IWU blog tour with Jeremy Bates
Good Morning everyone!
Well today, I'm turning over my blog to the fantastic Jeremy Bates. (Check out his site, you will NOT be disappointed). Let me give you a bit of background on him first and then the floor is all his.
Jeremy Bates has spent the last ten years traveling the world, visiting more than thirty countries. He has lived in Canada, the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.
Bates is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario with a degree in English literature and philosophy. He is a member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Inc, and Crime Writers of Canada.
His frightening debut novel, White Lies, is set in a small village in the Cascade Mountain range of eastern Washington. In the book, he succeeds in bringing world-class terror to this tranquil community.
Okay, enough from me :) Take it from here Jeremy!
Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold .... And it's about damn time!
I know everyone tells you to write what you know and read what you write. I write suspense fiction, so that's what I like to read. But I've always had a soft spot for epic fantasy. If you enjoy fantasy, you've no doubt heard the name Terry Brooks. He was, in fact, the author that got me interested in writing. I was in grade eight. Up until this point I had been reading Hardy Boys and Choose Your Own Adventure kind of stuff.
First edition cover
Then a classmate gave me the Tommyknockers by Stephen King. It was the first Big Book I ever read. And I have to say I only got about halfway through the beast. But then a few months after that the same someone gave me Terry Brooks' The Elfstones of Shannara. I devoured it. Read the entire thing in like two weeks, which was an absolute milestone for me, at that age, when I'd been used to spending all my spare time at hockey practice or playing Sierra computer games (yes, it was early nineties!). I finished it on the very day I graduated, and I remember feeling doubly sad: sad I would not see many of my school friends again—and sad I would not see any of my fantasy friends either.
Then I discovered the Elfstones was part of a trilogy. I went to the used bookstore down the street and immediately picked up the first and third books: The Sword of Shannara and The Wishsong of Shannara. I read them both quickly. To my delight, there was a fourth book coming out; to my dismay, it wouldn't be released for months.
Recent cover
In the meantime I tried to write the sequel myself...and I guess that's what got me into writing! I didn't write anything else for about ten years. Then, after I graduated university and the party died down, I started writing again. Roughly ten years after that I sold my first book.
Anyway, not to diverge, to fill the gap until the Scions of Shannara was released, I decided to try his Landover series. I wasn't sure I was going to like it. At that time I had become a big fan of the epic fantasy worlds of elves and dwarves and the like, and I didn't want modernity to intervene. (If you don't know, the Landover series is about a New York City lawyer buying a magic kingdom.) Regardless, I gave it a shot—and I loved it.
Now, it appears it is coming to film. I know Terry Brooks has been working on getting any one of his films adapted for a while. For a bit it looked as though it would be a Shannara novel, but that was scraped. I guess it makes sense. To do a Shannara adaptation justice, it would have to be something on the scale of Lord of the Rings. A Landover film, on the other hand, would require a much smaller budget, and it would likely appeal a wider audience—especially with the alternate-world craze a la Harry Potter.
I'm excited about it, and I think any fantasy fan should be. If you haven't read the novel, you can read the first 50 pages of Magic Kingdom for Sale: Sold! for free via Suvudu.
And who knows? If this is a massive success, maybe the studio will have the guts to take on the world of Shannara after all!
Here's a blurb from Terry Brook's website:
MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE – SOLD! To Warners and Weed Road
Warner Brothers has optioned Terry Brooks' best-selling MAGIC KINGDOM OF LANDOVER series of books for Akiva Goldsman's Weed Road Pictures and Andy Cohen's Grade A Entertainment. Goldsman and Cohen will produce with Weed Road's Kerry Foster and Alex Block overseeing for Weed Road. Warner Brothers' Matt Cherniss brought the book series into the studio and will run point. Brooks was represented by Anne Sibbald of Janklow &Nesbit Associates.
The film will be based on the first book in the series, MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE – SOLD!, which was first published in 1986 by Del Rey Books, a division of Random House. The most recent book in the six book, ongoing series is A PRINCESS OF LANDOVER which came out in 2009. Other titles in the series are: THE BLACK UNICORN, WIZARD AT LARGE, THE TANGLE BOX, and WITCHES BREW.
Brooks is a prolific author best known for the LANDOVER series and the SHANNARA series of fantasy books, which began with THE SWORD OF SHANNARA. There are currently 19 books in the SHANNARA series with the next book due out later this year.
Weed Road is in preproduction on A WINTER'S TALE written and to be directed by Goldsman. Recent credits include PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 and FAIR GAME.
Cohen last produced UNTRACEABLE starring Diane Lane. He's currently working on the stage show, HEATHERS – THE MUSICAL and the indie film, IN SIGHT.
Jeremy Bates
White Lies, Oceanview Publishing, May 7, 2012
www.jeremybatesbooks.com
Thanks for visiting Jeremy and what a fantastic post. I'm a sucker for Fantasy (of course!) but your site and the mysteries you write are just up my ally. Hope everyone enjoyed!
As always, happy reading and writing everyone.
