EarlyWord

Anticipation is particularly high, as indicated by holds, for two titles arriving next week.

Releasing on Sunday, July 31st, the day after the play debuts in London, is the script, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine). No news yet on when it will hit Broadway, but the NY Post reports it may arrive as early as next season. Holds are heavy, and libraries have ordered enough copies to keep pace with demand.

After her major success with Big Little Lies (an HBO series adaptation is set to premiere next year), Liane Moriarty’s latest arrives Tuesday, Truly Madly Guilty (Macmillan/Flatiron; Macmillan Audio; OverDrive Sample). Holds are outstripping orders in many places by ratios as high as 8:1. A LibraryReads pick, it is reviewed in advance by the NYT‘s now retired maven of popular fiction, Janet Maslin, who occasionally steps in to write about major releases. However, she finds it not as compelling as Moriarty’s previous three novels.

Nonetheless, it is a People pick for the week, described as  “a vivid tale” and on the LibraryReads list for the month:

“A typical afternoon barbecue among friends becomes something much bigger when one pivotal moment of inattention leads to repercussions for all in attendance. In trademark Moriarty style, the story flashes back and forth between the day of the barbecue and two months later, slowly revealing the events of the day and its consequences, creating a delicious momentum for the reader as the tension builds and the pieces fall into place. Moriarty has another sure-fire winner with this look at the complexities of friendship, marriage, and familial relationships.” — Halle Eisenman, Beaufort County Library, Hilton Head, SC

The major literary event of the week is the publication of a new novel by Dave Eggers, Heroes of the Frontier (PRH/Knopf; BOT; OverDrive Sample), reviewed by Barbara Kingsolver on the cover of the upcoming NYT Sunday Review and by Michiko Kakutani in the daily NYT. The author is set to be interviewed by Scott Simon tomorrow on NPR’s Weekend Edition.

The titles covered in this post, and several other notable titles arriving next week, are listed with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet, EarlyWord New Title Radar, Week of July 25, 2016.

Media Attention

Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond, Marc Lamont Hill (S&S/Atria).

Hill, who recently began hosting the weekly late-night talk show, VH1 Live!, is profiled in this week’s NYT Magazine as “Your Friendly Neighborhood Marxist.” On August 1, he is scheduled to appear on CNN’s Anderson 360 and CNN Tonight.

Consumer Media Picks

The Inseparables, Stuart Nadler (Hachette/Little, Brown; OverDrive Sample).

Published last week, this is People magazine’s “Book of the Week” —  “In this beguiling novel, three generations of articulate, self-aware women fall to pieces … With a fine understanding of women and a delicate wit, Nadler shepherds all three through grief and humiliation and out the other side.”

In addition to Truly Madly Guilty, listed above, People also picks the following:

Losing It, Emma Rathbone (PRH/Riverhead; Penguin Audio; BOT; OverDrive Sample).

A novel about young woman’s quest to lose her virginity at 26. People calls it, “Sweet, funny and unexpectedly poignant, the book is a Bridget Jones’ s Diary for the millennial generation.”

Peer Picks

The #1 LibraryReads pick for July hits shelves this week, Dark Matter, Blake Crouch (PRH/Crown; RH Audio/BOT; OverDrive Sample).

“Once on the fast-track to academic stardom, Jason Dessen finds his quiet family life and career upended when a stranger kidnaps him. Suddenly Jason’s idle “what-ifs” become panicked “what-nows,” as the humble quantum physics professor from a small Chicago college gets to explore the roads not taken with a mind-bending invention that opens doors to other worlds. This fun science fiction thriller is also a thoughtful page-turner with heart that should appeal to fans of Harlan Coben.” — Elizabeth Eastin, Rogers Memorial Library, Southampton, NY

Crouch is the author of the Wayward Pines series, adapted as a Fox TV series.

In addition to the #1 pick  and  Truly Madly Guilty, noted above, a third LibraryReads pick arrives this week.

The Unseen World, Liz Moore (Norton; Blackstone Audio; OverDrive Sample).

