The novel that inspired Bruce Willis‘ greatest action movie is back in print. The novel arrives just in time for the release of A Good Day to Die Hard, the fifth film in the Die Hard franchise.
Nothing Lasts Forever, a novel by the late author Roderick Thorp, was adapted into the first Die Hard film. The thriller came out in 1979, but Graymalkin Media has brought the book back to life.
The site includes a list of 42 plot points from the novel that ended up in the first movie. We caught up with Graymalkin’s David Zindel, finding out how he ended up reviving this classic thriller.
Zindel told the story of how he discovered the book:
I was living in Century City and watching “Die Hard” one night. Behind my television was a window where the real life Nakatomi building loomed high above, so you could look for Bruce Willis, helicopters, and shootouts in real time. When the credits rolled I noticed the movie was based on a book, which I never knew. So I got a copy.
Not only was it an exciting read, I couldn’t believe how much the events in the movie mirrored it. I got in touch with the author’s family, pitched them my idea for the reissue, and they agreed to move ahead.
My designers and I completely modernized the book from the inside out, but stayed true to the author’s vision. We had a lot of fun adding details like using a Sharpie font for a handwritten list – an homage to the scene in “Die Hard” where Bruce Willis writes the names of the terrorists on his arm. (image embedded below)
Zindel also shared some of the company’s plans for future books…
We are about to release an enhanced ebook for Johanna Reiss’s Newbery Honor-winning book The Upstairs Room and its sequel The Journey Back. This amazing autobiographical series is about a young Jewish girl who hides from the Nazis during WWII.
The new edition will have interactive bonus features, which include links to Google Maps for 360-degree exploration of key locations in the book, a Q&A with the author, as well as photos of Johanna and the strangers who risked their lives in order to save hers.
And of course we’re looking forward to working with other authors, agents, and estates to make their titles available in a variety of formats.