Book to movie adaptation: ‘The Cabin at the End of the World’ by Paul Tremblay

‘The Cabin at the End of the World’ is the inspiration for the new M. Night Shyamalan movie Knock at the Cabin, now in theaters. Photo: Amazon

Paul Tremblay is the author of the Bram Stoker Award and Locus Award winning “The Cabin at the End of the World,” winner of the British Fantasy Award “Disappearance at Devil’s Rock,” and Bram Stoker Award/Massachusetts Book Award winning “A Head Full of Ghosts.” He is also the author of the novels “The Little Sleep,” “No Sleep till Wonderland,” “Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye,” and “Floating Boy and the Girl Who Couldn’t Fly” (co-written with Stephen Graham Jones). His essays and short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and numerous “year’s best” anthologies. He is the co-editor of four anthologies including “Creatures: Thirty Years of Monster Stories” (with John Langan). “The Cabin at the End of the World” is a terrifying twist to the home invasion novel and the

inspiration for the upcoming major motion picture from Universal Pictures. Knock at the Cabin is an apocalyptic psychological horror movie written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan starring Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki-Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint. (Amazon, 2023)

“The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel” – Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road. One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen, but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, “None of what’s going to happen is your fault.” Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: “Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world.” Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined. “The Cabin at the End of the World” is a masterpiece of terror and suspense from the fantastically fertile imagination of Paul Tremblay.

Book of the week: ‘Lucy and the Lake Monster’ by Richard Rossi and Kelly Ann Tabor

‘Lucy and the Lake Monster’ is the story of a nine-year old orphan named Lucy searching for the sea serpent Champ. Photo: Amazon

Co-written by Academy-Award-considered filmmaker Richard Rossi and retired school teacher Kelly Tabor, “Lucy and the Lake Monster” is a children’s series and soon-to-be feature film that masterfully illustrates how to overcome mental health challenges like worry, depression, and anxiety with childlike faith. It is currently being adapted into a major motion picture. (Richard Rossi/Kelly Ann Tabor, 2023)

“Lucy and the Lake Monster” is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

“Lucy and the Lake Monster” – Lucy Lago is a nine year-old orphan. She believes that Champ, the Lake Champlain Sea Serpent, lives and lurks in the lake by her cabin in Crown Point. She lives there with her grandpa, who she calls “Papa.” Despite mockery and mercenary forces opposing them, Lucy and Papa determine to venture out on their rickety rowboat and bring awareness of America’s Loch Ness Monster to the world.

“For me, growing up in Crown Point was magical. Hearing stories of our legendary Champ, captivated my interest as I swam and explored the shorelines and waters of Lake Champlain. As a teacher, I later took those stories and experiences I had with me into the classroom and shared them with hundreds of students over the years, piquing their interest.” – Kelly Tabor, Co-Writer

“Champ, the sea serpent, is an allegory for God. The pure in heart, like Lucy, see Champ as good. Others teach Champ is a monster for mercenary purposes, the way manipulative ministers scare people today.”- Richard Rossi, Academy-Award Considered Filmmaker, and Co-Writer

Movie adaptation: ‘Nomadland’ by Jessica Bruder

The movie adaptation of ‘Nomadland’ by Jessica Bruder will be released on Friday, February 19, 2021. Photo: amazon

Jessica Bruder is an award-winning journalist whose work focuses on subcultures and the dark corners of the economy. She has written for Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Bruder teaches at the Columbia School of Journalism. Her book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century” is a non-fiction book that explores a phenomenon of older American workers traveling the country like “nomads,” campers in tow, in search of employment, many of whom were adversely affected by the Great Recession. It is the inspiration for the Chloé Zhao’s 2020 Golden Lion award-winning film starring Frances McDormand and is scheduled for release simultaneously in theaters and digitally on Hulu on Friday, February 19, 2021. (amazon, 2021)

“Nomadland” tells a revelatory tale of the dark underbelly of the American economy―one which foreshadows the precarious future that may await many more of us. At the same time, it celebrates the exceptional resilience and creativity of these Americans who have given up ordinary rootedness to survive but have not given up hope. From the beet fields of North Dakota to the campgrounds of California to Amazon’s CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older adults. These invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in RVs and modified vans, forming a growing community of nomads.

Movie adaptation: ‘The Witches’ by Roald Dahl

The newest movie adaptation of Roald Dahl’s ‘The Witches’ will be available for streaming on HBO Max. Photo: google

Roald Dahl was a Welsh novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter and wartime fighter pilot. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. He has been referred to as one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century. He is best known for “James and the Giant Peach,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Matilda,” “The Witches,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The BFG.” “The Witches” features the experiences of a young British boy and his Norwegian grandmother in a world where child-hating societies of witches secretly exist in every country. The second feature-length adaptation of the novel stars Ann Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci and is directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis, Kenya Barris and Guillermo del Toro. It will be available for streaming on HBO Max on October 22 with a theatrical release in selected theaters on October 28.