“The Unseen World is a compelling read with vibrant, finely constructed characters. Moore intertwines a complex coming of age story with the science of cryptology and the history of artificial intelligence, while simultaneously exploring the meaning of love, loss and belonging. The core of the novel explores the relationship between Ada and her scientist father David. When a tragedy upends their routine lives, Ada embarks on a journey of self-discovery that will eventually lead her to new truths. Elements of mystery and suspense keep you turning the pages in this multi-layered gem of a book.” — Janie Hermann, Princeton Public Library, Princeton, NJ

Two additional Indie Next titles also arrive.

The Muse, Jessie Burton (HC/Ecco; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample).

“Burton’s follow-up to The Miniaturist also takes place in the art world, but this time the settings alternate between London in the 1960s and pre-Civil War Spain in the 1930s. In 1967, a long-lost work by a dead Spanish painter turns up in London. Is it really an original Isaac Robles? Or is there a more complicated story behind the intriguing painting? A fun read with interesting meditations on the purpose and making of art.” —Susan Taylor, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, NY

The Summer That Melted Everything, Tiffany McDaniel (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Blackstone Audio; OverDrive Sample).

“There are hundreds of coming-of-age stories, but the one told in The Summer That Melted Everything is unique. In the summer of 1984, a series of disturbing events in Breathed, Ohio, are attributed to the arrival of a 13-year-old boy named Sal who claims to be the devil. Gossip and superstitions, exacerbated by the sweltering heat, turn the villagers against Sal. Only the family of the local prosecutor welcomes the boy, who is befriended by their son, Fielding. Through beautiful imagery and rich characters, McDaniel offers an original meditation on what is right and wrong, good and evil, in a magical, heart-wrenching, and unforgettable novel.” —Pierre Camy, Schuler Books & Music, Grand Rapids, MI

Tie-ins

Fans of Hallmark adaptations have a new series to look forward. The cable channel is developing  Sherryl Woods’s ten book series, Chesapeake Shores. The opener details events from The Inn at Eagle Point, Sherryl Woods (HC/MIRA; OverDrive Sample).

Deadline outlines the plot, “It centers on the O’Brien clan—a large Irish-American family living on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in a town designed and founded by three O’Brien brothers. The television series focuses on the drama that ensues when the O’Brien family reunites after years apart to face the memories from their past and learn the importance of reconciliation.”

It premieres on August 14 and stars Meghan Ory, Jesse Metcalfe, and Diane Ladd.  Several sneak peeks are available on Hallmark’s show site.

War Dogs: The True Story of How Three Stoners From Miami Beach Became the Most Unlikely Gunrunners in History, Guy Lawson (S&S; OverDrive Sample; also in mass market) will open on August 19 and stars Miles Teller, Jonah Hill, Bradley Cooper, Ana de Armas and J. B. Blanc.

It is based on nonfiction account by Lawson, originally titled Arms and the Dudes, and tells the unlikely story about winning a $300 million US government contract to supply weapons for the war in Afghanistan.

USA Today offered a sneak peek in March. Below is the trailer.

For our full list of upcoming adaptations, download our Books to Movies and TV and link to our listing of tie-ins.

Walker Books in the UK, along with Candlewick Press in the US, announce plans for a series of novelty and interactive children’s books based on J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world, reports The Bookseller.

Karen Lotz of the Walker Group says the books will offer “unique and beautifully presented content and innovative play value.”

There are no details yet on titles which are set to release this October.

As we noted earlier, there is also an agreement in place with Scholastic to “publish children’s movie tie-in books for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and its sequels, as well as tie-in books based on the original eight Harry Potter films.” Harper Collins has adult tie-in rights and plans to offer titles that “delve into, and behind the scenes of, the richly textured film and its sequels to enhance fans’ enjoyment of the new stories. Books will include details about how the films were made, the process of art and design, interviews with the cast and crew, and interactive formats such as colouring and postcard books.”

The original Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Scholastic; 9780545850568), a faux Hogwarts textbook, is currently out of print an only available from used book retailers. However, the screenplay of the movie will be published on Nov. 19, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay, by J K Rowling (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books).

Another script is also about to be released, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One & Two (Special Rehearsal Edition Script): The Official Script Book of the Original West End Production, by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine), timed to debut a day after the premiere of the London stage production on July 30th.

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them is written by Rowling and stars Eddie Redmayne as magician Newt Scamander, it opens on November 18. It also stars Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, and Katherine Waterston and is directed by David Yates, who was responsible for 4 of the 7 original Potter films.

