Lisa Unger's BLACK OUT has been optioned by longtime Martin Scorsese producer Barbara De Fina, writer and director Austin Chick, and Andrew Kletjian.

Chick has written, directed and produced two films, XX/XY and August, both of which Lisa calls "brilliant and quirky."  He also provided uncredited contributions to the script of Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. Barbara De Fina's has produced such blockbuster classics as Goodfellas, Casino, Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence and The Color of Money.

Lisa is "thrilled and excited to have these mega-talented people attached to BLACK OUT."

For more information, see the recent article in The Hollywood Reporter.

Canada's premier mystery writers' and fan conference Bloody Words will be in Ottawa from June 5-7, 2009. Confirmed guests of honor include Denise Mina, Louise Penny and Barbara Fradkin with Mary Jane Maffini as Mistress of Ceremonies. For more information and registration forms, please visit www.bloodywords2009.com.

By Karna Small Bodman

As I heard the first news reports of the tragic attacks on Mumbai, India I had this eerie "déjà vu all over again" feeling.  It was positively weird because when I had the idea for my debut thriller, CHECKMATE, which came out in hardback in early 2007 and is now out in paperback, I researched a (then) obscure terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba and "created" a militant cell that stages attacks on Indian targets in an attempt to foment more trouble between India and Pakistan - two nuclear armed nations that have already fought three wars. In my novel, the White House gets involved in diplomatic efforts to forestall retaliation against Pakistan and there are more twists as all sides race to find the perpetrators and protect against further attacks.

Now, of course, we learn that this very group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, is responsible for the Mumbai attacks, as well as many others, and their training camps have been the breeding ground for militant operating throughout the region. As soon as the story hit the airwaves, I started getting emails and dozens of requests to do radio interviews about how CHECKMATE predicted the actions of this terrorist group.

In the interviews, talk show hosts all seem fascinated with the idea that some novelists are writing stories based on current events -- as many ITW authors are right doing right now. Then again, there are many fine authors who have taken a real event and done a "what if" to create a story.  I'm reminded of Nelson DeMille's thriller, The Lion's Game, which was based on our country's bombing of Libya back in the mid-80's.  In that story, DeMille imagined a young Libyan character who was so incensed that we bombed his country that he comes over here and tries to systematically track down and kill every member of the bombing squad. And when I met DeMille at Book Expo, I told him I had been in the Situation Room of The White House the night we bombed Libya and so his great story brought it all back to me. That was a "look back." Now many of our authors are "looking ahead" with prescient accuracy.  In fact, many have been invited to The White House to share their ideas with national security planners to try and anticipate various chilling scenarios.

Perhaps instead of calling our books "fiction" they should now be called "faction."

For more information on CHECKMATE, please visit Karna's website.

Toronto-based production company Media Headquarters has optioned the film and television rights to Howard Shrier's BUFFALO JUMP and its sequel, HIGH CHICAGO. The contract--which happened to arrive on November 13, Howard's birthday--was negotiated by entertainment agent Carl Liberman, head of the literary department at The Characters Agency.

Media Headquarters, headed by partners Rob and Shari Cohen, has produced award-winning drama, documentary, reality and children's programming, including the recent miniseries The Summit, starring Bruce Greenwood and Christopher Plummer. Broadcaster and distributor partners have included CBC, CTV, CanWest, PBS, NFB and many others.

For more information on BUFFALO JUMP, please visit the Random House website. 

The first book in the Vampire Apocalypse series, A WORLD TORN ASUNDER (2006), by Irish writer and ITW member Derek Gunn, has been optioned for film and by LA-based producer/screenwriter Richard Finney.

A movie script has been penned by Richard Finney and Franklin Guerrero, based on the book. Their adaptation led to a recent partnership on the project with producer, Robert Lawrence (Die Hard: With a Vengence, Clueless, The Last Castle). Currently the project is in development and is being represented by the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) who is packaging the project for the studios.

The second book in this series, DESCENT INTO CHAOS, was released in October 2008. The third book, FALLOUT, is due out in 2009. For more information, please visit Derek's website at http://www.derekgunn.com.