Attention on the STARZ adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is growing. As we reported earlier, the project has seen bumps in the road but now appears firmly on track, with an impressive cast and a hot showrunner.

In an Entertainment Weekly interview, promoting his new nonfiction collection The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction (HC/William Morrow; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample), Gaiman talks about the process of the novel’s adaption, addressing his feelings of ownership and the struggle to let them go:

“My fundamental attitude is that you’re always trying to guard the soul and the heart of whatever it is, but at the same time you have to allow people to create, and you have to allow people to have fun and build and make it their own. To me it’s kind of a peculiar tightrope, and you don’t want to fall off on one side or the other … At least in script stage, I am very not shy about telling [series creator] Bryan Fuller, ‘I love this, I love this, I love this, and that thing you had, that’s over my dead body and you have to change it.’ ”

He also reports that despite his conflicted feelings the show is already on its own path, “they’re 10 days into shooting, and the only thing I am absolutely sure of is that this American Gods is its own thing … If it succeeds or if it fails, it’ll be on its own terms. I know I’ve never seen anything that looked like it.”

Last year Fuller gave an interview to Crave about American Gods, saying:

“potentially what we’re looking at with American Gods is developing a Marvel Universe, not with superheroes but with gods. As detailed and integrated as the Marvel Universe is, and doing that with deities is something that excited all of us … we may have spin-offs of American Gods that follow lesser gods in greater detail than you might in the main series, but there’s all sorts of potential for this show that we’re very excited about”

Den of Geek‘s take on that is: “In other words, this won’t just be a straight adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel, and is instead being looked at very much as long form television.”

The site also has a rundown of the casting thus far, calling the recent news that Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) will play Media, “infinitely awesome.”

She joins Ian McShane (Deadwood) playing Mr. Wednesday and Ricky Whittle (The 100), as Shadow Moon.

The show is set to air in a 10-episode first season early in 2017.

Gaiman fans will have a chance to see and hear even more about the author when the documentary Neil Gaiman: Dream Dangerously airs on the video platform and streaming service Vimeo, starting on July 8th.

Deadline Hollywood reports, “Gaiman’s story is told in his own worlds as well as through interviews with close friends/collaborators Terry Pratchett, Bill Hader, Michael Sheen, Lenny Henry, Wil Wheaton, Stoya, JH Williams III, Lev Grossman, … as well as his chats with George RR Martin, Jonathan Ross, John Barrowman, Grant Morrison and Phillip Pullman.”

The holds leaders arriving this week are:

End of Watch, Stephen King, (S&S/Scribner; S&S Audio)

Stephen King is poised to join his son on best seller lists. Joe Hill’s The Fireman, arrived at #1 on the NYT list last week and is currently at #8. King’s new title completes the trilogy that began with Mr. Mercedes and continued in Finders Keepers.

Dishonorable Intentions, Stuart Woods, (PRH/Putnam; Penguin Audio; BOT)

The House of Secrets, Brad Meltzer, Tod Goldberg, (Hachette/Grand Central; Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print)

With co-author Tod Goldberg Meltzer introduces a new series that will appeal to the conspiracy-minded.

The is also the week when James Patterson ups his output with the first two titles in his new trade paperback original series, BookShots (see earlier story).

The titles covered here, and several other notable titles arriving next week, are listed with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet, EarlyWord New Title Radar, Week of June 6, 2016

Peer Picks

Three LibraryReads titles come out this week,

 Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, Mary Roach (Norton; Brilliance Audio; OverDrive Sample), a quirky, funny, nonfiction foray that looks at science and warfare. Expect a wave of publicity with excerpts, interviews, and reviews in major sources.

“With courageous curiosity, journalistic persistence, and a wry empathetic sense of humor, Roach once again delves into a fascinating topic few of us would openly explore. She writes about the issues confronting the military in its attempt to protect and enable combat troops. Roach brings to our attention the amazing efforts of science to tackle all the challenges of modern warfare. Grunt is another triumph of sometimes uncomfortable but fascinating revelation.” — Darren Nelson, Sno-Isle Libraries, Marysville, WA

It is a summer reading pick by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a list widely syndicated in regional newspapers.

Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi (RH/Knopf; RH Audio; BOT; OverDrive Sample).

“An engaging family saga following two half-sisters – one who marries into privilege and one sold into slavery – and their descendants as they navigate the politics of their separate countries and their heritage. Each is directly affected in some way by the choices of the past, and finding the parallels in the triumphs and heartbreak makes for an engrossing read.” — Amanda Monson, Bartow County Library System, Cartersville, GA

Gyasi earned a $1 million advance for her debut, which gives it a publicity hook, but it is also appealing to reviewers. It addition to being a LibraryReads pick, it is an Indie Next selection and is on four summer reading lists: The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly‘s top 10 choices, B&N, and  Buzzed. It is reviewed today on the NYT site (in print, it will appear in the upcoming NYT Sunday Review)

Lily and the Octopus, Steven Rowley (S&S; S&S Audio; OverDrive Sample)

“Rowley has lovingly captured what it is like to be totally invested in caring for another life, another heart. This book is a true gift for anyone who has experienced the loss of a dog, but especially for those of us who have nursed a beloved dog through an illness even though you both knew it was going to be a losing battle. A special bond is formed there, and the story of Lily and Ted illustrates it so perfectly.” — Mary Coe, Fairfield Woods Branch Library, Fairfield, CT

It is also an Indie Next pick and a B&N summer reading list selection.

Four additional Indie Next picks hit the shelves as well, two of which are also on the widely-syndicated  St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s summer reading list, Marrow Island and Wintering.

Marrow Island, Alexis M. Smith (HMH; RH Audio; BOT; OverDrive Sample).

“After an earthquake destroyed the oil refinery on Marrow Island and killed her father, Lucie Bowen left. Twenty years later, she returns to the Puget Sound and discovers her friend Kate is now living on this toxic island with members of ‘The Colony.’ Set in the Pacific Northwest, Marrow Island is a mystery/thriller that encompasses communal living, natural and man-made disasters, and what can happen when we tinker with the ecosystem and try to play a larger role.” —Tracy Taylor, The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA

Wintering, Peter Geye (RH/Knopf; Blackstone Audio; OverDrive Sample).

“It is tempting to inhale Wintering in a great rush because it is such a suspenseful, wild, and dangerous survival story. That would be a mistake. Geye magically conveys the starkness, beauty, and despair of the northern Minnesota borderlands in prose that deserves to be savored. He gives us characters with deep, complex interior lives who struggle with secrets, love, and damaged relationships. A powerful father-son story and a landscape revealed in breathtaking detail make this a novel to read with care and wonder.” —Tripp Ryder, Content Bookstore, Northfield, MN

Goodnight, Beautiful Women, Anna Noyes (Perseus/PGW/Legato/Grove Press/Recorded Books; OverDrive Sample).

“These interconnected stories set in Maine and around the Northeast coast announce a startling new writer of strong literary fiction. Noyes’ women yearn, stumble, get back up, make terrible mistakes, strive, keep dark secrets, take off, come back again, and fumble toward love. An extraordinarily raw voice that will remind readers of Rebecca Lee and Elizabeth Strout.” —Melanie Fleischman, Arcadia Books, Spring Green, WI

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, Max Porter (Macmillan/Graywolf Press; OverDrive Sample).

“This novel in verse begins with the death of a wife and mother told through the eyes of her husband, her two sons, and, unexpectedly, a crow. Crow — one part trickster-god, one part guardian, and wholly unpredictable — descends upon this fractured family to watch over them in their grief and guide them back to the land of the living. Porter’s phrases and descriptions startled me with their clarity, and undid me with their simple and unexpected poignancy.” —Emily Crowe, Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA

Tie-ins

Star Trek Beyond opens on July 22, 2016, marking the 50th anniversary of the first Star Trek TV broadcast. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto return as Captain Kirk and Commander Spock and Idris Elba comes aboard as well.

