Tag: Television adaptations

Television adaptation: ‘Lovecraft Country’ by Matt Ruff

The television adaptation of Matt Ruff’s ‘Lovecraft Country’ is now on HBO. Photo: google

Matt Ruff is an American author of thriller, science fiction and comic novels, including “The Mirage,” “Bad Monkeys” “Fool on the Hill” “Set This House in Order” and “Lovecraft Country.” “Lovecraft Country” makes real the terrors of life in Jim Crow America and its lingering effects and combines historical fiction, pulp noir and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy.  It has been adapted into an HBO series by J.J. Abrams, Misha Green and Jordan Peele. Starring Jonathan Majors as Atticus, Jurnee Smollett as Letitia and Courtney B. Vance as George Freeman, it premiered on August 16 and follows Atticus as he joins up with his childhood friend Letitia and his Uncle George on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father.

 “Lovecraft Country” is a dark fantasy novel that explores the topics of H.P. Lovecraft’s horror fiction and racism in the United States during the Jim Crow era as experienced by black science-fiction fan Atticus Turner and his family. Set in Chicago in 1954, when Atticus’ father goes missing, he sets off from Florida with Letitia and his Uncle George, publisher of “The Safe Negro Travel Guide,” to Chicago to try to locate him. On their journey, they encounter the terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the strange tales that George loves to read. It is a blend of magic, power, hope and freedom that stretches across time and touches diverse members of two black families.

Television adaptation: ‘I Know This Much Is True’ by Wally Lamb

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The television adaptation of Wally Lamb’s bestselling novel “I Know This Much Is True” premieres on HBO on May 10.  Photo: google

Wally Lamb is an American author of several novels including “I’ll Take You There,” “She’s Come Undone” and “I Know This Much Is True;” the last two were both selected for Oprah’s Book Club. He was the director of the Writing Center at Norwich Free Academy in Norwich and has taught Creative Writing in the English Department at the University of Connecticut.  “I Know This Much Is True” is the bestselling novel about identical brothers Dominick Birdsey and Thomas Birdsey, who suffers from schizophrenia.  Dominick struggles to take care of his twin brother while discovering the truth about his own family.  It has been adapted into a limited television series that will air on HBO and premieres on Sunday May 10. Mark Ruffalo stars in the double role of Dominick and Thomas.

According to Amazon, in “I Know This Much Is True,” Dominick Birdsey, is a forty-year-old housepainter living in Three Rivers, Connecticut.  He finds his subdued life suddenly disturbed when his identical twin brother Thomas, a paranoid schizophrenic, commits a shocking act of self-mutilation. Dominick is forced to care for his brother as well as confront dark secrets and pain he has buried deep within himself—a journey of the soul that takes him beyond his blue-collar New England town to Sicily’s Mount Etna, the birthplace of his grandfather and namesake. Coming to terms with his life and lineage, Dominick struggles to find forgiveness and finally rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his troubled twin.

Television adaptation: ‘The Bone Collector’ by Jeffery Deaver

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Photo: Google

Jeffery Deaver is an American mystery and crime writer who has written both stand-alone novels, “Mistress of Justice” and “The October List” and numerous series like the Rune Trilogy, the Location Scout series and the better known Lincoln Rhyme series. His works have appeared on bestseller lists around the world including, among others, The New York Times, The Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Los Angeles Times. The first novel in the Lincoln Rhyme series, “The Bone Collector,” which introduces Lincoln Rhyme, a quadriplegic forensic criminalist, was adapted into a movie in 1999. Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector, is a new crime drama series based on the book and will premiere on NBC on Friday January 10, 2020. The series follows NYPD officers Amelia Sachs and Lincoln Rhyme as they solve cases together while attempting to catch the newly resurfaced serial killer known as the Bone Collector. It stars Russell Hornsby as Lincoln, Arielle Kebbel as Amelia and Michael Imperioli as Rick Sellitto, Lincoln’s partner.

