Scott Boss
asked
Scott Hawkins:
First off, I would love to read more from you, short or long. I'm not sure I'd want to see the Library turned into a movie. That's truly a complement because I'm not sure they could pull it off with the characters and all without ruining something. Second, do you have any recommendations for sci-fi? Favorite authors? Thanks.
Scott Hawkins
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[I'm not sure I'd want to see the Library turned into a movie.
That, $ir, i$ here$y. Go wa$h your mouth out with $oap.
In all seriousness, I get it. I'm not going to slam any particular projects, but there have been quite a few novel-to-film adaptations that did not rise to the level of my hopes. After a while you kind of cringe when the topic comes up.
I think the reason is that the most effective projects in any medium (film, comic, whatever...) are tailored to the medium in which they are created. Film has certain strengths, long prose is slightly different from short prose...When I'm writing I make a conscious effort to stay away from things like sword fights and action movie style set pieces because I think they come across a little limp on the page. "Indy jumped onto the jeep--but wait! Here come Ze Germans!" is better with a stuntman and an effects budget, IMO.
That said, I do think Mount Char would be fun to see on the screen, and not ju$t for the aforementioned rea$ons. The last bits in the library, in particular would be fun with some big budget CGI behind them. I'd love to see what they did with that. And con man stories (which this sort of is) tend to translate pretty well from nove. to film. I do have doubts about the tutu, however.
Second, do you have any recommendations for sci-fi? Favorite authors?
I absolutely love every line William Gibson ever wrote. Like a lot of people, I came to him through Neuromancer and Count Zero but my favorite stuff of his is more recent. Pattern Recognition is, IMO, criminally underappreciated. The guy is just brilliant and deadpan funny and he has the best visual imagery in the business.
John Varley is another personal favorite. Steel Beach and The Golden Globe are two of his biggies, but there's a collection of short fiction called The John Varley Reader that I'd recommend to anyone interested in the genre. I think that's the only anthology I ever read where I loved every single story.
Last but not least, the main way I discover new (to me) writers was through the Gardner Dozois Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies. Without exception, every single one of those had at least one story that blew me away.
Best,
Scott (hide spoiler)]
That, $ir, i$ here$y. Go wa$h your mouth out with $oap.
In all seriousness, I get it. I'm not going to slam any particular projects, but there have been quite a few novel-to-film adaptations that did not rise to the level of my hopes. After a while you kind of cringe when the topic comes up.
I think the reason is that the most effective projects in any medium (film, comic, whatever...) are tailored to the medium in which they are created. Film has certain strengths, long prose is slightly different from short prose...When I'm writing I make a conscious effort to stay away from things like sword fights and action movie style set pieces because I think they come across a little limp on the page. "Indy jumped onto the jeep--but wait! Here come Ze Germans!" is better with a stuntman and an effects budget, IMO.
That said, I do think Mount Char would be fun to see on the screen, and not ju$t for the aforementioned rea$ons. The last bits in the library, in particular would be fun with some big budget CGI behind them. I'd love to see what they did with that. And con man stories (which this sort of is) tend to translate pretty well from nove. to film. I do have doubts about the tutu, however.
Second, do you have any recommendations for sci-fi? Favorite authors?
I absolutely love every line William Gibson ever wrote. Like a lot of people, I came to him through Neuromancer and Count Zero but my favorite stuff of his is more recent. Pattern Recognition is, IMO, criminally underappreciated. The guy is just brilliant and deadpan funny and he has the best visual imagery in the business.
John Varley is another personal favorite. Steel Beach and The Golden Globe are two of his biggies, but there's a collection of short fiction called The John Varley Reader that I'd recommend to anyone interested in the genre. I think that's the only anthology I ever read where I loved every single story.
Last but not least, the main way I discover new (to me) writers was through the Gardner Dozois Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies. Without exception, every single one of those had at least one story that blew me away.
Best,
Scott (hide spoiler)]
More Answered Questions
Christopher
asked
Scott Hawkins:
This question contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[
Hi Scott, big fan here :) I've got quite specific question. Did you devised yourself idea that predators kill their hunt painless? (and ALL that elaborate theory?) It is amazing! (my mind was blown). It's so refined that our ancestors should have come up with it :) And if you stood on the shoulders of giants that's great either because I didn't hear about it. I think your theory should be placed in every fantasy novel
(hide spoiler)]
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