Coming this weekend is one of Hollywood’s biggest gambles of the year, Disney’s $250 million John Carter.

In today’s NYT, Charles McGrath, former editor of the Book Review, looks at the movie’s source material, A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, a book “filled with inconsistencies and plot threads that are never followed up.” It has nevertheless, stayed in print for decades.

McGrath defines its appeal as “a kind of cheerful boys’ adventure romanticism” and says that the very qualities that have “made it so transporting for generations of readers” are the ones that have made it “both tempting and daunting to filmmakers, who have struggled since the ’30s to come up with a version that will play to both young viewers and adults, newcomers and members of the cult.”

Many are waiting anxiously for the film’s opening this Friday, to see if the box office proves it to be the next Avatar or the next Ishtar.

To feed speculation, Disney released a new 10-minute trailer over the weekend (see our Upcoming Movies— with Tie-ins for the many re-releases of various versions of the book).

You’ve undoubtedly seen a trailer or two for John Carter, Disney’s $250 million 3-D sci-fi epic, opening on March 9.

Not that the heavy promotion matters; the Daily Beast reports that it’s expected to tank at the box office.

One of the problems is that people can’t grasp what it’s about, even though a new trailer, which arrived this week, is less murky than the others (two fans were so disgusted with the SuperBowl trailer, that they pieced together their own from available clips).

Junot Diaz might have helped clear up some of the questions; he’s written the introduction to the Library of America version of A Princess of Mars, the Edgar Rice Burroughs’s book the film is based on.

Library of America? The folks whod do “authoritative texts of great American writing…printed on premium acid-free paper”? Yes, them.

Unfortunately, however, the book won’t be available until after the movie releases.

Meanwhile, we have just this quote from Diaz to go on; “A Princess of Mars is singularly important… in that it innovated the grammar for the American version of the lost world romance.”

Another major author is taken with the book; Michael Chabon worked the screenplay.

For more tie-ins, go to our listing of Upcoming Movies — with Tie-ins

Not that you really need to stock up.

A Princess of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs Retail Price: $20.00 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Penguin/Library of America – (2012-04-12) ISBN / EAN: 1598531654 / 9781598531657

SAG Best Actress Award winner (and Oscar nominee), Viola Davis has been signed for two book-to-movie projects; Beautiful Creatures (see previous story) and the movie based on Orson Scott Card’s sci fi classic, Ender’s Game.

The movie already has a strong cast, with rising young actors Asa Butterfield (Hugo) and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) as well as veteran, Harrison Ford.

According to Variety, Ender’s Game will shoot first. If that’s true, it will start soon; other sources report that Beautiful People is scheduled for shooting in April.

Terry Brooks announced on his blog yesterday that Warner Brothers has optioned his Magic Kingdom of Landover series. He cautions, however, that he’s been down this route before with no result. As he said in his 2009 holiday letter, Universal had the rights to the series until April of 2010, but it went nowhere. Warner has had an option on his Shannara series for a while. In that case, a director was hired, but then moved on.

He seems more hopeful about Warner’s plans for The Magic Kingdom. He says there has been interest from “a major actor” and a screen writer is working on the adaptation, giving  “reason to believe after talking to the principals that this time we have more than words to suggest something might really happen.”

The first book in the series is Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold! (RH/Del Rey, 1986).

To watch next week, a young adult title set during the Haitian earthquake has strong crossover appeal. Stewart O’Nan delivers a love story and Orson Scott Card returns with another title in the Ender series. In nonfiction, the fascination with SEAL’s continues with an autobiography by the most deadly sniper in U.S. military history.

Young Adult Watch List

In Darkness by Nick Lake (Bloomsbury) is set in Haiti, where a teenage boy is trapped among ruins, surrounded by bodies, with death seeming imminent. But then he becomes aware of Touissant L’Overture reaching out to him across 200 years of history. The Wall St. Journal covered it a roundup of YA titles for Black History Month, saying “elegant, restrained prose and distinct characters will reward adults and older teenagers able to brave a story with strong language, harrowing scenes of brutality and an almost painful stab of joy at the end.”

Notable Literary Titles

The Odds: A Love Story by Stewart O’Nan (Viking; Center Point Large Print) is set on Valentine’s weekend, as Art and Marion Fowler – both jobless and facing foreclosure – flee to the site of their honeymoon in Niagara Falls decades earlier, book a bridal suite, and risk everything at the roulette wheel. Library Journal says that O’Nan “sensitively makes the everyday hurts of everyday people real and important. This book will resonate profoundly in today’s strapped environment; great for book clubs.”

