Diana Rowland is a gal that, from the sounds of her website/blog/Facebook Page is a very busy author. She just completed her sixth book in five years; it is the fourth in her Demon Series, and if the others are any indication, it will be another fun read. Southern by geography as well as by nature, her books use her settings of Louisiana so well that you can feel that Cajun sauce burning your tongue as you read them.
Her second series, about a white trash zombie named Angel is also set in the deep south and in fact has a bit of fun with the stereotype of the white trash kid as only someone from the south could do. The first book, My Life As A White Trash Zombie came out in July and she has several more planned in the series. Since Angel is a bit of a loser who pretty much finds out that life as a zombie sure beats her former life, it has more than a bit of dark humor in it as well. If you like your zombies a bit on the unconventional side, a departure from the George Romero zombie, then you need to be sure to check her out!
But my favorite is still the Demon series, a cop procedural series with a kick; because Homicide Detective Kara Gillian isn’t just your ordinary cop, she can summon demons, and can even control them. Well, most of the time. And that can come in handy when your beat is a town in Louisiana where demons suddenly seem to come out of the woodwork. Diana Rowland’s background as a former cop and her old job at a morgue seem to stand her in good stead with this series. It will be interesting to see where she goes in the latest of the series, when Kara’s pact with a demon lord leave her few options as she fights on to save those she loves, and her own skin. Hmmm – just another day at the office I see.
Since Diana is our author of the month we’ll be taking a closer look at the Demon Series and highlighting it for you right here. The books in the series: Mark of the Demon, Blood of the Demon, Secrets of the Demon and the latest one Sins of the Demon will all be reviewed and available this month for you our readers to enjoy. And as an added bonus, I will be taking a look at her new series, White Trash Zombie to showcase its first book and hopefully get a preview of the second book, which Diana should be finishing up just about the same time we are hoping to be previewing it!
Check in again soon as I sit down with our favorite southern demon writer to see where she plans to go with both Kara and Angel and get a little peek at her latest trip to the San Diego ComiCon this past summer (one of my favorite old stamping grounds) to talk about writing, demons and things that go bump in the night, way down south . . .
Well the New Year is here and we are ready with a brand new and very long list of great new fantasy books! I am happy to see many familiar names here amongst the authors including giants of the industry like Michael Bishop and Tanith Lee and of course a whole bunch of great new authors we are always happy to welcome to the family. So cruise on through and find yourself some great new fantasy novels to curl up with this winter. No matter what the weather is outside, in here it is always the best time for reading a great bit of fantasy!
Title: The Door Gunner and Other Perilous Flights of Fancy
Author: Michael Bishop
This anthology of one of the most amazing fantasy and science fiction writers had to be the one to start off this year’s book reviews. Bishop is now going into his fifth decade as an award-winning writer of sophisticated and intelligent fiction and this book is a great collection to celebrate the man’s virtuosity. It includes a preface from Editor Michael Hutchins, one of the foremost scholars on Bishop’s work, and an introduction from the ever-shrewd Jack McDevitt. One of the real treats in this volume is the notes that accompany each story or novella, giving detail and background that just make the reading that much more of a treasure.
The stories are in chronological order beginning with his very first published story, moving through his Nebula-award winning “The Quickening” and the classic “Blooded on Arachne” with the volume ending with his recent collaboration with Steven Utley “The City Quiet as Death”. These are stories that will illuminate, educate, illustrate and enhance. Bishop’s writing never fails to amaze me that he can write a short story that is both enlightening and entertaining at the same time. If you have never read his work, you are in for a real treat. If you have, then you know what treasures these stories are and how lucky we are that Hutchins went through the effort to collect them here.
Title: The Package: Nove’s Curse
Author: Naraine Lisa
Emersheen is a world that has only seen war, for as long as anyone can remember. When the mage Lya and the retrieval team find the scattered bodies of an entire army in the lands that surround the forbidden East, they are introduced to yet another mystery. For amongst the bodies is one who lives, the bloodied and almost-dead young captain and The Package, half-hidden in the sand beside him. Captain Nove is so unnerved by his experiences that he cannot even explain them to the team nor confirm if The Package is that which they have sought.
Can it be the weapon that will end wars forever? Soon we find Nove and Lya accompanied by the retrieval team on a journey to King Relegus in the Kingdom of Naris. The King is anxious to discover if they have found the one thing that can end the ceaseless wars and bring his people peace. As an angel tells the tale of the journey while watching from above, we see the eternal battle of good and evil, where wizards, mages and kings must fight the final struggle and compete for the final victory.
