Micro News

From Richard Preston’s blog:
Micro Enhanced E-book

HarperCollins will release an enhanced e-book edition of MICRO. Yesterday a film crew was here at my house shooting an interview with me for the e-book. In it, I talk about poking around the rain forest on Oahu, learning the biology of micro-monsters, and doing the detective work with Michael’s notebooks and materials, figuring out what Michael intended for the story. There will be footage of Michael, and lots of scientific stuff, too. Good for an iPad or Kindle Fire or Nook, etc.

Richard Preston has a page on Facebook. I “like” Richard Preston. Now you can “like” him, too.

Micro review on Amazon
Author James Rollins has written a review of Micro for Amazon.

It's nice that he gave the much anticipated book a good review, but I'm disappointed that Harper Collins let him review Micro so far ahead of its release. (Which has not been the case with Michael Crichton's recent novels--reviews have not been published prior to the day of the book's release.) Perhaps Harper Collins feels less secure that Crichton's readers will want to read a novel that he himself was unable to finish.

I myself don't need to read a review to decide to read anything by Michael Crichton (or, for that matter, anything by Richard Preston). I won't read this review or any others before I read Micro.

Reviews tend to contain spoilers, which is why I’m not linking to the Amazon review. I’m officially declaring this blog a Micro spoiler-free zone. (So please don’t post anything until after the novel is released.)

Let’s Get Small!
Harper Collins is celebrating the release of Micro with a fun contest.

MICRO Yourself: The Photo Contest

To enter, you submit up to three photos of yourself in micro size, between Nov. 1 and Dec. 6. The public will vote for their favorites, and the top 50 will make it to the finals. A team of judges from Harper Collins will select the final winners.

List of Prizes:

Grand Prize
- Limited edition leather-bound copies of Jurassic Park and The Lost World from The Easton Press. Jurassic Park is signed by Michael Crichton himself and includes a certificate of authenticity!

- An e-reader of your choice (iPad2 Wi-Fi, any Kindle, Nook, Kobo, or Sony reader, etc.) with a $100 gift certificate to the corresponding e-book retailer

- One limited edition Micro tee-shirt

- One hardcover copy of Micro

First Prize
- An e-reader of your choice (iPad2 Wi-Fi, any Kindle, Nook, Kobo, or Sony reader, etc.) with a $100 gift certificate to the corresponding e-book retailer

- One limited edition Micro tee-shirt

- One hardcover copy of Micro

Second Prize
- One hardcover copy of Micro

- One limited edition Micro tee-shirt

Third Prize
- One hardcover copy of Micro

- One mass market paperback edition each of the following books: The Andromeda Strain, Congo, Eaters of the Dead, The Great Train Robbery, Next, Pirate Latitudes, Prey, Sphere, State of Fear, and The Terminal Man

The Life of Michael Crichton - Part 6

1976-1980

Timeline
1976: Crichton publishes Eaters of the Dead.

1977: Crichton publishes Jasper Johns, a catalogue on the artist.

1978: The film Coma, written and directed by Crichton (based on the novel by Robin Cook), is released.

1979: The film The Great Train Robbery, written and directed by Crichton (based on his 1975 novel) is released.

1980: Crichton publishes Congo.

Michael Crichton Trivia – 10/29/11

Michael Crichton Trivia – 10/29/11

Here’s a tough one:

Michael Crichton’s 1972 novel The Terminal Man had a different name originally. What was it?

Last week’s trivia question:
On his blog, Richard Preston said that Micro will contain two maps. What other Michael Crichton novels contain maps?

The Andromeda Strain, The Lost World, Timeline, and Pirate Latitudes contain maps.

The Life of Michael Crichton - Part 5

1971-1975


Timeline
1971: Crichton wins the Edgar award for the John Lange novel Grave Descend. Insight TV series episode "The War of the Eggs", written by Crichton, airs.

1972: Crichton publishes The Terminal Man and the John Lange novel Binary. He directs his first film, Pursuit, a TV movie based on Binary. Insight TV series episode "Killer", written by Crichton, airs.

1973: The film Westworld, written and directed by Crichton, is released. The film Extreme Close-Up (aka Sex Through a Window) written by Crichton is released.

1974: Insight TV series episode "Killer", written by Crichton, airs.

1975: Crichton publishes The Great Train Robbery.

The Life of Michael Crichton - Part 4

1966-1970

Timeline
1966: Crichton publishes his first book, Odds On, under the name “John Lange”.

