AUTHOR PUTS SPIN ON ‘WONDERLAND’ TALES

Imagine plucking the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and dropping him in Civil War Georgia.

That’s what author Frank Beddor is doing with his “Hatter M” (Automatic Pictures Publishing) graphic novel series. This and his bestselling “The Looking Glass Wars” young adult books are proving to be one very important literary date. Both can be read separately, but together it’s all one epic tale with as many layers as anything Tolkien or Herbert ever put to paper.

Readers are becoming curiouser and curiouser about Beddor’s work. Both of the first two “The Looking Glass Wars” tomes (“The Looking Glass Wars” and “Seeing Redd: The Looking Glass Wars, Book Two,”) spent a total of 31 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers list. “ArchEnemy: The Looking Glass Wars, Book Three” (Dial) recently hit shelves. If its action on Amazon.com is any indication (it debuted at number three in the Stories category under Children’s Books), it may rival its predecessors.

Wonderland mania picks up additional steam in March when Disney releases director Tim Burton’s big-screen, live-action take on “Alice in Wonderland.” Perhaps it’s the timeless original story and its unbridled you-can-take-it-anywhere quality that’s bringing Carroll’s yarns back in vogue.

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DREAMFLY PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCES NEW SCI-FI THRILLER ‘MINUTEMEN’

Dreamfly Productions
(www.dreamflyproductions.com) announced today that on October 26th production
will begin on its upcoming sci-fi psycho thriller Minuteman.

The film stars Riley Smith (Gallowwalker ), Willa Ford (Friday the 13th),
Barry Corbin (No Country for Old Men ), Christian Kane ( Leverage/TV),
Marshall Teague and Keith Stone. Minuteman was written and is being directed
by Oscar winning director Mark Millhone, and produced by Lisa Jenkins,
Dreamfly Productions, Inc.

“Minuteman has it all, it’s an entertaining and action packed sci-fi thriller
combining intrigue, a fabulous cast and a state-of-the-art video game,” says
Dreamfly Productions’ CEO & Executive Director Lisa Jenkins. “And best of
all, it’s all happening right here in Texas where the story is set and filming
is scheduled to take place on a fabulous 5,000 acre ranch in Frisco, Texas, as
well as right here in Dallas.”

Minuteman is a sci-fi thriller in the tradition of Bourne Identity and
Manchurian Candidate. The film revolves around Captain Lance Deakin who,
after returning to civilian life as a Texas rancher, is attacked by members of
his former Special Forces unit. Brainwashed by the military and turned into
killing machines, Lance remembers their top secret missions in Iraq only as
Minuteman, the hyper-violent video game they used to play while on tour.

“What I think will surprise people, in addition to the genre elements, is that
this is a compelling human story, at the heart of it. I think the talent that
exists here in Texas, to make films like this happen, is incredible,” says
director, Mark Millhone.

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Q&A: ‘FLASHFORWARD’ WRITER ROBERT J. SAWYER

(from digitalspy.com)Robert J. Sawyer has become a celebrity in his own right since ABC teamed up with David S Goyer to bring his novel FlashForwardto the small screen. Not content with numerous sci-fi stories on the shelves of bookstores worldwide, Sawyer has stepped up his game by writing for and appearing in the television series (see episode one). Recently, we caught up with the man himself to discuss the FlashForward phenomenon.

What did you think when you were first approached about making a television adaptation of your book?
“It was actually the other way around – my agent in Hollywood originally approached Jessica Borsiczky, who went on to be executive producer of the TV series. Jessica was friends with David S Goyer- subsequently they eloped and got married, but that was in their future, which they had not seen! – and David loved it as well but he was busy withother things. In 2005 David was working with Brannon Braga on a TV show called Threshold. Brannon asked what else David was working on and he said he was thinking of adapting [my] novel. They did the pilot script and ABC and Fox began bidding against each other – it was amazing.”

Are the actors playing the characters as you imagined them to be?
“Well exactly – I’m a science-fiction writer and science-fiction is sometimes thought of as quite cerebral, concentrating more on the physics than the human, but my trademark is having very human characters with lot of foibles, and the writers and actors are bringing that to the fore incredibly. There’s so much nuance and warmth and they’re bringing so much to the parts. It’s really gratifying to see that.”

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What do you think about ‘The Looking Glass Wars’, is it something you will read, or have you and what did you think of it? Does this new sci-fi movie ‘Minutemen’ sound interesting to you? Lastly, are you a fan of the novel and/or show ‘FlashFoward?