Title: Dark Victory
Author: Michele Lang
It is Germany during the time of the rise of the Nazis and Magda Lazaras is a witch, though a reluctant one. But the rise of axis powers convinced her to take on the gift of her family and fight the SS werewolves that would destroy her and her people. Soon she is convinced that she must find a way to destroy the demon that controls Hitler, though she is unable to stop the beginning of World War II.
With her guardian angel Raziel beside her, she hopes to end the threat of Holocaust to her and her family as they struggle to find a way to battle the supernatural and human threats and forces of evil that surround them. Soon they watch in horror as Poland is invaded and they must create their own supernatural army if they have any hope of defeating the grim evil army of Hitler’s minions.
Title: Poor Richards Lament: A Most Timely Tale
Author: Tom Fitzgerald
It is long known that Benjamin Franklin had said he wished he could find a way to be brought back to life a hundred years from his death to see what had become of his beloved America. He had always held that if left to his own devices, he would have been drowned in a casket of Medeira wine, and revived to witness the changes wrote in the last hundred years. What if he had been granted his wish?
In Poor Richards Lament we find him confined to an apartment in the Plantation of the Unrepentant for just over two hundred years. It appears that his petition for final processing may have just been approved. His court of examiners consists of three who in life were a constant thorn in his side: John Adams, Reverend William Smith and Alexander Wedderburn. Even with his sins fully exposed he is invited to come and bear witness to America, and he does. From the beginning of the journey where he upsets more than a few apple carts at the Waldorf-Astoria to the final scene where he confronts his own grave, we behold a story of redemption and revelation. Interwoven with our journey is a second tale that starts in the West Wing and ends in the back alleys of Philly. Eventually the stories collide, with shocking results that most readers could not predict. Few could have pulled off this kind of story in quite the way that Fitzgerald has, nor ended the tale with such style.
Title: Sword of the Apocalypse
Author: Flint Dille, David Liss
It is the Third Century and a great battle rages for control of the holy city, Jerusalem. All around the most unlikely of alliances are formed in an effort to find that final strategic edge. In the midst of this confusion and chaos comes the rumor of a mysterious sword. It is a sword that once held will give to the owner unbelievable and devastating power.
A group of the most unlikely of companions is formed to search for the sword. It includes such legends as Richard the Lionhearted, Robin Hood, Saladin, Genghis Khan and even Morgiana. Together they must face unbelievable hardships and in addition fight off the assassins of the great Hassan-i-Sabbah. For as a group they must strive to always protect and eventually discover the secrets hidden within the Al-Batar, also known as the Sword of the Apocalypse.
Title: The Desert of Souls
Author: Howard Andrew Jones
This is an Arabian Nights tale of mystery, adventure and intrigue with just enough romance to keep it dashing. Asim is the Captain of Master Jaffar’s guards, a master swordsman, pious Moslem and intensely loyal friend to scholar Dabir. When the two are sent on a quest from ancient Babylon to find a golden artifact in the sands of the fabled lost city of Ubar, they uncover secrets best left forgotten.
The third member of the cast is Sabirah, the daughter of Master Jaffar and the target of Dabir’s bittersweet love and devotion. Together the three must find a way to defeat the wily sorcerer Firouz without losing their souls, or each other. A miracle of a tale, with characters that will keep you spell-bound and a story that is set expertly in a time of magic, djinns and mystery.
Title: The Witch’s Daughter
Author: Paula Brackston
For over three hundred and fifty years Bess Hawksmith has lived her life as quietly as she can. For she knows that she will pay a price beyond counting, she will pay with her soul, if she is found. But her story goes back further then this, goes back to the early 1600s when she went seeking sanctuary from Warlock Gideon Masters after seeing her mother swing from the Witches Tree in Wessex. Although she did indeed gain what she needed to survive, for the Warlock taught her how to unleash all the powers locked within her, she knew one day he would come to claim his price: her soul.
But the years have been hard on Bess, forced to live in solitude forsaking any relationships that would reveal her immortality. When she is befriended by the teenage Tegan, she opens up her heart to her and finds herself, against her better judgment, teaching Tegan the ways of the Hedge Witch. But she knows that Gideon is looking for her, and is worried that in showing Tegan the old ways she has placed the daughter she never had in the path of danger.
