A New George R.R. Martin TV Show is in The Works at Cinemax

This past weekend, author George R.R. Martin announced on his blog that Cinemax has picked up the rights to his award-winning werewolf noir The Skin Trade. I'll let him tell you what's up:

I am very excited to announce the Cinemax (HBO's sister company) has optioned the television rights to "The Skin Trade," the offbeat "werewolf noir" novella I penned back in the late 80s. The deal is closed, and Cinemax has ordered the pilot script. This being Hollywood, of course, you never know where things will end... but if they like the script, we'll shoot a pilot, and if they like that, hey, who knows, maybe we'll get a series on the air.

Martin will executive produce the series (if it comes to pass), and he and the network have chosen a relative unknown to shepherd the story:

To handle the adaptation, script the pilot, and produce the show (should we get a greenlight), we've tapped a terrific talented young scriptwriter named KALINDA VAZQUEZ, whose previous credits include work on PRISON BREAK and ONCE UPON A TIME. That was not an easy choice. Cinemax and my agents set me up for meetings with close to a dozen different Tv writers, many of them very impressive, but Kalinda's take on the story and the characters blew me away. She loves the story and the world, and really seems to get Willie and Randi, and her pitch to Cinemax was one of the most polished and professional I've ever heard. I love her enthusiasm, and look forward to working with her.

Here's a brief description of the book, for those of you who aren't familiar with it:

Randi Wade is a survivor. She followed in the footsteps of her father, became a cop, and now is working the P.I. trade. But her past still haunts her. And the vicious animal attacks that took her father's life have sprung up anew, claiming victims once again in this sleepy town.

Thankfully for A Song of Ice and Fire fans, Martin is keeping his priorities in order and wasn't tempted to bring this project to the screen himself:

(And no, while I would have loved to write the script and run the show myself myself, that was never really in the cards. I have this book to finish. You know the one).

Yes. Please, for the love of God, George — wrap up The Winds of Winter. We're going to have to wait years for the seventh and final book in the series, so finish this one quickly so you can move on to the next one and give this thing a proper ending! The Skin Trade sounds like it could be a fun show, though: we've gotten a taste werewolf noir in Bill Willingham's Fables, and this sounds like it's going all in on the concept.