A Michael Crichton Christmas Video

My good friend Erik and his friend Angel, with some help from their families, have created a video based on A Michael Crichton Christmas!

I am just overwhelmed! It’s amazing and I can’t believe they put all that work into it!
So enjoy! And a Merry Christmas to all!

Visit Erik's Michael Crichton Collection!

“On Point” Radio – Remembering Michael Crichton

I just discovered this today. Listen to the On Point radio show “Remembering Michael Crichton” with Tom Ashbrook, Friday, November 7, 2008

Program info--

Guests:
Lev Grossman, book critic for TIME magazine. Earlier this week he wrote an appreciation of Michael Crichton as “A Master Storyteller of Technology’s Promise and Peril.” He’s the author of the novels “Codex” and “Warp.”

Lynn Nesbit, Michael Crichton’s literary agent for 37 years. She signed him in 1965 while he was still a medical student.

Chris Mooney, contributing editor to Science Progress. His forthcoming book, “Unscientific America,” deals in part with science and Hollywood. He’s also the author of “Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming” and “The Republican War on Science.” He blogs at The Intersection.

Nesbit revealed that Crichton’s medical degree from Harvard was in psychiatry.

Links and more info on Michael Crichton at:
Kahlessa's Corner

A Michael Crichton Christmas 2009

(Sung to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas)
By Marla Warren

On the first day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
A T-Rex who tried to eat me

On the second day of Christmas Michael Crichton gave to me
Two Lost Worlds
And a T-Rex who tried to eat me....

See "A Michael Crichton Christmas 2010"

Links and more info on Michael Crichton at:
Kahlessa's Corner

USA Today Article on Pirate Latitudes, Unfinished Novel

USA Today published a good review of Pirate Latitudes, calling it a “lusty, rollicking 17th-century adventure that should make for an even better movie.”

The newspaper also included a short sidebar article “One More Novel to be Finished” on the same page.

Excerpt:

Crichton's publisher, HarperCollins' Jonathan Burnham, and his longtime agent, Lynn Nesbit, both say they didn't know about [Pirate Latitudes] but weren't surprised. "Michael was fascinated with pirates," Nesbit says.

The article also notes that “a writer will be chosen soon to finish” Crichton’s one-third completed technothriller.

Links and more info on Michael Crichton at:
Kahlessa's Corner

Thank You, Michael Crichton

On Wednesday, literary agent Nathan Bransford posted You Tell Me: What Are You Thankful For? on his blog. Bransford asked:

What are you thankful for in the publishing/writing world?

So I’ve decided it’s time to thank the subject of this blog for a few things.

Thank you, Michael Crichton, for all you’ve given me and all your readers.

Thank you for the intellectual stimulation I’ve gotten from your books over the years.

Thank you for challenging and expanding my thinking and that of others.

Thank you for leaving us a new book Pirate Latitudes.

Thank you for the wonderful friends I made on your message board, and the new friends I continue to make because of this blog.

And most of all, thank you for your autobiography Travels, a book that has had a huge impact on how I view life and the world, a fascinating and very courageous book

I owe you so much. And this blog is my way of thanking you for everything.

Links and more info on Michael Crichton at:
Kahlessa's Corner

Pirate Latitudes: First Impressions

I just finished Pirate Latitudes, within 36 hours of starting it. I’m not going to give away any details, as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.

Pirate Latitudes is an exciting and enjoyable tale. Michael Crichton clearly did his homework (not that I would have expected anything less). The novel is wonderfully descriptive, both in terms of setting and in relating different processes. The history fits very well with what I know myself of the Caribbean in the 1600s.

A small caveat for readers: Pirate Latitudes is brutally violent, topped with a hearty portion of sex. If Spielberg films the book as it’s written, the movie will be rated R. But I doubt he will, as the studio will want the teen and pre-teen audience for a pirate flick.

(I was disappointed that there was not a bibliography. Crichton’s last four novels—Timeline, Prey, State of Fear, and Next—all had bibliographies. State of Fear and Next even had annotated bibliographies. When I finish a Michael Crichton novel, it is my custom to then read nonfiction books about the subject matter. But under the circumstances, I can understand why there isn’t a bibliography. Perhaps I’ll create a recommended reading list for Pirate Latitudes.)

Links and more info on Michael Crichton at:
Kahlessa's Corner

Pirate Latitudes Is in the House!

I purchased my copy of Pirate Latitudes as soon as my bookstore opened. Just finished p. 95 and am enjoying myself thoroughly. I won’t say much more until later—wouldn’t dream of spoiling for anyone.

In the New York Times story announcing the publication of Pirate Latitudes, the publisher, Jonathan Burnham noted, “...'Pirate Latitudes' also harks back to the kind of historical yarn that Mr. Crichton wrote in the 'The Great Train Robbery', first published in 1975.”

Crichton’s newest novel has very much the same feel as The Great Train Robbery. It also reminds me of The Last Tomb, a novel Crichton published under the name “John Lange” in 1968. The Last Tomb is an excellent modern-day adventure about a six people searching for an undiscovered Egyptian tomb.

There’s a photo of Michael Crichton on the back cover of Pirate Latitudes. It’s a different photo than appeared on his last two novels, State of Fear and Next. In the photo, Crichton has one eyebrow raised quizzically. Just like Spock. Very logical.

Pirate Latitudes is 312 pages long and has for endpapers maps of the Caribbean in the 1600s, which is a great reference tool to use while reading.

Links and more info on Michael Crichton at:
Kahlessa's Corner