Sony Picks Up "Historian" Vampire (May 16th, 2005) - Dark Horizons

Sony Picks Up "Historian" Vampire (May 16th, 2005) - Dark Horizons:

Sony Pictures Entertainment paid seven figures for 'The Historian,' Elizabeth Kostova's upcoming and already acclaimed first novel reports Variety.

The novel, to be published on June 14, mixes history and mythology to re-create the world of Dracula and vampires. A decade in the works, the adventure tale centers around a young woman who searches Europe for her missing father, who took on the challenge of locating the grave of Vlad the Impaler (the bloodthirsty feudal lord who inspired Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'). Along the way, she comes across a slew of bloodsuckers who try to stop her.

The auction drew surprising heat last week, some of it sparked by stellar reviews in Kirkus and Publishers Weekly, the rest by unfounded rumors that some major directors wanted the book. The initial manuscript sent around totalled a whopping 857 pages.