We posted the trailer previously, below is a featurette with commentary by Rowling:

A new, longer trailer for the film adaptation of The Girl on the Train reminds fans that it will arrive in theaters on October 7th.

Vanity Fair sees similarities to another adaptation of a book with “Girl” in the title.

Tie-ins in trade paperback, mass market (PRH/Riverhead) and audio (Penguin Audio) are set for release on August 23. A trade paperback reprint was released last week.

According to Variety, the Divergent series is likely to move to the small screen as disappointing box office is leading the studio Lionsgate to consider skipping the big screen ending.

Instead the plan appears to be the release of a made-for-TV movie, using it to launch a spin-off series.

Although nothing has been finalized or confirmed, according to Variety it is likely that Ascendant will not open in June 2017 as planned and it remains unclear “if stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, and others will return for the Ascendant television movie.”

The first two films did well at the box office but the third film sank, leading to the possible change of plans. Deadline states there is a “decreasing interest in the property from its core audience at the box office each year.”

Robert Kirkman is moving away from comics with his next planned TV project according to The Hollywood Reporter and now has his eye on creating the next Game of Thrones. Through his Skybound Entertainment unit he is adapting Roger Zelazny’s The Chronicles of Amber, a ten-book science fiction/fantasy series.

Zelazny died in 1995 and was a long-standing and beloved figure in the SFF community, winning Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards.

Like Game of Thrones, Zelazny’s series, reports Tor.com, “concerns royal family politics over a throne. But in this case, our hero Corwin awakens on Earth with amnesia. He comes to discover that Earth is just one of many “shadows,” or parallel worlds, that exist between the two true worlds of Amber and the Court of Chaos. As a prince of the royal family, it is Corwin’s birthright to rule Amber and fend off the forces of chaos.”

George R.R. Martin is a fan of Zelazny. Tor notes that Martin memorialized the author via a blog post:

“Lord of Light was the first Zelazny book I ever read … I’d never heard of this Zelazny guy. But when I read those words for the first time, a chill went through me, and I sensed that SF would never be the same. Nor was it. Like only a few before him, Roger left his mark on the genre.”

If you need a refresher on Zelazny Tor offers a reread of his series.

If you need to add copies, Harper Voyager published a collected edition of all ten stories in 2010: The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10 by Roger Zelazny (HC/Harper Voyager) as well as a new edition of his 1988 winner of both the Nebula and Hugo for best novel, Lord of Light.

Girls’ soccer gets the spotlight from Amazon Studios, which just announced the launch of a new series based on the middle grade novls by U.S. Women’s National Team star player Alex Morgan. Like the books, the series is titled The Kicks. The pilot, which was released last year as part of Amazon’s kids pilot season, is still available on Amazon. All nine live-action episodes will be avail on Aug. 26 for Prime members.

Morgan introduces the series in the trailer:

Proclaims lead character, Devin Burke, played by  newcomer Sixx Orange, “I am NOT a princess, I am a soccer BEAST!”

No tie-ins are listed. but the trade paperback reprints now carry bursts reading “Now an Amazon Original Series!”

Read our chat with Lynn, below.

Join us for the next live chat on August 10, 5 to 6 p.m., ET with the bestselling author of the Shatter Me series Tahereh Mafi, to discuss her upcoming book, Furthermore.

To join the program, sign up here.

Delia Ephron’s latest, Siracusa (PRH/Blue Rider Press; Penguin Audio/BOT; OverDrive Sample) may bring her to a new level of popularity. The novel is getting strong media attention and is rising on Amazon, currently just outside the top 100. Deadline Hollywood reports a film deal is in the works.

In a review titled “Delia Ephron writes her own version of Heartburn” referring to her sister Nora Ephron’s famous novel, The Washington Post summarizes the plot, “The story centers on two couples vacationing together in Italy. The four of them take turns telling the story, and their views of events rarely coincide.”

However, says the reviewer, “Siracusa takes a more expansive look at matrimony and its discontents,” adding,

“For much of the way, Siracusa is a sophisticated, elegantly written, delightfully cynical look at four middle-aged Americans, not unlike people most of us know, as they struggle to make sense of their lives. Then, abruptly, the story darkens. All readers may not share my admiration for its shocking conclusion, but it’s that sudden glimpse of tragedy, even of evil, that gives Ephron’s novel the feel of a classic.”

