Retired NASA pilot Charles Justiz’s sci-fi novel, Specific Impulse, has caught the eye of Rainmaker Films. Rainmaker has selected comic book creator and filmmaker Kevin VanHook to write the screenplay. Check out the official press release below:
Kevin VanHook To Write Screenplay for Sci-Fi Thriller Specific Impulse
Writer/director, visual effects artist and comic book creator Kevin VanHook has signed to write the screenplay for Specific Impulse, the first book of the science-based trilogy written by retired NASA pilot Charles Justiz.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Fans of “FRED” are rejoicing across the globe as comic book creator and filmmaker Kevin VanHook has been tapped to write the screenplay for Specific Impulse, the first novel of the science fiction trilogy written by aviation consultant and former NASA pilot Charles Justiz.
Houston-based Rainmaker Films has plans to develop Specific Impulse into a major motion picture. Executive producer Grant Guthrie and his Los Angeles-based partner Fred Kuehnert hand-picked VanHook to bring the story to the big screen.
“When I first read Specific Impulse I couldn’t put the book down,” said Guthrie. “The combination of science and suspense is riveting. There are elements in this story that only someone with Kevin VanHook’s unique creative talents could capture”.
Guthrie and Kuehnert have produced five feature films together. Kuehnert and VanHook previously collaborated on the film The Fallen Ones for the SyFy Channel. Kuehnert was also the executive producer of the Academy Award winning film The Buddy Holly Story. VanHook has been creating popular entertainment for over 20 years; from the award-winning comic book Bloodshot for Valiant Comics to his work as a writer/director and sought-after visual effects artist.
“I’m particularly excited to write the movie version of Specific Impulse,” said VanHook. “It gives me the opportunity to play with a couple of concepts that have always fascinated me: machine intelligence and space exploration. “
Derived greatly on Justiz’s amassed thirty plus years’ experience as a military and government aviation specialist, Specific Impulse is the story of space scientist Carin Gonzales and former submarine commander Jake Sabio as they find themselves the sole survivors of a mysterious explosion. Pursued by both the government and a contract killer, the two strangers are forced to work together to find the source of the explosion as well as a cure for an infection that is slowly killing them. With the help of FRED, a discarded intelligence-based machine created by Carin’s former government colleagues, they weave a spectacular story that by all scientific measure is strangely plausible.“I’m thrilled that Kevin VanHook has agreed to write this project,” said Charles Justiz, author of Specific Impulse. “I can’t wait to see Carin, Jake, and especially FRED, come to life.”
Specific Impulse was released in the summer of 2010 to worldwide critical acclaim and recently received the prestigious Clarion ForeWord Five Star Review for independent novels.
ABOUT CHARLES JUSTIZ
A graduate of the of the United States Air Force Academy and a former United States Air Force Officer, Charles Justiz has logged over 15,000 hours on over 100 different types of aircraft during his career. Prior to his retirement from NASA in 2010, Dr. Justiz developed the Crew Resource Management program for NASA aviators, managed a program for developing an on-board landing simulation system for space shuttle pilots and served as the Chief of Aviation Safety. Dr. Justiz holds a doctorate degree from the University of Houston for his research in Thermo Physics and Plasma Dynamics, an adjunct associate professorship at the University of Houston in aerospace engineering and is a NASA Doctoral Fellow. He currently works as a corporate aviation consultant and lives in Seabrook, Texas, with his wife, Dayna Steele, author of Rock to the Top: What I Learned about Success from the World’s Greatest Rock Stars and three sons.
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