Two tie-ins are available thus far, both supporting the franchise rather than serving as direct adaptations of the movie.

Star Trek The Official Guide to Our Universe: The True Science Behind the Starship Voyages, Andrew Fazekas (PRH/National Geographic)

The Star Trek Book, Paul Ruditis (PRH/DK; OverDrive Sample).

It is a busy year for le Carré adaptations. After the success of The Night Manager comes the feature film Our Kind of Traitor. Starring Ewan McGregor, Damian Lewis, Stellan Skarsgård, it opens July 1.

The tie-in is Our Kind of Traitor: A Novel (Movie Tie-In), John le Carré (PRH/Penguin Books; OverDrive Sample).

Thus far the movie is getting mixed reviews. The Hollywood Reporter says it is “High-toned but ho-hum,” The Independent calls it “entertaining but very lightweight,” but the UK version of Den of Geek says it is “a breath of fresh air. Warmly recommended.”

For those who want to know more about the author, PRH/Viking will publish le Carre’s memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life, in Sept.

The next Ice Age animated film, opening July 22, brings three tie-ins starting with Ice Age: Collision Course: The Junior Novel, J.E. Bright (S&S/little bee books).

The fifth movie in the series features all the usual characters, plus a few more, as they try to save the world from an asteroid collision. Also out is the storybook Volcano to the Rescue!, Mike Teitelbaum (S&S/little bee books) and two leveled readers by Suzy Capozzi: Scrat’s Space Adventure (S&S/little bee books; also in paperback) and Welcome to Geotopia (S&S/little bee books; also in paperback).

Finally, there is a new Warcraft, tie-in, Warcraft Official Movie Novelization, Christie Golden (PRH/Titan Books; OverDrive Sample).

This is in addition to Warcraft: Durotan: The Official Movie Prequel, Christie Golden (PRH/Titan Books), which we wrote about in early May.

For our full list of upcoming adaptations, download our Books to Movies and TV and link to our listing of tie-ins.

The adaptations that debuted last week did quite well. Deadline reports that the remake of Roots wrapped “respectably,” despite competition from basketball. It’s a sign of the changing media landscape that the series was not expected to do nearly as well as the original, which dominated the airwaves in 1977 when there were only a few network TV stations to choose from.

On the other hand,ratings were soft for Cinemax’s Outcast, based on the comics by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman. Reviewers have also not been kind.That won’t have any effect on the potential for a second season. It’s already been renewed.

On the big screen, Me Before You went beyond analysts predictions.

Coming this week:

Monday, June 6, TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles begins its 7th and final season, in a show ending 13 episodes run.

Variety reports the series was canceled in January, saying it had “faded since its very strong first two seasons in 2010 and 2011, but remains among the most popular cable programs.”

The show, a mix of police procedural and forensic medical thriller, is based on the popular mystery series by Tess Gerritsen. Publisher PRH/Ballantine is issuing a new set of mass market paperbacks with covers linking the books to the TV series. The most recent is The Mephisto Club: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel.

The film Blackway opens on June 10, starring Anthony Hopkins, Julia Stiles, Ray Liotta, and Alexander Ludwig,  tells the story of a woman stalked by a small town thug who has scared off the police. She turns to an old logger and his side kick for help.

It is based on the novel Go With Me, Castle Freeman, Jr. (Steerforth, 2009; HarperPerennial), which The Wall Street Journal said had “echoes of Deliverance and Cormac McCarthy.”

Also opening on June 10 is Genius, a literary bio-pic featuring an all-star cast including Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Dominic West, and Guy Pearce. Firth plays Max Perkins, Law, the writer Thomas Wolfe, West stars as Ernest Hemingway, and Guy Pearce plays F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The film is based on Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, A. Scott Berg (PRH/NAL; OverDrive Sample). As we wrote last week, a tie-in is available.

