Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Almost as Much as My Last Advance from St. Martin's

Houston novelist Justin Cronin sinks his teeth into deal | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "Houston novelist Justin Cronin, best-known for his small-canvas family dramas, has embarked on a big-canvas, big-bucks project. The Rice University English professor has just signed a deal with Ballantine for a post-apocalyptic vampire trilogy. According to New York magazine, the deal for North American rights is worth $3.75 million, a figure Cronin described Tuesday as 'not exactly correct but more or less correct.'

The first book, titled The Passage, is due in the summer of 2009. Ballantine editor Mark Tavani praised its 'intense plotting, exquisite writing, memorable characters and tremendous imagination' and predicted it would appeal to a wide audience, likening the book to Stephen King's The Stand and Michael Crichton's early novels.

Set 100 years in the future, the plot involves a government experiment to lengthen the human life span. The experiment goes awry, unleashing a virus that physically and psychologically transforms people into vampires. But Cronin said the novel is much more than a conventional vampire tale. He prefers the term 'speculative fiction.'"

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vampires -- Rice University -- Anne Rice -- vampires . . . Spooky. Starting to wonder about rice for supper.

Anonymous said...

Much better than thinking about Anne Rice, whose novels might dull the appetite (at least for reading).

Hell, Bill, Janet Fox offered me nearly that much for a haiku in SCAVENGER'S NEWSLETTER. If you take inflation into account. Not exactly, but something utterly unlike that amount. Time to write a derivative vampire spec-fic book series, still, clearly.

mybillcrider said...

I'm not sure I have the energy for three "big" books like that.

Maybe if I ate some rice . . . .

Anonymous said...

...or Rice Krispies.

If the vampires have sex, Jackie will probably read it.

mybillcrider said...

You gotta thing there'll be sex for that much dough.

Victor Gischler said...

I just *KNEW* GO-GO GIRLS OF THE APOCALYPSE needed a few vampires in it. I am kicking myself.

Victor Gischler

mybillcrider said...

Well, doesn't the next book have vampires?

Victor Gischler said...

That's true, Bill. But I think vampires/apocalypse was the magic combo.

Sigh. Always a day late and a dollar short.

VG

Unknown said...

Justin Cronin was my creative writing teacher in college. I'm pleased as hell for him... but I swear, I remember him trying to steer me away from "genre" stories...

mybillcrider said...

I hope you learned enough to match his advance!

Unknown said...

Sadly, I think I cut class too much. (This was senior year. I was mostly hungover.)

mybillcrider said...

I'm thinking that since he turned to vampires, maybe he learned something from you. You should ask for 10%.

Juri said...

Any relation to A.J. Cronin?

mybillcrider said...

I have no idea. I'll bet A. J. never got that kind of dough, though.