The Open Page: Book & Print News – 2/26/08
 
1) S.M. Stirling is continuing one series and starting a new one in a mega-deal with Roc Books. Stirling’s The Change, about a world thrown back into barbarism after the collapse of civilization, will be getting books 7, 8 and 9 in the series. The new series, A Taint in the Blood, will start with three volumes and focuses on a subspecies of humans that have dark powers and are responsible for most of the suffering and violence in the world. Publication of the novels will start in 2010.

2) Fantasy author Jim Hines' next book is The Faery Tale Project, a comic fairy tale told from two opposing points of view, coming out from Cats Curious Press. Hines is also the author of Goblin Quest, Goblin Hero and Goblin War for DAW.

3) Novelist and infinityplus editor Keith Brooke has sold his new novel, The Accord, to Solaris Books. The Accord takes place in a virtual utopia where souls live on after death, and one of the souls is out for revenge. It is based on Brooke’s short story, “The Accord,” originally published in the first Solaris Book of New Science Fiction.

4) Keith Donahue’s fantasy novel The Stolen Child is the first film project for Amazon.com. The Seattle-based online store has teamed up with 20^th Century Fox to produce the adaptation from a script by Ron Nyswaner. Development was delayed by the writers’ strike, but is back on again. The Stolen Child revolves around a man who was kidnapped by hobgoblins as a boy and his look-alike replacement as they both struggle to deal with their environments.
 
5) To celebrate their 50^th anniversary year, the British Science Fiction Association is launching a short story competition for writers in the UK and Ireland, with a 500 pound first prize, and fifty pound prize for shortlisted runner-ups. The maximum length for the stories is 8,000 words and all stories must be science fiction. All entries must pay a ten pound entry fee and the submission deadline is September 5^th, 2008. The winner and runner-ups will have their work published in a special issue of Focus, the BSFA’s magazine for writers. The panel of judges for the contest will be made up of authors Justina Robson, Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds. The winner will be announced at the BSFA’s 50^th Anniversary Birthday Party on November 26^th, 2008. For more information and contest rules, visit http://www.bsfa.co.uk
 
6) Sci-fi icon J. Michael Straczynski is awash in projects these days. Straczynski is penning the comics Thor and The Twelve for Marvel Comics, will be working on two series Justice and Ten Grand for Image Comics, and on several as yet unnamed comic projects for DC Comics. His screenplay for the suspense film The Changeling has just been shot as a movie directed by Clint Eastwood, produced by Ron Howard and starring Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich, due in November 2008. Straczynski has also written the script for the up-coming Silver Surfer film from Fox and Marvel Pictures and will be adapting Max Brooks’ bestselling sf novel World War Z for the big screen for Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B. He is also overseeing an up-coming Babylon 5 comic series and said that a future feature film for Babylon 5 is a strong possibility. Additionally, Straczynski is starting his own film production company, And the Horse You Road In On Productions.