Arriving tomorrow is the first in James Patterson’s new original trade paperback series, titled BookShots. The first in the series features his most popular character, Cross Kill: An Alex Cross Story (Hachette/BookShots; Hachette Audio; OverDrive Sample), it is just 144 pages long. [UPDATE: a second BookShot will also be released tomorrow, Zoo 2 : A Zoo Story, James Patterson, Max DiLallo. The series will release 2 to 4 titles the first week of each month, see list below].

CBS Sunday Morning featured an interview with Patterson yesterday [Note: the video of the interview is no longer available]. He explains the idea behind BookShots,

“This is a little bit of a revolution … unfortunately for a lot of people …books [have become] just too long for them to deal with … [BookShots] are very, very fast-paced. They’re like reading a movie.”

CBS correspondent Anthony Mason is surprised to learn that Patterson writes books in longhand, rather than using a computer, to which the author replies “Yeah, well, thank God I don’t work on a computer because then I’d be really prolific!”

Twenty-three BoosShots will be released in 2016. Mason says that Patterson, who is famous for using co-authors, is “involved in every single one of them” and Patterson adds for “80% of ’em I did the outline.”

Included are titles that appear distinctly non-Pattersonesque, listed as “James Patterson’s BookShots Flames.”

Below are the titles scheduled through the end of the year.

The Trial: A BookShot : A Women’s Murder Club Story, James Patterson, Maxine Paetro, July 5

Little Black Dress, James Patterson, Emily Raymond, July 5

Learning to Ride , Erin Knightley, James Patterson (Foreword by), July 5

The McCullagh Inn in Maine , Jen McLaughlin, James Patterson (Foreword by), July 5

Chase: A BookShot : A Michael Bennett Story, James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge, Aug. 2

Let’s Play Make-Believe, James Patterson, James O. Born, Aug 2

113 Minutes : A Story in Real Time, James Patterson, Max DiLallo, Sept. 6

Hunted, James Patterson, Andrew Holmes, Sept. 6

Sacking the Quarterback, Samantha Towle, James Patterson (Foreword by), Sept. 6

The Mating Season, Laurie Horowitz, James Patterson (Foreword by) Sept. 6

$10,000,000 Marriage Proposal, James Patterson, Hilary Liftin,  Oct. 4

French Kiss : A Detective Luc Moncrief Story, James Patterson, Richard DiLallo, Oct. 4

Killer Chef, James Patterson, Jeffrey J. Keyes, Nov. 1

Dazzling: The Diamond Trilogy, Part I, Elizabeth Hayley, James Patterson (Foreword by), Nov. 1

Bodyguard, Jessica Linden, James Patterson (Foreword by), Nov. 1

The Christmas Mystery : A Detective Luc Moncrief Story, James Patterson, Richard DiLallo, Dec. 6

Black & Blue, James Patterson, Candice Fox (With), Dec. 6

Radiant: The Diamond Trilogy, Part II, Elizabeth Hayley, James Patterson (Foreword by)

Another in a line of books aimed at discrediting Hillary Clinton received attention yesterday from the Drudge Report. The exclusive sent Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate, Gary J. Byrne (Hachette/Center Street; 6/28/16) racing to the top of Amazon’s sales rankings (jumping from 48,237 to #1).

Byrne, a former Secret Service officer assigned to the White House, offers a tell-all about what he saw during the Clinton years, including what he observed of Monica Lewinsky and his take on Hillary Clinton.

The book has been embargoed but Drudge has the exclusive, claiming that the book is “causing deep concern inside of Clinton’s campaign” and quoting Byrne as saying “What I saw in the 1990s sickend me … I want you to hear my story.”

The UK conservative tabloid, Daily Mail, also has the story and Politico included it in their “Playbook” section of what is driving the day in D.C.

Byrne made news back in the late 90s, getting attention in the NYT‘s for his reporting to the White House deputy chief of staff about Lewinsky’s appearances in the West Wing without, he believed, authorization. The Lewinsky story was originally broken by the Drudge Report, bringing it to national attention.

