Books, Reviews, Short Stories, Authors, Publicity, a little poetry, music to complement...and other stuff including politics, about life... "Books, Cats: Life is Sweet..."
The headline of our latest press release about Greco’s Game could not have excited me more: David Marconi to Direct Wonderfilm's Screen Adaptation of James Houston Turner's Action Novel, Greco's Game!
You have definitely seen some his films: Enemy of the State (Will Smith and Gene Hackman), Live Free or Die Hard (Bruce Willis), and, most recently, The Foreigner (Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan). When it comes to screenwriters, they don’t get any better than David Marconi.
But the good news does not end there, for Mr. Marconi has not only written the Greco's Game screenplay with the help of William J. MacDonald (The Saint, with Val Kilmer, Rome, and Sliver),but he will also be directing the film!!! Here’s what he had to say about Greco’s Game:“Talanov is such a rich and nuanced character, and the novel’s plot is so timely with what is going on in our world, I had to jump in to direct this film.”
In addition to a link to the Variety coverage, our expanded press release may be found here: https://www.prlog.org/12788680.
With offices in Los Angeles, Vancouver, London, and Seoul, Wonderfilm has shifted into high gear with a slate of films that include actors such as John Travolta, Nicholas Cage, Guy Pearce, Ryan Phillippe, Kellan Lutz, Anne Heche, Thomas Jane, Cuba Gooding Jr., Ron Pearlman, Shia LaBeoufe, Terrance Howard, Dustin Hoffman, Steven Segal, and MMA legends, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Lidell.
As to who will be playing the part of Talanov in Greco's Game, you will have to wait and see!
BTW, THANK YOU for your emails of support. Writing can get pretty lonely, so your friendship means a lot. Thank you again.
Ok, I'm a fan...and I know I don't do this often...but, hey, not everybody has Glenda Bixler in a major role in one of his books! LOL So...'nuf said... Following is a request from the author for prayers that he's able to get his movie to completion... See what he has to say about his work: G'day again friends and family,
We're at the business end of the stick with our Talanov Film Project. It has been moving forward in some amazing ways and we're at the point of needing a support team who will pray regularly for us. So I'm asking any of you who truly believe in prayer and feel drawn to what we are doing to join our "5x" team. I coined the term, "5x," because when we fold our hands in prayer, our fingers make five "Xs."
There have been some fascinating studies on the efficacy of prayer. One of these studies dates from 1988, when cardiologist Dr. Randolph Byrd conducted a scientifically rigorous, double-blind study on the effects of intercessory prayer by Protestant and Catholic born-again Christians on behalf of 393 heart patients in a coronary care unit of a San Francisco hospital. After being rejected by nearly every medical journal on earth, the study was finally published in the Southern Medical Journal, where Dr. Byrd's results showed "prayer patients" has less congestive heart failure, fewer cardiac arrests, fewer episodes of pneumonia, were less often intubated and ventilated, and needed less diuretic and antibiotic therapy.
In short: prayer works. And this is not the only scientific study that has demonstrated it. Trouble is, for prayer to be powerful, we need to turn off the phone. Or the TV. Or get up earlier, or stay up later. Prayer is more than a quick recitation of a few memorized words before diving into the mashed potatoes. It is more than a plea for our team to kick the butts of the other team. More than a desperate cry for God to suddenly intervene when all along we've demanded He mind His own business. It is more than wishing someone good luck.
I say all of this because I am seeking people who truly believe in prayer and feel drawn to what we are doing, which is to produce a feature film that contains at its heart a message about the high cost of loyalty, faith, and family. It will be populated with gritty heroism, emotional depth, and plenty of Talanov action. It will also be a stepping stone to helping other writers and those in need. It is a film -- yes -- but it will result in much more than that. I know I am being fairly generic right now and that's because we need to keep some details under wraps to all but our 5x team, who will keep these details confidential while praying for them.
SOOOOO, if you want to support us with your prayers, I would like to hear from you. If you're not interested, there is no need to reply. Simply hit the Delete button. But if you are, please let me know and I will be in touch. The 5x team will get special updates on prayer requests as well as how God is answering them.
