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Author Gets Book Idea While Reading Harry Potter Novel
From: www.writerswrite.com

" Matthew Skelton is the first-time author of Endymion Spring. Warner Bros. has already purchased the movie rights and the book is being translated into over a dozen languages. CTV.ca reports that Skelton says the idea for the book came to him while he was reading a Harry Potter novel.

Skelton's book tells the tale of a young boy who, while running his hand along the shelves of some ancient books in Oxford's Bodleian Library, pricks his finger on a haunted medieval book. The discovery unlocks a 500-year-old mystery that threatens humanity.

But Skelton, 35, says his book is a more challenging read than what Harry Potter fans are used to. And he says his villains are ordinary human beings who have been tempted and corrupted by ambition.

"It does seem strange, but the characters used to visit me. They were in a sense, my only companions," he said.

His friend told him he should send a manuscript to an agent and he did. It caught the eye of one agent, who sent it along to publishers.

"I gathered up the manuscript, took it home, read it on the weekend and felt that feeling that as an editor you just long for, which is huge excitement, hairs standing up on the back of my neck," said Rebecca McNally, fiction publisher at Puffin.

At one point, Rayner James asked Brown about the description in both books of Jesus as a "mortal prophet." "Mortal prophet is two words," said Brown. "The entire religion of Islam views Jesus as a mortal prophet. It's hardly unique to The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail." "We're not saying you can't use those words," Rayner James acknowledged. "Can they be in the film?" quipped the judge, Peter Smith.

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Asked about passages from The Da Vinci Code that were similar to those in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Brown acknowledged "reworking of the passage ? that's how you incorporate research into a novel." But he denied copying. Asked about a description of the Roman emperor Constantine on his deathbed that appears, differently worded, in both books, Brown said: "I'm not crazy about the word 'copied.'" "Copying implies it is identical," he added. "It's not identical."

The Da Vinci Code has sold more than 40 million copies since its release three years ago, and has turned Brown from a hardworking, modestly successful novelist into a literary superstar who tries to avoid the public spotlight. Brown, who has traveled from his New Hampshire home to give evidence in the case, often appeared bemused by Rayner James' questioning. He buried his head in a hand when discussion turned to whether he had used a document that spelled the word "savior" with a telltale British u -- a sign, Rayner James said, that it came from Baigent and Leigh's book.

The attorney reminded him at one point: "You are not the defendant in the proceedings." "Now you tell me," joked Brown.

This computer scientist, inventor and visionary foresees, in just a few decades, a society that is infinitely smarter and resilient, courtesy of "nanobots," robots about the size of blood cells that will do everything from reverse aging to vastly extend intelligence. Nanotechnology already is here, providing coatings on clothing for stain-resistant fibers and helping to deliver drugs to targeted tissues.

For Kurzweil, who has been enamored with artificial intelligence for decades (and multiple books), the rest is just a matter of time. "We will gain power over our fates," he writes. "Our mortality will be in our hands. We will be able to live as long as we want (a subtly different statement from saying we will live forever)."

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The higher power for Singularitarians like himself is intelligence. "In my mind, knowledge is of primary value," he says. "We don't need death to give life meaning. We can give life meaning by expanding knowledge." Music is knowledge, he continues. So is art, and science, and awareness of each other and ourselves. He is convinced that as humanity becomes wiser, we will become more loving. "My vision's not a utopian one, but I do think we'll have better knowledge and means to overcome some of our more-primitive inclinations."

Writely is, simply put, a word processor embedded into a Web browser. It's still in a nascent beta form and is no longer freely distributed; "it's far from perfect," Jen Mazzon writes in her newly revealed role as a member of the Google Writely team.

Despite the drawbacks, it apparently fits perfectly into Google's plans. While better known for its consumer search engine, Google is mounting a significant effort to win over office computer desktops. Its earlier release of a Google Pack of online features, and a deal with Sun Microsystems to deliver the digitized goods was a step in this direction.

In order to battle office software king Microsoft, Google needs to fatten its array of business class offerings to fill glaring holes, such as a day planner. Another missing staple is a word processing program. Writely, made by Upstartle, could fit the bill. "If a decent spreadsheet/database/presentation program goes to Google, this could undermine some of Microsoft's Office revenue," said one industry insider who asked to be unnamed. Google's latest purchase is in line with its preferred means of delivering its software and services over the Internet, rather than selling it on compact disks, writes Om Malik, the analyst who first reported on the pending buy.

The drawback to this approach, though, is that lots of material has to be stored on Google's network of servers. "Convincing the masses that their documents will be safe, especially with all that has been going on lately, may be quite challenging, even if it's FREE!," Malik adds.

Larry McMurtry, co-writer of Brokeback Mountain , thinks the urban drama Crash beat out his film for best picture because Academy members discriminate against rural stories. According to contactmusic.com , the writer was involved with four Oscar nominated films including The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment. He feels Crash won because it was set in Los Angeles, where most of the Academy voters live.

He says: "The three rural films, I was involved with, lost. The one urban film Terms of Endearment won. Members of the Academy are mostly urban people. Crash was a hometown movie.

Amazon.com is in talks with three Hollywood studios about starting a service that would allow consumers to download movies and TV shows for a fee and burn them onto DVD's, according to three people briefed on the discussions.

If the advanced negotiations are successfully concluded, Amazon's service would position itself in the media world alongside rivals like Apple Computer's iTunes as a place where people go not just to order goods to be sent by mail, but to instantly enjoy digital wares as well.

So far, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Brothers are engaged in the talks, said one person close to the talks who, like the others, asked not to be identified because the negotiations are continuing.

Although it is not clear when it might begin, an Amazon downloading service would be sure to send waves through both the media and retail worlds. Players in both industries are racing to offer new ways to give technology-savvy audiences instant access to their favorite shows and songs, in a field crowded with potential rivals using Internet and on-demand technologies.

The expansion of AOL's video service, which will combine free and pay-per-download shows from established programmers and user-created video clips, aims to address complaints about the rigid pricing structure and the mix of available programing on iTunes.

It also puts the Dulles, Virginia unit in competition with Yahoo Inc., which this week said it planned to scale back on creating original programing, and Google Inc..

The service will sell Time Warner-owned shows and those created by other programmers and networks, the company said, declining to name partners.

"We've been in discussion for months with every major cable and broadcast network," Kevin Conroy, executive vice president of AOL Media Networks told Reuters.