William Peter Blatty, best known for his 1971 book THE EXORCIST, is now 82, but that hasn’t slowed him down any.  He just published a new thriller book, DIMITER, set in the Holy Land in the 1970s, just in time for the Easter holiday.

Blatty, originally a comedy writer and screenplay author of such fun fare as A SHOT IN THE DARK, never figured to get famous from THE EXORCIST.  He thought it would be a one-shot wonder, a thriller to explore his own beliefs in good and evil, but after it was published, it seemed he was now known as the eminent horror writer of all time, and couldn’t get work anymore in comedy. Winning an Oscar for his screenplay of THE EXORCIST seemed to put a nail in that coffin. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself…)

continue reading "You’re Never Too Old…"

2010 has started out with a bang, and it’s not a good one:  quite a few well-known writers have died since this year began!

Here are some of the authors we’ve lost:

William Tuohy, 83
He was a former Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent who covered the Vietnam War and who wrote three well-known books: DANGEROUS COMPANY (1987), detailing his time as a war correspondent; THE BRAVEST MAN: The Story of Richard O’Kane and U.S. Submariners in the Pacific War (2001); and “AMERICA’S FIGHTING ADMIRALS: Winning the War at Sea in World War II” (2007). Tuohy died Dec. 31 after open-heart surgery at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif.

Dick Zunt, 78
Cleveland’s Plain Dealer sports writer who covered the city’s high school teams for more than 50 years, died on Jan 2nd.

Margery Beddow, 72
Broadway dancer, choreographer, director and author of BOB FOSSE’S BROADWAY, also passed away Jan 2nd.

Stephen Huneck, 60
A Vermont man whose love of dogs inspired his art and books (SALLY GOES TO THE BEACH, MY DOG”S BRAIN) and the building of a unique dog chapel,  died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Jan 7th. He had been suffering from depression for quite some time before taking his own life.
continue reading "2010 Rough on Writers"

Dan Brown’s bestselling THE LOST SYMBOL, featuring Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon, will follow THE DA VINCI CODE and ANGELS & DEMONS into theaters, but it won’t be written by Akiva Goldsmith, writer of the first two screenplays.

According to reports in Variety, Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) has been chosen to pen the 3rd movie.  Also, so far, Ron Howard, director of the first two, is currently only attached as a producer, and Tom Hanks hasn’t signed up to repeat his role as Langdon, but it’s hoped that the duo will continue the successful relationship that helped turn the 1st two movies into box office magic.   Hanks himself has said about doing a third movie, “I’d love to if they’re going to do it. I’m not going to walk away from that. If they make it again, I hope they ask me.”

ANGELS & DEMONS did not due as well as THE DA VINCI CODE at the box office.  However, THE LOST SYMBOL was the fastest selling adult fiction book in history (selling 1 million copies on its first day of release back in Sept 2009) so it’s no doubt hoped by Columbia that the new movie will kick the franchise’s revenue back up a notch or two. The new book (and film) take Langdon this time to Washington DC and up against Freemason mythos.  The movie has an anticipated release date of 2012.

Michael Crichton, bestselling author of such techno-thrillers and adventure fiction JURASSIC PARK, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN and THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY and creator of the TV series ER, was also an avid collector of fine art.  Four paintings from his collection, all created sometime in the 1960s and worth approx. $30-35 million, will be on display in Britain this week before they go under Christie’s hammer this May.

continue reading "Michael Crichton’s Collection Goes On The Block"

Jim Harrison, best known for his book of novellas LEGENDS OF THE FALL which had the title story made into a movie with Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins, has a new book of novellas out, called THE FARMER’S DAUGHTER.  (And no, it isn’t a dirty jokebook, although it does have some sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll in at least one of the stories.)

This new book includes three stories: THE FARMER’S DAUGHTER, a coming of age tale; BROWN DOG REDUX, a story of the continuing adventures of Brown Dog, a part Native American character from an earlier book; and THE GAMES OF NIGHT, a werewolf tale.

As Harrison’s writing has matured, it has moved more and more towards poetry, his preferred method of storytelling, and away from pure fiction, and this book is no different. In fact, if you’re not used to his style of writing, you may find this book a little hard to read.  It may be better to actually go back and find his earlier works, and read those first,  ”easing” yourself into his current style.