10 Books on the Small Screen

May 23, 2013May 20, 2013 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

You may already know that some of the most popular shows at the moment came from previously published books. However, you may not realize just how often these small screen hits have been adapted from stand alone books, or longer series.

Here are ten television shows that I have been happy to inform my husband have been based (at least loosely) on books. Some are obvious, and well known to come from books, while others might surprise you.

1)T rue Blood is based on Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series, about vampires and other paranormal creatures and their interactions with people in Louisiana. The book series begins with Dead Until Dark, published in 2001. Fans of the books who watch the show are not necessarily “in the know”. By the end of the first season the respective plots have diverged enough for fans to enjoy both without knowing just what might happen next. The final book in the series, number 13, Dead Ever After was just published on May 7th.

2) Dexter is based on a book series about a serial killer with a strict moral code written by Jeff Lindsay. The first book, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, was published in 2004. Dexter’s Final Cut, the seventh book in the series, is scheduled for release in September of 2013.

3) Vampire Diaries is a television series based on a young adult book series of the same name, which began with The Awakening. The book series was originally written by L.J. Smith, but is now ghost written because the publisher did not like the direction Smith wanted to take the characters in, and her contract gave the publisher the rights to her name and the series. There are now a collection of book sub-series, and it seems to still be going strong.

4) The Dresden Files was a television show that, sadly, only ran for one season on the Sci Fi channel in 2007. It was set in the same world as the book series of the same name, which began with Storm Front. The series was good, and can be found on DVD, but the book series about a wizard detective for hire and doing his best to make a difference, and stay alive, is phenomenal with 14 books and counting.

5) Game of Thrones, as you might already know, is based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, which began with A Game of Thrones in 1996. While the television series has captivated many, and incited many to find the books, I must warn that, while the reads are well worth it, they can be daunting. The books are lengthy, at over 800 pages with the very shortest book, and the fifth book, A Dance With Dragons, tops 1000 pages. Books 6 and 7 are slated to be published in 2015 and 2019, respectively. If you want to ‘read’ the books, but are turned off or intimidated by their sheer size, A Game of Thrones has also been released as a graphic novel and as an audiobook.

6) The Walking Dead is a television series based on a zombie themed graphic novel series by Robert Kirkman. The first installment, Days Gone By was published in 2004, and the most recent volume, number 18, titled What Comes After, comes out in June 2013.

7) The Unit was on CBS from 2006 through 2009. The show was about a top-secret military unit based on the real-life U.S. Army special operations unit commonly known as Delta Force. The series was very popular, but many fans never realized that the show was based on the show producer Eric L. Haney’s book, Inside Delta Force : the Story of America’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit.

8)Friday Night Lights is another popular show that many fans do not connect with the book, rather they think about the movie. Both the television series, and the movie, were inspired by the non-fiction book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger, which was published in 1988.

9) Bones, the television series about a forensic scientist working with the FBI, is inspired by the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs. The book series began with Déjà Dead, published in 1997. The show does not follow the novels, rather that act somewhat like a prequel to them, with the TV show’s Temperance Brennan as a younger version of the novels’ Temperance Brennan.

10) Pretty Little Liars is an American teen drama with an element of mystery and a thriller twist built in. It is loosely based on the popular series of novels written by Sara Shepard, which began with a novel of the same title, Pretty Little Liars published in 2006. The 13th book in the series, Crushed, is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2013 and the 14th book is expected to be released in December of 2013. The television series premiered in 2010, and was renewed for its 5th season, with a spin off series to air in the fall of 2013.

Jenn Reads: Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

May 21, 2013May 20, 2013 / Jenn / 2 Comments

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler was a book club pick for the girlfriends book club I run outside

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

of the library.

I’m probably going to get a LOT of comments on this, but am I the only one who thinks The Great Gatsby is *ok*? Perhaps my unfavorable opinion of this classic was marred by the fact that I listened to it, and it was perhaps the first classic I listened to. The only thing I got out of Gatsby – there was a cool car chase at the end.