1967: Crichton publishes Scratch One under the name “John Lange”.

1968: Crichton publishes Easy Go (later republished as The Last Tomb) under the name “John Lange”. He publishes A Case of Need under the name “Jeffery Hudson”.

1969: Crichton publishes The Andromeda Strain, his first book under his own name. He graduates from Harvard Medical School. He receives the Edgar award for A Case of Need. Crichton publishes two John Lange novels - Zero Cool and The Venom Business.

1969-1970: Crichton moves to California – works at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences as a research fellow.

1970: Crichton publishes Five Patients under his own name. He publishes Dealing: Or the Berkley to Boston Forty-Brick Lost Bag Blues under the pseudonym “Michael Douglas”. The novel was a collaborative effort with his brother Douglas. Crichton publishes two more John Lange novels – Drug of Choice and Grave Descend.

The Life of Michael Crichton - Part 3

(I apologize for not getting these posts up when I had planned. The delay was unavoidable. technology...sigh)
1961-1965

Michael Crichton started at Harvard with the intention of majoring in English and becoming a writer. But he thought the professors were grading him too hard, and decided to test his hypothesis by submitting a George Orwell essay as his own for an assignment. When the Orwell essay received a B-, Crichton decided to change his major to anthropology. In 1964, he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in physical anthropology.

According to the 1964 Harvard College yearbook, Crichton was in Lowell House and his activities included the Crimson, Harvard Review, Hasty Pudding, and baseball.

(I was surprised to see baseball listed. I knew Crichton played basketball, but I've never heard of him playing baseball before.)

Timeline

1964: Crichton graduates summa cum laude from Harvard College – A.B. in physical anthropology.

1964 – 1965: Crichton is a Henry Shaw Travelling Fellow
Shaw Fellowships provide a year of purposeful postgraduate travel in Europe for Harvard students to supplement their formal education.

1965: Crichton is a visiting lecturer in Anthropology at Cambridge University, King’s College.

Life of Michael Crichton - Part 2

1956-1960

Michael Crichton attended Roslyn High School on Long Island, graduating in 1960. He visited the school in 1995.

Crichton was a basketball player, and his three school records still stand:

1. Most Rebounds in a Game
2. Highest Rebound Averge per Game
3. Highest Field Goal Shooting Percentage in a Season

The basketball coach, Joe Lettera, said, “He didn't need basketball, but it was just one more challenge for him to overcome."

Crichton’s freshman English teacher Eileen Bennett said, “"Even as a freshman, he would take disparate ideas and come up with conclusions that no one else, including his teacher, had thought of."

Encouraged by his parents, Crichton wrote a travel article “Climbing Up a Cinder Cone” about Sunset Crater National Monument. He sold the article to the New York Times when he was 14. The article was published on May 17, 1959, when Crichton was 16.

Timeline
1959: Michael Crichton’s article “Climbing Up a Cinder Cone” is published in the New York Times
.
1960: Michael Crichton graduates from Roslyn High School.

The Life of Michael Crichton - Part 1

1942-1956


Today would have been Michael Crichton’s 69th birthday. To honor him, we will explore his life, starting today, October 23, and ending on November 4, 2011, the third anniversary of his death.

Michael Crichton was born John Michael Crichton on October 23, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. While his father was in the Navy during World War II, the family moved to Fort Morgan, Colorado. After the war, the family moved to Roslyn, Long Island, New York, where Crichton grew up.

His father, John Henderson Crichton, was the president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies for 15 years, and when he died in 1977, he merited an obituary in the New York Times. Michael Crichton wrote about his father’s death in his autobiography Travels. Crichton’s father was 6’5”, and was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 1978. He was a journalist and editor, which influenced his son to become a writer.

Here’s a video of John H. Crichton interviewing advertising great David Ogilvy in 1977.

Crichton’s mother, Zula Miller Crichton, was described by her son as a “very dedicated parent and very encouraging to her children…She was very interested in all kinds of art, and would drag her kids to museums and plays at least once a week.” She would take Michael out of school to attend classes on modern art. Zula Miller Crichton died earlier this year.

Crichton had three younger siblings—brother Douglas, and two sisters, Kimberly and Catherine. His brother co-wrote the novel Dealing: Or the Berkley to Boston Forty-Brick Lost Bag Blues (1970). Michael and Douglas used the pseudonym “Michael Douglas”. The back cover of the hardcover edition of the novel has a photo showing the brothers as boys.

