A New Book Chronicles the Birth of ‘E.T.’

Do you love Steven Spielberg, and his sci-fi movies in particular? If so, you may be excited to hear of a book that’ll dig deep into his second foray into the genre— E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial . The book is Max Evry’s Stranded on Earth , which will chart how Spielberg’s 1982 film was born. Initially, he’d been looking to make Night Skies, an alien horror film that would’ve followed Close Encounters of the Third Kind . After it was scrapped, elements of it went on to inspire several films, E.T. included. According to the press release, Evry, who previously did an oral history of David Lynch’s Dune , interviewed multiple Spielberg collaborators, from actors to industry insiders. And the book won’t just stop here, as Evry plans to explore how Night Skies went on to shape fellow 80s hits Poltergeist and Gremlins , plus the larger sci-fi horror landscape. “For years, Night Skies has been an asterisk in the shadow of that era’s most popular movie,” he said in a statement. To him, Night Skies’ brief life was “just as fascinating as how E.T. itself made. […] As with my book on Dune, the deeper I dug, the bigger—and wilder—the story became.” 1984 Publishing If you’re still on a Spielberg high after Disclosure Day hits theaters in June, you can grab Stranded on Earth: How Night Skies Became E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial when it releases on October 6 in North America and November 12 in the UK. [via IGN ] Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel , Star Wars , and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who .