Paul:

I wanted to thank you for the inspiration that I got for a new short story. I finished MIDNIGHT MASS a couple of weeks ago, so I've had vampires on my mind, and I came up with an interesting idea for a vampire story (at least I think it's interesting).

Don't worry, it doesn't rip off anything in the book, nor does it take place in the world of MIDNIGHT MASS.

Thanks again!

Crisscross has been in my house now for almost a week, but I didn't know that. I had to visit Goddard College last Friday; later in the day, it arrived. Since my birthday is coming up on June 4th, my sister (who was the only one in the house while my mother and I went up to Goddard - she was looking into applying there, too) just took this package and put it away, thinking it must have been something my mother ordered me for my birthday. Then this morning my mother brought the package to me and said that it must have been something I ordered, and opening it, I found what will be the next book I'll read after I finish reading Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Still Life With Crows.

Silly me.

Hey guys-


I just have a quick question. I want to begin reading The Adversary Cycle, but I dont know where to start. I have read The Tomb, where should I go from there? Is there any set list? Thanks to all that help.


Also.. should I wait until FPW finishes the RJ series before reading Nightworld(as I have heard this is the last RJ story)?

Hey Guys,
Would I miss anything important in Conspiracies if I skipped to All the Rage?
I've got it in my hands and soooo want to start reading it, but -- I will wait and pick up Conspiracies first if the greater wisdom suggests it.

Mini-spoiler

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Gregor's curtain call is sublime. How much fun do you have coming up with material like that?

Scott

I have yet to see the Mann-ified version of The Keep; until I do, however, I will know that there could never be a worse adaptation (oh, excuse me, "inspiration") of such a perfect piece of literary art than the atrocity known as Troy.

Just about everything in this movie was bad. No, I take that back: EVERYTHING was simply HORRENDOUS. It was simply GARBAGE. Let me explain only a little of what I think...

The characters were mutated to a point that strayed beyond any kind of cliché or stereotype; they became simply dreadful. Achilles became a pompous, over-self-glorifying jerk that seemed to show no emotion other than arrogance. Paris became a little schoolgirl--er, boy--who would rather sit and watch the battle. Agamemnon became an insane, over-the-top, bloodthirsty maniac with the same motivations as our current "President" (and not to mention just as annoying). Helen suddenly had a whole blooming romance with Paris the equivalent of yet another attempt at cashing in on poor Shakespeare's famous romance (which will remain anonymous, because what else would I be talking about?). Ajax became a huge muscle-man...and not much more. Odysseus even fell to a similar fate; he became more of a sword-ready fiend rather than the innocent thrust into a war he did not wish to be in. And where was Diomedes? And more importantly, WHERE WERE THE GODS?!

All the armor, ships, and costumes were identical, as if they were manufactured, rather than hand-crafted (which is how it would have been). All of the rooms and houses had such gaudy, Martha Stewart-esque deco and tapestries.

Finally, the movie dragged on forever (I actually checked my watch at one point, only to be sorely disappointed that less than half the movie had elapsed). There was no humor in it whatsoever, and the plot structure was a monotonous pattern of battle-dialogue-battle-dialogue.

How could Wolfgang Petersen and such a fine group of actors and actresses (well...never mind the actresses, actually) create such garbage? David Benioff should be SHOT for his adaptation of the beautiful poem that is recognized everywhere as one of the best and most wonderful pieces of literature ever.

There are so many other things I could rant about with this atrocious movie. Troy was, quite simply, THE worst movie I have EVER had the misfortune of actually spending money on, only to have my visual nerves stimulated (more like raped) from. If you don't believe me, go ahead and see it; perhaps those of us who had the pleasure of reading The Illiad are more biased towards this piece of cinematic garbage, but I will be honestly surprised if anyone other than a little girl of the age of 13 finds this movie to be even remotely entertaining.

Simply put, Troy sucked.

I wondered what would become of Bellito's Circle until Jack gave Lyle the lowdown. "Yeah. Eventually they'll die. Long after they want to." Mercy! Any chance of learning more about the Mikulski brothers in a future story?

Does anyone still have the URLs for the RJ teaser trailers that were posted on the old board?

On Thursday I had lunch with producer Barry Rosenbush and writer Chris Morgan. The director-to-be had to cancel out because of a family matter. (I can’t mention his name yet because he and Beacon are still doing the terms-of-contract dance.)

Chris is about finished with his first draft of Fast & Furious 3 and will start the Jack rewrite next week. It involves moving the back story to China, changing Kusum and Kolabati to Chinese, and the Rakoshi to some sort of ancient Chinese demon thing. Other changes will bring it further in line with the source novel.

We should have the (I hope) final script in June. The director should be signed by then. Once they have the script-and-director package completed, they plan to take it to the actors they think will make a good Jack.

The big fly in this ointment is a looming strike by the WGA which will put everything on hold.

On Friday I lunched with Hideo Kojima along with his interpreter and three folks from Beacon in Santa Monica.

For those of you who don’t know, Kojima-san is the Stephen King and Stephen Spielberg of videogames.

He’s much younger than I expected—somewhere in his thirties. It was difficult to get a sense of him speaking through an interpreter, but I have the impression he’s someone I’d like to know better. We managed to discuss a little game theory and such. I learned that both he and his interpreter are big fans of Repairman Jack.

Afterward we went back to the Beacon office to see a couple of tapes. One was a demo of the engine he’s considering using on the Repairman Jack game; the other was a trailer for the new Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. I’m not exaggerating when I say this man is a genius. MGS3 is awe inspiring -- amazingly immersive and will set a new highwater mark for videogames.

We were all in accordance that the RJ game should kick ass. He’ll be sent the new (and hopefully final) script to see if he can adapt that, or he’ll set the game post-Nightworld. (So for you who’ve wanted to know what Jack’s up to after Nightworld, this will be the only place to find out.) I think the latter scenario will give him the most latitude, but whatever he decides I know Jack will be well treated. He has tremendous respect for the character and I have tremendous respect for him.

They’re supposed to start working on the deal his week. Beacon wants him to do the game. Kojima-san wants to do the game. And since Konami wants what Kojima-san wants, this looks very, very good.