Usual Suspects

Raylan by Elmore Leonard (William Morrow; Blackstone Audio) is the third crime novel starring U.S. marshal Raylan Givens (now the star of the FX television series Justified), a former Kentucky coal miner, against three very different female crooks. Library Journal says, “Leonard lovers will find the fascinatingly twisted personalities common to his fiction here, along with memorable trademark Leonard moments of humor, grit, and greed. Raylan will play well with his current popularity and won’t disappoint fans of the books and the show.”

Death of Kings (Saxon Tales #6) by Bernard Cornwell (HarperCollins; HarperLuxe Large Print) is the sixth (but not final) installment of  Cornwell’s saga of England, in whichAlfred the Great lays dying, while the fate of the Angles, Saxons and Vikings hang in the balance. PW says, “Ninth-century combat lacks the grandeur of large armies, but Uhtred’s cunning, courage, and a few acts of calculated cruelty make for a compelling read.”

Shadows in Flight (Ender’s Shadow Series #5) by Orson Scott Card (Tor Books) finds Bean having fled to the stars with three of his children, who share the engineered genes that gave him both hyper-intelligence and a short, cruel physical life. Library Journal says, “Card deals with the repercussions of bioengineering for the human species. [His]graceful storytelling gives this narrative the feel of a parable or a futuristic myth; it is bound to please the author’s fan base and readers who enjoyed the first book.” But Kirkus cautions, “Do not attempt to appreciate this book without at least some familiarity with Card’s child-warrior Ender series.”

Young Adult

Hallowed (Unearthly Series #2) by Cynthia Hand (HarperTeen) is the second novel to feature part-angel Clara Gardner, who is torn between her love for her boyfriend Tucker and her complicated feelings about the role she seems destined to play. Kirkus says, “readers who enjoyed the steadfast characters, plotting and romance of Unearthly (2010) can expect more of the same in this equally satisfying sequel.”

Nonfiction

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle (William Morrow; HarperLuxe Large Print) is the autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, whose record 255 confirmed kills make him the most deadly sniper in U.S. military history. Booklist says, “The book reads like a a first-person thriller narrated by a sniper. The book follows his career from 1999 to 2009, and, like Anthony Swofford’s Jarhead (2003), it portrays a sniper’s life as a mixture of terror and mind-numbing boredom… A first-rate military memoir.”

Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America by Mark R. Levin (Threshold Editions; S&S Audio) finds the bestselling author of Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto exploring the philosophical basis of America’s foundations and the crisis that the government faces today.

Steven Spielberg’s two holiday movies are both based on books (War Horse and Tintin). The director  is currently at work on Lincoln, based on the last section of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals (S&S, 2005) starring Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln. This week, he confirmed in an interview with Time Out London that his next movie will be Robopocalypse, based on the novel by Daniel H. Wilson (RH/Doubleday, June, 2011), a thriller set in the near future that was heavily promoted at BEA this year and landed on the NYT best seller list at #13 for one week. Spielberg signed it before it was published, based on a 100-page sample.

Spielberg describes the project to Time Out London,

It’s a movie about a global war between man and machine.I had a great time creating the future on Minority Report, and it’s a future that is coming true faster than any of us thought it would. Robopocalypse takes place in 15 or 20 years, so it’ll be another future we can relate to. It’s about the consequences of creating technologies which make our lives easier, and what happens when that technology becomes smarter than we are. It’s not the newest theme, it’s been done throughout science fiction, but it’s a theme that becomes more relevant every year.

Tamora Pierce describes to “huge fan” Nancy Pearl how she created the fantasy world of Tortall in her most recent teen series, the Beka Cooper trilogy (Random House) and the folly of trying to impose categories on books.

A rush of new titles start landing with the new year. Watch for BBC writer David Snodin‘s historical featuring Shakespeare’s Iago and Thrity Umrigar‘s novel of Indian college friends reunited years later in the U.S.. Usual suspects include Janet Evanovich, James Patterson with coauthor Maxine Paetro, Matthew Reilly and Val McDermid. Plus the latest from YA author Sara Shepard, a handful of movie tie-ins, and a memoir of caretaking and grief by the late Patrick Swayze’s wife, Lisa Niemi. 

Watch List

Iago by David Snodin (Macmillan/Henry Holt) is a historical novel that begins where Shakespeare’s Othello leaves off, and focuses on the complex villian and his powerful accuser. LJ calls it a ” vivid though long novel, which is filled with all the drama, intrigue, and violence of Renaissance Italy–and even a little romance on the side.” On the other hand, Kirkus says, “Iago’s character never really deepens: We learn plenty about his capacity for viciousness, but the climactic revelations about his past history feel underwhelming. A likable page-turner about love, war and conspiracy in the early 16th century. Just don’t expect Shakespeare.”

