Thomas Harris and Hannibal Lecter
Categories: In the News , Award Winners , Movies & Books , Digital Audiobooks , Horror & Supernatural , Fiction
The Horror Writers Association has announced that Thomas Harris will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bram Stoker Awards Banquet at the end of March during the annual HWA Conference that will be held in conjunction with the 2007 World Horror Convention in Toronto.
Harris hasn't written a lot of books, but his fiction is very finely crafted and creepy. He is, of course, recognized for his perfectly written saga of Hannibal Lecter, the compelling psychopath from Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal.
The latest and final installment, Hannibal Rising, is actually the first installment, starting with Hannibal as a young boy in Eastern Europe during World War II. It offers the reasons for Hannibal becoming the way he is.
Harris wrote the screenplay for the movie at the same time as the novel. Hannibal Rising is available in audio as well as print, and as a digital audio book for download from the Ohio eBook Project.
In 1975 Thomas Harris wrote Black Sunday, about a terrorist plan for attack inside the United States to kill thousands of people by bombing the stadium on Superbowl Sunday. At the time the book got good reviews, but everyone thought the premise to be unbelievable. They couldn't imagine that we could actually be at risk of attack within our own borders. We have sadly learned differently.
1 Comment
There isn’t a worthier soul for the Bram Stoker Award. True, Harris has written few novels, but, what he lacks in quantity is made up for in droves in the quality of his fiction. His novels are far between as well. Those of us who are fans wait 6-7 years for the latest Harris has to offer. No matter, re-reading his past novels passes the time nicely. It is worth the wait and then some. Rising is a welcome addition not only for the simple fact that it’s a Hannibal novel but also because it gives an explanation of how little ‘Anni Lecter became a monster. The trademark Lecter calling cards are now put into a workable context. Believing he was innately evil was scary enough but now knowing why intensifies his menacing effect on the reader a thousand fold.