Title: To Walk the Night
Author: E.S. Moore
The one thing that separates Kat Redding from all the others who like her thirst for blood and are very ready to destroy anyone who gets in their way is that she makes it her business to destroy vampires. Kat hunts down and kills her own kind in order to protect the human Purebloods, and she is good at it – very good. In fact, she has even been given a nickname by those she hunts – she is called Lady Death.
But she may have met her match with Count, a ruthless vampire who intends to combine his vampire house with that of a nearby werewolf den to create a powerful new entity. With this combination he will have unbelievable power and Kat is out to stop him and at all costs. She knows she has the skills to take him down and the weapons to make it happen – but will it be at the cost of her humanity?
Title: Among Others
Author: Jo Walton
Morwenna grew up in Wales, where her closest companions were the science fiction novels that set her mind free. But she also loved to play among the spirits who lived in the industrial ruins near her home. All of this changed one day when her mother, a half-mad woman, tried to take over and bend the spirits to her own evil ways. Soon they are gripped in a deadly battle between them that leaves Morwenna crippled and her twin sister dead.
Mori, only fifteen, soon finds herself fleeing to live with a father she barely knows, who sends her to a boarding school. Not exactly a place filled with magic, but Mori soon finds her magic of her own and uses it to help her find other friends like her. Her journal lets us into her journey as she uses the magic of the science fiction novels she devours to build a place for her energy and imagination. But the magic she has also learned to master has a back side to it, for it draws her mother back and soon Mori must pull upon all her new-found skills to defeat her or die trying.
Title: The Plain Man
Author: Steve Englehart
For over thirty years Steve Englehart has been giving us great stories of heroes who leap from the page and into our hearts and minds. Max August, the immortal gypsy, is another of these heroes. He may not be invulnerable, but he is immortal for he never ages. While studying under the legendary alchemist Cornelius Agrippa he was given the gift by the mage himself. Now, in our own century, August himself is an alchemist, and is in the midst of a battle against the FRC. They are a right-wing super-secret society whose main aim is to control society itself by controlling all the various aspects of it such as media, politics and science.
Max travels to Wickr, a burning-man type festival when he learns that two members of FRC are heading for it, planning to gather information from them. His plan is to set them against their fellow members. As he nears his destination he soon learns that even with all his careful plans to cover his tracks, the cabal know he is coming and intend to create an “accident” at a nearby nuclear waste facility to send him a message. Can Max, even as timeless as he is, find a way to stop time and prevent the holocaust from happening?
Title: Undone Deeds (Conner Grey)
Author: Mark del Franco
Conner Grey is used to being the one consulted on the “strange cases” that come by every once in a while for the Boston Police Department. As a druid that is a consultant for them, he frequently is called to help out when a case drifts into that kind of category. What he never expected to have happen is be the person on the other end of that particular kind of investigation. But that is exactly what happens when terrorists attack the city and Grey is accused, making his world a strange place indeed.
Forced to go underground to survive the accusations and determined to get to the bottom of this, Grey is soon embroiled in a different kind of war. It is one between tribes of the fey. Soon it looks like the war between the Celtic and the Teutonic may have reached epic proportions. With unease Grey realizes that unless he does something to stop it, this could easily spill out into Boston itself.
Title: Carousel Tides
Author: Sharon Lee
Kate walked away from her old life in the tiny seaside town of Maine, and thought she would never return. But never is a long time, and now she is back because her grandmother Bonny seems to be missing, and someone needs to care for the family carousel that is more than it seems. But then, so is her family. The carousel is fae, and the creatures on it are criminals from that world, sent here in exile. Her family’s job has always been to care for the carousel, but now it has been left to Kate.
But no sooner does Kate arrive then she somehow causes problems for their drug smuggling neighbor Joe who doesn’t need her around making trouble. Then Kate learns from the local earth spirits that Bonnie may have been captured because she found out where Kate’s long missing mother was. Soon things get even more complicated, if that is even possible and come to a spectacular head as only fantasy writer Sharon Lee can do.
Title: Tamed
Author: Douglas R. Brown
In Los Angeles there is always a new craze, and this one is no exception to the rule. In the City of Angels you have arrived if you have as your pet a werewolf, one certified to be tame and safe to keep by WereHouse. How can you miss if you own as a pet a creature that is so legendary? And they are safe, WereHouse guarantees that they are 100% safe and docile. But what if they are wrong?
Christine Alt is used to seeing everything under the sun and more as a paramedic in LA. She thought she had seen it all until a call came in that night. What began as a routine EMS call became the event that changed her life when she finds herself attacked by a rogue werepet and barely escapes with her life! She soon discovers that she got more than a bunch of new scars from the encounter, as her body begins to go through changes that she must keep secret. And through these changes she finds out that the WereHouse is hiding something, something so terrible that it can never be revealed. And they will do anything to prevent themselves from being exposed.
