The Black List thinks these books should be adapted, and we agree
The annual Black List, released yesterday, brought attention to Hollywood’s buzziest screenplays, which have not yet been produced. Here are 10 of our favorites. (You can read the full list here) Even if they never get tapped for adaptation, these are all solid picks to add to your future reading list.
Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
“Loretta Thurwar and Hamara ‘Hurricane Staxxx’ Stacker are the stars of the Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly popular, highly controversial profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. The gladiators are back, and prisoner’s compete for the ultimate prize – their freedom. In CAPE prisoners compete in death matches in front of a packed arena with righteous demonstrators at the gates. Fans love Thurwar and her lover, Staxxx. Thurwar’s lethal hammer and her upcoming freedom are both a heavy burden for Thurwar. Thurwar, as she prepares to depart her fellow Links, considers ways she can help them preserve their humanity in defiance of the so-called games. But CAPE’s corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo, and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar’s path have devastating consequences.”
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison
“This is how the world ends… for the final time.” The great red rift that runs through the middle of the sole continent of the earth spews ash, obscuring the sun. It begins with death. A murdered son and a daughter who has gone missing. Betrayal and old wounds that have been dormant begin the story. The Hugo-winning Broken Earth trilogy, which begins with The Fifth Season, has had adaptation interest in the recent past, but so far… we’re still waiting. And where there is no mercy.”
Note:
The Hugo-winning Broken Earth trilogy, which kicks off with The Fifth Season, has had adaptation interest in the recent past, but so far… we’re still waiting.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova“Breathtakingly suspenseful and beautifully written, The Historian is the story of a young woman plunged into a labyrinth where the secrets of her family’s past connect to an inconceivable evil: the dark fifteenth-century reign of Vlad the Impaler and a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive through the ages. The search for the truth becomes an adventure of monumental proportions, taking us from monasteries and dusty libraries to the capitals of Eastern Europe–in a feat of storytelling so rich, so hypnotic, so exciting that it has enthralled readers around the world.”
Note:
Vampires are white-hot on TV and in movies right now. Who’s gonna grab this one?
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro“Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her.”
Note:
Thanks, Adaptation List, but this one’s already actively in the works! In 2023, it was reported that Taika Waititi would direct a film version; filming began last year with a cast that includes Jenna Ortega (as the robot) and Amy Adams.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia“After receiving a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemi Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She doesn’t know what to expect. Her cousin’s handsome Englishman husband is a stranger and Noemi has little knowledge of the area. Noemi, a debutante with a chic dress and red lipstick that is more suitable for cocktail parties rather than amateur sleuthing, is an unlikely hero. She is also smart and tough, with an indomitable spirit, and she has no fear: not of her cousin’s husband, who’s both threatening and alluring, nor of his father, a patriarchal figure who appears to be obsessed with Noemi. Not even of the house, which invades Noemi’s dreams with visions and horror. He is shy and gentle. It seems he wants to help Noemi. However, it could also be that he has dark secrets about his family. There are many secrets hidden behind the walls at High Place. Noemi, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind. The Monsters of Templeton is a two-century novel that is part contemporary tale of a girl searching for her father and part historical novel. In the wake of a disastrous love affair with her older, married archaeology professor at Stanford, brilliant Wilhelmina Cooper arrives back at the doorstep of her hippie mother-turned-born-again-Christian’s house in Templeton, NY, a storybook town her ancestors founded that sits on the shores of Lake Glimmerglass.
Upon her arrival, a prehistoric monster surfaces in the lake bringing a feeding frenzy to the quiet town, and Willie learns she has a mystery father her mother kept secret Willie’s entire life. Willie, a beautiful and broody girl, is told the secret to her father’s identity can be found in her family history. She then begins to research her family tree, but finds out more than she expected as voices from the past of Templeton, NY, some sinister and all fascinating, rise up to share their stories. In the end, dark secrets come to light, past and present day are blurred, and old mysteries are finally put to rest.”
The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern
“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. Yesterday, it wasn’t there. The black-and white striped canvas tents are a truly unique experience that is full of amazing surprises. Le Cirque des Reves is only open in the evening. Behind the scenes is a fierce duel taking place between two young magicians Celia and Marco. They have been trained by their volatile instructors since childhood for this very purpose. This is a game where only one winner can be determined. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.”
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
“On a damp October night, beautiful young Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Scott McGrath, a veteran investigative reporter, suspects that Ashley’s death was not ruled as a suicide. McGrath is confronted with the mysterious circumstances surrounding Ashley’s death as he investigates her life. He discovers that Ashley’s father was the reclusive, legendary cult horror-film director Stanislas cordova, a man who hadn’t been in public for over thirty years. Cordova is a man who has received a lot of attention for his dark, unsettling films. However, little information about him exists. McGrath is driven by revenge, curiosity and the need to know the truth. With the help of two strangers he becomes immersed in Cordova’s eerie and hypnotic universe. McGrath’s marriage and career were lost the last time he came close to exposing Cordova. “This time, he could lose even more.”
Sky Full of Elephants, by Cebo Cambell
Charlie Brunton, a Black man now living in a new world, is still in prison for wrongful conviction. Having served time in prison for a wrongful conviction, he’s now a professor of electric and solar power systems at Howard University when he receives a call from someone he wasn’t even sure existed: his daughter Sidney, a nineteen-year-old left behind by her white mother and step-family.
Traumatized by the event, and terrified of the outside world, Sidney has spent a year in isolation in Wisconsin. She desperately seeks help from the father who she never knew, a man whom she had always resented. Sidney meets Charlie for the first while they embark on an adventure across a truly “post-racial” America to find answers. Charlie and Sidney will be shocked by the new world they find themselves in as they head south toward what is now called the Kingdom of Alabama. “As Charlie and Sidney head south to what is called the Kingdom of Alabama in the United States, they will find that everything they thought about themselves and the world will be flipped upside down.” We Ride Upon Sticks, by Quan Barry
Quan Barry weaves together this team’s individual and collective progress as they storm through an unforgettable season against a backdrop of 1980s iconography. Helmed by good-girl captain Abby Putnam (a descendant of the infamous Salem accuser Ann Putnam) and her co-captain Jen Fiorenza (whose bleached blond ‘Claw’ sees and knows all), the Falcons prove to be wily, original, and bold, flaunting society’s stale notions of femininity.”
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