My opinion of F. Scott Fitzgerald was never favorable either, and this book certainly did nothing to bump his position. We meet Z, Zelda Sayre, when she is 18 and ready for some excitement in her life. The year is 1918, the war is just about to end, and Zelda is graduating from high school. Zelda is unsure how her life is going to progress; she doesn’t want to follow a traditional Southern woman’s path in getting married right away, having kids, and staying home. Her life changes at her dance recital, when out in the audience she sees a striking young army soldier. After the recital he introduces himself as F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Zelda’s life is forever changed.

After some starts and stumbles, Scott and Zelda are married in NYC at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and they begin their tumultuous life together. Those early years should have been an indication to Zelda how the rest of her life would go.

The Fitzgeralds were a true celebrity couple. They were followed by journalists, photographers, their every move documented. They went to some pretty crazy parties, knew some really famous people (Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, just to name a few), and never had any money. They moved constantly across the globe, leading a gypsy lifestyle so common for people like the Fitzgeralds.

I would gander that Zelda’s mental illness, now diagnosed as bipolar, was most definitely caused in part by her domineering, abusive, smothering, adultering and alcoholic husband. F. Scott would never win any prizes for “Husband of the Year” or “Father of the Year”. He never supported Zelda the way he should have, jealous that her success may surpass his own. Never fully given the opportunity to shine in her own right, Zelda suffered internally and was institutionalized in her 30’s.

I read most of this book while on jury duty. It was a quick read, with great descriptions, dialogue, and characters. I really hated F. Scott. And I really felt bad for Zelda. Imagine what her life would have been like without F. Scott.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

One to Watch: After Earth

May 19, 2013May 15, 2013 / Susan O. / 1 Comment

After Earth is a big-budget ($130 million) science-fiction adventure film starring Will Smith and his son Jayden as a father & son who crash-land on Earth a thousand years after man has abandoned it, and the adventure they have trying to escape the dangerous wild habitat the Earth has become. Smith himself came up with the basic story, and worked with screenwriter Gary Whitta to carry the idea further. Due for release on May 31, 2013, it is expected to be a blockbuster.

Will Smith, acting as producer, hired director M. Night Shyamalan (Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense, Signs) for the film. This was the first time in twenty years that Shyamalan accepted a project based on someone else’s screenplay (the final screenplay was done by Stephen Gaghan). This would also be Shyamalan’s first digital film.

Science-fiction adventure stories come and go, but what makes After Earth a unique film is the backstory. Normally, a film is scripted, filmed, and then if it is successful, writers are hired to create backstory, a “Bible” from which movie tie-ins, novels, short stories, and future scripts can draw material to make a unified vision of that world. After Earth is the first film to flesh out its backstory before the scripting was even finished. Three expert writers were hired for that task: Peter David, Robert Greenberger, and Michael Jan Friedman, all of whom were well-versed in writing not only successful science-fiction and comics, but media tie-ins as well. All three collaborated in creating the “universe” in which the story takes place, the what, why, where, when and how, working on set with Smith, Shyamalan, and the scriptwriters to make the story as cohesive and believable as possible.

As told to me by Bob Greenberger, the three authors worked from the original Whitta script, taking tiny open references and creating minute details that would answer any questions the production team might have as to what cataclysms sent man from Earth, why Nova Prime, and what happened in the intervening years. Over a period of two years, this background encyclopedia grew to more than four hundred pages! If you’ve seen anything about the film in print, on the internet, or in film references, you can pretty much guarantee that information came from their work.

Of course, such detail and planning spawns stories on its own. Several novels centering around the movie are poised for release: After Earth, the novelization of the film by Peter David, The Perfect Beast (After Earth: Ghost Stories) by Peter David, Robert Greenberger, and Michael Jan Friedman, and After Earth: United Ranger Corps Survival Manual by Robert Greenberger, as well as several short e-stories available for Kindle Purchase, with more to come in the ensuing months.

