Producer Lawrence Bender (Good Will Hunting, Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds) is developing Clark Thomas Carlton’s novel Prophets of the Ghost Ants as a motion picture trilogy. Carlton’s novel, which was inspired by his childhood observations of ants, has just been selected as one of the best books of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews.
Bender, per the press release, says Carlton’s book is “one of the most engrossing, powerful and original novels I have read in years.”
Prophets of the Ghost Ants Plot [Courtesy of the Official Website]:
“The setting is Earth of the far-flung future, when all traces of our civilization have long vanished. The catastrophes of distant ages — natural and man-made — have passed into legend and mysticism. And yet … the world is no utopia. Technology is unknown. The animal kingdom as we know it is extinct. Birds, reptiles, mammals — all lost to endless, unforgiving cycles of planetary death and rebirth.
Humankind has clung stubbornly to existence — thanks to a perverse turn of Evolution. For as the weary planet became inexorably depleted, our species adapted by growing smaller with every passing eon, until at last we stood in parity with the only other ‘higher’ species to survive — insects. And just as our current society has domesticated animals to sustain ourselves, the human societies of this future have yoked insects to their service. Food, weapons, clothing, art — even the most sacred religious beliefs — are derived from Humankind’s profound intertwining with the once-lowly insect world.
In this savage landscape, men cannot hope to dominate. Ceaselessly and viciously, humans are stalked by Night Wasps, Lair Spiders, and Grass Roaches. And men are still men. Corrupt elites ruthlessly enforce a rigid caste system over a debased and ignorant populace. Duplicitous clergymen and power-mongering Royalty wage pointless wars for their own glory. Fantasies of a better life, a better world, serve only to torment those who dare to dream. One so cursed is a half-breed slave named Anand, a dung-collector of the midden caste who, against all possibility, rises above hopelessness to lead his people against a genocidal army of men who fight atop fearsome, translucent Ghost Ants. And to his horror, Anand finds that this merciless enemy is led by someone from his own family … a religious zealot bent on the conversion of all non-believers … or their extermination.”
About Clark Carlton:
Clark Thomas Carlton was raised in South River, New Jersey, the home town of author Janet Evanovich. He attended high school in Arcadia, California and is a graduate of UCLA Film School. In addition to being a novelist, Carlton has worked as a screenwriter and as a writer for television. He has also been a producer of reality television and is an award winning playwright for his play Self Help or the Tower of Psychobabble, a satire of the psychotherapy industry. He lives with his family in Hollywood, California.
Source: Lawrence Bender Productions and Clark Carlton – October 27, 2011
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