Book News
Screenwriters branch out
As the writers strike drags on, there’s at least one small corner of the industry that hasn’t been grinding to a halt over the last months: literary departments at the major talent agencies, which are getting inundated with book proposals and story ideas for novels from out-of-work screenwriters.
“Some of our writers who have ideas but never had the time are turning to their book projects,” said Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, with the William Morris Agency’s literary department.
But although the strike has given screenwriters who’ve long had novels percolating in their heads the impetus to finally get the darn things written, there’s also a cruel reality: Because book fees are small change compared with the big payoff of a Hollywood script, it’s a treacherous hedge, a gamble on something that might not even cover one month’s rent, let alone a house note. Los Angeles Times
First Line
The Serpent’s Tale, by Ariana Franklin
“The two men’s voices carried down the tunnels with reverberations that made them indistinguishable but, even so, gave the impression of a business meeting. Which it was. In a way.
“An assassin was receiving orders from his client, who was, the assassin thought, making it unnecessarily difficult for himself, as such clients did.
“It was always the same; they wanted to conceal their identities, and turned up so masked or muffled you could hardly hear their instructions. They didn’t want to be seen with you, which led to assignations on blasted heaths or places like this stinking cellar. They were nervous about handing over the down payment in case you stabbed them and then ran off with it.
“If they only realized it, a respectable assassin like himself had to be trustworthy; his career depended on it. It had taken time, but Sicarius (the Latin pseudonym he’d chosen for himself) was becoming known for excellence. Whether it translated from the Latin as “assassin” or “dagger,” it stood for the neat removal of one’s political opponent, wife, creditor, without suspicion being provable against oneself.”
Most borrowed from libraries
Fiction
1. Double Cross, by James Patterson
2. T Is for Trespass, by Sue Grafton
3. Book of the Dead, by Patricia Cornwell
4. Playing for Pizza, by John Grisham
5. You’ve Been Warned, by James Patterson and Howard Roughan
Nonfiction
1. Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert
2. You, Staying Young, by Michael F. Roizen
3. Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, by Jessica Seinfeld
4. Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer
5. Become a Better You, by Joel Osteen
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