As a result of the embargo, there were no prepub reviews and, as a result, only a few libraries we checked have ordered copies.

On the strength of what amounts to a full court press of coverage and to-die-for buzz, Before the Fall, Noah Hawley (Hachette/Grand Central; OverDrive Sample) is racking up impressive hold figures at many libraries we checked, soaring as high as a 23:1 ratio.

One reason for the long queues, libraries bought low even in the face of starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly and even though Hawley is well-known as the force behind the popular FX adaptation of Fargo.

Glowing consumer reviews came out on the eve of publication or the day of, also suggesting the media was expecting a hit. In a NYT‘s Sunday Book Review (posted on May 30, in print on June 5), author Kristin Hannah says:

“Noah Hawley really knows how to keep a reader turning the pages, but there’s more to the novel than suspense. On one hand, Before the Fall is a complex, compulsively readable thrill ride of a novel. On the other, it is an exploration of the human condition, a meditation on the vagaries of human nature, the dark side of celebrity, the nature of art, the power of hope and the danger of an unchecked media. The combination is a potent, gritty thriller that exposes the high cost of news as entertainment and the randomness of fate.”

In their review published the day the novel hit shelves, The Washington Post says it is “superb and cleverly constructed” and “should become one of the summer’s hottest sellers.”

The day of publication, USA Today wrote: “Noah Hawley has a hit show as the award-winning creator of FX’s quirky crime drama Fargo. Now he’s eyeing the best-seller lists: Before the Fall … is poised for takeoff.”

Rounding out the praise, it is an Amazon Editors Pick as a Best of the Month, an Indie Next pick, and it made the widely-syndicated St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s summer reading list.

So why the low order numbers at libraries? As The Wall Street Journal notes the author may be suffering from the track record of his previous titles. WSJ says: “Between 1998 and 2012, Mr. Hawley published four novels, none of which could be called a hit. At a low point, in 2008, there was The Punch, a family story that sold a mere 281 print copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen BookScan.”

But Hawley is a hot property now, following his Emmy-winning work on Fargo (he also worked on Bones).

Before The Fall sold to Sony before it was published, and Deadline Hollywood reports that Hawley “will produce the feature with John Cameron.” Publisher Grand Central, reports WSJ, “ordered an initial print run of 88,000 copies and has since reprinted an additional 16,000 copies. Foreign rights have been sold in 24 territories and counting.”

The attention continues. NPR’s Morning Edition got in on the buzz yesterday, interviewing the author.

The dream-team of the year may be Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, starring in Disney’s forthcoming live-action film, Mary Poppins Returns.

Blunt, who proved her musical chops in Into The Woods, will play the magical nanny while Miranda, currently winning every prize possible for a musical, will play a lamplighter named Jack.

According to The Telegraph, “This new story will take place in Depression-era London. It follows adult Jane and Michael Banks, who, along with Michael’s three children, are visited by Poppins following a personal loss. She and her friend Jack then help the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives.”

Rob Marshall (Chicago, Into the Woods) will direct and Tony-winners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman will create the score and write the songs. No word yet if Miranda will get a crack at those as well.

Vulture reports that the film will not only be based on the Disney told story but on the seven other books PL Travers wrote, quoting Marshall: “This is an extension. I’m a huge fan of the original [but]… There is all this new material – it was the Harry Potter of its time – and they were never turned into anything further than that [one] adventure.”

Disney is now known for live action re-boots of their classics films, including the box office hits Cinderella and The Jungle Book,  Coming next year is Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson.

It’s difficult to guess if author P.L. Travers, who famously hated Disney’s first version of her book, would approve of the new one, but Julie Andrews, who played the title role, said back in October, that, after fifty years, it is “about time” for a new version.

Mary Poppins Returns is currently scheduled to open on Christmas Day, 2018.

We often joke here at EarlyWord that we get our news based on which books are rising Amazon’s sales rankings.

