Category Archives: Books

Dark Tower’ Trailer Is Finally Here

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© Columbia Pictures. Walter (Matthew McConaughey) and Roland (Idris Elba). The Dark Tower

By Creative Media Times

I do not kill with my gun…I kill with my heart.” ― Stephen King, The Gunslinger

One of the year’s most ambitious adaptations, Sony’s “The Dark Tower” finally got a trailer. Expectations are high on this one: the first of the eight-book saga from which the movie is based on began in 1983 with The Gunslinger, nearly a 35-year wait for fans. From what we have seen so far, its all worth it.

The overarching ideas of the books are there on the trailer, while also keeping some of King’s trademark elements; the discovery of another dimension, the lone gunslinger in a quest to reach the tower, and the vicious sorcerer aka The Man in Black on the chase. And similar to the trailer for King’s other big adaption this year, ‘It’, we find a boy lead us again into a world of mystery and epic journey.

The trailer look busy and broad; as one should expect there is no way to condense King’s series of novels on a 3-minute trailer so fans should keep their expectations in check. It does help to be aware that the movie is not a faithful adaptation but another take on the stories which King crafted over the years.

“The Dark Tower” stars Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey and Tom Taylor, as Roland Deschain/Gunslinger, Walter/The Man in Black, and Jake Chambers respectively. Directed and co-written by Nikolaj Arcel, the movie also stars Abbey Lee, Katheryn Winnick, Fran Kranz, Claudia Kim and Jackie Earle Haley. The movie is coming to theaters on August 4, 2017.

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Clint Eastwood To Direct Film About Hero Skarlatos And Friends

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By AI Creative Media

The 15:17 To Paris: The True Story Of A Terrorist, A Train, And Three American Heroes

It seems that Clint Eastwood is continuing his passion for stories about regular guys turning into heroes. According to Deadline, the iconic director is taking on the story of Roseburg native Alek Skarlatos and his friends who thwarted a terrorist train attack in France. The story is based on the book ‘The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Heroes.’

Last year, Eastwood directed ‘Sully’, a biographical drama about US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who made an emergency landing on the Hudson River and saved all 155 passengers and crew. Prior to that, he made ‘American Sniper’ about the Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle.

Dorothy Blyskal adapted the book for the feature with Eastwood set to produce the film with Tim Moore, Kristina Rivera and Jessica Meier.

In August 2015, Army National Guard specialist Alek Skarlatos, and his childhood friends, U.S. Airman First Class Spencer Stone and Sacramento State University senior Anthony Sadler, subdued a heavily armed terrorist while boarded on a train bound for Paris. The three friends eventually came back home to the US and received a heroes’ welcome.

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‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ gets sequel and new cast

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By AI Creative Media

After years of speculation, the  long-gestating sequel to David Fincher’s 2011 thriller ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ is finally back on track.

The sequel, ‘The Girl in the Spider’s Web’ will be directed by Fede Alverez, the man behind last year’s surprise horror-thriller hit ‘Don’t Breathe’, a modestly budgeted horror-thriller that was critically well-reviewed and grossed over $157 million. The movie will debut in theaters on Oct. 5, 2018. The announcement was made at the London Book Fair during a celebration for the fifth Millennium book launch.

“I’m hugely excited and grateful for this opportunity,” Alvarez said. “Sony has become family to me and I can’t think of a more thrilling project to celebrate our relationship. Lisbeth Salander is the kind of character any director dreams of bringing to life. We’ve got a great script and now comes the most fun part – finding our Lisbeth.”

The sequel’s road to fruition was not an easy path. ‘Dragon’ sequel ‘The Girl Who Played Fire’ was originally intended for a 2013 release but was later delayed as ‘Dragon Tattoo’ writer Steve Zaillian was “still working on the script”, then later, Hollywood Reporter reported neither Rooney Mara (who played the series’ lead character) nor Daniel Craig will be back, and that Sony was planning on a franchise reboot instead, with Steven Knight (Burnt) in talks about an adaptation right after ‘Web’ was published.

Based on the Millennium book series created by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson, The Girl in the Spider’s Web book was written by David Lagercrantz after Larsson’s death, and is the fourth novel in the series.
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Book Review: Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach

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Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach

By Elizabeth Walker

There’s something just fascinating about twins. While more common than they used to be, thanks to advances in modern fertility treatments, twins – particularly identical twins – continue to captivate the mind. Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach is engrossing not only for its portrayal of its monozygotic heroines but also for the deliberate unraveling of their shared history.

The reader first encounters Ava Antipova flying back from Paris to her childhood home, a vineyard in upstate New York. She has come back to make arrangements after her twin sister, Zelda, has been reported dead in a barn fire. While Ava goes through the emotionally draining motions of organizing the funeral, talking to the police, and tending to her aging mother, she finds herself doubting the story of her estranged sister’s demise. Her suspicions are confirmed when she begins receiving emails from Zelda from beyond the grave.

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Book Review: The Spider and the Fly by Claudia Rowe

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The Spider and the Fly by Claudia Rowe

Prepare to be thoroughly creeped out.

By Elizabeth Stainton

In the late nineties, an African-American outcast named Kendall Francois murdered eight women, all prostitutes. This string of crimes would be heinous enough, but the truly sickening part is that he hid the bodies in the house he shared with his parents – and his family didn’t notice because of the squalid conditions of the family home.