The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar (HarperCollins; HaperLuxe) finds four friends who attended Bombay College in the 70’s reunited when one woman becomes ill, in a tale that straddles India and the U.S. PW says, “though none of the major story elements Umrigar employs are remotely fresh, her characters make this a rewarding novel.”

Usual Suspects

Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly (Macmillan/St. Martins; Macmillan audio) is a standalone novel set in a small town microbrewery, featuring out-of-work, just-separated Kate Appleton, and is a collaboration between the bestselling author and the president of the Romance Writers of America. Booklist says, “Evanovich is known for her humor, and she and Kelly skillfully combine comedy with romance and suspense to make a story sure to please readers.”

Private: #1 Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print) is the second novel featuring Morgan, the founder of an L.A. investigative firm, who is framed for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. PW calls it “lackluster,” and complains that “unrelated subplots, including a serial killer who leaves his victims in different locations of a hotel chain, serve only to add to the books length. An evil identical twin doesnt help with plausibility.”

Gun Games (Decker/Lazarus Series #20) by Faye Kellerman (HarperCollins/Morrow; HarperLuxe; Thorndike) finds the Deckers investigating the suicide of a high school student, while rescuing 15-year-old Gabe Whitman, a brilliant musical prodigy whose father earns his living as a pimp. PW finds this one “subpar” for the series.

Halo: Primordium: Book Two of the Forerunner Saga by Greg Bear (Macmillan/Tor; Macmillan Audio) is set in the wake of apparent self-destruction of the Forerunner empire, as two humans are washed up on very strange shores.

Scarecrow Returns by Matthew Reilly (S & S) is the action-packed fourth title in the Scarecrow series, by the internationally popular author of Seven Deadly Wonders. Booklist says, “pitting his heroes against polar bears, ranks of crazed berserkers, and colorful henchmen like Bad Willy, Big Jesus, and Typhoon, Reilly ups the ante on swashbucklers like Clive Cussler and Ted Bell by dishing out page after page of truly nonstop, explosive action, from cover to cover. Does he pull it off? Absolutely!”

The Retribution: A Tony Hill & Carol Jordan Novel by Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly) is the seventh thriller in the Tony Hill series, which pairs the British clinical psychologist with his long-term work partner and sometimes lover, Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan as they pursue Vance, the TV talk show host responsible for murdering 17 teenage girls in 1997’s The Wire in the Blood. PW says, “the emotional wedge that the sadistic Jacko is able to drive between Tony and Carol makes this one of McDermids strongest efforts.”

Young Adult

Pretty Little Secrets by Sara Shepard (HarperTeen) is a “special bonus book” set in the lost period between books four and five of the Pretty Little Liars series, the winter break of the girls’ junior year, as told from the point of view of stalker Ali. The new season of ABC’s Pretty Little Liars begins Jan. 2.

Movie Tie-Ins

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (RH/Vintage) ties in to the movie opening January 6, adapted and directed by Vietnamese filmmaker Anh Hung Tran. It will appear in a limited number of theaters, but fans of Murakami’s 1Q84 are likely to be drawn to this tie-in. Published in Japan in 1987, it was the author’s first major hit in that country, but wasn’t released here until 2000, after the success of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (RH/Vintage; Blackstone Audio) is a classic ghost story about a lawyer who travels to remote English village and finds the ghost of a scorned woman terrorizing the locals – and ties in into the gothic horror movie remake, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Janet McTeer, which opens February 3.

The Firm by John Grisham (RH/Dell) is a reissue of the original 1993 thriller. It’s the basis for an NBC TV series set ten years after the book. The series launches on January 8 and 9, before it moves to its regular Thursday night time slot.

Memoir

Worth Fighting For: Love, Loss, and Moving Forward by Lisa Niemi  (S&S/Atria; Centerpoint Large Print) is a memoir by actor Patrick Swayze’s wife, who co-wrote her husband’s memoir, The Time of My Life, and now reflects on caring for her husband during his final months before he died of pancreatic cancer in 2009. PW says, “Niemi writes movingly of trying to keep a positive outlook, staying organized with drugs, treatments, and foods for her husband, employing relatives as helpers and researchers, and, most of all, using the time she and Swayze had left together to enjoy and appreciate each other. Its a heartfelt account, both brave and honorable.”

The Game of Thrones author George R R Martin just released a chapter from the next book in his series, A Song of Ice and Fire, on his web site. The new book, titled Winds of Winter, will be published by his longtime publisher Bantam, but there is no release date yet.

