TV movie based on woman's novella

Science fiction can be scary.

Connie Willis' sci-fi novella, "Just Like the Ones We Used to Know," was turned into a made-for-TV movie, airing today night on CBS.

Willis, an award-winning writer who lives in Greeley, hasn't seen it yet.

"I will have to watch it like everyone else. The writer is always the last to know. It's kind of strange and scary," Willis said.

Willis has some anxiety because she wasn't involved in making the movie, titled "Snow Wonder."

"I don't know anything about it and what they've done with the story. Someone is taking your baby and changing it. I'm excited, but a little nervous," Willis said.

In the novella, a snowstorm descends on the world. Characters in various situations cope with the weather and figure out the cause.

The novella was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine two years ago. Willis said she wasn't interested in writing the screenplay. "I write books and I'm working on a novel right now, and I don't want to take time out from that. Let the screenplay writers write it."

Although her other pieces have been optioned, she has never had one of her novels turned into a movie.

Willis is curious to see how the film will handle literary elements, like getting into a character's head. "I was aware of the risks going in. It's a different medium with different needs and demands. I could go very well; it could not."

In the advance material she read, Willis said "Snow Wonder" made no mention of global warming -- the potential cause of the snowstorm in her novella. The movie only referred to the snowstorm as "magical."

Her concerns aside, Willis is excited to see Mary Tyler Moore play a "shy" aunt. "I have high hopes for this. I really respect Mary Tyler Moore," she said.

TUNE IN

"Snow Wonder" airs 8 p.m. today on CBS channel 4. Mary Tyler Moore, Camryn Manheim, Jennifer Esposito and Jason Priestley star.