Don’t bother searching for it. The new IFC series, The Spoils of Babylon is supposedly “based on the epic best seller by Eric Jonrosh.” Once you realize that this six–episode series was created by Will Ferrell,  you’ll realize that your leg has been pulled.

Those scenery-chewing book-based series from the 1970’s seem ripe for parody and the cast should be up for it (in addition to Ferrell, it features Kristen Wiig, Tobey Maguire and Tim Robbins). Reactions, range from positive to ho-hum and “too retro for its own good.”

The promotional push has begun for the FX TV series based on Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s vampire trilogy,  The Strain, (HarperCollins/Morrow, 2009).

A creepy, Blair Witch type teaser appeared in the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead, a couple of set photos are featured on Yahoo TV and the tie-in cover, based on the poster, has been released (see above, right, next to the original cover).

The lead, Dr. Ephraim Goodweather is played by Corey Stoll, who was a character in the Netflix original series, House of Cards (minus the hair). The series is set to begin in July, but no specific date has been released.

Teaser:

Tie-in:

The Strain: TV Tie-in Edition by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, (Harper, June 24, 2014)
Mass market; 9780062344618,  $9.99

The ABC series Resurrection, based on The Returned, Jason Mott’s debut novel, published in late August (Harlequin/MIRA; Brilliance Audio; Thorndike), debuts on Sunday, March 9th.

About how people in a community would react if dead people suddenly returned to their loved ones, the book was a LibraryReads pick. It was widely reviewed (USA Today was particularly admiring) and appeared on the NYT best seller list for two weeks, hitting a high of #16. A trade paperback, with tie-in cover art, is set for release in March (Harlequin, 9780778317074).

Why is the title of the series  different from the book? To avoid confusion with a French series, also about dead people returning, which aired on the Sundance Channel recently with the English title The Returned.

A new promo for the series began airing over the holidays:

There’s no news yet on exactly when the STARZ series will begin, but the cast of Outlander, based on the first title in Diana Gabaldon’s novels, is preparing fans with videos on how to “Speak Outlander.”

Below is Lesson One. Lesson Two and several other videos are available on the official web site, Starz.com/Originals/Outlander.

It’s appropriate that Lesson One teaches the pronunciation of Sassenach, an English person or an outsider. The lead character Claire Randall is an English World War II combat nurse who time travels back to Scotland in 1743 where she meets a handsome Scottish warrior, Jamie Fraser played by Sam Heughan, (the guy in the hoodie).

A “fan gathering” with the cast and crew, including author Diana Gabaldon, will be held in Los Angeles on Jan. 11. Fans can also find set photos on Instagram and more on the show’s Facebook page.

The publication of the 8th title in the series, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, (RH/Delacorte) was moved from its original December date to March 25, 2014 to tie in with the publicity for the STARZ series. [UPDATE: On her blog, Gabaldon recently announced that the date has been moved again, to June 10 — perhaps hinting that the series will begin this summer].

In a year-end video, HBO wraps up 2013 and offers brief (warning: VERY brief) glimpses of the upcoming year, including several shows based on books or with book connections:

The Leftovers —  based on the novel by Tom Perotta, (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; tie-in scheduled for 5/6/14)

Olive Kitteridge —  based on the novel by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)

The Normal Heart — adapted from the play by Larry Kramer, (Grove Press)

Billy Crystal: 700 Sundays — Crystal’s one-man show, (Hachette/Grand Central), to be taped before a live audience

The video also includes glimpses of continuations of other series based on books — Game of Thrones (spring release), Boardwalk Empire (begins Sept. 8) and True Blood (final season; summer release).

The book that was hailed as the next big thing in fantasy after The Lord of the Rings back in the ’70’s,  The Sword of Shannara, by Terry Brooks, (RH/Del Rey; 1977) is now being seen as the next Game of Thrones, by MTV which has announced plans to adapt the entire 25-book saga (via The Hollywood Reporter).

The producers have secured a straight-to-series commitment (translated, if the network honchos like the script, they will get right to work on the series, bypassing the pilot stage).

The most recent title in the series, Witch Wraith (RH/Del Rey; RH Audio) was published in July. The first book in the Defenders of Shannara trilogy, supposedly the final books of the saga, The High Druid’s Blade is scheduled for publication in  March 2014. It will be followed in August by The Darkling Child (RH/Del Rey; RH Audio).

It was a love fest on the Today Show yesterday as Hoda and Kathie Lee hosted one of their “favorite people in the world,” author Adriana Trigiani, whose latest book, The Supreme Macaroni Company (Harper; HarperAudio; HarperLuxe), the final in her series featuring Valentine Roncalli, came out last week.

In addition to her new book, she also talked about directing her first feature film, Big Stone Gap, starring Ashley Judd, based on the first novel in her other series, featuring her home town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Currently in the editing process, it is expected to be released a year from now. For more on the shoot, read the account in the local newspaper, The Richmond Times Dispatch.

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It’s actually happening. V. C. Andrews’ 1979 novel, Flowers in the Attic (S&S) has been adapted as a Lifetime movie, to air on January 18.

Ellen Burstyn looks like she’s enjoying her role in the trailer, below, of the evil matriarch who abuses her four grandchildren hidden in the attic of her mansion, but Entertainment Weekly reports that she found it exhausting.

Heather Graham plays the childrens’ mother. The older daughter Cathy is played by Kiernan Shipka, who got her start in acting as Sally Draper on AMC’s Mad Men.

