The setting is 1880s Seattle. The city’s been walled in and the gas is toxic, transforming people into “Rotters” aka zombies. Boneshaker is a steampunk novel by Cherie Priest that showcases the story of “a young widow [hunting] for her teen son in the Seattle underworld while dealing with airship pirates, a criminal overlord and heavily armed refugees.”

According to Variety, Hammer Films have acquired the rights to the novel for adaption to the big screen with Cross Creek Pictures co-producing and co-financed by Exclusive Media Group and Cross Creek. The script will be written by 2010 WGA Award nominee, John Hilary Shepherd (Nurse Jackie). Tobin Armbrust of Hammer will be overseeing the production.

Brian Oliver of Cross Creek describes Boneshaker:

“It’s like Jules Verne meets Resident Evil, and we’re thrilled to have such a fun, commercial potential franchise in Boneshaker.”

Boneshaker is the first book of the “Clockwork Century” series by Priest in 2009 through Tor Books. Boneshaker is a 2010 Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel and has been honored with the 2010 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction. The second and third books are called Dreadnought and Ganymede, just released in September. A fourth book, Inexplicables, will be published in 2012, followed by a recently announced fifth book, Fiddlehead.
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