Acacia to the Silver Screen
Some great new fantasy books have graced bookstore shelves in the last few years: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik are only some of the books that have raised a new bar—a new standard—in sci-fi/fantasy publishing.
And then there is David Anthony Durham, whose first fantasy novel Acacia has just been optioned by Hollywood for a live-action movie!
When I first spoke to David Anthony Durham, Acacia had not yet been released. Doubleday, his publisher, hired me to develop a website for the book, and David and I spoke at length about it. Despite being highly-educated and an Associate Professor in the MFA program of California State University, Fresno, he was very nice and curious and wanted to hear my advice to its fullest when it came to his website. The man was earnest about his novel but I could hear the joy for life behind the voice, that desire to connect with a fun and adventurous readership that fantasy offers.
He still does not disappoint. He is open to talking to anyone about his work or the fantasy genre even now on his Forum after his success.
Acacia has been read by most of the major sci-fi/fantasy blogs out there on the internet and most of them have said the same thing—the story is epic on the scale of George RR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire. The two writers convey their stories differently—Martin uses dialog whenever possible and Durham writes more like a historical novelist—but the magnitude of the stories and the care of their telling match up. Acacia is one of those books I hope gains a much larger audience because it simply deserves it—the quality of the book demands it.
So if you are looking for a great epic fantasy book, try Acacia!
The quality of the book is why Hollywood just optioned Acacia. Relativity Media has acquired the rights and Andrew Grant will adapt the first book in the series. There are of course many steps along the way to a movie being greenlit and put into production, but having Hollywood continue its splurge of optioning fantasy-based stories is a strong indication movie studios still consider fantasy a viable and lucrative opportunity. They’ve made a great choice in Acacia!
Read David’s Blog for his thoughts on the movie and how it all came about.
And if you haven’t read Acacia definitely go out there and buy it. The paperback will be released on August 26th!
Newest posts:
Comments
That rocks! Having read Acacia and participated a bit over at his forum, I can tell you that both the book and the author are great! I hope this movie goes forward.