The August Report

After two invigorating weeks off (see idyllic scenery on left), I'm back at work. So I wanted to answer some of the questions I've been getting recently via email and facebook.

1) What am I working on?

I'm actually just finishing up work on my new novel called Half Brother, which will be published Fall 2010 by HarperCollins (in Canada); Scholastic (in the US) and David Fickling Books (in the UK). It's the story of 14-year-old Ben Tomlin, whose psychologist parents are involved in a radical scientific experiment. They bring a newborn chimp into their house to raise as a human baby (a sort of half brother to Ben), and try to teach it sign language, so they can see if chimps are capable of learning language. I'll tell you more about the book as the publication date nears...


2) What's going on with the Airborn movie?
The quick answer: nothing. I've had many, many emails asking me about the film. When will it appear? Can they audition for it? And there is a great deal of incorrect information floating about on the internet. In 2004 Universal Pictures optioned the book for Stephen Sommers (The Mummy movies etc). The Summers Company hired screenwriters, who wrote a script which, in my opinion, bore very little resemblance to my novel. Yes, there were characters who had the names Matt Cruse and Kate de Vries (but they were much older) and yes, there were airships. But there were no cloud cats, and my entire plot had been replaced by a story involving magical urns with glowing runes which contained magical elemental powers, and mysterious priests to guard over them... I didn't like the adaptation, and apparently, Universal Pictures didn't either, because they let the option lapse. In short: no movie is being made, and the rights are now mine again, and I am going to be very picky about who I sell them to next time around. So, if you happen to know Steven Spielberg, or Peter Jackson or J.J. Abrams very well, feel free to pass along a copy of the Airborn series to them.


3) Will I be writing any more Silverwing books?
Maybe. If I did, it would probably be a continuation of Darkwing, because I see a very eventful life ahead for Dusk...


4) Will I be writing more Airborn books?

I love Matt and Kate and would hate to say good-bye to them forever. But Starclimber does leave them at a very interesting point in their lives... I might return to them, but first I have several other stories I'm going to tell first...