According to Amazon, “The Bone Collector” revolves around Lincoln Rhyme, who was once a brilliant criminologist, a genius in the field of forensics until an accident left him physically and emotionally shattered. Now a diabolical killer is challenging Rhyme to a terrifying and ingenious duel of wits. With police detective Amelia Sachs by his side, Rhyme must follow a labyrinth of clues that reaches back to a dark chapter in New York City’s past and reach further into the darkness of the mind of a madman who will not stop until he has stripped life down to the bone.

Television adaptation: Deadly Class by Rick Remender

deadlyclassRick Remender is an American comic book writer and artist and is best known for his work on Image Comics such as Deadly Class, Fear Agent, Black Science as well as Marvel Comics’ Uncanny X-Force. Deadly Class is an action genre graphic novel which follows students enrolled at King’s Dominion Atelier of the Deadly Arts, a secret high school in San Francisco as they train to become the next generation of top assassins for crime families across the globe. The television adaptation will premiere on Syfy on Wednesday January 16 and stars Benedict Wong, Benjamin Wadsworth, Lana Condor, Maria Gabriela de Faria, Luke Tennie, Liam James and Michel Duval.

Deadly Class begins with the story of teenage orphan Marcus Lopez Arguello as he transitions from living on the streets to being enrolled into a school of assassins. The academy is run by Master Lin and is composed of children of mob bosses and mass murderers who are learning the same trade as their parents. It then continues to follow the stories of the individuals enrolled in the academy and many of their eventual downfalls. Volumes in the series include Reagan Youth, Kids of the Black Hole, Snake Pit, Die for Me, Carousel, This Is Not the End, Love Like Blood and Never Go Back.

Television adaptation: ‘Instinct’ by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

instincttvJames Patterson is the best-selling author of thrillers, children’s books, non-fiction books and romance novels as well as many stand-alone novels. He is best known for the Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club and Middle School series. As a generous supporter of universities, teachers, colleges, independent bookstores, school libraries and college students, he has donated millions of dollars in grants and scholarships to encourage Americans of all ages to read more books. Some of his books have been adapted to movies and television, including ‘Along Came a Spider,’ ‘Kiss the Girls’ and ‘Zoo.’ The most recent is ‘Instinct,’ previously published as ‘Murder Games’ and co-written with Howard Roughan. It has been adapted into the television series Instinct for CBS starring Alan Cumming and premiered on March 11.

According to Amazon, ‘Instinct’ centers around Dr. Dylan Reinhart, a renowned bestselling Ivy League expert on criminal behavior who has written the book on the subject. When a copy turns up at a gruesome crime scene along with a threatening message from the killer, he is recruited by Elizabeth Needham, the headstrong and brilliant NYPD Detective in charge of the case. She needs his help to investigate a souvenir left at the crime scene which turns out to be a playing card. When another card turns out at the next murder scene, Dylan suspects that the cards are not a signature but a hint pointing at the next target. To stop him, Dylan must get inside the mind of a criminal and convince him to lay down his cards before it is too late.

Television adaptation: ‘The Long Road Home’ by Martha Raddatz

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The television adaptation of ‘The Long Road Home’ by Martha Raddatz will premiere on National Geographic on Tuesday November 7, 2017.

Martha Raddatz is an American reporter for ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir, Nightline and other network broadcasts and ABC News’ Chief Global Affairs Correspondent. In her book “The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family,” she shares remarkable tales of heroism, hope and heartbreak that occurred during “Black Sunday,” a battle which took place during one of the deadliest periods of the Iraq War. It has been adapted to the small screen in a mini-series created by Mikko Alanne and will premiere on Tuesday November 7 on National Geographic. The cast includes Michael Kelly, Jason Ritter, Kate Bosworth, Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto and E.J. Bonilla.

According to Amazon, in “The Long Road Home,” Martha Raddatz chronicles the events of April 4, 2004 when the First Cavalry Division from Fort Hood was ambushed in Sadr City, Baghdad. The day came to be known as “Black Sunday” as more than seven thousand miles away, the soldiers’ families waited for news for forty-eight hours and expected the worst. The author takes readers from the streets of Baghdad to the home front and tells the day’s events through the courageous American men and women who lived it.