Title: Nameless
Author: Kyle Chais
Where the nameless exist, there is nothing. For they are nothing, neither saved nor one of the fallen. And they cannot have names, for only masters have names, and they have none. And so they wait in the endless in between for a decision to be made.
In the boredom of endless waiting is one of the nameless who spends his time watching humans, in New York City. He watches a drunk named Aurick Pantera, who amongst his many vices is a gambler of the reckless variety. One day he sees that Pantera is about to be killed by a gangster that he owes money to, and in a sudden surge of pity takes over his body to save the man’s life. But the ability to taste and touch and live is too sweet to leave behind, and so the nameless stays. Soon he is helping Pantera to achieve his wildest goals – but in the process achieves notice of other nameless who decide to start a war to end their boredom. Can the drunk who has become a famous star and found the love of his life choose sides? If he does will he be cast down to the Null or rise up and save humanity?
Title: Labyrinth (Rogue Angel)
Author: Alex Archer
When archeologist Annja Creed is abducted she hardly expects it is to face a captured book dealer and be tasked with the recovery of a long lost manuscript. But the man that the desperate criminals hold has been poisoned and has only 36 hours to live. He also knows that Annja is the key to the location of a treasure somewhere in the mansion where he is held.
The treasure is a rare and very much valued treatise Tome of Prossos, a manuscript that could hold the salvation of the world, or so the captors believe. Somewhere deep within the mansion, hidden amongst a very complicated maze of passageways and secret doors, is the manuscript they need to find. She needs to find, to survive. She knows she can find it given enough time, but is that even going to be possible. And when she does, will the secret to the maze also spell her doom?
Title: Three Messages and A Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic
Author: Eduardo Jimenez Mayo (Editor), Chris N. Brown (Editor), Bruce Sterling (Introduction)
This is an ambitious undertaking of some of the most energetic and imaginative speculative fiction to come out of Mexico. The collection covers both emerging new authors and established giants in the field of Mexican Fantasy. They have included everything in here from supernatural folktales to ghost stories and alien incursions all the way to the most explosive apocalyptic tales.
Inside these pages you will discover that there are all kinds of stereotypes of Mexican traditional identities that can be transcended in the modern tale of Mexico and magic. For in this amazing collection we have a chance to get a glimpse of the new order of Mexican fantastic storytelling.
Title: Tempting the Gods: The Selected Stories of Tanith Lee
Author: Tanith Lee
There are few authors that can compare to Tanith Lee for sheer range of storytelling. This collection shows off some of her best short stories from a wide variety of sources including Asimov’s, Weird Tales and Realms of Fantasy. You will be treated to stories that are both dark (“Cain”) and Arthurian Legend (“The Kingdoms of Air”) and even a few that could be said to be just a bit on the weird side (“Tiger I”). As with all of Lee’s stories, the beautifully crafted language and vivid imagination comes with the package. My favorite of the bunch is a quirky and very fun piece called “God and the Pig”, but any of these stories will make a perfect capper to any evening’s reading. And I can’t think of a better book to end our presentation of new and amazing fantasy writings.
So dip into one or dip into all of them, there are so many varied styles and imaginings here, it is hard to imagine anyone ever getting bored with this month’s selection of great fantasy stories. We are lucky to have scholars of so many of the old masters around to treat us to new collections, let alone new stories from many of the long running authors in fantasy and science fiction here for the enjoying. And there are several books here that are the first efforts of what we hope will be many more to come.
So I hope you enjoy our selection, and will let us know if there is one author here who particularly stands out for you as we begin our new feature, our monthly spotlight on a fantasy author. Stay tuned for this month’s spotlight on Diana Rowland and more to come!
Hi to all the truebies waiting out the beginning of the new season. Like you I am getting by the dry spell by watching the True Blood Season 3 HD DVDs and wishing the Season 4 DVDs would come out. Latest rumor on that is we will be seeing Blueray and DVDs of the last season around the end of May in 2012. Sigh – just too long to wait, considering that the next season doesn’t start again until June.
Speaking of True Blood Season 5, there are some spoilers coming up I am going to share with you from Mr. Alan Ball. If you don’t want to know just put your fingers in your ears and go “blah, blah, blah” while I type. That only works when talking? OK – guess so. Then you may want to skip this if you don’t want a heads up on stuff coming down the pike for True Blood Season 5.
