The Stand to be made into a movie

Stephen King's The Stand is being made into a movie! You can read more {here}. But to put it simply, Warner Bros and CBS Films will be making a motion picture based on King's novel.

I think it will be really interesting how they tackle this - it has a lot of themes that will resound for the modern viewer, and I have a feeling the virus that wipes out the majority of the population will be very politicised. I have to read it again as it has been about 10 years since I've read The Stand ;D

How do you think they will go reinterpreting it?

Hello Two Thousand and Elevenses!*

I need to apologise for my 2.5 month absence. I spent November concentrating on NaNoWriMo and took a planned hiatus from blogging, as well as other activities like reading speculative fiction. In December I was recovering from NaNo, glutting myself on spec fic, and dealing with the real world (hectic end of year schedule at work, Christmas parties, etc). I had planned to start 2011 with a BANG! However I spent the last two weeks at my family farm just out of Toowoomba. We didn’t have internet access, and the one week holiday was turned into two when we were flooded in. I have a LOT to catch up with now I am back in the land of Interwebia and rather than doing a large post here, I am going to just mention the challenges I am doing this year, and catch up with my Manic Monday post I missed yesterday.

Get Steampunked! Challenge
I am doing the lowest level “Geared” where I read 5 steampunk books this year. You can find out more about the challenge at Dutchie’s challenge blog.

The Dystopia Challenge
Again, I am doing the lowest level - “Asocial” and committing to read 5 dystopian books this year. I will probably read more, but I don’t want to overtax myself. You can find out more about this challenge here.

The Stephen King Challenge
I am going to give this one a go. I've read a few of his books in the past but I am trying to spread my reading wings again and head out into different genres. I loved Talisman and Nightshift and have read a handful of others. I am aiming to read 6 Stephen King books this year. You can find out more at Book City Chick.

I am also attending two book clubs again this year. One is the Paranormal Romance book club at Galaxy, and the other is a general book club in Sutherland. I had discussions with an online friend about maybe starting a speculative fiction book club, but I don’t know if we’ll go ahead with that or not. I am planning on attending ARRC for the first time this year, although I still have to scrape up the money to buy my admission. Last year I sat by twitter and my phone hearing all about it. This year I wish to be in the midst of the action! ;-p Anyone want to help me rob a bank???

Anyway, I don’t want to make this too long. I just want to say that I have really missed blogging, I've missed hearing about all the gossip in the reader’s world, and I have millions of blogs to catch up on… I am planning on writing more reviews this year, and to be a better blogger. It is a New Year’s resolution after all :)





*Because it is nearly eleven o'clock and I am getting hungry. I may also be quietly wishing I will be reincarnated as a hobbit in my next life.

Dark Tower movie deal being negotiated

OMG!!! It looks like they are making a movie based on Stephen King's Dark Tower series! There has been rumours, but now there are names! I have to admit that I only read The Gunslinger so far. This is because my friend Sami owns them, and I moved to Sydney and couldn't borrow the rest. They are on my "Will Buy It One Day" list, and I guess that day will be soon... I hope they have the same awesome covers at Galaxy that she has. I remember how much I loved The Gunslinger, and also The Talisman (which is obscurely connected to The Dark Tower series), so I think I will definitely be interested about seeing the movie. Of those books in or related to The Dark Tower series, I've only read The Gunslinger and The Talisman. I guess I need to get my act together and buy the rest. Here is the article I was reading:

Source: Cinema Blend.com

It’s been rumored for years and now it’s finally happening. Deadline say Stephen King’s masterful fantasy series “The Dark Tower” is headed for theaters. As part of a deal being worked on at Universal (but not yet completed) the seven books which comprise the Dark Tower story will be condensed into three movies, in a script written by Akiva Goldsman and to be directed by Ron Howard.

The deal is also said to include a package which will result in a Dark Tower TV series, though how they’d pull that off in addition to the movies is a complete mystery. Will the three films cover only three of the books, leaving the TV series to cover the rest? Or will they combine all seven books into three films and then create a TV series which picks up where the final "Dark Tower" book leaves off? We won't know until the deal is finalized and Howard starts talking. King is reportedly working on an eigth novel which tackles a different storyline from "The Dark Tower", that could be possible fodder for the TV series as well.

What’s clear here is that, however they split it up, done properly The Dark Tower could be the next Lord of the Rings. King’s books follow a wandering Gunslinger named Roland, the last of his kind, as he wanders across dimensions and other worlds on an endless quest to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to be a nexus between worlds. The stories are massively epic in scope and cross over all sorts of different genres. It’s more than just fantasy, it’s science fiction, it’s horror, it’s gut-wrenching drama, and it’s part old-school shoot-em-up Western. The character of Roland is in theory more of a wandering knight than a cowboy, but in appearance and disposition, it’s as if Clint Eastwood wandered off the set of one his classic Wild West tales and into a Stephen King novel. This could be huge.

I say could be, because there’s one problem. His name is Ron Howard. Ron is a fine choice if you’re looking for sappy, schmaltzy Oscar-bait but it’s hard to imagine him tackling the darker, more horrific elements of The Dark Tower with any success. Earlier in his career I might have had more faith in his ability to do this. The guy who made Backdraft and Apollo 13 seemed like he might have something tense and edgy somewhere inside him. But I’m not sure I believe the director of Cinderella Man and A Beautiful Mind is capable of anything like this. I hope I’m wrong because done right, The Dark Tower could be brilliant; an epic, unforgettable Oscar winner.

At one point JJ Abrams was supposed to be developing The Dark Tower into a feature film but back in November that fell through. Now it’s about to end up in the hands of Ron Howard. We’ll let you know as soon as this is confirmed as a done deal.

What do you think? Is this something you would want to see, or are you worried they will screw up story lines, characters and all the other things we bibliophiles worry about when our beloveds are converted into a different medium?