“The Witches” is set in Norway and in the United Kingdom where the witches are ruled by the extremely vicious and powerful Grand High Witch. An unnamed seven-year-old English boy goes to live with his Norwegian grandmother after his parents are killed in a tragic car accident. The boy loves to listen to his grandmother’s stories, especially the ones about real witches. According to her, witches are horrific creatures who are out to kill human children and tells the boy how to recognize them. The Grand High Witch has just arrived in England to organize her worst plot ever but when the grandmother, a self-professed former witch hunter, and her young grandson find out about her evil plan, they must work together to defeat the witches.

Movie adaptation: ‘Hide’ by Lisa Gardner

Lisa Gardner is the New York Times’ bestselling author of thrillers that include the series FBI Profiler, Detective D.D. Warren and Tessa Leoni as well as several stand alone novels and romance novels written under the Alicia Scott pseudonym. Lisa’s books have received awards from across the globe. Her novel “The Neighbor” won Best Hardcover Novel from the International Thriller Writers and she was recognized with the Daphne du Maurier Award in 2000 for “The Other Daughter.” She received the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle in France and the Silver Bullet Award from the International Thriller Writers in 2017 for her work on behalf of at-risk children and the Humane Society. On the lighter side, Lisa invites her readers to enter the annual “Kill a Friend, Maim a Buddy” Sweepstakes on her website. Every year, one Lucky Stiff is selected to meet a grand end in Lisa’s latest novel. Past winners have nominated spouses, best friends and even themselves. Her second Detective D.D. Warren novel “Hide” was adapted into a movie which aired on TNT and is now available on Amazon Prime. Her newest release is “When You See Me,” the eleventh book in the Detective D.D. Warren series.

In “Hide,” Bobby Dodge has to deal with the return of a killer he thought was dead and buried. It all begins with the gruesome discovery of six mummified corpses in an underground chamber of the grounds of an abandoned Massachusetts mental hospital. One of those bodies is wearing a necklace bearing the name Annabelle Granger; the only problem is the real Annabelle is still alive. To solve this mystery, Bobby must team up with his former lover, partner and friend D.D. Warren from the Boston P.D. and search deep into Anabelle’s past. A past that includes a childhood that included a blur of new cities and assumed identities as she and her father seemed to be running from an unknown stalker.

“When You See Me” reunites Boston Detective D.D. Warren, FBI Agent Kimberly Quincy and vigilante Flora Dane to investigate a cold case that quickly turns red hot in a small town where nothing is as it seems. Flora always assumed her kidnapper Jacob Ness took his secrets to the grave but with lives hanging in the balance, she must finally learn the explosive truth. For all the evil he committed while alive, his worst secret is still to be revealed and Quincey and D.D. must use their exceptional skills and experience to solve the most disturbing case of their career. Flora must also face her own past to save others.

Movie adaptation: ‘Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air’ by Richard Holmes

Richard Holmes is a British author and academic best known for his biographical studies of major figures of British and French Romanticism. His works include “The Age of Wonder,” which was one of The New York Times Book Review’s Best Books of the Year in 2009, “Footsteps, Sidetracks, Shelley: The Pursuit” and “Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air: An Unconventional History of Ballooning.” The latter is in part the basis for the 2019 biographical adventure movie The Aeronauts starring Felicity Jones, Eddie Redmayne, Himesh Patel and Tom Courtenay. It is now available on Amazon Prime Video.

In “Falling Upwards,” Richard Holmes combines history, art, science and biography to resurrect the daring men and women who first risked their lives to take to the air in balloons. He weaves together exhilarating accounts of early balloon rivalries, pioneering ascents over Victorian cities and astonishing long-distance voyages. One of those accounts is the high-altitude flights of James Glaisher who helped to establish the science of meteorology as well as the notion of a fragile planet. Holmes tells the history of ballooning from every angle—scientific to poetic—through the adventurers and entrepreneurs, scientists and escapists, heroes and fools who were possessed by the longing to be airborne.

The balloon flight depicted in The Aeronauts is based on the September 5, 1862 flight of British aeronauts James Glaisher and Henry Coxwell, whose coal gas filled balloon broke the flight altitude record reaching 30,000 to 36,000 feet. Glaisher appears in the film, but Coxwell is replaced by Amelia, a fictional character who is the combination of Coxwell and actual female contemporaries including Sophia Blanchard, the first woman to work as a professional balloonist and Margaret Graham, a British aeronaut and entertainer. In this exciting air adventure movie, James and Amelia successfully fly a hot air balloon to break an altitude record while successfully allowing James to prove his weather predicting theories. Enduring hypoxia, high altitude and bone chilling temperatures, they are both injured but euphoric that they managed to survive. James’ findings eventually paved the way for the first weather forecasts.