- When it begins- there will be no interruption or time passing. True Blood Season 4 ended with Sookie holding Tara in the kitchen, and that scene is right where True Blood Season 5 will start. Personally, I love it when they do this for a season starter. It means the action gets kicked in right from the start.
- The one thing I have been hearing from everyone is that we are finally going to see the scene (in a flashback, natch) of Eric turning Pam into a vampire. I am looking forward to that one.
- Alan Ball says although he is going to be basing Season 5 on more than just the book Dead As A Doornail, it will still primarily be from that book. But expect to see things from other books as well. Of course, being the mysterious guy that he is (who, Alan?) he won’t say which books or how much. It may be fun to see if we can name what scenes come from other books in each episode. (Hmmm- could be the makings of a cool contest there.)
- The rumor from the writing room is that research is going on about “other paranormals” but that zombies are not going to appear in True Blood Season 5.
- As for who is coming back this season, the list so far is: Sookie, Bill and Eric (of course!) along with Sam, Jason, Pam, Alcide, Arlene, Terry, Jessica, Hoyt, Lafayette and Patrick. Contracts have also been confirmed for the following actors/characters: Denis O’Hare as Russell Edgington, Scott Foley as Patrick Devins, Rutina Wesley as Tara and Nelsan Ellis as Jesus.
- Of course the great news is that Alan Ball is back again as executive producer, though I just can’t picture True Blood with anyone else.
That’s all the news for now folks! We will have more soon – I promise. We have to have some kind of True Blood tidbits to keep us all going until June – and I will do whatever I can to get you them as they appear.
Stay true- till then!
In addition to some new cast members, we are going to see some familiar faces to True Blood that either weren’t around at all or were barely there last season. I always love it when a show brings back old characters, it shows the writers are paying attention to what the fans are looking for in a show. In the case of these two, they are truly back by popular demand. Both Russell Edginton, the Vampire King of Mississippi played by Denis O’Hare and the Rev. Steve Newlin played by Michael McMillian are characters that many of us voiced we were missing last season. Here is a sneak peak at what we have been hearing is coming up for these two:
Russell Edgington, the King of Mississippi (Denis O’Hare)
Word is out that Denis O’Hare will be returning in the upcoming season to reprise his role as the Vampire King of Mississippi. The character was first introduced in the books in Club Dead when Sookie heads down to Jackson looking for Erick and wanders into the bar called Josephine, known as Club Dead to the werewolves because it is a known hangout for vampires. O’Hare has always brought a more aggressive tone to the character than what we see in the books, and I for one hope that this will continue this season.
How he will break out of that cement underground prison we last saw him in, remains to be seen. In an interview about the return of the character, actor O’Hare gives little away but does say that “The people who busted (Edgington) out are nobody you expect.” How’s that for a clue? And word is that he may be returning as early as the first episode for the season. But the actor says that whatever is motivating the King of Mississippi will be beyond simple petty revenge for the death by stake of his lover Talbot. A couple of years entombed in a cement prison just might do that to you, even if you are a centuries-old vampire.
Steve Newlin, leader of the Fellowship of the Sun (Michael McMillian)
It isn’t really news that Steve Newlin is back for the fifth season of True Blood. After all, we saw just a bit of him at the end of season four, though the character may not have been happy about the circumstances of that appearance. But the big news for the character in the new season is that he comes back with a full blown crush on Jason. In fact, actor Michael McMillian says that Steve Newlin has always had a crush on Jason, he just couldn’t show it before. That will not be the case with Season Five. No word yet on how much we will see of Steve but even the little forecast should be interesting.
If we hear anything more on these two or on anyone else coming back, we will let you know. Not that this leaves any of you off the hook. So – you TB fans out in La La land (hey I can say that, lived there too many years not to have those creds) what is the rumor mill saying? Share with everyone, c’mon! We will be sharing our score as soon as we have more!
Title: Seed
Author: Rod Ziegler
Release: November 8 2011
Pages: 350
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction
It is a very different world from the one we know now. Everything has collapsed: the government, the ecosystem, the world is at the brink of starvation. The whole of the US of A is a giant dust bowl and only one place holds out any hope at all: Satori. It is a corporation and seat of power in a world where the bio-engineered seed is more valuable than anything else. For Satori controls the distribution of seed out in the ruins of what was once Denver through the hands of a shattered government where the starving come to receive their bar-coded seed, good for one time only.
