Friday, January 17, 2014

Sci-Fi & Fantasy Icons We Want to See Write SFF Books

(from bookish.com
by Natalie Sutter)



Six years after the last X Files movie, actress Gillian Anderson is returning to science fiction—but this time as an author. Entertainment Weekly reports that Anderson is collaborating with writer Jeff Rovin on a new series called the EarthEnd Saga for Simon451, Simon & Schuster’s new speculative fiction imprint. The first novel, A Vision of Fire (out this October), follows a child psychiatrist who meets a young girl caught in a battle between supernatural forces.

No surprise, Anderson is drawing on her experience playing Agent Dana Scully for the book: She told EW, “After nine years of living in a semi-science-fictional universe, I think I now have an ingrained knowledge and rhythm for it.” We couldn’t agree more! This match-up has us pondering other sci-fi and fantasy heavyweights who could draw on their iconic characters to try their hand at SFF.

Patrick Stewart + Ian McKellen

The elder statesmen of SFF have already gone head-to-head as Professor X and Magneto in the X-Men movies, starred on Broadway together, and run around New York City snapping all sorts of adorable candids. The next logical step is for these BFFs to collaborate on a rollicking, high-fantasy adventure filled with all the mainstays of the genre: dragons, secret princesses, and at least one magical talisman.

Lucy Lawless

It’s been far too long since we heard Xena’s war cry—and the next generation of young female readers need to be introduced to her badassery! The perfect way to match Lawless with Millennial readers would be for her to write a take-no-prisoners YA lady protagonist. Let’s make it urban fantasy, throw in some mythology and demons, and tackle the “strong female character” debate.

Matt Smith

Now that the former Eleventh Doctor has more time on his hands, we want to see his take on a good, old-fashioned space opera. All he has to do is trade in the TARDIS for a retrofitted asteroid spaceship, and he can continue transporting us to distant planets and timelines. (And you know that fans will go crazy if he slips a fez in there.)

Benedict Cumberbatch

One of the most thrilling parts of the BBC’s Sherlock is watching Holmes go to his “mind palace,” a truly stunning feat that helps him pull out insignificant details to crack cases. Cumberbatch spends enough time faking such deduction that he could apply it to a cyberpunk thriller filled with virtual reality worlds and transhuman protagonists.

Sigourney Weaver

Though Weaver is never not relevant to SFF—as cameos in recent films like The Cabin in the Woods attest—we’ll always remember her most fondly as Ellen Ripley in the Alien films. Considering how much screen time she’s spent opposite the most insidious extraterrestrial parasite, she’s got everything she needs to pen a sci-fi medical thriller à la Mira Grant. Bonus points if one of the heroes straps on a giant exoskeleton.

Until this wishlist becomes reality, check out these real SFF books from beloved actors:

Aftermath by LeVar Burton
The Guild by Felicia Day
TekWar by William Shatner

No comments:

Post a Comment