Bulletin, eh? Lol. Go read the book, you’ll understand what I mean. Yes, Lovecraft was the man of making things go bump in the night. Now is that the sounds of rats coming from my walls?

Another Horror writer goes Kindle only

Following Stephen King, another Horror writer is skipping print and going Kindle only. At least as a short-story primer for a novel. In a nice bit of promotion, author Tom Upton is releasing a four-story Kindle download for under a buck, as a teaser for his upcoming horror novel. Here’s a bit on the deal, from PRlog.com:

Tom Upton, author of Just Plain Weird and Morning Doves, said there are no plans to release a hardcopy issue of “Four by Horror“. “‘Four by Horror’ is really just a sampler,” Upton explained. “I think it’s only fair to offer readers a low cost example of what I’m doing in the horror genre. As a reader, I’ve always hated paying a lot of money for a book only to discover that I didn’t particularly like the book for one reason or another.”

The idea is getting quick traction across the internet. The Kindle-only release is in advance of Upton’s new horror novel, Scarecrows, to be out in spring ’09. According to PRlog, Four by Horror reached Amazon Kindle 17th in Short Stories sales, and 82nd in Horror.

Twitter writer horror list (say that 10 times fast)

If you’re in the mindset to look for some friendly neighborhood horror tweets, then begin by looking no further than this Greententacles.com listing of horror twitters.

The list could save you some time blind searching for horror, fantasy and scif fi twitters. John Joseph Adams is there, Cory Doctorow, as well as editors, columnists and the like. Even a few publishers. The list is worth a few minutes of perusing, to lengthen that list of following

Star Wars horror novel: “Deathtroopers”

Joe Schreiber’s upcoming Star Wars horror novel finally has a title: Deathtroopers. The novel happens between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. You can read more about the book on Schreiber’s blog. Here’s a quote:

Earlier today, Lucasfilm announced that my forthcoming Star Wars horror novel will be called Deathtroopers, and that it will take place immediately before A New Hope. So there you go. I had the time of my life on this one, I have to say. I’m doing the final edits now, and I’ve tried to make it into exactly the kind of book you’d want to read if you were a child of the 70s who grew up with the original Star Wars trilogy and really digs horror in the vein of The Shining and Alien, with a little dose of William Gibson mixed in.

Deathtroopers is due out in November.

Nothing like a martini to get the night rolling

I’ve been writing too much to post anything recently, but in honor of the new James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, I thought I’d post the following, straight from the 1953 novel Casino Royale. A few simple lines, very well written, by Ian Fleming (who wrote the short story for which the new movie is loosely based). From the wiki:

“The Vesper or Vesper Martini is a cocktail that was originally made of gin, vodka, and Kina Lillet. Origin: The drink was invented and named by fictional secret agent James Bond.”

” “A dry martini,” [Bond] said. “One. In a deep champagne goblet.”

“Oui, monsieur.”

“Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?”

“Certainly, monsieur.” The barman seemed pleased with the idea.

“Gosh, that’s certainly a drink,” said Leiter.

Bond laughed. “When I’m…er…concentrating,” he explained, “I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink’s my own invention. I’m going to patent it when I can think of a good name.”

-Ian Fleming, Casino Royale