Posts

Posted on

A Tale of Two Trailers

I’m no expert.  Which, in the blogosphere, entitles me to an expert opinion.

The field of study today is movie trailers.  Specifically, how this increasingly decisive aspect of the moviegoing process can be done skilfully – even artfully – and how it can also make you want to stick chopsticks in your eyes.  I have selected, for the purposes of comparison, two upcoming, mainstream, popcorn Hollywood flicks (so as not to apples vs. oranges things with, say, Transformers vs. There Will Be Blood).

The first is for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus which is, according to the protestations of its producers, not an Alien prequel.  (Side Note:  Why bother denying the obvious fact that it is an Alien prequel?  Especially when the movie looks as promisingly awesome as it does?)

Prometheus trailer

Now compare to Chernobyl Diaries, a new horror movie from the people that brought us Paranormal Activity (I’m a fan, BTW), about a group of young “extreme tourists” who get stranded in…Chernobyl.

Chernobyl Diaries trailer

Okay, maybe that wasn’t fair.  Or on the other hand, maybe it was.

Yes, Prometheus likely had ten times the budget of Chernobyl Diaries.  But that’s still no excuse for a trailer (presumably composed of the movie’s best bits) showcasing an idiotic premise (“Screw Moscow!  Let’s hit Chernobyl and get cancer instantly!”), laughable dialogue (“I’m not leaving without my brother!” etc., etc.) and worst kind of horror movie cliche after worst kind of horror movie cliche (the false shock at the pond, the van that won’t start, the dragged-off girl, the camera held by someone suffering the DTs).  As a horror fan, this sort of thing breaks my heart.  I’m not kidding.  It.  Breaks.  My.  Heart.

But there’s still Prometheus to look forward to…

Posted on

The Demonologist Finds a Home in North America

More great news I can now share!  (I don’t know what I could possibly post next week.  “Dog craps on rug…AGAIN!”  Or maybe “Toronto author proves that cure for common cold remains elusive”).

Anyway, it’s been announced in Publishers Weekly today that my forthcoming novel, The Demonologist, has a new publisher for all of North America in Simon & Schuster.  The Demonologist is something of a creative departure for me – or perhaps more an escalation – and so it feels right for it to have a new home.  I’m inspired by the brainstorms I’ve already had with my editor at S&S, Sarah Knight, and hope this is the beginning of a long, happy marriage.  Like Fonda and Hepburn in On Golden Pond.  Or something.

Here’s the piece in today’s Publishers Weekly:

The Demonologist – Publishers Weekly

Posted on

The Demonologist and the Movies

So it’s rather a lot to report all at once (I really have to get better at this blog thing) but, to begin, I’ve written a new novel.  It’s called The Demonologist.  And though it won’t see the light of day, book-form-wise, until mid-October in the U.K. (and sometime early in 2013 everywhere else) it’s been optioned for film.  By Universal Pictures.  To be produced by ImageMovers.  Which is Robert Zemeckis’ company.

I’d like to lend a shout out to my excellent agents on their swift campaign, namely Howard Sanders at UTA in Los Angeles, Stephanie Cabot at The Gernert Agency in New York, and Anne McDermid here in Toronto.  May I pick up your tabs at our next half dozen meetings.

The Demonologist – Deadline Hollywood

Posted on

The Guardians – Second Printing

Just heard from Orion that the mass market paperback edition of The Guardians has gone into its second printing in its first week out in the U.K.  Hope this means a few more otherwise good night’s sleeps will be trans-Atlantically spoiled…

Posted on

Twitter Rudeness

I have been a terrible host.  Here I am, posting once-in-a-while blogs and stuff all this time and I haven’t bothered to invite you to Twitter.  Yes, I’m there too.  And I try my best to offer a daily bit of my brain to distract or amuse or confound.  Is Twitter about anything else?

Please, come on by.  I’m at @andrewpyper  And I’ve made punch!

Posted on

The Guardians in the UK

The mass market edition of The Guardians makes its oh-so-affordable appearance in the U.K. next week (publishing on February 2nd).  It’s a novel with a haunted house in it, which explains the, well, haunted-looking house on the cover.

To all those living in or traveling to Britain in the coming days, keep an eye out.  If you happen to see copies in a store somewhere, let me know.  Better yet, read it.  Satisfaction (or at least some seriously twisted dreams) guaranteed.

The Guardians – UK Mass Market Edition

Posted on

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait…and Wait…

Twelve years after its initial publication, the French translation of my first novel, Lost Girls (published by L’Archipel), has been given * * * 1/2 stars (out of four) in La Presse.

It’s quite unusual for a book to do anything after more than a decade other than show up in the FREE! box at somebody’s yard sale (if you’re lucky).  So I am enormously grateful to L’Archipel for bringing the novel to readers in France and Quebec alike.  I feel like I’ve been born again…though without all the bible thumping and swearing off booze.

LOST GIRLS reviewed in La Presse

Posted on

Genre Blab – The Genre Traveler podcast

Carma Spence runs a very cool blog and site called The Genre Traveler (www.thegenretraveler.com) where, among other things, she posts podcasts with writers who till the fields of genre of all sorts.  She looked me up and the result is a wide-ranging conversation about fear in literature, the excitement of initial ideas, and the inadequacy of “good writing” as the distinction between so-called genre and literary fiction.

Carma did some expert editing, too, as I sound more coherent than I recall.  And we must have done the interview after my afternoon coffee:  I can hear the caffeine in my voice.

Genre Traveler Podcast – Pyper