I'm the author of The Broken Empire, The Red Queen's War, & Book of the Ancestor trilogies - spare ideas land here.
______________ Twitter @mark__lawrence (2 underscores!)
So, from time to time I get an email from someone talking about films. Often they're enthusiastic amateurs who want to do something with Prince of Thorns. Occasionally they're script writers interested in optioning the rights to a screenplay, and more frequently they're someone on the lower rungs of a media company whose job appears to be buying up the rights to lots of books for very little money just in case they make it big and then they become valuable.
Whited out below is a tale of more credible interest, but the bottom line is:
The Broken Empire trilogy is not optioned - I own the movie/TV rights ... make me an offer! :)
When I got an email from Wolfgang Hammer last year my first thoughts were, "cool name!" and "not another one..." in that order.
Then I googled him. He's the excutive behind Woman in Black, and more recently he found and developed House of Cards, which sold to Netflix, and as an internet-only release went on to earn 9 Emmy nominations!
So, no, not 'another one' ... someone who really can make things happen. And he wanted to skype with me about his hopes for bringing the Broken Empire trilogy to the screen -- by starting with an experiment. In a nutshell, Wolfgang wants reader (I still can't call them fans ... it just sounds wrong) involvement at every level. At the earliest stages this might mean canvasing readers on the various compromises/adjustments that are required to move from book to TV series. At a later stage it might involve readers voting on screen tests to influence the selection of actors for particular roles, or suggesting specific actors to invite for screen test. It could even run to reader art and design being included.
To facilitate this interaction some friends of Wolfgang's have created a space for collaborative creation that runs within Facebook, so that conversations can be held, polls taken, ideas and images shared. So stage 1 of this process is to get a bunch of interested parties to come along and start engaging with the first questions to arise from the 'TV treatment' I've come up with (a document pitching the book as a TV series and laying out the content). There are no promises here, but the process could potentially lead to seeing Jorg do his thing on a TV screen near you. Additionally it's a chance to see that process from the inside and to contribute. So, if you're interested, click HERE and let's get going!
The words are pretty good too. You can buy it HERE if you're in the US, and HERE if you're in the UK.
There's an introduction by this guy:
In addition to my own story "Deception" there are tales from the authors of these fine books:
&, as they say, many others!
Go, buy, enjoy!
Includes: Mark Lawrence - Deception J.M. Martin - Shadow Dust Brian Staveley - Dead Ox Falls Tim Marquitz - Redemption at Knife’s Edge Jeffrey J. Mariotte & Marsheila Rockwell - A Soul in the Hand Kenny Soward - The Machine Betsy Dornbusch - Season of the Soulless Stephen McQuiggan - Redfern’s Slipper Keith Gouveia - Fire Walker Jeff Salyards - The Height of our Fathers William Meikle - The Last Magician Ian Creasey - Restoring the Magic Mercedes M. Yardley - Charlotte and the Demon Who Swam Through the Grass Peter Rawlik - On the Far Side of the Apocalypse Joseph R. Lallo - The Stump and the Spire Teresa Frohock - Love, Crystal, and Stone Don Webb - The Tune from Long, Long Ago R.S. Belcher - An Equity in Dust Marie Brennan - Centuries of Kings Miles Cameron - Renaissance
I have one last Prince of Fools ARC and yes ... I'm giving it away in a silly competition!
Competition now closed!
ARC won by #82
T-shirts won (in popular vote) by #47 and #88
Lets take this back to basics. We're on the internet after all, and what was the internet founded on? Besides porn I mean? Yes, that's right. Pictures of cats doing something stupid.
To enter this contest simply submit a photo or video of your cat (or other pet) looking/doing something foolish. Cats in hats, dogs in tutus, elephant seals in ... well ... anything. I realize that not everyone has a pet, so if you can't snap your neighbor's then children are an acceptable substitute. And failing that ... it can be you.
Rules: No animal, child, or person is to be hurt, upset, or endangered. No person's photo used without their consent. No famous youtube clips - it's got to be something you took the photo/film of.
I decided against scoring entries - too dangerous to give anyone's pet less than 100%
1st prize = signed Prince of Fools Advance Reading Copy.
2nd prize = Prince of Thorns T-shirt
3rd prize = Prince of Thorns T-shirt
Send me the photo / video link at:
empire_of_thorns@yahoo.co.uk
Go!
Contest ends when we have 100+ entries.
#1 Stuart E - Who needs the TV? Watch meeeeeeeeeeeee!
#2 Sean S - Animal or pot plant?
#3 JM - a dog called Panda
#4 Donna D - 1 happy dog!
#5 Danielle - whose son just wants to have fun
#6 Bart N - Getting Cheeky!
#8 MS + brother + a dog called Gandalf
#9 Michael C - George in the snow!
#11 Laura H - Kili, from kitten to fatty
#12 Michael W - Felix speaking to DEATH
#13 Christie S - Lucky Number?