Michael Crichton wrote a nine-page puppet play for a third grade class assignment, which seems to be his first creative work. He also mentioned writing “long short stories in the sixth grade.”

Michael Crichton - biography

Michael Crichton – For Younger Readers

Michael Crichton: Private View

Travels by Michael Crichton

“Michael Crichton (rhymes with frighten)” by Israel Shenker, New York Times, Jun 8, 1969

Obituary - John H. Crichton, New York Times, Dec. 28, 1977

Obituary - John H. Crichton, Advertising Age, Jan. 2, 1978

Carrie White on Michael Crichton

In a previous post, I mentioned that Michael Crichton’s hairdresser Carrie White had published her memoir Upper Cut: Highlights of My Hollywood Life.

Carrie White cut Michael Crichton’s hair for 38 years. If we do the math, that means she began cutting his hair around 1970. Anyone fortunate enough to have a longtime hairdresser knows the relationship is a sacred trust. I would more willing change doctors or dentists before I changed hairdressers.

Here’s a photo of Michael Crichton in 1969, before Carrie White got her scissors on him.




And here’s a photo of him after White was doing his hair.



White shared some of her memories of Michael Crichton in an essay for USAToday. She tells how she ended up doing Genevieve Bujold's hair for the film Coma, which Michael Crichton directed.



White writes:

Through the following years, I always booked extra time for Michael's haircuts, so we could have a good visit. He'd tell me about his travels to Borneo or some other place I would never go to, about the latest science discoveries, and about his art interests, from Jasper Johns to Oldenburg. In return, I'd tell him stories about Sunset Strip, about getting high with Hendrix, and about my travels…on peyote at Joshua Tree.

Even though he knew I had started working on my memoir in 1989, I never tried to talk to him about my writing aspirations. I knew everyone was always focused on that subject with him. The salon was his freedom space.

White shows herself to be a true professional in this (something I never doubted, given her list of clients). I’ve known people who’ve worked with celebrities. Two cardinal rules:

1. Don’t gossip about them.
2. Don’t ask them for anything.

Celebrities have to deal with so many people either wanting something or invading their privacy. So they want to be around people who can be trusted to respect boundaries. Carrie White was quite correct not to approach Crichton about her writing. And then:

But one day, when he heard me tell a client that I'd completed my memoir, he surprised me. "When do I get to read something?"

Excited, I emailed him the first part, Pacoima. He wrote me back. "I like it. Let me see the whole book."

Crichton contacted his longtime agent Lynn Nesbit on White’s behalf. As she relates:

I was living on pins and needles for any news, but it was also time for Michael's haircut. I would have him in my chair and wait for him to bring up the subject…my book.

"I told Lynn that your book was witty and disturbing with its honesty and you'd be good on TV."

Nesbit wanted two-thirds of the manuscript cut before she would read it. So White took on the task of whittling down her manuscript:

There went the next year and a half. I went back to my book and did what I've been doing forever. Cut. It was like pulling only the lavender threads from a Chanel tweed suit. I pushed forward with Michael's photo from the back of his memoir Travels starring at me on my desk, and hearing his voice spurring me on, "Hey kid, you wanted to be a writer."

White paid tribute to Travels by using the first line of Crichton’s memoir as one of the epigraphs for Upper Cut.

Nesbit agreed to represent Carrie White in 2009, and Upper Cut was published September 20, 2011. Michael Crichton died on November 4, 2008. White writes:

Today, as my book, Upper Cut, is about to be released, I feel both joy and sorrow.

Michael would be so proud and happy.

I miss him so much. Every day.

One thing I wonder about….

In 1996, psychologist Richard Farson published Management of the Absurd: Paradoxes in Leadership. Michael Crichton, in a foreword to the book, wrote:

“The challenging book you are holding in your hands was written by a remarkable man. Richard Farson has been my friend for many years…He is one of the warmest, kindest, and most intriguing men I have ever met.”

I didn’t know Michael Crichton and so I will not presume to say what he might have done. But I wonder if he would have written a foreword for Carrie White’s memoir, and what he would have said.

Carrie White contacted me after I posted to Michael Crichton’s Facebook page. We’ve exchanged emails and I enjoy our friendship very much. She floored me by sending me a personally autographed copy of Upper Cut. (She also gave me permission to share a photo of her inscription.)



