Books News

Neal Stephenson stars in not-so-epic book trailer

By Phil Guie April 26, 2012

As writers go, Neal Stephenson might be considered among the foremost sci-fi/fantasy novelists working today. Just don't ask him to get in front of a camera and act.

Stephenson and a group of other writers collaborated on the recent The Mongoliad: Book One, the first in a series of medieval adventure novels published under Amazon's 47North banner. The release was accompanied by a trailer, but given the epic scope and action-packed nature of the book, it's hard to imagine any two-to-three-minute short film doing it justice.

The solution? A trailer that's pretty much the exact opposite of what the source material demands: a set that more or less consists of Neal Stephenson, a chair, and a large map; two knights jousting in what looks like a living room; and a tone that gets progressively sillier each time the director located off-camera interrupts the action. The end result isn't a particularly good book trailer, but then, how many book trailers are? At least The Mongoliad's is memorable for its goofiness. Who knows? Stephenson may win himself some new fans with it.

TAGS: adventure, books, book trailer, epic, medieval, Mongols, Science fiction, swords,

Trailer for The Mongoliad: Book One