In unexpected (but awesome!) news, fantasy writer L.J. Smith has returned from a decade-long absence. The only signs of life we've seen from Ms. Smith since 1998 have been the recent re-releases of her Vampire Diaries series, but all of a sudden she has a brand-spanking-new website overflowing with info. She talks about more re-releases, the possibility of new installments in both her Game series and the Vampire Diaries books, and the long, long awaited final volume of her Night World series. The site also explains what happened during her break (she was preoccupied by some terrible family illnesses), and offers several short stories and story-inspired art pieces.

Note: I was less than impressed, however, by the image on her intro page. As I am no longer nine years old, I can't imagine wanting to be pictured cuddling up to a unicorn, but to each her own, right? I can accept that famous fantasy writers have different tastes! But... well, does anybody else think that the unicorn's horn is lopsided? Because I think it looks like the horn is growing directly above its left eyebrow.

Labels: L.J. Smith, Long-lost authors