Movie adaptation: ‘Doctor Sleep’ by Stephen King

doctorsleepmovie — The movie adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘Doctor Sleep’ is in theaters this weekend. Photo: Google

Stephen King is the “King of Horror” and the American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense and fantasy novels. His books have sold more than 350 million copies, many of which have been adapted into feature films, miniseries, television series and comic books. He has published 61 novels, six non-fiction books and approximately 200 short stories, most in book collections. In 2015, King was awarded with a National Medal of Arts from the United States National Endowment for the Arts for his contributions to literature. Some of his best known novels include ‘Carrie,’ ‘Pet Sematary,’ ‘The Shining’ and ‘Doctor Sleep,’ the best-selling sequel to ‘The Shining.’ The movie adaptation of ‘Doctor Sleep,’ starring Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson and Kyliegh Curran is in theaters this weekend.

In ‘Doctor Sleep,’ a now adult Danny Torrance (Dan) carries on his father’s legacy of anger and alcoholism. After years of aimless drifting across the United States, he settles down in the small town of Frazier, New Hampshire working at a hospice and attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Meanwhile, Abra Stone is born in 2001 and has amazing psychic abilities. Slowly and unintentionally, she establishes a telepathic bond with Dan and as her powers develop, she psychically witnesses the torture and murder, by a cult known as True Knot, of a young boy. The True Knot wanders across the United States feeding on people’s “steam,” a psychic essence produced when the people who have the shining die in pain. Their leader, Rose the Hat, becomes aware of Abra and her abilities and soon plots to kidnap her and keep her alive as an endless supply of steam. With Dan’s help, as well as ghosts from his past, Abra confronts the cult and kills them to stop their destructive patterns of terror and violence.

Movie adaptation: ‘The Goldfinch’ by Donna Tartt

Donna Tartt is an American author best known for the novels “The Secret History,” “The Little Friend” and “The Goldfinch.” She won the WH Smith Literary Award for “The Little Friend” in 2003 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “The Goldfinch” in 2014. The latter is the coming-of-age story of 13 year-old Theodore Decker, who survives a terrorist bombing at an art museum where his mother dies. The movie adaptation is now in theaters and stars Ansel Elgort as Theodore. It is directed by John Crowley and written by Peter Straughan.

“The Goldfinch” is told is retrospective first person narration by Theodore “Theo” Decker. His life is turned upside down during a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with his mother and she is tragically killed when a bomb explodes in the museum. They were there to see an exhibition of Dutch masterpieces, including a favorite painting of hers, Carel Fabritius’ The Goldfinch, which Theo takes with him during his panicked escape. Abandoned by his father, he goes to live with the family of a wealthy friend but he feels out of place and is constantly tormented by memories of his mother. Through it all, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her, the painting. Throughout the years, it becomes a source of hope for him as he descends into a world of crime.

Movie adaptation: ‘Blinded by the Light’ by Sarfraz Manzoor

Sarfraz Manzoor is a British journalist, documentary maker and broadcaster. He is a regular contributor to The Guardian, presenter of documentaries on BBC Radio 4 and a cultural commentator who appears on programs such as Newsnight Review and Saturday Review. His first book, ‘Greeting from Bury Park: Race, Religion and Rock N’ Roll,’ a charming memoir about the impact of Bruce Springsteen’s music on a Pakistani boy growing up in 1970s Britain, was published in 2007. The movie adaptation is now in theaters as Blinded by the Light and stars Viveik Kalra, Hayley Atwell, Rob Brydon, Kulvinder Ghir and Nell Williams. Manzoor co-wrote the script and Gurinder Chadha directed it.

According to Amazon, ‘Blinded by the Light,’ originally published as ‘Greeting from Bury Park,’ centers around Sarfraz Manzoor. He was two years old when, in 1974, he emigrated from Pakistan to Britain with his mother, brother and sister. He spends his teenage years in a constant battle, trying to reconcile being both British and Muslim, trying to fit in at school and at home. When his best friend introduces him to the music of Bruce Springsteen at age sixteen, his life changes completely. From the moment Manzoor heard the opening lines to “The River,” Springsteen became his personal muse, a lens through which he was able to view the rest of his life. Both a tribute to The Boss and a story of personal discovery, ‘Blinded by the Light’ is a warm, irreverent, and exceptionally perceptive memoir about how music transcends religion and race.

Movie adaptation: ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette’ by Maria Semple

bernadettemovie — The movie adaptation of Maria Semple’s best selling novel opens in theaters this Friday August 16. Photo: google

Maria Semple is an American novelist and screenwriter best known for the novels “This One Is Mine,” “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” and “Today Will Be Different.” Her television credits include Beverly Hills, 90210, Mad About You, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, Suddenly Susan and Ellen. “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” spent a year on The New York Times’ bestseller list, won the American Library Association’s Alex Award and was shortlisted for Women’s Prize for Fiction. It centers around an agoraphobic architect, mother and wife who is struggling to adjust to life in Seattle and goes missing just before a family trip to Antarctica. The movie adaptation starring Cate Blanchette will be in theaters starting this Friday August 16.

In “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” everyone has their thoughts about Bernadette Fox. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she is a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she is a disgrace; to design mavens, she is a revolutionary architect; and to 15-year-old Bee, she is her best friend and, simply, Mom. Then Bernadette vanishes. It all began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette is so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic. To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents and secret correspondence.

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