With a top-notch cast and writing crew like that, how can After Earth be anything but a hit? Check out these other books by these great authors, (or meet them in person at the Shoreleave Science Fiction Convention in Baltimore this August).

Linda reads : All He Ever Dreamed by Shannon Stacey

May 18, 2013August 27, 2014 / Linda / Leave a comment

The Kowalski family has owned and operated the Northern Star Lodge in Whitford, Maine for four generations. The current generation includes five siblings. Josh is the youngest and only one left living at the Lodge. All his siblings have found other interests and occupations that do not include the running, upkeep, maintenance and all the work that it takes to run the Lodge. Josh feels he is being forced to give up his own dreams of exploring a life outside of Maine and the Lodge. When the family discovers just how upset he is with being stuck at the Lodge, they try to find a way that Josh will be able to leave and fulfill his dreams – even if it means selling the Lodge.

Katie Davis is the daughter of the Lodge’s live-in housekeeper, Rose. Katie grew up with the family and feels like she’s another sibling to them. She owns a barber shop in town. Secretly, she has always been in love with Josh, but he thinks of her as a sister – until late one night when she walks into the kitchen in her pajamas. Suddenly, Josh is not seeing a “sister”.

Everyone in the family and in town can see that Josh and Katie are meant to be together, but Josh can’t see what’s right in front of him. It was fun to watch Josh stumble along when he realizes he’s in love with his “best friend”. Suddenly Josh’s vision of leaving Maine becomes clouded by his feelings for Katie. She is committed to staying in Whitford and has no desire to leave. Josh feels guilty about leaving her and the Lodge and you can really feel his dilemma. The author does an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing what’s going to happen.

There’s a sweet side story between the housekeeper, Rose and her late husband’s best friend Andy. The other Kowalski siblings’ stories are also entertaining and the various townspeople of Whitford, Maine add another layer of interest.

Shannon Stacey has the winning formula for contemporary romances. Her stories are witty, charming, filled with emotion and fun to read!

This is book 6 of The Kowalski Family series. The books do not have to be read in order. Learn about the rest of the Kowalski clan in the previous 5 books:

1. Exclusively Yours

2. Undeniably Yours

3. Yours to Keep

4. All He Ever Needed

5. All He Ever Desired

Erotic Romance vs. Erotica

May 14, 2013May 15, 2013 / Linda / Leave a comment

Erotic fiction has been around for a very long time. One of the most erotic pieces of poetry is the Song of Songs in the Bible. The late 18^th century brought us the French aristocrat, Marquis de Sade whose name gave us the sexual kink of “sadism”. In the early 20^th century, Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Tropic of Cancer helped reform obscenity laws in the United States. In the 1970’s there was a dramatic increase in erotic fiction with Fear of Flying, and My Secret Garden. The 1980’s brought us Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty Trilogy. Many new publishers were founded to keep up with the demand of erotic fiction.

Erotic romance gained more ground with the introduction of ebooks. By the mid 2000’s when traditional romance publishers saw the interest in this genre, they launched imprints dedicated to the print publication of erotic romance.

There has always been a strong core of erotic romance readers, but with the introduction of the Fifty Shades trilogy, erotic romance became more main stream. However, it is often confused with erotica. Generally speaking, erotic romance ends with “happily ever after” and erotica does not. Erotic romance has more of a story line, exploring love and emotions and centering on two main characters. It’s all about the romance with the sexual journey second. It differs from mainstream romance because it is more sexually graphic. Erotica is all about sex and little else. It can entail some romance, but the focus is the sex.

The Cheshire Library has been seeing more and more requests for books like Fifty Shades, or erotic romance. In an effort to fulfill our patrons’ requests, we have placed orders for similar books. The second most popular author of this genre is Sylvia Day. She self-published Bared To You and when Berkley Books heard how popular it was, they immediately published it in paper. It was followed by Reflected In You and the third book in the trilogy, Entwined With You, will be released in June.