New frontier for J.J. Abrams: novels

I was working as a copy editor at TV Guide when the television show "Lost" first came out in 2004. We got to watch every new TV pilot, every season, as part of the gig .

While I can't tell you what other shows came out that spring, though I watched all of the pilots, the "Lost" pilot stood out, piqued my interest, and definitely stayed with me. I was a fan through the course of the show.

For that show alone, I would have to peg "Lost" creator J.J. Abrams as a genius, of the pop-culture sort.

Abrams, director of "Star Trek," has taken on a new challenge ... or a "new frontier" as the Associated Press cheekily stated.

On Wednesday, publisher Little, Brown and Co. announced a deal with Abrams to write a new thriller - in novel form. The book doesn't have a title as of yet, but I'm going to wager it'll be a page-turner.

The book would be a collaboration with award-winning novelist Doug Dorst and come out in the fall of 2012 through the Mulholland Books imprint, according to the AP report

Movie credits for Abrams (that's him pictured at left) include "Star Trek," "Mission: Impossible III," "Cloverfield," and the upcoming "Super 8."

For television, he is the co-creator of "Lost" and "Fringe" and was executive producer of "Felicity" and "Alias."