George R.R. Martin’s “Nightflyers” story is getting rereleased ahead of SyFy adaptation

Nightflyers, a novella by George R.R. Martin, is getting a spiffy new re-release courtesy of Tor Books. Nightflyers & Other Stories, originally released in 1985, will be back on store shelves on May 29, completely with a spiffy new cover:

The book will be out ahead of the debut of SyFy’s new Nightflyers series, which is currently in production. A horror/sci-fi mashup, Nightflyers is summarized thusly:

"Eight maverick scientists and a powerful telepath embark on an expedition to the edge of our solar system aboard The Nightflyer — a ship with a small tightknit crew and a reclusive captain — in the hope of making contact with alien life. But when terrifying and violent events begin to take place they start to question each other — and surviving the journey proves harder than anyone thought."

Martin himself brings us word of this via his Not a Blog. In addition to the 30,000-word expanded version of Nightflyers, the book will contain five other stories by the Song of Ice and Fire author, including:

• “Override”
• “Weekend in a War Zone”
• “And Seven Times Never Kill Man”
• “Nor the Many-Colored Fires of a Star Ring”
• “A Song for Lya”

Martin calls “A Song for Lya” “one of my strongest works”; it was his first story to win a Hugo Award. It and “And Seven Times Never Kill Man” take place in Martin’s Thousand Worlds universe, where many of his sci-fi stories are set. Moreover, according to Martin, “And Seven Times Never Kill Man” was “the basis for the famous John Schoenherr ANALOG cover that some say inspired George Lucas to create the Ewoks, for which I accept absolutely no blame.”

Don’t worry, Mr. Martin: there’s plenty of blame to go around for the Ewoks.

Turning to the SyFy series, those worried that it might distract Martin from writing The Winds of Winter need not worry: he’s prevented from working on it due to his development deal with HBO.  The show stars Gretchen Mol (Boardwalk Empire) as Dr. Agatha Matheson, Eoin Macken (The Night Shift) as Karl D’Branin, David Ajala (Fast & Furious 6) as Roy Eris, Sam Strike (EastEnders) as Thale, Maya Eshet (Teen Wolf) as Lommie, Angus Sampson (Fargo) as Rowan, Jodie Turner-Smith (The Last Ship) as Melantha Jhirl, and Brían F. O’Byrne (Million Dollar Baby) as Auggie.

We don’t know a ton about about the show, but it pretty much has to be better than the 1987 feature film version:

Martin also hinted that the Nightflyers novella will be coming back “in several forms,” although we don’t yet know what shape other versions might take.

Next: Peter Dinklage resumes filming Game of Thrones, and a familiar set returns for season 8

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h/t Entertainment Weekly