As always, should I have you on this newsletter list by mistake, or if you wish to no longer receive them, simply write "unsubscribe" in the subject line, hit Return, and I will remove you from our mailing list. Easy peasy.
In closing, I appreciate all of you. THANK YOU for supporting me with your friendship. You make this journey worthwhile.
Blessings for a wonderful weekend, Write to-- Talanov Insidertalanovinsider@gmail.com
Walter Mosley at the 2007 Brooklyn Book Festival. The photographer dedicates this photograph to Debbie Ramos, sister of Jeffpw. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Little Green: Easy Rawlins Mysteries By Walter Mosley
It is soooo easy to spend time with Easy Rawlins... and, thank goodness, Mosley resurrected him in his latest out on the 14th! There was something very beautiful about the writing in this book...Mosley knew we all wanted more of Easy and it seemed that every single word was chosen, reconsidered, and finalized before he moved on... And you know what I enjoyed most in his writing? His character descriptions! Every time he introduced a new character, I could imagine what he or she looked like...and, no, he rarely used the word black, or Negro...and never, of course, African-American because that phrase wasn't around in the 60s when Easy was 47...
The other thing I found I was doing while I spent time with Easy was thinking of my dear friend, Spencer Turnage, who we lost May 10th of last year. Most of the time, I pictured Spence as Easy...and wishing that Spencer had had some of the gator blood himself! Spencer was a beautiful poet who shared his words with all of us, especially at Gather.com. He would always be talking about his neighbors, his community, and about what he was doing to be involved with them... And that's just the way Easy is. Of course, I don't think Spencer got into the criminal issues like Easy did...but I do know that it was never about being paid...it was about helping his friends and maybe some day they would help him...So, I'm taking his opportunity to share that all of your friends miss you Spencer... And it was lovely to remember you as Easy visited me...
"I was dying, no, had died... "Easy?" "There was a flood rising in the room that was swathed in darkness. My right ankle was shackled to the floor next to the bed, and the water was already up to my ears. I pulled against the chain but all that did was cause me pain. My ankle hurt like a motherfucker and the chain would not give. I tried to rise, hoping that I could float to the extent of the bond, that maybe I could keep my nose above water, but I knew somehow that my luck had run out, that Death had come in on me while I was distracted by the mountains of evil I had lived through. Just the fact that I could survive such terror made me guilty, and now he was coming up through floorboards like he did for my mother. "Death. I had followed him through all the years of my life as he dropped bodies in my path as little reminders to me and others that the end of the road was no bed of roses, no kingdom come. It felt as if my whole life was an obstacle course, a slogging journey trying to catch up with Death, trying to get a good look at his face... "Easy." "His lips didn't move but I recognized my name, my true name, not the one my dead father gave me. Raymond Alexander, known as Mouse to his victims and friends alike, smiled at me and I shivered in pleasure and fear... "No, man," I said. "you can't dismiss me like some schoolkid. You can't turn your back on me after all these years... "He smiled again, and even though I was dead I felt elation..." ~~~
Easy Rawlins had died in that last novel...
But they had brought him back and kept him alive for months... He discovered later that Mouse had climbed down the ravine and had carried him up the hill, although nobody could figure out how he'd done it. But Ray and Easy were best friends. They constantly proved it by "being there" for the other.
And he was there when Easy finally woke up from being in a semi-coma for so long--everybody had thought he had died! Even some man had squatted his home, living there, claiming it was his... At least he hadn't gotten rid of Easy's clothes and other belongings--just had used a lot of them, especially his liquor!
But Easy knew that he was still very close to death--he was barely moving, not totally living...
Still, when Ray said he needed his help, it was natural for Easy to just ask, "What?"
Ray needed him to find Little Green. Evander Noon, the son of a man he had murdered... a teenager who had left home and not come back... Of course, Easy took it on...but before he did, he knew he had to make one very important visit!
