Cross Creek Pictures president Brian Oliver along with Simon Oakes, vice-chairman of Exclusive Media Group and president and CEO of Hammer Films and Guy East and Nigel Sinclair, co-chairmen of Exclusive Media Group have announced that it has acquired the rights to Cherie Priest’s novel “Boneshaker.” The film will be co-produced by Hammer and Crock Creek Pictures and co-financed by Exclusive and Cross Creek Pictures.

The screenplay for “Boneshaker” will be written by John Hilary Shepherd, who wrote for the first season of the Showtime series “Nurse Jackie.” Head of Production Tobin Armbrust will oversee the film’s development for Hammer Films.

“Boneshaker” was published in 2009 by Tor Books and is the first in the series set in the alternate Civil War-period called “The Clockwork Century.” The second novel in the series, “Dreadnought,” was released in 2010 and the third novel, “Ganymede,” was recently released online and in bookstores September 27. The fourth novel in the series, “Inexplicables,” will be released in 2012 and the fifth, “Fiddlehead,” is in the works.

The plot of “Boneshaker” involves an alternate version of 19th century Seattle. According to the press release:

“An example of ‘steampunk’ science-fiction, which incorporates futuristic innovations into a Victorian setting, Priest’s novel is set in an alternate version of 1880s Seattle, where the city has been walled in and a toxic gas has turned many of its remaining residents into “Rotters,” more commonly known as zombies. A young widow hunts for her teen son in the Seattle underworld, while dealing with airship pirates, a criminal overlord and heavily armed refugees. “Boneshaker” was nominated for a 2010 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and won the 2010 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.”