Sometimes the connections are surprising, like when Josephine Tey’s 1951 mystery, The Daughter of Time experienced a sudden sales spike, on the news  of the discovery of Richard III’s bones (in the novel, Tey’s detective looks in to why Richard was regarded as an evil hunchback, even though a contemporary portrait shows him quite differently).

Today, Katherine A. Applegate’s 2013 Newbery Award winning book, The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins), about a gorilla living in a cage in a shopping mall, made a sudden leap to #157. We suspect that the interest was spiked by the story of Harambe, the gorilla who was killed in a Cincinnati zoo, a story that even caught Donald Trump’s attention.

The book also recently received a boost, based on the news in early May that Disney is planning to adapt it as a movie.

The newest pick from Costco book buyer Pennie Clark Ianniciello is far from new, but it is certainly all the rage: Ron Chernow’s biography, Alexander Hamilton (PRH/Penguin, 2004).

In making her choice Ianniciello says:

“From mentions on podcasts to small talk at the salon, that name is on many people’s lips. So, I thought I’d go back to the book responsible for all the hubbub … What I love most about the rekindled popularity of this book is that its brains and newly found street cred make it a book the whole family can enjoy.”

In a feature  in the Costco Connection, Chernow recounts his meeting with the Broadway sensation’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, saying he was “flabbergasted” when Miranda told him “that as he was reading my book, ‘hip-hop songs started rising off the page.’ ”

Chernow also describes what it is like to live in the wake of the Broadway hit: “Every time I see the show and these enormous crowds, I pinch myself with wonder that I somehow triggered off this Hamilton mania.”

The award-winning historian (who trained as an English major) has been experiencing that wonder often, as we wrote earlier, he told the The Wall Street Journal “I never dreamed that I would be autographing Playbills … [this year has been] a biographer’s wish-fulfillment fantasy.”

Also featured this month is Annie Proulx’s Barkskins (S&S/Scribner, S&S Audio), which Costco calls “her magnum opus, a literary force majeure.”

The glowing review tracks the long germination of the novel, begun 30 years ago and mulled over and researched for decades. The writing of it, according to The Wall Street Journal, took close to a decade as well. The end result is, says the Costco reviewer,a “novel that howls, grieves, lilts and erupts with urgency, authority and something that looks a lot like hope.”

It is also the pick of several summer reading lists, catching the eye of Amazon’s Editors, B&N, Buzzfeed, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and USA Today. Canadian librarians agree, selecting it as the #1 title in their June Loan Stars picks.

Consumer media attention began months ago for Emma Cline’s debut The Girls (PRH/Random House; RH Audio; BOT; OverDrive Sample),

when Random House bought it in a three-book deal with the 25-year-old for a rumored $2 million. Film rights were also purchased by producer Scott Rudin.

Due for release on June 14, eager reviewers have jumped on it a full two weeks in advance of publication (now that consumers can pre-order titles, reviewers seem less bound by publication dates).

The NYT Sunday Review posted theirs on Monday. Reviewer Dylan Landis, herself the author of a debut novel that was well-reviewed in the NYT BR, likes Cline’s book, a lot, calling it “a seductive and arresting coming-of-age story hinged on Charles Manson, told in sen­tences at times so finely wrought they could almost be worn as jewelry.”

Even the New Yorker‘s esteemed critic James Wood takes it on, beginning his review by piling on praise, averring that he doesn’t “mean this as the critic’s dutiful mustering of plaudits before the grim march of negatives,” but still, even with that, by the end he is not fully impressed, saying “Despite these many qualities, The Girls never entirely succeeds in justifying itself.”

The Washington Post‘s critic Ron Charles acknowledges that “The hubbub around The Girls threatens to trample what’s so deeply affecting about it,” and seeks to cuts through the buzz to say the book really is as good as its hype, noting “The most remarkable quality of this novel is Cline’s ability to articulate the anxieties of adolescence in language that’s gorgeously poetic without mangling the authenticity of a teenager’s consciousness.” and ending, “debut novels like this are rare, indeed.”

The chat has now ended. Read the archive version, below.

If you’re not part of the program, you can sign up here.