For Immediate Release
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In what might be the oddest literary pairing of all time, Gary K. Wolf, noted science fiction author and screenwriter, best known for creating the Roger Rabbit characters and Toontown, and John J. Myers, Catholic Archbishop of Newark, have teamed up to co-write an action/adventure science fiction novel entitled Space Vulture. The book is an homage to "Space Hawk," the first science fiction novel the two read as schoolboys. "Space Vulture" recently sold to Tom Doherty Associates for publication by their Tor imprint in late 2007 or early 2008.
In the fast paced story, heroic Intergalactic Marshal Victor Corsaire and cowardly con man Jack Edward join forces with a beautiful and courageous widow and her two young sons to battle Space Vulture, the most villainous marauder in the cosmos.
Wolf and Myers have been close friends since childhood. They grew up together in the small farm town of Earlville, Illinois. Wolf's father ran the pool hall there. Myers' father was the town milk man.
"We were in the seventh grade," recalls Wolf. "We were both big readers, and we both liked science. John came to me with a book he'd discovered. He told me I had to read it because it was science and it was fiction. It was science fiction. That book was Anthony Gilmore's pulp classic Space Hawk. I read it and loved it just as much as John had. We were hooked. After that, we sought out and read all the science fiction books we could find. I can honestly say that Space Hawk changed my life. Without Space Hawk there would be no Roger Rabbit."
"For as far back as I can remember," adds Archbishop Myers, "reading has been one of my favorite pastimes. I still read voraciously. Space Hawk made as much of an impression on me in my early years as it did on Gary. We can both still quote passages from that book verbatim. Nowadays my reading is mainly theology although I do make time for fiction and even science fiction which I still greatly enjoy."
"One day, almost as a joke" says Wolf, "I told John we ought to collaborate on a science fiction novel of our own, an homage to Space Hawk, doing a story as appealing to science fiction readers of today as Space Hawk was to us. To my great joy, John said, 'Let's do it.'"
The two wrote the novel over a five year period collaborating by phone, e-mail, and face-to-face during Wolf's frequent visits to Newark from his Boston home.
"We had great fun writing Space Vulture and it shows," says Wolf. "It's just as adventuresome and exciting as Space Hawk."
"Collaborating with Gary on Space Vulture has been satisfying for me on several levels," says Archbishop Myers. "It has given me the opportunity to create an exciting, interesting, and morally principled tale in one of my favorite genres. It has also provided the opportunity to renew and deepen one of my oldest and dearest friendships."
Archbishop Myers has published extensively in the scholarly and religious press. This is his first work of fiction. Wolf has published five previous novels including Who Censored Roger Rabbit which formed the basis for the Spielberg/Disney blockbuster movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Agent Mickey Freiberg of The Acme Literary Agency brokered the six figure deal with Tom Doherty Associates editor Moshe Feder.
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