A long, long time ago, in a borough far, far away I used to work for HarperCollins. One of my last acts there as publicity manager was to add myself to the reviewer list I had created for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror books. Surprisingly, they kept me on that list and every few months or so I receive a little something in the mail. I guess they consider me a big mouth, which I kinda am. My favorite books I’ve received to date from them have been Joe Hill’s Heart Shaped Box and his short story collection 20th Century Ghosts (Kudos to the William Morrow designer of that package).
Today’s gift from Harper and the UPS gods was Beowulf, The Script Book by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary. The Harper Entertainment press release reminds me that Beowulf is “one of the oldest surviving works in English” and from the sounds of it, the epic poem is paralleled by Gaiman and Avary’s epic quest to make the film. Having already read Beowulf once in high school, again in college, then afterwards merely for pleasure (yeah, I know), I don’t think I’m ready yet to read it again now in convenient script form. However, the Foreword, Middleword and Afterword, along with a couple pages of concept art will make it appealing for fans of the flick.
(side note: If you haven’t read it yet I highly recommend the very entertaining Grendel by John Gardner)
Also in today’s mail, a copy of The Wentworths by Katie Arnoldi along with my invitation to the party on April 23. Thanks Jack! Jack assures me in his press release that The Wentworths is “Dark, erotic and savagely funny.” After reading the first chapter, I have to agree.