Meanwhile, Claudia Rowe was floating through life as a reporter, then a stringer for the New York Times. While her family was more affluent than Kendall’s, it also had years of pain and secrets, which Claudia found herself trying to escape by fleeing to Poughkeepsie, New York.

The intersection of the two lives – that of the murderer and the journalist – is what sets this book apart from so many other true crime stories. Rowe does not merely recount Kendall’s crimes, she weaves his family history together with her own upbringing, comparing and contrasting the ways insecurity manifests in each. It is a book as much about herself as it is about her subject.

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JK Rowling apologises for killing off Harry Potter fan favourite Remus Lupin

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By AICreativeMedia

JK Rowling has apologised for killing off Remus Lupin. Remus is a favourite of Harry Potter fans, in the final book.

Monday marks the anniversary of the fictional Battle of Hogwarts, the gruesome events described in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that ended the Second Wizarding War. To mark the day, author J.K. Rowling has apologized for killing a fan favorite character in the Harry Potter series: Remus Lupin.

“Once again, it’s the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts so, as promised, I shall [apologize] for a death. This year: Remus Lupin,” Rowling wrote on Twitter. “In the interests of total honesty I’d also like to confess that I didn’t decide to kill Lupin until I wrote Order if the Phoenix.”

“Arthur lived, so Lupin had to die. I'm sorry. I didn't enjoy doing it. The only time my editor ever saw me cry was over the fate of Teddy.

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Booksellers Resisting Amazon’s Disruption

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By DAVID STREITFELD

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon prides itself on unraveling the established order. This fall, signs of Amazon-inspired disruption are everywhere.

There is the slow-motion crackup of electronics showroom Best Buy. There is Amazon’s rumored entry into the wine business, which is already agitating competitors. And there is the merger of Random House and Penguin, an effort to create a mega-publisher sufficiently hefty to negotiate with the retailer on equal terms.

Amazon inspires anxiety just about everywhere, but its publishing arm is getting pushback from all sorts of booksellers, who are scorning the imprint’s most prominent title, Timothy Ferriss’s “The 4-Hour Chef.” That book is coming out just before Thanksgiving into a fragmented book-selling landscape that Amazon has done much to create but that eludes its control.


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J.K. Rowling’s Personal Struggle With OCD Informed New Novel, The Casual Vacancy

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By THEA TRACHTENBERG and LAUREN SHER

J.K. Rowling’s new novel is called The Casual Vacancy, but it might as well be called Great Expectations. It’s been five years since the last blockbuster Harry Potter book was released and millions of fans around the world have been anxiously anticipating Rowling’s next book.

“I’ve written other things during that time, but on and off for five years, that’s been my priority,” Rowling, 47, said in an exclusive and rare interview for television with “Nightline” co-anchor Cynthia McFadden in Edinburgh, Scotland. “I think I’ve been surprised by the fact that Harry hasn’t left me to the degree that I thought he would. And I’m quite glad about that.”

Rowling’s Potter books have been published in 73 languages, sold more than 450 million copies, spawned popular film spin-offs, and made her the first billionaire author.

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‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Author Says She Has Shortlist for Lead Roles in Film Adaptation

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by Rebecca Ford

The writer of the hit erotic book series spoke about the movie casting while on “Katie” on Monday.

One of Katie Couric’s first major interviews on her show, Katie, was with Fifty Shades of Grey writer E.L. James on Monday.

The stage was designed with sexy red lighting to celebrate the arrival of the writer of the hit erotic novels, which follows a young woman named Anastasia Steele, who falls into a tumultuous sexual relationship with a successful business magnate, Christian Grey.

There has been much discussion about casting for the film adaptation. Universal and Focus nabbed rights to the trilogy for $5 million in March after a heated Hollywood bidding war.

An audience member made sure to ask James, who has retained some creative control over the movie’s casting, if she has decided on who would take on the lead roles of Anastasia and Christian.

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James Ellroy Novel ‘Blood’s A Rover’ Optioned By VS Entertainment

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By MIKE FLEMING

EXCLUSIVE: Vincent Sieber’s VS Entertainment has acquired screen rights to Blood’s A Rover, the latest novel by L.A. Confidential author James Ellroy.

Sieber, currently executive producing Alex Proyas’ The Unpleasant Profession Of Jonathan Hoag, will produce Rover with Clark Peterson, who recently wrapped production on Atom Egoyan’s Devil’s Knot. Ellroy will be exec producer.

Set during the troubled times of the late 60’s and early 70’s, the novel tells the story of Joan Rosen Klein who, against all odds, triumphs against her mobbed-up and politically connected foes to avenge her lost loved ones. In the process, she alters the course of history as well as the lives of the three men who follow her: Dwight Holly–J. Edgar Hoover’s pet strong-arm goon; Wayne Tedrow—-ex-cop and heroin runner—-who is building a mob gambling mecca in the Dominican Republic; and Don Crutchfield, a window-peeping private-eye within tantalizing reach of right-wing assassins, left-wing revolutionaries and the powermongers of an incendiary era. Their lives collide in pursuit of the “Red Goddess” Joan—and each of them pay a price to live history.


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