AMC Giving TV Series Adaptation to Psychedelic Urban Fantasy Novella “Sorcerers”

It has been announced that AMC will be adapting Sorcerers, a novella by co-writers Maurice Broaddus and Otis Whitaker, featuring illustrations by renowned artist Jim Mahfood, as a TV series.

According to the press release, Sorcerers has been described as “a psychedelic urban fantasy about a 30-year-old man from Harlem who comes into his own as a hip-hop-inspired sorcerer.”

The recently released novella is the debut release from NeoText, a new digital publishing company dedicated to publishing short-form prose ranging from science fiction and noir novellas to investigative journalism and narrative nonfiction.

It’s been shared that NeoText execs John Schoenfelder, Russell Ackerman, and Jay Schuminsky will serve as executive producers on the upcoming series, and Nick Mennuti and Eric Raab will be co-executive producers.

The official description reads:

SORCERERS tells the story of Malik Hutchins, who at thirty years old is the black sheep of one of the most successful families in Harlem. Malik couch-surfs with relatives, parties with his girlfriend, and ghostwrites rhymes for local rappers for a few bucks to finance his lifestyle—but when cocky Malik sells two warring rappers the same verse, he paints a target on his own back. Then on his beloved grandfather’s deathbed, Pop-Pop reveals that Malik is a sorcerer, in the great tradition of African sorcery born on the plains of the rift valley before the beginning of time. Malik is thrown headlong into a quest that winds through the streets of Harlem, to the rural South, and places much farther beyond, places he’s only visited in dreams… Now it’s Malik’s turn to step up and take his place as wielder and guardian of an ancient magic passed down through generations in order to protect the family, the people of Harlem, and the world from the forces of dark magic connected to the worst aspects of American history and the fearful creatures it has unleashed.

“NeoText marks a different way of creating stories, with a lead writer in collaboration with an in-house writers room, translating ideas into action-packed storytelling,” said Maurice Broaddus. “I’m thrilled to see SORCERERS transform from the novella to a TV show.”

The novella was released digitally by NeoText today (August 4, 2020). 

“Artist Ben Marra introduced me online to the folks at NeoText, and when they sent the script for SORCERERS, it really clicked with me,” said Jim Mahfood, who provides both a cover and 14 spot full-color illustrations for the novella.

For more updates on NeoText, you can visit the official website and follow them on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

As for the team involved, Maurice Broaddus is a community organizer and teacher. His work has appeared in magazines like Lightspeed Magazine, Weird Tales, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Asimov’s, Cemetery Dance, Uncanny Magazine, with some of his stories having been collected in The Voices of Martyrs. You can visit his website for more information.

Jim Mahfood’s (aka Food One) professional career has spanned across the fields of comic books, illustration, animation, advertising art, murals, gallery shows, body painting, and live art in bars and nightclubs. The first issue of Mahfood’s new self-published, oversized-art-magazine-comic-book One Dangerous Donut is available at his website.

Otis Whitaker is the pen name for the NeoText writers’ room.

I’m all for TV series featuring diverse narratives. I’ll be keeping an eye on Sorcerers.

Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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