Justin Cronin is a professor of English at Houston's Rice University. A Harvard graduate and former student of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Cronin has also garnered myriad accolades in his field as a fiction writer, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pew Foundation.

Once known for his sober, literary fiction, a shower of press descended upon the author in July 2007, when news broke of a $3.75 million deal from Ballantine Books (a division of Random House) for a trilogy of post-apocalyptic vampire novels set 100 years in the future. The first 700-page installment, The Passage will be released June 8.

This is the story of a local scholar turned pop novelist, and the slew of intrigue that has followed his fantasy fiction.

Cronin cites his daughter, Iris, as his muse in writing the series. Iris was 9 when she requested that dad write a book about a girl who saves the world.

And so Cronin conceived a tale chronicling the journey of an orphan girl who struggles to save humankind with her unusual powers to combat a viral epidemic. Rice granted the author one year to devote his full attention to the project. He spun an intense plot based on a strange breed of bats in South America: when the rodents bite terminally ill cancer patients, the patients recover their health.

The United States conducts secret tests with human subjects to determine whether the bat virus can cure illness. Instead, the experiment turns the test subjects, which include death row inmates, into a swarm of bloodthirsty vampires. A security breach then unleashes the monstrous project; civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey.

When Cronin's agent dispatched an incomplete manuscript of The Passage, Random House's science fiction and fantasy-focused subdivision, Ballantine Books, immediately laid claim to the series. The sample — offering not the gothic personages of traditional stories, but ordinary men and women — drew comparisons to a handful of Cronin's predecessors.

The author, who has received PEN/Hemingway, Stephen Crane and Booksense prizes for his fiction, was connected to Don DeLillo for his intellectual style of Cold War-era paranoia. Both writers were raised on a diet of post-apocalyptic fiction. The heady Armageddon motif has drawn comparisons to Cormac McCarthy's 2007 Pulitzer winner, The Road.

With his new book, Cronin has also been aligned with heavily mainstream authors, particularly the imaginative power of Stephen King and The Stand and the headlong storytelling of Michael Crichton's early novels. Ballantine is even marketing the book with an urgent statement from Stephen King that the book is a "novel-reader's novel," with an "enthralling, entertaining story wedded to simple, supple prose."

Is Cronin's latest edition marking a turn from meaty intellectual discourse to market-ready lit? He's admitted that the book is somewhat of a departure, but familiar themes emerge: love, friendship and sacrifice.

Cronin argues that his writing the novel wasn't based on the prospect of a big paycheck. "I simply wrote the book I wanted to write, the one that wanted to be written," he is quoted as saying in an article published by Rice University.

As it turns out, Cronin's not the only one who enjoys telling the story. His manuscript sample sparked a bidding war between Hollywood's preeminent studios for the rights to produce a movie based on The Passage. Banking on the popularity of such vampire franchises as Twilight and True Blood, Universal, Sony and Warner Brothers all made bids in excess of $1 million.

Prices soared higher as the studios discovered they had competition. Ultimately, Fox 2000 rose to the top, snatching The Passage, for $1.75 million in partnership with Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions. If Ridley Scott directs, it would see screenwriters John Logan and Scott collaborating for the first time since 2000's Gladiator. The New York Times spotlighted the deal as an indicator of the lengths that studios will go to in search of the next big thing.

There's more cash to come, too: Fox has dished out only for the first book in the 3,000 page trilogy, which it has already touted as a possible future Oscar contender.

Summer's buzz book

Since the film coup, the publishing world has closely followed next week's release of The Passage. Publisher's Weekly has labeled it this summer's "it" book, and Ballantine has devoted part of its marketing budget towards an iPhone app and online game to be distributed to more than 100 gaming portals. Says Kristin Fassler, deputy director of marketing at Random House, "Our advertising strategy is modeled after a movie campaign, with phone kiosks and billboards in major markets and banner ads on highly trafficked entertainment Web sites."

It all amounts to an unprecedented amount of media — and money — for a local university professor.

Regardless of intellect lost or gained, he's dedicated to his post at Rice. Books two and three in his series will follow in 2012 and 2014, respectively, but Cronin intends to return to teaching fiction writing, once explaining to the Rice News, "Teaching keeps me grounded. It's satisfying to be able to help young writers and it's good to be in touch with faculty colleagues."

Rice alumni are more than willing to confirm his teaching skills. "He was my writing teacher for three years," says author Andrea White, wife of former Houston mayor and current gubernatorial candidate, Bill White. "He took his students' work as if we were each the next Faulkner, and responded in the most detailed manner," she adds.

White, who is co-hosting a fête for the book's release later this week, emphasizes Cronin's skills as an adept craftsman of captivating stories. "It's a great summer read — I read it in about three days," White tells CultureMap. "I couldn't put it down, and I have to say — I don't like to be scared. This is by far the scariest book I have ever read, especially the first third. The story is just such a strong story."

When asked to what extent the book represents an evolution from from his previous production, White explains, "I'd say the writing level is still literary, but having read The Summer Guest, this was completely different." Indeed, Cronin's previous novels were not featured in Entertainment Weekly.

Although the book has captured the imaginations of New York publishers and Hollywood producers, Cronin's home base city and state still figure prominently. For instance, Jenna Bush is occupying the Texas governor's mansion in 2016, and a pivotal moment in the plot is located at the corner of Westheimer Road and Loop 610.

"There was a River Oaks scene — a death in a swimming pool," White discloses before she declares, "Go out and get it."

Justin Cronin will have book signings on June 9 at Brazos Bookstore and June 25 at Barnes & Noble Bookstore at River Oaks Shopping Center