He also promised fans that another chapter will be included in the paperback edition of A Dance with Dragons, due in July. The publisher has not listed ordering information for it yet.

Eager fans should be counseled that it was six years between the last two books. When Martin finally announced a firm publication date for A Dance with Dragons, he acknowledged,

Yes, I know.  You’ve all seen publication dates before: dates in 2007, 2008, 2009.  None of those were ever hard dates, however.  Most of them… well, call it wishful thinking, boundless optimism, cockeyed dreams, honest mistakes, whatever you like.

This time, he is not committing to a specific date.

Season two of HBO’s Game of Thrones begins on April 14. It is based on the second volume in A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Clash of Kings. The tie-in will be released in late February in trade pbk (9780345535412), mass market (9780345535429) and audio (9780449011102).

After many delays, it now looks like Orson Scott Card’s 1985 science fiction classic Ender’s Game will make it to the big screen.

Variety reports that Harrison Ford has signed to play Colonel Hyrum Graff. He joins a cast that included Asa Butterfield (Hugo) as Ender Wiggin, Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), as Ender’s friend, Petra Arkanian, Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) as his sister, Valentine, and Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham.

Gavin Hood  (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Tsotsi) is the director. The film is scheduled for release on March 15, 2013.

Two of our GalleyChat regulars have started a hashtag for librarians to list their top 11 favorite books from 2011, #libfavs2011. It runs through Dec. 31, so head on over to Twitter and join in. (Thanks to Robin Beerbower, Salem [OR] Library and Stephanie Chase, Multnomah County Library, for starting and shepherding this project).

So far the title with the most mentions is the debut, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (RH/Crown). Librarians backed it early on (it was BEA Shout & Share pick). Try it on readers who claim to hate science fiction. USA Today put it this way, “This unabashedly geeky view of a 2044 dystopia provides an enchanting escape from today’s economic crisis, dreary politicians and international turmoil,” adding, “Few novels set up an engaging plot as fast as this one.” Check your holds; some libraries are showing a significant number.

Publisher Broadway Books is treating the trade paperback, coming in June, as a relaunch, with a new cover.

Ready Player One Ernest Cline Retail Price: $14.00 Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: Broadway – (2012-06-05) ISBN / EAN: 0307887448 / 9780307887443

RH Audio/BOT; Audio and eBook on OverDrive

It’s a year before the movie is to be released, but the first trailer for The Hobbit, directed by Peter Jackson and based on the book by JRR Tolkien, arrived online last night (the 3-D film opens next Dec. 14). It will be shown in theaters before screenings of Steven Spielberg’s The Advntures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

A few movie sites are complaining that it looks too much like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, also directed by Jackson and also based on a book by Tolkien, while others found it to be just what they wanted. The most exhaustive examination of  the trailer and what it reveals about the final film is on CinemaBlend.com, “The Hobbit Trailer In Detail: 5 Things We Learned.”

For those of you not up on your Middle Earth timelines, the film is the first in a two-part adaptation of Tolkien’s renowned novel which was the precursor to his Lord of the Rings trilogy. They were made into films, the first of which, The Fellowship of the Rings, came out ten years ago. Thus, the returning actors, like Ian MacKellen, are playimg characters who are  supposed to be younger than they were ten years ago.

The second film in the series, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, which was shot back-to-back with the first, will be released in December, 2013.

The HBO series Game of Thrones brought a whole new audience to George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books. Get ready for season 2, based on the second title in the book series, A Clash of Kings, (RH/Ballantine, 1999).

It’s not coming until April, but HBO’s promotion machine (the second teaser trailer has already hit the screen) will keep it in on people’s radar.

Tie-in editions in trade pbk (9780345535412), mass market (9780345535429) and audio (9780449011102) are scheduled for late February.

Next week, look out for Lou Beach‘s quirky debut story collection based on Facebook posts, along with a new novel from Anita Desai and the relaunch of an old one by Paul Theroux. Veteran  P.D. James delivers a murder mystery in the form of a sequel to Pride and Prejudice that is already getting attention. In nonfiction, there’s an original title from the Dalai Lama, along with Richard Bonin‘s look at Ahmed Chalabi’s role in shaping contemporary Iraq.

Watch List

420 Characters by Lou Beach (Houghton Mifflin) is a collection of very short stories that originally appeared as Facebook status updates. Library Journal says, “there are some books you like, others that you don’t, and that rare book that you like in spite of yourself. This book fits into the latter category… Like a tasting menu, these stories add up to something wonderful.”

