Best-selling fantasy writer George R.R. Martin's werewolf novella "The Skin Trade" was optioned for filming by Mike the Pike Productions Inc.

The novella originally appeared in the 1988 horror anthology "Night Visions 5." "The Skin Trade" joins another project in development from Martin: HBO's "Game of Thrones," based on the author's celebrated "A Song Of Ice And Fire" novels.

This is a fantastic step up for the motion picture division of our company, said Mark B. Newbauer, Mike the Pike Productions Inc. We began discussions on this property almost two years ago with the foresight that vampires and werewolves would be the forthcoming trend. We cant take full credit on this at risk of being boastful, but the timing couldnt be better for this project.

"That said, the appeal is that it is timeless in form, with a Gothic detective story with a hint of the supernatural. We think this story would make an excellent miniseries, movie of the week or studio, mini-major or independent feature, and well be aggressively shopping all angles.

Also convinced of the novella's big screen potential, Martin recently expressed excitement for the development.

Ive always thought there was a terrific movie in 'The Skin Trade,' but somehow no one has ever optioned it till now," Martin said in a LiveJournal post. "The novella is a horror/mystery cross set in a decaying rustbelt city and featuring a hot young female private eye and a hypochondriac lycanthrope; hows that for high concept? Randi and Willie are still favorites of mine.

"The novella won the World Fantasy Award too, which is how I got that head of H.P. Lovecraft that looks down over my living room. I hope that Mike the Pike does a kickass job with it.

"The Skin Trade" will also be developed into a graphic novel by Avatar Press, scripted by Daniel Abraham and penciled by Marek Oleksicki.