A New Interview as the Summer Blog Tour Shifts Into Fall

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post for the Summer 2013 Thieves’ Quarry Blog Tour (yes, it’s September, but it’s still summer officially . . .), and in that time I have attended DragonCon, and been busy on a couple of other fronts that I can’t discuss just yet but hope to announce soon.  Today, I am happy to point you to an interview I did with Garrett Calcaterra about writing professionally in the current market.  Originally, Garrett interviewed me for an article he published at Black Gate Magazine that touched on these issues and focused not only on me, but also on fellow writers M. Todd Gallowglas, Wendy N. Wagner, and Patrick Hester.  Today, the full interview is available here, on Garrett’s website.  I hope you enjoy it.

Seeing Robin Hood, After Writing Robin Hood

Last night marked the final chapter of my Robin Hood novelization experience:  Nancy and I finally saw the movie.  My reactions:

First, I liked it.  So did Nancy.  I honestly believe that many of the poor reviews were written by people who went to the theater expecting to see the conventional Robin Hood story.  This movie never claimed to be that.  It is a prequel of sorts to the legend, and is innovative and different — good things both.  It is a darker story than one expects from a Robin Hood movie, but that too worked for me.

I love Cate Blanchett,and I think she did a fine job; her acting was excellent, as always.  Still, I’m just not certain that she was ideal for this role.  On the other hand, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Russell Crowe’s performance.  Again, I always expect excellent acting from him, and I wasn’t disappointed this time.  I just hadn’t been sure that I would like him as Robin.  I did.

A lot of what I saw matched up well with what I envisioned as I wrote the book from the movie script.  Still, there were scenes that I saw differently — the opening siege sequences, for instance.  There were a few scenes and lines that must have been cut from the movie at the last minute, because they’re in the book, but not in the film.  And there were a few scenes and lines that we were asked to cut, but that then found their way back into the movie (and I have to tell you THAT was a little annoying….).

Movies and books are utterly different media, and hard to compare.  I know that some of what I wrote in the book can’t possibly have as much impact as the visuals one gets on the screen.  I also know, though, that there are elements of what I wrote in the book, especially some of the point of view work, that added to the narrative.  Eleanor of Aquitaine doesn’t get enough screen time in the movie to be a fully developed character; being able to write scenes from her POV allowed me to bring her out a bit more in the book.  Same with Richard the Lionheart.

Robin Hood was a unique writing experience; I’ve said as much before.  Turns out, seeing the movie was a unique experience as well.  I felt like I was seeing a movie I’d watched many times before, and yet every visual offered some small surprise.  As Nancy said, it will probably be even stranger to see a movie that is based on one of my own books.  I hope to find out some day.

A Post About Movies and Books

Today’s post can be found at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog on the business and craft of writing fantasy that I maintain with fellow authors Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, A.J. Hartley, and Stuart Jaffe, among others. The post is called “Of Movies and Novels,” and it compares the storytelling techniques used in books with those used in creating films. I hope you enjoy it.

New Interview Online

So our local paper, the Chattanooga Times-Free Press, interviewed me as a sidebar to their stories about the premier of the Robin Hood movie.  Here’s the site.  Not sure all the transcription is spot on perfect, but it’s pretty close.  The reporter was great — good questions, friendly guy.  Hope you enjoy the interview.

Signing Tomorrow

I’ll be signing copies of Robin Hood, as well as my fantasy novels, at the Barnes and Noble, Hamilton Place in Chattanooga, TN, 2:00-5:00 on Saturday, May 7.  Please stop by and say hello!

Corrections!

So, Robin Hood has been out for about a week now, and the first indications are that the book is doing well and satisfying readers.  Unfortunately, we’ve also had a couple of small editing errors brought to our attention.  These are detailed on my web site, but briefly:

On pages 85 and 88, please disregard the mentions of Godfrey.  At this stage of the book, Robin should have no idea of who the man is.  These mentions are artifacts of an older version of the script and book.  They should have been removed in our frenzied editing process, along with all the other early mentions.  These two, it seems fell through the cracks….

Two Days Left to Win a Book!

Only two days left in the Robin Hood book giveaway contest at my website.  Visit now to win a signed copy of the newly released novelization of the upcoming movie, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett.

So visit the site and enter the contest.  You might even win!

Two Ways to Win a Book!

Today is launch day for Robin Hood, my novelization of the upcoming movie, and I have yet another blog post about the experience of writing the book.  You can find it here at the blog of The Knight Agency, the literary agency that represents me.

So how can you win a copy of the book?  Two ways actually.  You can go to the Knight Agency and comment on my post there.  That will automatically enter you in a drawing for a signed copy of the book.  Or you can visit the contests page at my web site and enter the contest there.  That, too, is for a signed copy of the book.

And for those of you who are wondering, the movie Robin Hood, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett, will be out in theaters on May 14.

A Post About Robin Hood

Okay, first of all, tomorrow, April 27, is the release date for Robin Hood, my novelization of the new movie of the same title that will be released on May 14. The movie is directed by Ridley Scott and stars Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. The novel is being published by Tor Books. And if you would like a chance to win a free, signed copy, visit my web site and enter the contest!

Today’s post can be found at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog on the business and craft of writing fantasy that I maintain with fellow authors Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, A.J. Hartley, and Stuart Jaffe, among others. The post is called “ROBIN HOOD Q & A,” and it’s all about my experience writing the novelization for the Ridley Scott Robin Hood movie that comes out May 14. I hope you enjoy it.

A Post About “Creative Ownership”

Today’s post can be found at http://www.sfnovelists.com, the group blog on speculative fiction that I maintain along with a group of over one hundred published authors of science fiction and fantasy.  The post is called “ROBIN HOOD and ‘Creative Ownership'”.  I hope you enjoy it.

And for those of you who are wondering, ROBIN HOOD, my novelization of the Ridley Scott movie, starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett, will be released next Tuesday, April 27.  The movie is scheduled for release in theaters on May 14.

And for those of you who’d like to try to win a signed copy of the book, there is a contest underway at my website right now.  So visit the site, answer the very simple question on the contests page, and maybe you’ll win!