In the world of Seed lives Sienna Doss, an ex-Army Ranger on a mission. The government has sent her to bring back a rogue seed designer that can be used as a pawn in the war between it and Satori to finally break the corporation’s hold on the seat of power – seed production. But in her search Sienna comes across two brothers, Brood and Polo, who are wasteland orphans getting by. When Satori kidnaps Polo because they believe they can harvest the virus that he carries, Sienna and Brood find themselves deep in enemy territory and the possibility to change everything they know.
Title: Binscombe Tales – the Complete Series
Author: John A. Whitborn
Release: November 20, 2011
Pages: 616
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Binscombe is a small town in a small corner of England’s Home Counties, the kind of place you might miss just going through. But then, these tales aren’t about that Binscombe, they are about the other Binscombe, the one that is filled with little tales of things that go bump in the night or where, as Mr. Whitborn puts it in the introduction, “waiting for a bus may take a lot longer than you think”.
The collection of stories, which originally came out between 1987 and 1998 follow the arrival into town of Mr. Oakley and his guide about town that threads us through the bizarre pathways of life in Binscombe Mr. Disvan. It seems that although Oakley is new to the town, it is not new to his family, for the oldest gravestones bear his last name. But there seems to be a past that refuses to be buried, and in a town like Binscomeb, even the inanimate objects have stories to tell.
A collection of stories like Binscobe Tales is a treat we don’t get often enough in fantasy. Whitborn has a unique ear for the wit of the Northern English and a sense of the whimsy that coupled with a creepy dark undertone take you on a very different kind of journey. Read the stories at will, just leave the light on when you’re done.
Well if anyone can get The Dark Tower series to both the big screen and the small one, my guess is the combination of Stephen King and Ron Howard might be just the ones to make it happen. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the series, it is one that is near and dear to King’s heart as it began as his opus to Lord of the Rings and the great spaghetti westerns of his childhood when he was only 19 years old. He has been working on it ever since.
The epic seven book series is also inspired by a Robert Browning poem “Child Roland to the Dark Tower Came”. You really don’t even need to read the whole poem, but if that line strikes your fancy and you want to understand where King is coming from, read the poem here. In fact, do as I did- read it aloud. I grew up listening to Browning and still find his poems bring a shiver to my soul.
It must have done something akin to that to a young King for him to still be working on this series all these years later. I started looking into the books, as I am not generally a King fan, and was knocked out by these. I think the general tone of the books is set by the quote at the top of the webpage devoted to the series-
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
It is the opening line to The Gunslinger, the first book and it just throws you into it without a backward glance. Boom – you are sucked in and are never crawling back out until the man finishes it. No wonder he mentions people on death row writing him and begging him to just tell them how it ends. Damn – sometimes I forget this man can write like a son of a b$@&!
I am not going to bore you with the “he did this” and “he did that” because you can’t really tell about these books that way. They go wayyy beyond the concept of what happened next. This is the epic tale of Roland of Gilead, The Last Gunslinger and delves into many of King’s favorite topics over the years such as good and evil and the question of destiny.
For those who have had the pleasure of following each book as it arrives over the years, read the graphic novels so ably handled by my good friend Peter David and maybe even checked out the online story now commencing to unfold – the movie will be the icing on the cake. Two years ago or so Ron Howard announced his involvement in the project, with Universal playing as host for the event. It seemed a good fit, and when Universal announced a May 2013 release date, we all breathed a sigh of relief. We were used to waiting, after all.
We could wait for this, it would be worth it. Since the Oscar-winning trio that worked on “A Beautiful Mind” was back in place to put this three-film package together filled with the magic, monsters and mutants that Ron was almost salivating to do, how could we miss? And King sounded like he was on board for all of this.
In January of this year, word was out that Javier Bardem, an amazing Spanish actor with credits a mile long was looking at the lead role of Roland. He was perfect – we exclaimed. He even looks kinda like Clint back in the day. Then in April Mark Verheiden was named to the writing team, a man that had made his mark in television with shows like Smallville and Heroes. He got this kind of material – and we had him!
But in July disaster struck as Universal announced they had decided to pass on the whole project. They had been talking about a three movie deal that tied into a television show and the comics and books. It was the kind of project that the New Media could have just made glow. And they walked. Howard says he is still determined to do it – his production company Imagine is still part of the deal. But where the movie is going to be coming from – that remains to be seen.
But like I said- we are used to waiting. We can wait a little longer while Ron Howard, who face it knows everyone in Hollywood, puts a new deal together. Lord of the Rings took a while to come together – it will be worth the wait for The Dark Tower.
