Shatner Rules: Book Cover Revealed!

Thanks to Amazon, the cover for William Shatner's new book Shatner Rules has finally surfaced!  What do you guys think?  It's cool, but I'm not blown away by it.  I definitely like the image of Shatner wrapping his hands over the Earth, after all it's Shatner's Universe and we're all just living in it.  But the blue & white shading feels weak...it just doesn't pop they way his cover for Up Till Now or even Star Trek Memories do.  Still, I'm super excited to read (and hopefully listen to via Audio Book) this new tome as soon as it hits on October 18th.  

Shatner's Rules: The Full Title Revealed!

SHATNER RULES:  YOUR KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE SHATNERVERSE AND THE WORLD AT LARGE

Discovered after a quick search on Amazon.com, the book is now available for pre-order and will be released on October 18th of this year.  List Price has it at $21.95, but they've got it selling at $14.93.  ISBN: 9780525952510.  And yes, it looks like there's going to be an audiobook as well.  It doesn't list the reader yet, but I'd bet my hide that Shatner will provide vocals once again.

The Shatnerverse is usually a reference to the Trek books written by Shatner, in which he resurrected Kirk via Borg technology after his pathetic demise in Star Trek: Generations.  But I doubt we'll be reading an intricate analysis of Star Trek The Return or the more recent Star Trek Academy books.  I'm guessing The Shatnerverse quoted in the subtitle has more to do with the New York Daily News quote found on Bill's last memoir, "It is now Bill Shatner's Universe-we just live in it."

Yep, October can't get here fast enough.

Shatner's Rules: More Details Leak + Charlie Sheen, Crazy Like A Shatner???

There's another Q&A over at The Seattle Times that offers almost nothing new for Shat Fans, but there is this, "I'm in the midst or writing a book right now...One of the chapters is called 'Saying Yes To Life,' because if you don't say yes you miss an opportunity."

And if you jump on over to The Hollywood Reporter, you can read a snippet in which Shatner defends Charlie Sheen's recent parade of crazy.  Shatner says of Sheen, "He seems perfectly in the moment, not drugged.  His manner of speaking, his cadence, his terms of expression are a little different...But he's not crazy-to my mind-he's just jagged and putting the interviewers on."

Surfing The Giant Life Wave with William Shatner! (Canadian) Lifetime Achievement Awarded!

William Shatner has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Canadian Governor General's Performing Arts.  Their official praise reads as follows:

William Shatner is one of Canada’s most celebrated cultural icons. In a wide-ranging career spanning six decades, he has recreated himself many times over, each time revealing a new alter ego who seems to completely define him for the moment. Famous for his roles as Captain James Kirk in the original Star Trek TV series and attorney Denny Crane on The Practice and Boston Legal, he has starred in five TV series (Star Trek, T.J. Hooker, The Practice, Boston Legal, andThird Rock from the Sun) and more than 30 films, including Judgment at Nuremberg, seven Star Trek movies, Airplane II: The Sequel, andMiss Congeniality. He is an award-winning actor, accomplished director, best-selling author, and dedicated philanthropist and environmentalist whose compassion, creativity, and irrepressible sense of humour are integral to his life and work.

He has written fiction and non-fiction, released several albums, made close to 100 guest appearances on TV, and raised millions of dollars for charity. He currently hosts three TV series (Aftermath, Shatner’s Raw Nerve, and Weird or What?) and several websites, and plays the irascible father on the hit show $#*! My Dad Says and the dramatically persuasive “Negotiator” for the discount travel site priceline.com. He is also working on an album, a book, and an autobiographical documentary.  “I’m an actor, a performer,” he says. “There’s nothing I’d rather be doing. I love to entertain, to make people laugh and cry. I love to create the vehicles to do that, or at least to contribute to that.”

Mr. Shatner was born in Montreal in 1931 and obtained a BA in Commerce from McGill University, where he acted in student theatre and radio productions. In the late 1950s he appeared at the Stratford Festival and on Broadway, and made his film debut in The Brothers Karamazov (1957).

Now if you head on over to The National Post you can read a short Q&A.  Hightlights from the interview include:

--Shatner's completed five chapters of his latest book (Shatner's Rules), which he calls "an autobiography, a continuation of Up Till Now."  

--He's recently completed four interviews for Aftermath.  One of which is with Daniel Ellsberg of The Pentagon Papers fame (who was portrayed by Boston Legal stalwart James Spader in an early FX TV Movie) and one with Jeffery Wigand, the tobacco industry whistleblower portrayed by Russell Crowe in The Insider.

--Best Shatner Quote:  "I'm probably happiest right now then I've ever been in my life...I'm surfing the giant life wave!"  

Our Wonderful Wizard in Oz + The Title of Shatner's New Book Revealed!

            

While in Melbourne, Australia William Shatner sat down with the Courier Mail for a quick, but nifty retrospective interview.  Some highlights include:

"When you think there are shows like The Twilight Zone that I did that were even worse in terms of effects, with a furry little man on a wing, but it still remains in the public domain and is very popular to this day. But were you to look at it through an objective eye, rather than suspension of disbelief, you would see a furry little man on a wing and an actor trying to pretend it's not. So when you suspend that disbelief - and if I have been helpful making the audience do that - and you are into the show and the entertainment then you don't even see the irony."

"One place you won't likely see him is in the sequel to J.J. Abrams' hit reboot of the Star Trek movie franchise.  His old friend Leonard Nimoy played a key role as Spock in the last one, leaving Shatner a little miffed to be overlooked.  While he is certainly up for it, he has made it clear he's not really interested in a Captain Kirk cameo. `I would be so interested in doing it, especially with that wonderful director J.J. Abrams, but I don't see how it's possible and maybe we all have gone beyond that. But I have shot a wonderful documentary where I talk to all the captains of Star Trek and try to find a common denominator and in the meantime have some fun talking to them about them and their lives.'''

Also, hidden within the article we finally learn the title of Shatner's new book...Shatner's Rules!  Very cool.  Gives us some idea of what to expect.  Maybe something like Bill Maher's New Rules but with a little more of that "I CAN'T GET BEHIND THAT!!!" Shatner enthusiasm.