..."All I do know is that I walked a block and a half today and nearly collapsed. And here I got miles up ahead of me." "And that's why you come here?" "You gave Mouse this little vial for hangovers," I said. "Hangovah ain't like dyin'," she replied. "That's just a little pick-me-up after a night out." "You got somethin' stronger?" I asked. "There's health in your body, sugah, and death in your soul. I can give ya somethin' help to see you through this thing, but I can't tell whether you gonna come back alive or not." "All I know is if I stop right now I will be dead in a week. I know it." "Jo's hard black face cracked into a girlish grin. "I knew when you was just a teenager that you were gonna be one helluva man, Mr. Rawlins. You look at the world and see what's there. You know there ain's one person outta three hundred could lay claim to half'a that." "Here we go," she said...I all this here Gator's Blood," Jo said as she regained her seat. "That there is some powerful juju. You take yourself a nap and then if you feelin' weak you drink down one bottle. After that you'll be good to go for whatever time your condition will allow... "I took one of the bottles, teased out the cork plug, and drank the contents, five or six ounces, in one draft. The concoction tasted like equal parts hard cider and swamp mud...I broke out into a sweat and stood up because I had to...
~~~
Well, he finally found Little Green who was being tortured by some druggies... Seemed there had been some money stolen and they wanted it... Easy gets Evander away and takes him home to heal and maybe find out what was going on. Finally, Evander remembers and Easy took the money to the only man he'd trust with it--because he already was so rich that he'd laugh at the small amount...
At the same time, another friend and the rich man asked for his help! Blackmail and insider crime was the main dish to eat then...
You can bet that Gator's Blood was keeping him going or he'd never be done!
The thing about Easy though was that just handling the specific request was not what Easy's all about... He's got to deal with and clean up every single issue that surrounds what has happened...
But then he made contact with his former lover...the one who'd broke up with him right before Easy went over that hill...
I loved this book!
"L.A. at night, back in the sixties, was a wonderful place to drive. There were lots of people but it wasn't overcrowded. The avenues and boulevards were wide and open to free-flowing traffic. I felt great with Jo's concoction in my system and the desert wind coming in through the windows. The Temptations were singing "My Girl" on the radio, and people seemed happy and alive in their cards. "I wore death on my shoulders like a superhero's cape, but that didn't matter. I was going to fight, the good fight and win or lose, I'd be counted as a man who struggled against his own fate..."
I've shared the good parts of this novel as part of my review. But there's so much more that could be spotlighted. The 60s included the Watts Riots, Hippie Love, sex and drugs...and the hate of whites toward blacks...All that is there and more...because that all happened and needs to be shared.
But Walter Mosley spreads his opinion through the choice of his words to talk of his characters that happen to be a certain color like "ochre" --LOL, I'm spotlighting that one because it was the only one I looked up to understand the particular coloring... or the Frenchman who was olive skinned with dark, dark brown eyes, almost black. The little mustache he'd sported... or this young man with almost alabaster white skin, coarse red hair and pale blue eyes, who I promptly hated for his officiousness... Why, I wondered, don't other writers describe their characters so that readers could gain such a perfect image? In any event, I loved this latest novel by prolific author Walter Mosley. If you lived during the 60s, consider it a must read! And, somebody get a copy to Denzel Washington because we need a new Easy Rawlins movie from this one!
GABixlerReviews
Now Here's The First Vote to Have Little Green made into a movie with Denzel once again playing EASY!
Claudia's friend Kelly learns that she's an aunt when her estranged half-sister Erin shows up in desperate need of help. Erin and her husband have been living as member of The Temple of Brighter Light in an isolated compound. Now Erin's husband and child have disappeared, leaving behind a cryptic note. Using her skills as a forensic handwriting expert, Claudia gains entry to the compound. She has only days to uncover the truth about Kelly's missing niece before a child's life is written off for good...
Sheila, I've so enjoyed having you as our spotlighted author for this month! I know your books would make wonderful movies, or at least a television series...so I thought I would cast your latest book! Now, don't think of Javonic as House--think of him as a beautiful blue-eyed cop...I think it works!
What do YOU think Sheila...
Thanks so much for spending time with us here on Book Readers Heaven and on Facebook Reviewers Roundup!
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