News: April 2010 Archives

Musical stage rights to Leanna Renee Hieber's, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker described as a Victorian "Ghostbusters" about an eerie young woman whose skin is white as snow and the cadre of characters who believe she may be the key to an ancient prophecy, sold to Mt. Clair Entertainment to be adapted by the author with music and lyrics by Kenny Seymour, Jim Abbott and Nicholas Roman Lewis.

"The ghostly, Gothic Victorian Fantasy The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker is heading for the legit musical stage," adds Mt. Clair Entertainment. "The author Leanna Renee Hieber will write the book of the musical with music and lyrics by Kenny Seymour (Broadway credits include music direction for Memphis and arrangements for The Wiz) and Nicholas Roman Lewis (creative development for The Alchemist and They Call Me La Lupe) with additional orchestrations and arrangements by Jim Abbott (Wicked, Bombay Dreams, Disney's Tarzan)."

While Leanna was pleasantly surprised to have been approached with this option, it really couldn't be more fitting. Before she became an award winning author she spent ten years as a professional actress and playwright with experience in adapting literature for the professional stage. While she's always claimed she writes using theatrical viewpoints, she couldn't have imagined that when she stepped backstage inside a Broadway theatre for the first time, it would be for a preliminary meeting for her story, a musical made from the 'book of her heart'; A ten year labor of love come to this unexpected new possibility. The successful writing workshop she teaches called "Direct Your Book! Theatre Techniques to a Blockbuster Novel" will now pack a whole new layer of punch. And this exciting news couldn't be better timing, as her sequel in the Strangely Beautiful series, The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker, is just about to release on April 27th.

"Kenny and I had been looking for a musical project for at least two years," says producer Nicholas Roman Lewis. "Leanna's book had enthralled me from the moment I first read it as a manuscript so it was literally always on my desk staring at me. I knew this would make a wonderful musical but perhaps slightly daunting, after all, the book is full of ghosts, magic and murder. And then I thought, "the book is full of ghosts, magic and murder...this MUST be a musical." The characters and epic nature of the story lend themselves to song and I knew that Kenny shared my desire to incorporate sweeping cinematic themes with traditional musical theater styles. The icing on the cake is I think every writers dream; a lead character white as snow and strangely beautiful....I think I hear a song."

For more about Leanna Renee Hieber and her Strangely Beautiful series, visit her website www.leannareneehieber.com and join her on Twitter @leannarenee
 

ITW thriller and mystery novelist R. Barri Flowers has signed with Twilight Times as editor of for a second American Crime Writers League mystery anthology, MURDER HERE, MURDER THERE. This follows last fall's ACWL anthology, MURDER PAST, MURDER PRESENT, which includes a story selected for the Best Mysteries of 2010.

The introduction to MURDER HERE, MURDER THERE will be done by fellow ACWL and ITW member and 2010 Thriller Award Finalist for Best Paperback Original, John Lutz.

"I'm excited to take on the editor role of another ACWL anthology," says Flowers. "It can be challenging at times, but also a nice way to bring talented authors together for a common cause. I'm especially glad to have John Lutz do the intro and a story. He's very down to earth and a superb mystery novelist (I felt the same way about Jan Burke, who did the intro for MURDER PAST, MURDER PRESENT)."

MURDER HERE, MURDER THERE will also include tales from other impressive contributors belonging to the ACWL and ITW, such as Ed Gorman, Shirley Kennett, and 2010 Thriller Award Finalist for Best Short Story, Twist Phelan.

In addition to writing crime fiction, R. Barri Flowers is also a bestselling writer of criminology and true crime books, such as MURDER, AT THE END OF THE DAY AND NIGHT and THE SEX SLAVE MURDERS.

Learn more about the author on his website: http://www.rbarriflowers.com