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James (RH/Knopf; Random House Large Print; Random House Audio) subjects the characters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to a murder mystery. It’s set in 1803, six years after Elizabeth and Darcy began their life together at Pemberley, when their idyll is shattered by Lydia, Elizabeth’s disgraced sister, who announces that her husband, the very dubious Wickham, has been murdered. NPR’s Fresh Air featured it on Tuesday, calling it “a glorious plum pudding of a whodunit,” adding  James “ferrets out the alternative noir tales that lurk in the corners of Pride and Prejudice, commonly thought of as Austen’s sunniest novel. Ruinous matches, The Napoleonic Wars, early deaths, socially enforced female vulnerability: Austen keeps these shadows at bay, while James noses deep into them.” We’ve put this on our “Watch List” because it may bring James a whole new audience.

Returning Literary Lions

The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai (Houghton Mifflin) includes three novellas about characters struggling with modernization and Indian culture, by the author thrice shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Kirkus says, “reading Desai’s poignant and wry new effort offers a modest pleasure that suits its fragile characters. A deft exploration of the limits people place on themselves by trying to cling to the past.”

Murder in Mount Holly by Paul Theroux (Grove/Atlantic/Mysterious Press) is a caper novel set in the 1960s and first published in the U.K. in 1969, which follows a draftee, his mother and her amateur criminal lover in the small American town of Mount Holly. Booklist says “its a slim twig of a book, but it’s howlingly funny and will stay with readers for a long time,” but PW finds it “subpar” for the writer best known for his travel books.

Usual Suspects

Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell (Penguin/Putnam; Thorndike Press; Penguin Audio) finds Kay Scarpetta’s former deputy chief, Jack Fielding, has been murdered, and she wants to know why. It began rising on Amazon 10/25/11, and is at #78 as of 12/1/11. Publishers Weekly says, “As in other recent work, Cornwell overloads the plot, but Scarpettas tangled emotional state and her top-notch forensic knowledge more than compensate.”

Children’s & Young Adult

Witch & Wizard: The Fire by James Patterson and Jill Dembowski (Little, Brown; Hachette Audio) is the climax of the Witch & Wizard fantasy series, in which sister and brother battle a merciless totalitarian regime.

Ruthless by Sara Shepard (HarperTeen) is book ten of the Pretty Little Liars series. High school seniors Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer are back – and this time must face a ruthless stalker who wants to make them pay for their darkest secret. The new season of the ABC TV Family series based on the books begins on January 2.

Movie Tie-in

Big Miracle (originally, Everybody Loves Whales) by Tom Rose (Macmillan/St. Martin’s/Griffin; Dreamscape Audio) is the story of a reporter and a Greenpeace activist who enlisted the Cold War superpowers to help save a whale trapped under Arctic ice in 1988, written by a conservative talk show host. This edition ties in to the movie adaptation opening February 3, starring John Krasinski and Drew Barrymore. PW says, “the book is most compelling when it focuses on the simple drama of the whales plight and the extraordinary lives the people of Barrow eke from the harsh elements; its less interesting when it strays into antibig government polemics and caricatures of limousine liberal environmentalists.”

Nonfiction

Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World by His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Alexander Norman (Houghton Mifflin; Brilliance Audio) continues the Dalai Lama’s case for a universal ethics rooted in compassion. PW says, “This wise, humane book, an original work rather than a collection of talks, is an incisive statement of His Holinesss’s thinking on ways to bring peace to a suffering world.”

Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi’s Long Journey to Triumph in Iraq by Richard Bonin (RH/Doubleday; Random House Audio) examines an Iraqi exile’s ultimately successful attempts to have Saddam overthrown. Kirkus says that “the book occasionally suffers from myopia as all of the events are seen through the lens of Chalabi,” and predicts that “this crisp, clean book won’t be the last word on the perplexing events in Iraq, but for now it’s one of the better ones.”

Inside SEAL Team Six: My Life and Missions with America’s Elite Warriors by Don Mann and Ralph Pezzullo (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio) chronicles the service of a SEAL team member and instructor.

The steampunk novel, Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest (Macmillan/Tor, 2009) was an EarlyWord readers’ favorite books.

It’s also caught the eye of Hollywood and has been signed for a film adaptation. The script is being written, but no director or cast has been named yet.

It’s the first in a series, followed by,

Dreadnought, (Macmillan/Tor, 2010)

Ganymede, (Macmillan/Tor; Sept., 2011)

Inexplicable, according to the author’s Web site, the fourth volume in the series will arrive in fall, 2012, followed by the fifth, Fiddlehead the following year.