He's got Kick-Ass, Kingsman, The X-Men and the Fantastic Four on his CV, but Matthew Vaughn is moving from comics to young adult novels for a future project. Via his Marv Films production company, he's just nabbed the rights to Tonya Hurley's Ghostgirl series{
The books revolve around the fall of Charlotte Usher, a misfit high-school senior who comes to the belated realisation that the reason she's not fitting in with her classmates is that she's dead. She loves a guy called Damen, but tragically chokes on a gummy bear before she can do anything about it. Adapting to her new un-life, she hooks up with a group of the similarly demised for Dead Ed classes.
First published online in 2002, Ghostgirl came out in book form in 2008, and was followed in short order by Ghostgirl: Homecoming (2009) and Ghostgirl: Lovesick (2010). The sold in their millions in more than 30 countries. Parker Posey read the audiobook versions.
Hurley has a background in film and television, but there don't seem to be any rumblings of her taking the Ghostgirl reigns herself. "I am beyond thrilled to have Ghostgirl in the hands of such creative, capable and passionate filmmakers,” she says. “I’m a raging Matthew Vaughn fan and I look forward to working with him, Val, and the whole team at Marv. To see Charlotte Usher come to life is a dream come true for me and for all the devoted Ghostgirl fans around the world.”
Vaughn's Kingsman: The Secret Service is out in the UK on February 12. the Ghostgirl books are published here by Headline.