wednes | Hannibal Rising: It's a movie and a book.

During my weekend away, I was able to finish reading Hannibal Rising by marginally great writer Thomas Harris. I like his writing a lot, but it drags in places and uses some of the same conventions (to good effect, of course) again and again. Even so, I was excited to read this new book, after thinking Hannibal was pure genius.
It took me a while to get in to. Having read Hannibal, I already knew about Mischa and all the horror that entailed. So there weren't really any surprises. In fact, after a horrors-of-war chapter and a chapter or two about his days at school, Hannibal Rising is a book about art theft and poetry. It's not until the final third of the book that you get the zany Hannibal-style killings that you picked up the book for. Overall, I think this book lacked the psychological development I was looking for. And the violent scenes were awesome, but could have been spaced out a bit more.

Tonight, I figured I'd go ahead and Demand Hannibal Rising the unedited edition. I didn't have high hopes, seeing as how Rotten Tomotoes has it firmly at 16%. As expected, all the poetry and art theft was omitted in favor of all the racy, bloody, or funny bits of the book strung together to make a fairly entertaining movie.
This Gaspard Ulliel who plays young Hannibal is pretty good. He's a little over the top during the kills, but let's face it, no young actor is going to be able to thrill and chill us like Sir Anthony Hopkins and we are silly if we think they are. Still and all, the new kid was pretty good. Kevin McKidd from ROME also makes an appearance as Kolnas. His death is cartoony, like most of the murder death kills in this movie. I can see how that might ruin the movie for some people, but there really was a lot to enjoy here. When it comes on HBO, you really should take the time to watch it.

I love how my name is above the title. Not sure if it will stay like that, but for now I likes it. I think the woman's face should be sexier and more sinister looking, which the artist is working on. Frankly, I'm bummed that H isn't doing my designing for me, but he doesn't want to for some reason. At least the artists they've hooked me up with are good and easy to work with. Anyway, lemme know what you think.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, I love the green one!

We're going to change the face so it is sexier and younger looking.

That's cool. I love the colors, and I agree with Ryan, your name needs to be embossed.

The second set of colors were at my suggestion, I thought the reds and golds were too busy. I like how the cooler colors set off the pendant...plus he did that cool glowing effect.

I also like the green one. However think your name should be embossed the same as the title. I don't like how flat your name looks compared to the title. The red is a bit hot, and the green is eerily welcoming (hopefully not too Stephen King, but I don't think so). Though I'm sure H would put together a great cover, the publishing house probably would require it to be one of their artists. Katie has said this to me a lot. People come to her wanting her to illustrate a book for them and she said only if the publishing house wants her to do it. Otherwise her time was wasted creating something that they weren't going to use in the first place. They usually have a list of artists they work with.

Our house is pretty open minded about such things, but H shows very little interest in doing covers. He doesn't see the talent that we all see in his work, which is sad.

We'll be working more on the cover, making tiny changes here and there. Your suggestion about the embossing is a good one, and one that I'll def take to the artist.

I really like the cover. They're both great looking, but the green especially. It's hypnotic! (And I think your name looks good at the top of the cover.)

Thanks! I was pretty excited to see my name above the title.

Maybe it would be too much pressure for H to do your cover? If I were a graphic designer I would be totally worried that my cover would not be good enough, I would get all wiggy, and I would probably not believe you if you said it was good. It would be stupid, but that's what would happen. I would totally freak out.

Good thing I'm not a graphics designer! I like the green one, and I agree that she needs to look more sinister. She looks a bit sad, now. But this is all so exciting you could have a cat stick figure and I would be all, "WOOOO!!! AMAZING!!!"

Hahahahaa! It is pretty amazing, isn't it? I'm sort of weirded out by the whole idea of artists and cover designs and book signings and everything else therein. We are going to be tweaking the cover a bit, plus there's still my first novel that needs to be designed.

You may be onto something in re: H. I wish he knew how talented he was, maybe then he wouldn't waste his time working for Kinko's. He likes it there, but they do not come close to appreciating him. H doesn't involve himself much with any of my writing, he doesn't even read my stuff. I'm not sure why that is...

When they make a video game of your book, he'll be the first to play it, I bet.

Dude, the Stabbing for Sadie video game would be hilarious. All about getting high and reaching different levels of craziness until you finally kill someone at the end.

You know Russell wold be good at that one!

LOL

I can't tell if I like the green one better because you can see the features better, or because it has your name in all its glory!

Most excellent!

I can't imagine how you must feel to see your name on the cover of your book! Unless you've had one published before, in which case you feel a lesser amount of what I'm imagining. =P

It's pretty cool. I do have 2 books coming out next year, this being the first cover designed.

Actually it feels surreal; like it's happening to someone I know, but not me.

Hannibal Rising: It's a movie and a book.

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