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Keanu Reeves is set to add novelist to his list of jobs, writing The Book of Elsewhere with China Miéville, Deadline reported.
Random House's Del Rey imprint will publish the novel in July. The novel is Reeves' first, set in the BRZRKR world. Reeves co-created BRZRKR with writer Matt Kindt and artist Ron Garney. The novel follows the brutal story of the immortal warrior B and his 80 millennia quest to find out the truth about his endless existence. He ends up fighting for the US government. In exchange, he's promised information regarding his immortality… and how to get rid of it.
Keanu Reeves: movie star, rock star and first-time novelist
Reeves, who is set to reprise his role as Constantine in an upcoming sequel, will also star in its live-action film adaptation, while an anime spinoff is currently in the works on the streaming platform.
The novel will be released in July 23. Random House VP and editor-in-chief Ben Greenberg acquired the North American rights to BRZRKR for Del Rey. He will also serve as the novel's editor. Penguin Random House Audio will release an audiobook simultaneously.
BRZRKR's 12-issue limited series was first published by BOOM! studios in March 2021. Its Kickstarter funding campaign raised $1.45 million, which was a record for a comicbook project on the platform. The comic book series went on to sell more than 650,000 copies of the first issue at retail. It's the highest-selling original title of the 21st century, according to Forbes.
Playing in Keanu Reeves' sandbox
Reeves said in a statement, “It was extraordinary to have the opportunity to collaborate on The Book of Elsewhere with one of my favorite authors, China Miéville. China did exactly what I was hoping for – he came in with a clear architecture for the story and how he wanted to play with the world of BRZRKR, a world that I love so much. I was thrilled with his vision and feel honored to be a part of this collaborative process.”
Miéville stated, “Sometimes the greatest games are those you play with other people's toys.”
“It was an honour, a shock and a delight when Keanu invited me to play. But I could never have predicted how generous he’d be with toys he’s spent so long creating, how glad to experiment together, how open to true collaboration. I hope readers get to experience even a fraction of the pleasure reading The Book of Elsewhere that I experienced in the writing – in the serious business of play,” he added.
Miéville is a World Fantasy, Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke awardee. His novels include The City & The City, Embassytown and Perdido Street Station. He has also written non-fiction books about a study of international law as well as a history of Russian Revolution. He describes his work as “weird fiction”, loosely allied to the New Weird movement.
BOOM! Studios president of publish and sales Filip Sablik described BRZRKR as “unlike any other modern comic book franchise,” and expressed his gratitude to “Ben Greenberg and the rest of the amazing team at Del Rey for making The Book of Elsewhere a true publishing event.”
The Book of Elsewhere will be released on July 23.