Entertainment Weekly dares to ask the question that will be on many minds; “Will there be incest?” Mason Dye, who plays the older brother Chris says they will go there, “We stay very true to the book.”

That subject was only hinted at in the earlier 1987 adaptation, starring Louise Fletcher as the grandmother, Kristy Swanson as Cathy, and Victoria Tennant as the mother. Universally regarded as a flop in its time, it has gone on to become a camp favorite.
 

Cathy Marie Buchanan’s novel, The Painted Girls, (Penguin/Riverhead), published in January, was inspired by Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.

It is now the inspiration for a possible TV series, produced by The CW and CBS TV Studios, according to Deadline.com.

The novel received praise in a Washington Post review by Susan Vreeland, the author of another book inspired by a work of art from the same period, Luncheon of the Boating Party, (Penguin).

It’s a good time to bring out your copies of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and put them on display. Entertainment news sites are abuzz with the story that production has begun on a seven-part BBC series based on the 2004 debut bestseller by Susanna Clarke.

The novel made news when it was acquired by Bloomsbury, U.K. for £1 million, with the Guardian trumpeting, “Watch and learn, Harry Potter, and stand by for some serious magic. The company that championed the schoolboy wizard is about to launch one of the biggest marketing campaigns in publishing history for its new international blockbuster – but this time it’s magic for grown-ups.”

It fulfilled expectations. The 800-page epic set during the Napoleonic wars reached #3 on the New York Times best-seller list. Longlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize, it won the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Novel, was Time Magazine’s #1 Book of the Year and was reviewed widely.

At the time of acquisition, Bloomsbury editor-in-chief Alexandra Pringle described it as, “funny in a sly Jane Austen way and very literary with elements of fantasy – Jane Austen meets Philip Pullman is a fair way to describe it.” She also noted, “There is definitely a film in it and we’ve already had a lot of interest in the film rights.”

Rights were acquired, but have since lapsed, clearing the way for what may become the next BBC Obsession, set to air some time in 2014.

Nick Offerman’s appearance on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night caused his book Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man’s Fundamentals for Delicious Living (Penguin/Dutton) to rise to #51 (from #262) on Amazon’s sales rankings.

On Wednesday, Stewart examines a topic close to his heart, the American educational system (his mother was a teacher) with an author who has appeared on the show before, Diane Ravitch. Her latest book is Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools (RH/Knopf).

On Thursday, Mark Fainaru-Wada, an investigative reporter for ESPN is featured for his book, League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth (RH/Crown/Archetype), which ties in to a documentary that aired earlier this month on PBS’s Frontline.

A new TV series that is getting acclaim shares a title and a basic theme with a recently published book, also set to become a TV series, which may result in some confusion.

Here’s the story. The Returned, the TV show, is an eight-part French series which will air here on the Sundance Channel beginning Thursday (Halloween night). About what happens in a small town in the French Alps when dead people suddenly begin returning to their loved ones, it is based on the 2004 French film They Came Back, (the French title of both the TV series and the movie is Les Revenants).

The Returned, the book, is Jason Mott’s debut novel, published in late August by Harlequin/MIRA (Brilliance Audio; Thorndike large print). It is about what happens in a small American town when a young boy, who has been dead nearly 50 years, suddenly returns. Meanwhile, across the U.S., similar events are taking place.

A LibraryReads pick, it got a string of  reviews (USA Today‘s was particularly admiring) and appeared on the NYT best seller list for two weeks, hitting a high of #16.

An ABC TV series based on it will debut in March, titled Resurrection (thus avoiding confusion with the Sundance TV series, while setting up confusion over the book).

Originally set for Valentine’s Day, the film of James Dashner’s The Maze Runner has now been moved to the fall, Sept. 19, 2014. About the change, director Wes Ball tweeted, “These things aren’t my choice, but I 100% agree with Fox’s decision. Just imagine the cool stuff we can do with a little extra time.”

As a result, it will no longer be competing with Vampire Academy, still scheduled for Feb. 14.

In a less dramatic move, The Book Thief has been rescheduled from Nov. 15, this year, to a week earlier, Nov. 8.

This week, The Daily Show features authors on two of its four shows. In addition to Malala Yousafzai’s appearance tomorrow (see previous story on the contenders for the Nobel Prize), author Brian Jay Jones appears on Thursday for his book about the world’s best-known puppeteer,  Jim Henson: The Biography (RH/Ballantine).

The book was reviewed last month in The Washington Post, (great line, “If the life of the man who created the Muppets had been any cornier or more wholesome, he would have been sued by Norman Rockwell’s lawyers for plagiarism”) as well as The Hollywood Reporter.

HBO has announced that they are taking the pilot based on Tom Perrotta’s best selling 2011 novel The Leftovers, (Macmillan/St. Martin’s), to a 10-episode series (no news yet on when it will begin).

The series is being produced by Lost‘s Damon Lindeloff, with Perrotta as the co-writer.

About the people in one small town who are left behind after a Rapture-like event takes some of their family members and neighbors, Perrotta’s novel was acquired by HBO before it was published. In an earlier interview about the project, Lindelof indicated that the series would go beyond the book, saying it “probably only has enough content for two or three episodes.”

 Playing the lead is Justin Theroux, as the town’s police chief. Amy Brenneman (Private Practice) plays his wife Laurie. Liv Tyler plays Meg, whose relationship with Laurie is pivotal to the book.

Perrotta’s latest book ,a collection of short stories, Nine Inches, (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Macmillan Audio), was released last week.