While meandering round the comic shop after a frankly unsatisfactory session with my therapist - this woman may cause me to progress from being agoraphobic to actually being a hermit - the theme music from Buffy the Vampire Slayer suddenly started playing. I was pleased. So pleased in fact that I launched into a Buffy conversation with the shop assistant standing beside me. But this did not go well. He wasn't a fan of Buffy, and furthermore he obviously had no desire to discuss it with a stranger who was apparently prepared for an in-depth analysis of all 144 episodes. He backed off rapidly, leaving me rather embarrassed. I realised ruefully that assistants in comic shops have no desire to engage in tedious conversations with over-enthusiastic customers. Which is understandable, I suppose. Probably if I worked in a comic shop I'd hate the customers. I left the shop quickly, still feeling quite embarrassed.
Last week I signed a film option for Lonely Werewolf Girl. I've signed many film options for my books in the past, and no film has ever appeared. It's difficult for producers to raise the necessary money. This producer however is very enthusiastic, with a good track record, and I do have faith in her. So perhaps she might succeed. But I won't expect too much, because of past disappointments. The American producers who currently hold the option for The Good Fairies of New York are still optimistic of making progress, though nothing much seems to have happened yet.
I've taken a violent dislike to my website, and am now attempting to redesign it. This is a challenge, as I have no art or design skills. Still, I've never let this stop me in the past.
Heating engineers currently 'waiting for parts'. Hah.
I have often wondered what kind of job a filmmaker would make out of Lux, or The Good Fairies, or any other of your marvellous books. It is strange that they get signed, but never released. Do you think your novels would be so difficult to make into films?
ReplyDeleteI love your books, but sadly, I only have managed to own one of them--Dreams of Sex and Stagediving, which I bought out of a Hurt Book Bin at a Chapters when I was 18 (nine years ago now--how swiftly 18 passes to become almost 30). I read the others when I borrowed them from a friend who introduced me to your work, and I loved them. I live in Canada, and oddly, your books have always been nigh well impossible to get here. I wonder why that is? Strange. I am thinking about just ordering a swack of them from Amazon UK.
I am a writer too. A bit of an agoraphobe and hermit as well. I don't live in the city anymore--I moved away from it to pursue my solitude in a more in depth fashion, ha. I wanted to perfect the art of societal alienation.
Anyways. I don't know why I am blabbering on at you like this, except to say I love your books, and I am glad I looked you up again--I didn't know you had a blog, so that is cool.
Take care, Martin--I look forward to reading your blog and waiting for North American editions of your books to come my way.
Don't let the cold eat you alive.
McKinley.
Hi Martin,
ReplyDeleteAs an ex-employee of a secondhand bookshop that sold comics as well as pretty much everything else I can tell you that I've had some pretty in depth conversations with people about everything from how to plaster a kitchen (I really dont know but they kept asking me) to fetish pastimes to politics (same thing really). Trust me if I had a customer wanting to talk about Buffy I would've loved it! Maybe he was having a bad day.
Good luck with keeping warm!
Anita
Way cool on the Lonely Werewolf Girl option! Bank the checks, re-nue the options and see what happens, ah Hollywood.....
ReplyDeleteIt would make a truly wonderful movie...
You know, people take jobs for a variety of reasons.
People who work in comic shops and independent bookstores do so because they would like nothing better than talking books, comics or Buffy with customers for hours on end..
This guy clearly needs to be working at a petrol station,
I have to say that i am totally thrilled to hear that there could be a remote chance of lonely werewolf girl being made into a film. I read the book in two days when on holiday in Rome last year with increasing difficulty as the glue binding the pages melted and several fell out. It wasn't even my copy so on top of the difficulty finding the pages it was made more difficult by the guilt felt at ruining a book which had been signed with a dedication to another huge fan. The book has deteriorated further through several re-readings of the book (which the owner was kind enough to let me keep). Waterstone had a single copy of the book in their store for a while and I was temped to replace the tattered copy with one that didn't have missing pages, but I know the story and I like my books worn, plus I figured somebody else should be given the oppertunity to buy it and hopefully be delighted by it. I almost wish that I was able to act and looked anything remotely like the beautiful Kalix. The only thing going for me to play the part is that I am Scottish and the same age. Which are undoubtedly not enough...
ReplyDeleteWow, I must be tired that was some rant.
Anyway, let me just add that your books are an inspiration.
Take care,
Rosie.
Keeping my fingers crossed for the movies to materialize. It'd be grand.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the movie option - hope it ends up being an actual movie.
ReplyDeleteRe Comic store guy - nexttime, maybe you could get into conversation with another customer? Sadly won't be me (as I live a long way off) but I am always more than happy to have buffy conversations with random strangers in shops... (and reading this post has given me the urge to go home, dig out those videos and watch right from the start once again...
Long time no blog.
ReplyDeleteI hope this means that you are busy writing and have not been frozen over.
Yes, here's a second hope you are writing and not freezing and searching the streets for crumble.
ReplyDelete(I made my first rhubarb crumble tonight, if you lived closer, I would fed ex you one)
Well, have managed to fail completely to answer any of these comments this time. Hi everyone! I don't seem to have been doing much of anything. Will now become active again.
ReplyDeleteOk, this is the bad part about hyperlinking. Here I am just trying to find out if you *really* won the World Fantasy Award, and if so for what (why the psuedonym?), and I end up making a random connection between your film deal and that of Khalid Husseini. The young star of the adaptation of his Kite Runner is now in hiding because of death threats. It seems to me that if he had written about werewolves instead of Afghans, he would surely feel less driven to travel secretly back to Afghanistan and rescue the werewolf.
ReplyDelete