Andrew Pyper

I know there’s the holidays to get through (sorry, the shopping first, then the holidays) and then New Year’s and the hangover(s), but The Guardians publication date looms nevertheless (January 4 in Canada, February 17 in the U.K.).  And with publication comes…a party.  And you’re invited.

If you’re in Toronto on January 11, come on by The Ossington (61 Ossington Avenue) at 6:30 PM and raise a glass.  Make friends, go home with a stranger.  You should probably have recovered from the holidays by then, and with any luck, your Visa bill will have yet to arrive…

It’s coming up on twelve years since its initial publication, but my first novel, Lost Girls, just won’t go gently into the night.  The French rights were just sold (maybe they needed a decade to read the ms.?) and now…there is a director attached to the movie project!

Erik Canuel is the Montreal-based director of a clutch of visually stunning, award-winning movies, most notably Bon Cop, Bad Cop (which also happens to be the highest-grossing Canadian film in history).  Erik became involved after reading my screenplay adaptation, and we have been meeting together since then in polishing the script.  He has a clear vision for the movie, one I’m very excited about.  (We both see parts of ourselves in Barth Crane, which is perhaps worrying, but what can you do?)  Our goal is to make the kind of movie they don’t do too many of these days:  a smart, character-driven horror film for grownups.

The producer behind the project is Steve Hoban, who most recently produced Splice (starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley).  We’re hoping to shoot in 2011.

More casting news and details to come in the new year…

I don’t want to make too many false promises, but I believe I’m safe in saying that the new andrewpyper.com is going to offer a lot more than it used to.  More news.  Updated events and appearances.  Links to stuff I think is worth thinking about (or simply wasting some time on).  A rant here and there.  Maybe even an embarrassing photo or two.

Why a new andrewpyper.com now?  I’ve been meaning to get around to a redesign for a while (read “a while” as several years) but what really spurred the horse is the publication of my new novel, The Guardians (much more on that in the days to come).  For now though, a warm welcome.  And an invitation to return to see what’s new (there’s a lot going on at Pyper HQ right now!) and to pick up those free beer coupons that I seem to have misplaced for the moment…