I haven't posted much lately - partly because I've been busy with a new blog for work, and partly because I just haven't been inspired. Don't know what the doldrums have been about but I have found a couple of shows to be excited about, even though they won't be on tv until 2007 earliest.
The first is being filmed by Alan Ball (of Six Feet Under fame) and is based on the books by Charlaine Harris featuring psychic Sookie Stackhouse. Sookie works as a bar waitress in her small southern town and is thrilled to meet her first vampire when Bill walks into the bar. Sookie can read people's thoughts, which seems like a good thing. It's not. She's lonely and mistrusted by her neighbors. Vampire Bill's arrival sparks more then curiousity in Sookie. She's attracted to this powerful man who's mind is a complete blank. Alan Ball loves the books and is already at work on the series for HBO. I can't wait. If you'd like to explore the Sookie universe (where vampires and weres and shapeshifters abound) start with Dead Until Dark.
The second is a series based on the books by Jeff Lindsay. Jeff's character is Dexter who is a blood-spatter expert who works for the Miami police. Oh, yeah, he's also a serial killer. Lindsay introduced this intriguing character in Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Though the book wasn't perfect I was intrigued by Dexter and can't wait to see what a television series would look like. Most of you are probably shaking your head skeptically at this point. Television ruins so many good things. But this series is being filmed for Showtime.
When these shows come out I'll probably be spending big bucks to get both cable stations. I'm hoping they'll live up to my expectations. Whether they do or not I'll continue to read the books and dream that these shows will do justice to the written word.
I'm going to enter Nonfiction Readers Anonymous territory and talk about a nonfiction book. In fact Nonanon is the one who recommended the book and she even lent me her hard won (through ILL) copy. The book is Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly, edited by Jane Espenson and I loved it.
Now as you know I don't read nonfiction all that much, but the combination of Nonanon's recommendation and the fact that the essays in this book were all about my favorite canceled show, Firefly, meant I was willing to dive in. And I'm so glad I did. I read most of the essays in a night and dreamed of Mal and the crew. Couldn't get better then that.
The essay writers are a mix of authors and other professionals (including one sex therapist). Like the editor I found only one essay, by John Wright, that I totally disagreed with, but even that one was thought provoking. Covering everything from gender roles to Chinese Words in the 'Verse, there's something for anyone who's a fan of the show, and I'd argue, for those who aren't as well. There's even a chapter by Jewel Staite who played Kaylee. Favorite chapter? I liked them all, but thought the one about the Reavers - The Heirs of Sawney Beane by Lawrence Watt-Evans - the most interesting.
Thank you Nonanon for the rec. and forgive me for thinking you were giving me a book on finding my inner serenity. Of course you know me better then that.