The LA Times says it is “skillfully wrought,” comparing it to “Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 film Rashomon … Ford Madox Ford’s 1915 modernist masterpiece The Good Soldier and Showtime’s ongoing dramatic series The Affair. There’s even an echo of Ian McEwan’s 2001 novel, Atonement about passion, guilt and how writers distort lives for literary ends.”

However, the review adds a note of caution, saying “In the end, Siracusa, like life, is a tad disappointing, its culminating disaster coming as something of an anticlimax.”

The book was featured on multiple summer reading lists. Ephron was recently interviewed on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show.

Holds are spiking at the majority of libraries we checked, some topping 7:1 ratios.

Stephenie Meyer will release her second novel for adults this fall, a thriller starring a female secret-agent, The Chemist  (Hachette/Little, Brown on November 15).

The Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, and USA Today are all reporting the story based on a press release.

As quoted in the WSJ Meyer says:

“The Chemist is the love child created from the union of my romantic sensibilities and my obsession with Jason Bourne/Aaron Cross … I very much enjoyed spending time with a different kind of action hero, one whose primary weapon isn’t a gun or a knife or bulging muscles, but rather her brain.”

It will be the first thriller by the author most famous for her YA Twilight saga novels and will her second adult novel after her SF  novel, 2008’s The Host.

Although it’s getting snowy and cold in the North of HBO’s Game of Thrones, the series is focused on summer. According to multiple sources including Vanity Fair, season seven will air in summer 2017 and consist of only seven episodes. The previous six seasons have featured 10 episodes each and they aired in the spring.

Perhaps even more troubling for fans, Vanity Fair also reports that the final season, #8, will be even shorter, just six episodes. Sources such as Variety have confirmed those numbers, leaving fans only 13 hours more to enjoy.

Showrunner David Benioff explains the truncated seasons to Deadline Hollywood:

“It’s not just trying not to outstay your welcome … We’re trying to tell one cohesive story with a beginning, middle and end … Daenerys is finally coming back to Westeros, Jon Snow is king of the North and Cersei is sitting on the Iron Throne. And we know the Night King is up there, waiting for all of them … The pieces are on the board now. Some of the pieces have been removed from the board and we are heading toward the end game.”

Showrunner D.B. Weiss tells Variety that the high production values of the series are also part of the reason for shorter season because hey simply cannot make ten episodes in 12-14 months of shooting, “It’s crossing out of a television schedule into more of a mid-range movie schedule.”

The NYT points out that the late start might change future award seasons: “If the seventh season begins later than May, it will not be eligible for next year’s Emmy Awards,” continuing “Game of Thrones has garnered the most Emmy nominations of any TV show for three consecutive years, and last year it took home the Emmy for best drama for the first time.” This year, reports USA Today, it racked up 23 nominations, the most of any show in 2016.

As if to temper the disappointment over the delayed start and shorter seasons, Vanity Fair speculates that the schedule might give George R.R. Martin enough room to complete The Winds of Winter in time for inclusion in the TV series. Martin, who always has much to say on his blog, is completely mum on that point.

Check your holds for They May Not Mean To, But They Do by Cathleen Schine (Macmillan/FSG; Macmillan Audio; OverDrive Sample). It is rising on Amazon, up to #346 from #4,077, and demand is spiking in several libraries.

The rise coincides with a feature on NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday. In a long conversation host Terry Gross asks Schine about her newest book and how it reflects the novelist’s own life.

Their conversation centers upon the difficulties of middle-age kids dealing with their aging and ill parents and the feelings of guilt that arise from living far away from them.

The publicity for the book paints it as far more comedic than the interview suggests, a take many reviews reinforce. NPR’s book critic Maureen Corrigan asked, “who needs a novel about colostomy bags and grief? … you do if you’re a reader who relishes acute psychological perceptions and lots of laughs to leaven the existential grimness.”

Author Penelope Lively, reviewing for the NYT BR, says the novel “combines black comedy with shrewd observation of family dynamics,” continuing that “Despite its subject matter [it] is a very funny novel.”

Entertainment Weekly gave it a strong B+, writing that the “deliciously quirky multigenerational novel … manages to be funny and heartbreaking at the same time; Schine has a gift for transforming the pathos and comedy of everyday life into luminous fiction.”

