(Belated) Seasons greetings no. 13

[johnajvide]

Hi, you all.

Sorry for the delay, but it´s been a busy holiday season. In six days me and my wife are going to Tenerife to work there for two months. As usual, lots of things have happened and more are in the pipeline.
My novel "The Kindness" came out in Sweden in january and it has been my greatest success since LTROI (which is incomparable). Very well recieved and a lot of readers and listeners, despite its 700+ page length. So far it´s going to be published in ten other countries, England and Australia being two of them. The translation is done and done well.
"Alternative facts about birds" came out in november, and considering that it is just a strange and funny little book with made-up facts about birds (with illustrations by my wife), it has also been well recieved and the first edition is already sold out. No news about translations.
During a break in writing the american teveseries (whose fate is still unclear) I got an idea for a short novel and finished the 150 pages in five weeks. It´s called "The Reality" (Verkligheten) and is due to come out in Sweden in june. It´s about the wife in a family that has a reality show, how she bit by bit starts to lose her grip on ... reality. It´s not a straight out horror novel, but is has horrific elements in it.
A 450-page crime novel called "The writing in the water" (Skriften i vattnet) is also finished, but it needs quite a lot of editing. There are some very special circumstances regarding that book and all will be revealed once it´s out in 2023. No horror elements except that one of the main protagonists can see ghosts. Otherwise it´s a regular crime story with international twists. Cuba and Shanghai.
The script for the movie "The World Council of Magic" is revised and locked. A few weeks ago we had a first reading with five potential actors, all of them 75-85 years old. It´s now being financed. The Movie "Handling the undead" is set to start shooting in august, delayed one year due to covid. Four other film- and teve projects are in different stages of production. Fingers crossed.
In Tenerife I will either be working on the american teveseries or with editing "The writing in the water". Also try to finish a novella called "The summer of ´85". If I can do that, I will have enough stories for a new short story collection.
So, I´ve been keeping busy. Oh, also did my first real sellout. Participated in a swedish quiz show called "Alla mot alla" (Everybody against everybody) in two seasons, 16 episodes in all. Me and Nina Persson from The Cardigans were a team. It was great fun and we did well. Made it to the quarter finals in both seasons.
I can proudly announce that me and my wife now have reached level 40 in Pokémon Go. Right now we´re playing a co-op game called "It takes two" which I highly recommend if you´re interested in that sort of thing.
My greatest reading experience this year has been "Nuestra parte de la noche" (Our part of the night) by Mariana Enriquez. Strangely enough, it doesn´t seem to be translated into english. I liked it so much that I did a very rare blurb for it. Some of her short story collections are translated though. Check it out, she is a great and original genre writer.
In movies, the thing I can deeply recommend is "Possessor" by Brandon Cronenberg. It´s visceral, existential, unique and it features the great Andrea Riseborough. In my opinion the best horror/sc-fi movie in years.
That´s it for now.
Keep safe, keep calm, keep being kind. Like the nowadays slightly toxical Man says: "It´s so easy to laugh, it´s so easy to hate, it takes guts to be gentle and kind."
All the best and a happy new year.
John

[danielmann861]

No worries with the delay...just glad to see this years post.

Can't wait for The Kindness. I Am The Tiger was a fantastic gift this year. One of the best horror/thrillers I've read all year and a hell of a closer to that trilogy. So I'm very much looking forward to The Kindness whenever it gets released here in Australia.

Still haven't played 'It Takes Two' but heard nothing but great praise for it.

Here's hoping production on Handling the Undead flows well this year (damn that Covid)

Otherwise, stay safe JAL. Stay kind and true and here's wishing all the best to you and your family. In fact, here's hoping 2022 brings better things for us all.

[Milkman]

It's so nice to hear from you, John! Don't worry about the delay, the important thing is that you made it.

2021 was my first year here, and so I was really looking forwards to hearing from you. Now I'm looking forward to the ending of 2022 ahaha. Just joking. One step at a time.
Let's hope this year is a better one, in all aspects. Wish you and your family a great year, full with health and happiness mainly.

I'm really curious about "The Kindness". I don't really know what other languages it'll be translated into, but I'm not getting hopeful there'll be a portuguese version. I'll just get in in English. Besides, reading it in English improves my own English, wich is appreciated.

