Word: authorly
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...desk) collected $83 million domestically. Congo, his adventure saga featuring a talking gorilla, was released last summer to widespread pans but still made a hefty $80 million. Maybe that's because its advertisements didn't feature a single cast member--just the real superstar behind the project: "From the author of Jurassic Park...
...that has so much currency--"obviously written with a movie in mind"--requires qualification when applied to Crichton. "I think of Michael as the high priest of high concept," says Spielberg. All right, concept: Island. Theme park. Dinosaurs. Adults swallowed whole. Kids in peril. Easy. But who said the author had to give us the history of computers along with it? And chaos theory? Fractal vs. Euclidean geometry? And the workings of a Stegosaurus gizzard? And dna? So much dna it's a wonder Crichton hasn't been called as an expert witness in the O.J. trial...
...glamorously seedy plot of David Ramus' new thriller, Thief of Light (HarperCollins; 291 pages; $23), that has the publishing world abuzz. It is the eerie similarity between the fictional story and that of the author. Ramus, a wan Alec Baldwin look-alike, is a first-time novelist with a potential best seller in his future, and also a possible prison sentence. Like his protagonist, in the '80s he was an art dealer with a fondness for heroin. By the '90s he had overcome his drug problems, but questionable business dealings left him with a $4 million debt and allegations...
...smartly. Foreign rights to Thief of Light have been sold to 13 countries, a movie deal is in the works, and he has started a second novel, focusing on a young art appraiser. As a result of a civil suit filed by his former clients and other creditors, the author has agreed to pay them 65% of his earnings from Thief of Light, as well as a share of profits from his second book...
HarperCollins editors say they were unaware of Ramus' financial problems when they bought the novel, but they are, needless to say, standing behind the book and its suddenly marketable author. "We worried that if he were in jail he wouldn't be able to do a book tour," says HarperCollins vice president Lawrence Ashmead. Never fear: the trial is scheduled for next month, and Ramus began his seven-city promotional blitz last week...