R.G. Porter
Well today, I'm turning over my blog to the fantastic Jeremy Bates. (Check out his site, you will NOT be disappointed). Let me give you a bit of background on him first and then the floor is all his.
Jeremy Bates has spent the last ten years traveling the world, visiting more than thirty countries. He has lived in Canada, the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.
Bates is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario with a degree in English literature and philosophy. He is a member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Inc, and Crime Writers of Canada.
His frightening debut novel, White Lies, is set in a small village in the Cascade Mountain range of eastern Washington. In the book, he succeeds in bringing world-class terror to this tranquil community.
Okay, enough from me :) Take it from here Jeremy!
Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold .... And it's about damn time!
I know everyone tells you to write what you know and read what you write. I write suspense fiction, so that's what I like to read. But I've always had a soft spot for epic fantasy. If you enjoy fantasy, you've no doubt heard the name Terry Brooks. He was, in fact, the author that got me interested in writing. I was in grade eight. Up until this point I had been reading Hardy Boys and Choose Your Own Adventure kind of stuff.
First edition cover
Then a classmate gave me the Tommyknockers by Stephen King. It was the first Big Book I ever read. And I have to say I only got about halfway through the beast. But then a few months after that the same someone gave me Terry Brooks' The Elfstones of Shannara. I devoured it. Read the entire thing in like two weeks, which was an absolute milestone for me, at that age, when I'd been used to spending all my spare time at hockey practice or playing Sierra computer games (yes, it was early nineties!). I finished it on the very day I graduated, and I remember feeling doubly sad: sad I would not see many of my school friends again—and sad I would not see any of my fantasy friends either.
Then I discovered the Elfstones was part of a trilogy. I went to the used bookstore down the street and immediately picked up the first and third books: The Sword of Shannara and The Wishsong of Shannara. I read them both quickly. To my delight, there was a fourth book coming out; to my dismay, it wouldn't be released for months.
Recent cover
In the meantime I tried to write the sequel myself...and I guess that's what got me into writing! I didn't write anything else for about ten years. Then, after I graduated university and the party died down, I started writing again. Roughly ten years after that I sold my first book.
Anyway, not to diverge, to fill the gap until the Scions of Shannara was released, I decided to try his Landover series. I wasn't sure I was going to like it. At that time I had become a big fan of the epic fantasy worlds of elves and dwarves and the like, and I didn't want modernity to intervene. (If you don't know, the Landover series is about a New York City lawyer buying a magic kingdom.) Regardless, I gave it a shot—and I loved it.
Now, it appears it is coming to film. I know Terry Brooks has been working on getting any one of his films adapted for a while. For a bit it looked as though it would be a Shannara novel, but that was scraped. I guess it makes sense. To do a Shannara adaptation justice, it would have to be something on the scale of Lord of the Rings. A Landover film, on the other hand, would require a much smaller budget, and it would likely appeal a wider audience—especially with the alternate-world craze a la Harry Potter.
I'm excited about it, and I think any fantasy fan should be. If you haven't read the novel, you can read the first 50 pages of Magic Kingdom for Sale: Sold! for free via Suvudu.
And who knows? If this is a massive success, maybe the studio will have the guts to take on the world of Shannara after all!
Here's a blurb from Terry Brook's website:
MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE – SOLD! To Warners and Weed Road
Warner Brothers has optioned Terry Brooks' best-selling MAGIC KINGDOM OF LANDOVER series of books for Akiva Goldsman's Weed Road Pictures and Andy Cohen's Grade A Entertainment. Goldsman and Cohen will produce with Weed Road's Kerry Foster and Alex Block overseeing for Weed Road. Warner Brothers' Matt Cherniss brought the book series into the studio and will run point. Brooks was represented by Anne Sibbald of Janklow &Nesbit Associates.
The film will be based on the first book in the series, MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE – SOLD!, which was first published in 1986 by Del Rey Books, a division of Random House. The most recent book in the six book, ongoing series is A PRINCESS OF LANDOVER which came out in 2009. Other titles in the series are: THE BLACK UNICORN, WIZARD AT LARGE, THE TANGLE BOX, and WITCHES BREW.
Brooks is a prolific author best known for the LANDOVER series and the SHANNARA series of fantasy books, which began with THE SWORD OF SHANNARA. There are currently 19 books in the SHANNARA series with the next book due out later this year.
Weed Road is in preproduction on A WINTER'S TALE written and to be directed by Goldsman. Recent credits include PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 and FAIR GAME.
Cohen last produced UNTRACEABLE starring Diane Lane. He's currently working on the stage show, HEATHERS – THE MUSICAL and the indie film, IN SIGHT.
Jeremy Bates
White Lies, Oceanview Publishing, May 7, 2012
www.jeremybatesbooks.com
Thanks for visiting Jeremy and what a fantastic post. I'm a sucker for Fantasy (of course!) but your site and the mysteries you write are just up my ally. Hope everyone enjoyed!
As always, happy reading and writing everyone.
R.G. Porter
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