Friday 19 December 2008

Dante's "Inferno", coming soon to an XBOX near you

Ever felt the urge to tackle the classic of Tuscan literature, the book that (partly) defined the Italian language? We do recommend it in the holiday reading section of our book. It's a thoroughly modern tale of lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery. But at three volumes, 1600+ pages in total, you'd better pack your toothbrush: Dante's Divine Comedy is a long old ride.

There may, however, be a shortcut in 2009. Videogame publisher Electronic Arts have just announced Dante's Inferno: the game, a third-person action adaptation of the first book of the Comedy. They've launched a short teaser trailer. According to Executive Producer Jonathan Knight:

The time is right for the world of interactive entertainment to adapt this literary masterpiece, and to re-introduce Dante to an audience who, until now, may have been unfamiliar with the remarkable details of this great work of art. It's the perfect opportunity to fuse great game play with great story.


Variety report that EA are also hawking the game round the major film studios. Of course, I wouldn't bet the mortgage on EA's version sticking too close to the 14th-century original.

Stumble Upon Toolbar

Sunday 7 December 2008

The book wins an award

It was announced this week that the book has been judged Best Guidebook 2008 at the ENIT Travel Writing Awards. Obviously, we're chuffed to bits to have impressed the panel of Italian tourism experts, and to have beaten so many other fantastic new guidebooks. The new goal is for my next book, due out early next year, to win the 2009 prize.

To celebrate, time-permitting, more new material and updates on Tuscany will appear here soon. I promise.

More on the announcement here:

The winning Frommer’s title written by authors Donald Strachan and Stephen Keeling was singled out for the quality of its research, writing and opening up a new area in Italian tourism.

Stumble Upon Toolbar