Trailer Park Tuesday: Thrill-Bent by Jan Richman

Welcome to Trailer Park Tuesday, a showcase of new book trailers and, in a few cases, previews of book-related movies.  Unless their last name is Grisham or King, authors will probably never see their trailers on the big screen at the local cineplex.  And that's a shame because a lot of hard work goes into producing these short marriages between book and video.  So, if you like what you see, please spread the word and help these videos go viral.

My vote for the most unique book trailer of the year goes to the video for Jan Richman's new novel Thrill-Bent.   It's also the most apropos trailer, a perfect marriage between setting and content.  In Richman's novel, fictional character "Jan Richman," a journalist and armchair thrill-seeker, gets a freelance assignment to write about antique wooden roller coasters.  And so, she sets off across the United States gathering notes on the ups and downs of amusement parks and tapping into "a fanatical sub-culture."  In the book trailer, Beth Lisick stars as a "Discomposed Reader" who attempts to read a passage from Thrill-Bent while riding a 'coaster.  Lisick, also a writer known for her spoken-word performances, bravely tries to keep her eyes on the page as she takes plunge after plunge and zooms around banked tracks.  The video, which is nothing more than two minutes of uncut roller coaster footage, has a fair amount of suspense:  Will the Discomposed Reader make it through the paragraph?  Will the book fly out of her hands?  Will she vomit all over the page?  Tune in to find out.  But please, remain seated and keep your arms and legs inside at all times.