In a coup of galactic proportions, the cable network Starz acquired the TV rights to the blockbuster Star Wars: The Force Awakens and will premiere the movie beginning September 10, reports Deadline Hollywood.

The next Star Wars film, a stand-alone spin-off, Rogue One, debuts in theaters on Dec. 16, 2016.

Following the precedent set by The Force Awakens, the official novelizations for Rogue One will not be released until at least a month after the film premieres. Edelweiss currently lists adult and junior novelizations.

Releasing in November is a prequel to Rogue One, the Catalyst (Star Wars): A Rogue One Novel, (PRH/Del Rey, Nov. 15, 2016) written by James Luceno, the author of a number of earlier Star Wars titles. At the time of the movie, several companion books as well as childrens titles will be released, see our list of tie-ins to upcoming movies.

Even more Stars Wars related titles are being released, as outlined by Comicbook.com.

A special, not yet public clip featured at the just-concluded “Star Wars Celebration” fan conference held in London, confirms that Darth Vader is in the film, reports Deadline Hollywood, (not a big surprise, since he is listed in the credits). Below is the recently released “Celebration” trailer (sans Vadar).

It follows the first teaser trailer, released in April:

If, like us, the long-running and multiple story lines make your heads spin, B&N offers a guide to what to read (or suggest) while waiting for Rogue One to appear.

Rose Byrne (Damages) will play Rebecca Skloot, starring opposite Oprah Winfrey in HBO Films production of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, reports Deadline Hollywood.

As we noted earlier,  Oprah will play Deborah Lacks, Henrietta’s daughter and the character through whom the story is told.

Skloot is the author of the bestselling nonfiction account and her character in the book forms what Deadline calls “a close bond” with the character Oprah plays.

George C. Wolfe (Angels In America) wrote the adaptation and will direct, also reports Deadline. With these critical roles filled, the film is moving closer to full production.

Heard of Five Nights at Freddy’s? If you haven’t, you soon will.

It is a popular point-and-click video horror game in which the player takes the role of a night security guard trying to stay alive while a gang of roaming animatronic creatures, possessed by the ghosts of murdered children, stalk the hallways of a pizza parlor.

The game will also have book and potentially movie components. In late June, Scholastic announced plans to start a new series based on the game. In 2015, Entertainment Weekly reported that Warner Bros. optioned the games for a possible film project. Mashup master Seth Grahame-Smith is involved as a producer and told The Hollywood Reporter that he is looking forward to making “an insane, terrifying and weirdly adorable movie.” Deadline Hollywood had news about a year ago that Gil Kenan (in charge of the remake of Poltergeist) is on board to direct. GameNGuide updated the story at the start of this month, speculating a 2018 air date.

The first book based on the series, a 2015 self-published novel titled Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes by Scott Cawthon, is currently soaring on Amazon, sitting just outside the top 100, moving up from a sales rank of 2,226. It will be re-issued by Scholastic in late September and is set ten years after the murders as a group of teens return to the boarded up pizza parlor.

Several libraries bought the self-pub edition and currently show hold ratios hovering around 3:1.

The major theatrical release this week is the family movie Ice Age: Collision Course, opening Friday July 22. The fifth in the series, it features all the usual characters, plus a few more, as they try to save the world from an asteroid collision (and do battle at the box office with The Secret Life of Pets and Finding Dory).

There’s a wide range of tie-ins which we wrote about in Titles to Know for the week of June 6.

Key titles include Ice Age: Collision Course: The Junior Novel, J.E. Bright (S&S/little bee books), the storybook Volcano to the Rescue!, Mike Teitelbaum (S&S/little bee books) and two leveled readers by Suzy Capozzi: Scrat’s Space Adventure (S&S/little bee books; also in paperback) and Welcome to Geotopia (S&S/little bee books; also in paperback).

Also coming is Into the Forrest, an adaptation of Jean Hegland’s 1996 novel about two sisters trying to survive after a massive power outage. When it premiered at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival Variety called it “heartfelt but under-realized,” and did not think much of its commercial prospects. It did not get picked up for a major release. Instead it premieres on DirectTV on June 23 (and in NY/LA theaters) before opening in wider release at the end of the month.

No tie-in for this one.