2 Big Names Make Unusual Headlines in Book World

Tuesday brings two notable entries related to the world of publishing:

• Quentin Tarantino: Tarantino may be a fixture in the world of movies, but he has scored a deal to write two books for HarperCollins, reports Deadline. The first will be a novelization of his film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and the second will be a non-fiction work about movies called Cinema Speculation. The latter will be a "deep dive into the movies of the 1970s, a rich mix of essays, reviews, personal writing, and tantalizing 'what if’s,' from one of cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers, and its most devoted fan," according to HarperCollins.

• Bret Easton Ellis: Well, who needs publishers anyway? Ellis, author of American Psycho and Less Than Zero, is telling a new serial killer story in installments on his podcast, reports Movie Maker Magazine. Also unusual: Ellis says The Shards is true and is based on events he and his high school friends experienced in 1980s Los Angeles in regard to a killer known as The Trawler. It's possible the story might end up in book form eventually.

(More Quentin Tarantino stories.)