#14 Kenneth B - the power of love (aka staring at a sandwich)
#15 Newt H - Sprocket sleepin' inna pocket hood
#16 Billy V - Daisy
#17 Karla - Presenting Darth Zelda!
#18 Ed Z - cool dog.
#19 Milena T - Atamans Meowchenko-Tsheshch being rescued from between wall and wardrobe, requiring the dismantling of the latter.
#20 Gabriel N - Festive cat!
#21 Liam H - Studious cat! (Metallica, or Tally for short)
#22 Olga V - Tolerant cat!
#23 Rachel W - He's not dead, he's just sleeping. Ex-parrot?
#24 Leila M, bags herself a cat!
#25 Holden J, cat failing to hide.
#26 Rhys W - Zeke in shades.
# 27 Darren T - Son, Riot, sporting moustache
#28 Janine D - An ex-dog sadly, but I'm sure she's wearing bunny ears in heaven now.
#29 Matthew L - Lindy loves Maggie.
#30 Andrew W - Party Animal! helping celebrate Andew's 30th.
#31 Chrissi - Dakota always wants more
#32 Ryan McG - chilled out pussy cat
#33 Andrew L - Evil Cat
#34 Merrill C - I don't even...
#35 Valkyrie M - funny face cat in your face
#36 D.B - Milo in the pink
#37 Jeana R - this cat's a voracious reader
#38 Nevey B - Rose's freestyle wall climbing
#39 Katherine B - Georgie sitting pretty
#40 Brandon W - I'd just as soon kiss a wookie. (Winston)
#41 Sergio R - A cat busy hating on Mondays
#42 Sarah K - kitty's a shoe in!
#43 Bill O - Mr Bojangles getting his lobster on!
#44 Ryan - Mufasa! King of Pride Rock!
#45 Brett - I'm not getting up for anything!
#46 Kirby - Make sure you get my good side!
#47 Mike F - Prince of Nachos!
#48 Chris H - Django, chillin' in the basin.
#49 Kevin - today Ali will mostly be wearing head scarves
#50 Alicia WB - Tiberius Jethro, feral cat
#51 Alaina T - Bonny using Beef as a pillow!
#52 Tom K - mail-order cat!
#53 Phil W - Pluto, keeping it quiet!
#54 Phil H - Dougal says 'hi!'
#55 Amber S - cat + fish
#56 Andrew R - Meer-cat?
#57 Nadine - Remi, with a beer (it may have gone to her head)
#58 Jesper N - Michi (also boozing)
#59 Peter C - Climbing Cat!
#60 Craig A - Fletch licking his lips in anticipation of the win!
#61 Niki T. - Honey and Beau in their ballgowns.
#62 Brenda B - Freddy the pirate cat.
#63 Lauren A - Pan, at home among the lingerie!
#64 Kenneth H - Ivy, having breakfast.
#65 Eric D - Lobo, on being requested to do something foolish.
#66 Cherae C - and her demon dogs!
#67 Newt H - Ferret gaining the element of surprise through stealth.
#68 T.O.M - Paint me like one of your French cats...
#69 Karen W - Sweep, giving his Jorg-stare.
#70 Flora - Ever, on the cushion he sleeps on every night.
#71 Eric C - Scotch, with his best hat and bone.
#72 Malin Z - Nemo, a keen ornithologist.
#73 Deborah W - Paladin attempting the hind-lick maneuver!
#74 Francis P - Mac the Corgi vs A Windscreen Wiper.
#75 Meg - "Not the butt!" (Ares & Blitz)
#76 Chris S - Alfie kissing Molly
#77 Brian C - No Pikachu, look away!
#78 Sean S ... uh...
#79 Rebecca D - Cat-made hammock
#80 Nathan J - Walburg misses the frisbee!
#81 Chris J - Cat kindling?
#82 Peter - Bailey
#83 Sarah F - Rosie & Eva!
#84 Deon - Cougar chillaxing in her tree.
#85 Laura R - Hercules ... presumably resting after his labors.
#86 Diane - Jelly, sad because she's finished Emperor and must wait til June for Fools.
#87 Brian McC - That awkward moment when you find your kids making out. (Jaime & Cersei)
#88 Dana D - Leela and Nibbler!
#89 Rebecca R - Motes and Shade doing their ying and yang thing.
#90 Jake Y - Sam and friend.
#91 Shannon T - Kara Snowe trying out the pet furniture.
#92 Weird - Daisy in action as Archie runs away!
#93 Jade - Jasper has too much love to give.
#94 Heather F - Cat a nooga choo choo!
#95 Dusty - Hamster of Fools!
#96 Vivianne H - Michi
#97 Dom K
#98 Carly's skink Slink
#99 Lew K - Smudge
#100 Alistair G - Missy in the hot tub (in Calgary in sub-zero weather!)
