Musings on Michael Crichton

NPR’s Science Friday SciFri Book Club will be having a discussion of Michael Crichton’s novel The Andromeda Strain on Friday, January 25. Richard Preston will be interviewed.

From Preston’s Facebook page:

I'll be doing a live radio interview on NPR's "Science Friday" tomorrow (Jan. 25) 3:30-4:00 pm EST on Michael Crichton's THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN--"one of the great science fiction novels of all time." We'll talk about the writing of Micro, and discuss The Andromeda Strain and Michael Crichton’s cultural and literary influence.

(Thank you, Laura, for alerting me about this! And shame on you, Google Alerts, for dropping the ball.)

Hello again!

The Courier Mail published an interview with Richard Preston On Jan. 7:

Richard Preston was so captivated by Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain he feigned illness so he could stay home from school to finish reading the book.

"I was trying to figure out how to make all the blood in my body clot up like it did in the book, but that didn't really work with my mother," Preston (pictured above) says. "So I faked coughing instead."

A transcript is now available for the Nov. 27 NPR interview with Preston.

On his Facebook page, Preston has been posting some photos of Hawaii that inspired some of the descriptions in Micro. Check it out!

The winners have been chosen for the Micro photo contest. Yours truly is thrilled to be one of the third place winners. The photos that won the grand, first, and second place prizes were photos that I had voted for. Glad to see my judgment validated. Congratulations to all the winners! More details coming soon…

There’s a fantastic radio interview of Richard Preston on Some Books Considered. The Jan. 9 program is quite informative about the process of writing Micro.

Micro has been in the news quite a bit lately. I didn’t read or post links to any of the articles prior to reading the book as I wanted to avoid spoilers.

INFORMATIVE PIECES
These articles and programs explore how Micro came into being and include quotes from Richard Preston.

Wall Street Journal – “Deciphering Michael Crichton's Clues”

The Telegraph – “Michael Crichton and the Mystery of the Posthumous Thriller”

USA TODAY – “The Novel Crichton Started, Longtime Fan Preston Finished”

NPR Weekend Edition – Interview with Richard Preston

BOOK REVIEWS

The Telegraph – Mark Sanderson

Washington Post - Patrick Anderson

Los Angeles Times - Jeff VanderMeer

NPR - Alan Cheuse

Amazon - James Rollins

Publishers Weekly

Entertainment Weekly - Keith Staskiewicz

Richard Preston appeared on NPR’s Weekend Edition today and spoke of the challenge of finishing Michael Crichton’s novel Micro. The interview is [5:58].

Just a few thoughts for now. As I wrote Thursday, Micro is the most enjoyable Crichton novel since Prey.

I was very happy to read the introduction Michael Crichton wrote, even if it was unfinished. I always wished he wrote more nonfiction.

By the end of Micro, I knew I wasn’t reading a Michael Crichton novel anymore. But I was enthralled by the story, and didn’t care. (How I knew I wasn’t reading a Michael Crichton novel is a discussion I’ll save for another time.)

The novel has been compared to Jurassic Park, even by Michael Crichton himself. But Micro is far more reminiscent of Timeline than Jurassic Park or Prey.

Micro is like a ship that changes direction so gently that you don’t notice. Then dawn comes and the sun rises in a different spot than expected.

You can gripe about the change or you can enjoy the sunrise.

Richard Preston took over as captain of Micro after Michael Crichton died. As the new captain, he had to sail the ship as best he could, using the former captain’s log to navigate.

Captain Preston gave the passengers a pleasantly exciting voyage, and then brought the ship safely into harbor.

What more could one ask?

Today Micro has escaped, and may be sneaking into your home as you read this. Micro will creep up to you and settle under your skin. (Makes you itch just thinking about it, doesn’t it?) Symptoms of Micro infection include obsessive reading and temporarily diminished internet activity.

It will probably take me a day to read Micro, so I’ll be posting about it sometime tomorrow. I’ll also post links to the various reviews and articles about the novel.

For those of you in the New York area, a reminder that Richard Preston will be making an appearance at the Barnes & Noble at 86th & Lexington Ave:

“Science journalist Jonathan Weiner joins Richard Preston, bestselling author of scientific works of narrative nonfiction and fiction, to discuss the iconic works of Michael Crichton, including his posthumous new release, Micro. Tuesday November 22, 2011 7:00 PM”

Video of this event will be available soon.

I am now going into seclusion to read my copy of Micro. Talk to you soon!

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

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.