You Can Now Preorder “Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made”
I woke up this morning to an e-mail from my friend Chris Strompolos, who I’ve known for a few years and who reviewed Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with me WAY back in an early Geekscape episode!
Chris’ story is pretty amazing. When he was in highschool in the 80s, he and his best friends made what is today called The Greatest Fan Film of all time: a shot for shot remake of the original Raiders of the Lost Ark! This was back before it was on VHS… so Chris and his friends had to go to the theater more than a few times (not that they minded) and script and storyboard their film in person or from memory!
What followed is even more incredible, as the dedicated group set out over the next few years to REMAKE Raiders… almost killing themselves and burning their house down in the process. Just watch this Youtube and ask yourselves how anybody could possibly survive! It’s pretty amazing.
I love Chris’ stories. I asked these guys to come on the show and they responded with “well, we’re putting out a book on the experience so maybe we should come on when the book is about to be released.” A BOOK!?! With pictures and stories and anecdotes about a group of friends remaking one of the greatest films of all time? Fucking awesome. I can’t wait!
And to prove it, you can now PRE-ORDER the book on Amazon! And in doing so, you’ll actually save a ton on the cover price but also help the book do much better upon release.
Here’s the e-mail telling us about the book and why we should pre-order in Chris’ words:
It’s called RAIDERS! and it’s the story of the making of our movie as well as the behind-the-scenes, never-told-before story of our lives, warts and all.
It comes out November 13. The author is Alan Eisenstock and the publisher is Thomas Dunne (an imprint of St. Martin’s Press).
We love it! The book is hilarious, emotional, exciting, and inspiring. It’s nonfiction but reads like a novel. After 30 years of friendship, I actually found out stuff about my best friend that I never knew… and vice-versa! You know of many incredible true “ups” to our story. Be warned, there’s also parts where… it gets dark. We didn’t hold back with Alan.
Daniel Clowes (Ghost World) read the manuscript and wrote, “A super-charged (parents: read with caution!) mini-epic that replaces Hollywood dazzle with something far more compelling: the agony and ecstasy of raw adolescent delirium.”
And Harry Knowles (Ain’t It Cool News) Tweeted: “Raiders! by Alan Eisenstock is so going to own me. I feel it already.”
Okay, the favor.
What will ultimately make or break this book’s future.
Would you, as a personal favor… pre-order it now?
Yes, I know, the book doesn’t come out for 7 months.
But in the uncertain literary world, apparently the key to success — is having people buy the book before it comes out.
The more pre-orders = better chance the book has to be a Bestseller.
Conversely, if we don’t get a lot of pre-orders, few copies will be printed, and the book will die.
That’s where you come in, again, the favor.
If you buy it now, your pre-order will be counted that first crucial week. The more pre-orders… the more our publisher will get behind us, the more the world will notice us, the more the NY Times Bestseller list has a chance of noticing us.
To help us… and to pre-order our book… simply click on the link below — then “Pre-Order: Add to Cart”
In return for doing us this really big favor, in addition to our everlasting gratitude, we make you 2 promises:
(1) you will get the book at a significant discount, around $15 per hardcover copy (normally $26), and
(2) you will enjoy a really incredible read in November.
And when RAIDERS! hits the New York Times Bestseller list in November, it will be because of you.
A heartfelt thank you for any and all support you can give.
Best wishes,
Chris Strompolos
So there you have it. An awesome story. An awesome book. An awesome price. So… why wouldn’t you pre-order it?