By the way, I still think of "Seasons greetings 10", when you mentioned having an embryo for a sequel of LTROI
I'm hoping that eventually you say something about that as well. Until then, I'll enjoy your other projects!

All the best for your family and have a great trip! Have fun and enjoy!

[Siggdalos]

Gott nytt år på dig.

The Kindness is my second or third favorite of your books, so it's good to hear that it's done so well. Bummer about HTU's delay, but I'm still very much looking forward to it and the next short story collection, whenever they happen.

[Even]

All the best! Looking forward to everything.

[Jameron]

Wait

Stop

STOP!

You, John, YOU! are writing for the American tv show? This is huge, this is the best news I've had all year ... well, the past twelve months, seeing that this year is only three days old And the vampire's age is back down to twelve, so that cuts out all the usual teen drama nonsense? All the better. So they finally came to their senses, huh? Took them long enough

This is excellent.

[Siggdalos]

You, John, YOU! are writing for the American tv show? This is huge, this is the best news I've had all year ... well, the past twelve months, seeing that this year is only three days old And the vampire's age is back down to twelve, so that cuts out all the usual teen drama nonsense? All the better. So they finally came to their senses, huh? Took them long enough

This is excellent.

No, in this case "the American TV series" refers to a yet-to-be-announced one based on an original concept, unrelated to any of JAL's books. He's mentioned it before on his website and in the Q&A stream he did a year ago. He's not involved at all in Showtime's version of LTROI, last I heard.

Also, Eleanor (the show's version of Eli) has always been planned to be twelve: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv ... n-4150544/

[...] Let the Right One In centers on a father and his 12-year-old daughter whose lives were changed a decade earlier when she was turned into a vampire.

[Milkman]

You, John, YOU! are writing for the American tv show? This is huge, this is the best news I've had all year ... well, the past twelve months, seeing that this year is only three days old And the vampire's age is back down to twelve, so that cuts out all the usual teen drama nonsense? All the better. So they finally came to their senses, huh? Took them long enough

This is excellent.

No, in this case "the American TV series" refers to a yet-to-be-announced one based on an original concept, unrelated to any of JAL's books. He's mentioned it before on his website and in the Q&A stream he did a year ago. He's not involved at all in Showtime's version of LTROI, last I heard.

Also, Eleanor (the show's version of Eli) has always been planned to be twelve: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv ... n-4150544/

[...] Let the Right One In centers on a father and his 12-year-old daughter whose lives were changed a decade earlier when she was turned into a vampire.

I didn't fully understand all the talk about the TV shows up until reading you comment. So, this one in particular, the one John will be giving a helping hand, is not in any way related to LTROI? Correct?
Then we have "Showtime's version of LTROI", in which John will not be present. This is it, right?

I'm kind of bummed it's not the other way around, just a bit though! At the same time I'm really curious about what that story will be like (the one John's envolved in). Also curious about the "Showtime's version of LTROI", but that's a given.

[Siggdalos]

So, this one in particular, the one John will be giving a helping hand, is not in any way related to LTROI? Correct?
Then we have "Showtime's version of LTROI", in which John will not be present. This is it, right?

Correct.
There's a couple threads about the LTROI show in the TV subforum.

[Jameron]

You, John, YOU! are writing for the American tv show? This is huge, this is the best news I've had all year ... well, the past twelve months, seeing that this year is only three days old And the vampire's age is back down to twelve, so that cuts out all the usual teen drama nonsense? All the better. So they finally came to their senses, huh? Took them long enough

This is excellent.

No, in this case "the American TV series" refers to a yet-to-be-announced one based on an original concept, unrelated to any of JAL's books. He's mentioned it before on his website and in the Q&A stream he did a year ago. He's not involved at all in Showtime's version of LTROI, last I heard.

Also, Eleanor (the show's version of Eli) has always been planned to be twelve: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv ... n-4150544/

[...] Let the Right One In centers on a father and his 12-year-old daughter whose lives were changed a decade earlier when she was turned into a vampire.

So I'm confused. The TNT series was shelved and then moved to Showtime, who are making a ten episode TV show, is this not what John is writing for? The reason I mentioned the Eli character being twelve is that the TNT version had Eli being fifteen, more or less. Which means the character has been re-written back as a twelve year old.