NEWS | The Magicians Optioned for TV and a new Sanderson Novella

According to Deadline.com Fox has optioned Lev Grossman's The Magicians for a TV series.  The co-writers on the project are Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz who previously worked on the Fox series Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles as well as writers on many comic book movies including X-Men: First Class and Thor.  Given The Magicians edginess and modern setting this could be a good fit for Fox, but I'll be curious how they handle the sexual aspects of the story. Plus special effects will only increase as the story goes on when the more fantastical elements kick-in.  I see the first season being mostly set at Brakebills with the season finale leading to the other world part of the story for season two.  As of right now the series is not green-lighted, but a pilot script is in the works and according to io9 Fox's contract has a penalty, which usually implies they'll at least film the pilot.

This week Brandon Sanderson released a surprised e-only novella called Infinity Blade: Awakening, which is also his first tie-in fiction. Infinity Blade is a video game that is one of the best-selling games on the iPad. I've played it quite a bit and though it is repetitive it does have gorgeous graphics and an interesting story line to start.  Sanderson's novella is supposed to bridge the first game and the sequel that will be coming out later this year. Sanderson wrote a long blog explain the reasons he agreed to the project:

This story was just plain FUN to write. I had a blast with it, and it turned out quite well. I got to play with the idea of blending entertainment media—the story is for sale in-game, and together with the game, blends storytelling with gameplay. I think our world is going to change in interesting ways as books, video games, and cinema meld together.

So, this story hit a sweet spot for me. I got creative freedom, the ability to work with fun people, a chance to work with some interesting limitations, a chance to dip my toes into video games (they also let me do a draft on the script for the second game), and a chance to play with transmedia.

...this story is intended to be accessible to all—but that said, it does rely a lot on things that happened in the first game while throwing balls up into the air for the second game to catch. (That was part of the challenge.) Much like THE ALLOY OF LAW, it is not intended to be the end-all of my career, but rather is me exploring new types of writing and trying to have fun along the way.

Also, Sanderson is amping up his short story output saying:

You'll see me releasing a handful of short fiction pieces over the next year. I've got some in anthologies, others I'm preparing to do directly as electronic downloads, and then a few other very special pieces.

So it looks like we'll be plenty more of Sanderson to tide us over between his Epic-sized novels.

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