"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms."
—Muriel Rukeyser
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Courtroom thriller penned by local author Larry D. Thompson

From Legal Trade
A blog about lawyering
with Mary Flood

I'm a fan of courtroom thrillers, a fan of Perry Mason novels and books by John Grisham. And now I'm a fan on Houston lawyer Larry D. Thompson's book So Help Me God.

He practices with Lorance & Thompson and his late brother is the acclaimed Texas writer Tommy Thompson, author of a non-fiction courtroom thriller Blood and Money.

Thompson took a character from his brother's last book Celebrity. The character is an over-the top Texas preacher who Thompson pulled him out of a coma and made a character in his page turner that uses the debate over abortion to build up a big trial with mass media and larger than life lawyers. The discussion of when life begins is central to the trial in the book but almost incidental to the courtroom drama fun. They could be arguing over exploding pick ups with a lot of the same fire.

His courtroom detail is very impressive. His judge is clearly based on Judge Ruby Sondock (he changed her hair color and her last name) and it's as much fun as reading Grisham. Actually, it was more fun than the last Grisham. The overblown lawyers will make you smile, the understanding of the process will make you nod and his loving treatment of Houston pleased me and may do the same for you.

I interviewed Thompson in his northwest Houston offices this week and here's a video of snippets from our talk:



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Royce Buckingham has closed a U.S. deal with Putnam (John Rudolph) for his third novel (after Demonkeeper and Goblins), Scary Monsters. Ken Atchity at Atchity Entertainment International is the rep. Via Baror International, Random House/Germany has made a deal with Royce for a sequel to Demonkeeper.

Breaking Ball nabs film rights to '27'

Abramovitch to adapt Diehl's spy novel

By DAVE MCNARY

Breaking Ball Films' Scott Abramovitch and Lonny Dubrofsky have acquired feature rights to William F. Diehl's pre-WWII spy novel "27," with Abramovitch adapting.

Story, originally called "The Hunt," centers on a wealthy American ex-bootlegger who attempts to thwart a Nazi agent who plans to kidnap a group of VIPs and hold them hostage in exchange for President Roosevelt's promise that the U.S. will stay out of the war.

Diehl, who died in 2006, was best known for thrillers "Sharky's Machine" and "Primal Fear," both made into features. Continue reading…

Larry Thompson’s So Help Me God just appeared, with a gorgeous cover, from Tom Doherty & Associates. Please don’t miss this great read. Watch the book trailer here.

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Alvin Schwartz’s An Unlikely Prophet has been sold to Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag (Germany), for publication in October.