MEME: Which SF/F Books Do You Want To Be Made Into Movies?
By John DeNardo |
Saturday, June 6th, 2009 at
12:20 am
Inspired by Books are my only friends (and as the flip side to SciFi Wire’s recent 7 ‘Unfilmable’ SciFi Books post), here’s a quick meme for you: answer the following question:
Q: Which science fiction or fantasy books do you want to be made into movies?
My picks:
- Any of Karl Schroeder’s Virga books
- Any of John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War universe.
- The Affinity Bridge by George Mann.
- For space opera: Alastair Reynolds Chasm City.
Related posts:
- More on SF Books Made into Movies
- MEME: 2007 SF/F/H Movies I Want to See
- GIVEAWAY: The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made
- GIVEAWAY Results: The Greatest Sci Fi Movies Never Made
- MEME: Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time
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I once e-mailed James Hogan, asking why his novel The Proteus Operation had never been made into a film. He expressed disappointment with me that that hadn’t happened.
To be honest, there are probably about a hundred SF novels/short stories I’d like to see made into movies.
This is fun to think about and, if the rest of the 2009 film slate pans out well, perhaps we might see one of our favorites make it to the screen sooner than later.
In no particular order:
Altered Carbon (Tak Kovacs) – Richard K. Morgan (Directed by Ridley Scott)
Gridlinked (Ian Cormac) – Neal Asher (Directed by Martin Campbell)
Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson (Directed by Gore Verbinski)
The Electric Church (Avery Cates) – Jeff Somers (Directed by Wachowskis)
Old Man’s War – John Scalzi (Directed by Steven Spielberg)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – Heinlein (Directed by Peter Jackson)
Rama – Arthur C. Clarke
I blogged about this a few months ago – see here.
Heroes Die by Matthew Stover
Dark Wing by Walter Hunt
Vampire Earth by E.E. Knight
Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
The Scar by China Mievielle
I do like your ideas Karl for sure (and after seeing a better hover bike in the new trek very much able to be done.) and the Reynolds would be good to but I think The Prefect, Pushing Ice, House of Suns, or Century Rain would be even better. Some of his short stories Revelation space or others would be good to. Another that would be good would be Charles Stoss’s Accelerando, or with the near future vibe Halting State, and though I do not know if it could get anything but an nc17 rating Saturns Children. And to close any of the near future works of Sterling, Gibson, or Vinge would make good movies, that being in the near future, with little true sci fi ideas(spaceships, aliens, and the like) they could really just be made like alot of todays action adventure movies, and get even more people watching good science fiction without knowing they are.
Double Star by Heinlein, starring Tom Hanks.
All good suggestions!
But bonus points to Walt for the casting suggestion.
I’m substantially older than most of you, so I’m not surprised that you left out many of the old timers.
A couple of you noted Heinlein and Clarke, but there are others of theirs I think are worthy.
So, some more Classic suggestions:
Heinlein’s “Rolling Stones”. Easily updated and great adventure (The old Lucas anyone?)
Arthur C. Clarke’s “Childhood’s End”. Until recently, the special effects required to do this right didn’t exist.
Again, Clarke’s “City and the Stars”. Alvin is a classic outsider hero and his adventures and discoveries are very cinematic.
Poul Anderson’s “Polesotechnic” books.
Cifford Simak’s “City”. (Pixar?)
A real movie of “I, Robot”. There really ought to be a law!!
There are many more which could be updated and make wonderful movies.
Oh and I love Reynolds, Scalzi and Schroeder. And any of Morgan’s Takeshi Kovacs novels would be great.
We could go on……
Rick York
Would love to see any and all of Scalzi’s Old Man’s War stuff up on the big screen. Mieville’s Perdido Street Station or The Scar would be fun too. VanderMeer’s City Of Saints and Madmen would be awesome. It could be the short stories done sort-of like Sin City.
I’ll go along with Schroeder’s Virga books.
I would also like to see Scott Sigler’s Infected and David Weber’s Honor Harrington on the big screen.
Helix by Eric Brown
I would very much like to see an adaptation after Peter F. Hamilton’s Commonwealth Saga. At least the first two books, Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained. It was one of the best SF books I had the pleasure to read. Can’t wait for the rest of the books of the saga to be available in my country.
Some that come to mind are: The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, The Chrysalids by John Wyndham as well as a faithful adaptation of The Day of the Triffids, Dying Inside by Silverberg and Nightwings, The World for World is Forest by Le Guin.
There are others. Maybe someday.
The Gap series by Stephen R Donaldson
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson
Michael Moorcock’s ELRIC, probably based on THE STEALER OF SOULS and STORMBRINGER. Would need a really great director who understood the material, but I think this is one of the most potent unfilmed properties in genre.
I’d rather see more shorter-length fiction, short stories and novellas, made into movies. Novels are just too complex; too many plot lines and characters have to be sacrificed to fit the 2-3 hour movie format. Since movies have to do a lot of patching and filling anyway, I’d rather they add to short works than cut away the complexity that makes novels great. If you look at the record of sf movie adaptations, more of the good ones build on a short story instead of cutting back a novel.
That’s a great point, Matt. Shorter fiction lends itself better to a self-contained story that can be completely told.
Thomas Covenant.
William R. Forstchen’s Lost Regiment series (would make a great syndicated TV series).
Anne Rice’s vampire books (Interview – Queen) done as a limited series/extended miniseries.
Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus.
Doc Savage.
Samuel R Delany’s Nova.