Thursday, July 26, 2012

Russian rights to Time for Sherlock Holmes

Amphora, a Russian publishing house in St. Petersburg, will be doing a Russian edition of my Sherlock Holmes pastiche, Time for Sherlock Holmes. They’ll be doing a print version (hardcover only, I think), with the option to do an e-book, mobile, and audiobook version of the Russian translation.

This will be part of a Sherlock Holmes series they’re planning. They’ll start with the canonical stories by Conan Doyle, and then they’ll do a number of SH books by other authors, including mine.

That book is my Little Novel Engine That Could. It just keeps on selling and selling and selling and … It was such fun to write, all those years ago (first published by Dodd, Mead in 1983), and it continues to provide me with these pleasant surprises.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Seeking a Friend at the End of the World

We saw this movie last night and enjoyed it enormously. It's quite funny at the start and gets much more serious in the second half, with a sweet and moving conclusion — which you would think would be hard to do, given that the world is ending. Steve Carrell's role is mostly serious. He does a fine job, especially in the most serious, subtle moments. He really is an excellent dramatic actor. Keira Knightley is not annoying for a change. She shows that she can be an adequate actress when she chooses to be.

Speaking of KK, one of the previews shown before the movie was for an upcoming version of Anna Karenina, starring KK as AK. It looks like the movie makers have managed to convert a mediocre and silly novel into pretentious twaddle.