Being an advance proof, the book White inscribed to me contains a note on the copyright page declaring it to be the property of the publisher and a loan. The page also reads:

“Simon & Schuster reserves the right to cancel the loan and recall possession of the proof at any time.”

And I thought, “Over my dead body.”

Michael Crichton Trivia – 10/22/11

Michael Crichton Trivia – 10/22/11

On his blog, Richard Preston said that Micro will contain two maps. What other Michael Crichton novels contain maps?

Last week’s trivia question:

What do the novels Eaters of the Dead (1976), Rising Sun (1992), and Prey (2002) have in common?

Cdmeredith correctly answered, “They are all written in first person.”

Here’s an informative essay on writing in first person.

Micro UK Video Trailer and Excerpt

The marketing department at Harper Collins UK sent me the link for a video trailer for Micro. There’s also a 10-page excerpt of the novel.



I am happy to note that the UK release is on Nov. 22, the same date as the US. Two years ago, I threw a minor hissy fit when Pirate Latitudes was released in the UK and Europe eight days before being released in the US.

32 days until the release of Micro.

Richard Preston on Micro

Richard Preston, who completed Michael Crichton’s unfinished novel Micro, has been blogging about the project. He’s written four posts so far, and I’ve commented on three of them. There are no comments from anyone yet, so I’m assuming my comments are in comment moderation limbo for the time being. For my readers, I’m posting my comments here.

June 8, 2011
I’m working on Micro

Right now I’m polishing the final draft of MICRO. Should have it done in a few days. This has been a fun ride.

My comment:

I’m looking forward to reading Micro. When I heard that another writer would be finishing Michael Crichton’s final novel, I racked my brain thinking of who would be a good match. When your name was announced, I thought, “Perfect”. I didn’t think of you (even though I have admired your work for a long time and own several of your books) because you’ve written more nonfiction than fiction. But I realized that’s what made you a great fit to this project.

July 1, 2011
Added a scene

I’m polishing the manuscript for Micro, working with my editor at HarperCollins. I just added a “whoa!” scene — some cool visuals at a certain moment in the story.

For me, this kind of tinkering is one of the most fun parts of writing. The book’s almost done and looking good, and now I get to cherry it up.

My comment:

One thing that you and Michael Crichton share is the ability to write excellent descriptions.

August 2, 2011
Jacket cover available

HarperCollins has just released the jacket of MICRO. Here it is.

My comment:

The UK edition book cover has been released as well.
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Titles/49927/micro-michael-crichton-richard-preston-9780007350032

September 27, 2011
Maps in MICRO

We’re putting two maps in MICRO. With hand-drawn topography by a great cartographer. Just finalizing the maps today. I’ve hidden a tiny Latin inscription in one of the maps. Had to check my Latin with Princeton professor to make sure I got it right. Fortunately I did. This is the fun part of publishing.

More on Richard Preston soon.

Michael Crichton Trivia – 10/15/11

Michael Crichton Trivia – 10/15/11

What do the novels Eaters of the Dead (1976), Rising Sun (1992), and Prey (2002) have in common?

Last week’s trivia question:

It’s well-known that Michael Crichton graduated from Harvard Medical School. Where did he get his undergraduate degree and what was his major?

Bonus question: in what specialty did Crichton get his medical degree?

Steven correctly answered “Anthropology undergrad from Harvard” Crichton graduated summa cum laude with a degree in physical anthropology.

My Dec. 2009 post on a radio interview with Crichton’s longtime agent, Lynn Nesbit, noted that Nesbit revealed that Crichton’s medical degree from Harvard was in psychiatry.

Michael Crichton Trivia – 10/08/11

Michael Crichton Trivia – 10/08/11

It’s well-known that Michael Crichton graduated from Harvard Medical School. Where did he get his undergraduate degree and what was his major?

Bonus question: in what specialty did Crichton get his medical degree?

Last week’s trivia question:

Carrie White begins her book with a few epigraphs, something that Crichton did with his books. The last epigraph for Upper Cut reads:

It is not easy to cut through a human head with a hacksaw.
--Michael Crichton


Who can tell me the significance of the Crichton quote?

Charles Epting correctly answered “Opening line of Travels”

Michael Crichton Trivia - Upper Cut

In my last post, Michael Crichton’s Hairdresser, I wrote:

Carrie White begins her book with a few epigraphs, something that Crichton did with his books. The last epigraph for Upper Cut reads:

It is not easy to cut through a human head with a hacksaw.
--Michael Crichton

Who can tell me the significance of the Crichton quote?