Since I'm not the biggest fan of 'swords and shields' styled fantasy (i.e. The Chronicles of Narnia), you'll understand why I'm kind of relieved to discover that the new crop of young fantasy flicks are going to be just a little more 'steam punk.' The Hollywood Reporter announced that Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) has signed to direct the feature film version of the youth fantasy novel Larklight for Warner Bros. Kapur will be working with Eastern Promises scribe, Steven Knight to adapt the novel for the big screen.

Larklight is the first book in a series by Phillip Reeve with illustrations provided by David Wyatt. The story is set in an alternate Victorian-styled universe where since the time of Sir Isaac Newton, humanity has been relentlessly exploring the solar system. The protagonists are Arthur Mumby (called Art), his sister Myrtle and their father Edward. The three live in a rambling mansion called Larklight and in the first book of the series, the three get into a series of scrapes with giant spiders from outer space.

Between writing for sitcoms, co-creating Who Wants to be a Millionaire and penning the screenplays for Dirty Pretty Things and David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, British writer Steven Knight also found time to write some novels. He even adapted one of them, Alphabet City, for the screen, though nothing originally came of his early draft. Now, though, Universal has hired gangland specialist James Gray (just off We Own the Night) to rewrite and direct the movie, which is already slated to go into production next spring.

Alphabet City is long out of print, so it's hard to find a reliable summary of its plot. What everyone does agree on is that it's set (shockingly) in the part of New York's Lower East Side known as Alphabet City (it's so far east that the avenues go below First, so they're given letter names, instead), and centers on a journalist who investigates gangs and drugs use there. According to Variety, the journalist goes undercover to get a look at what's really happening in the area. What's weird, though, is that a web search for the book's title brings up descriptions that suggest the journalist is either making things up, or finds the events he's writing about in his (fictional?) book coming true. So, it's either going to be a gritty story about New York City, or a movie about a writer who gets caught in a big lie and has to face the consequences.

I don't suppose any of you guys have read the book and can shed some light on the plot?

Though it's unclear which will come first, a film called Eastern Promises has joined the previously-discussed Map to the Stars on David Cronenberg's list of upcoming projects. Promises is a thriller by Steven Knight, who also wrote 2002's Dirty Pretty Things. According to Variety, Knight's new script treads similar ground, once again visiting the "seamy underside of life" in London, this time through the story of "a young midwife [who is] drawn into investigating the identity of a mysterious Russian girl who dies in childbirth on Christmas Eve." When the girl turns out to be a prostitute who was brought to the country by a sex-trafficking gang, things get a little hairy for the midwife.

The film, budgeted at between $15 and $20 million, is being produced by the group behind the Oscar-nominated Pride & Prejudice. Cronenberg hopes to begin filming this fall, but since he may have to be in the US for Map to the Stars, the new project's schedule is still very much up in the air.