One more Wordcandy-friendly promo, and then we're done. The CW has debuted the official trailer for The Secret Circle, their upcoming adaptation of L.J. Smith's series about teen witches. (Smith also wrote the The Vampire Diaries, if that information has any bearing on your decision whether or not to check out The Secret Circle. The few episodes of Vampire Diaries I've seen were fun, although I was taken aback by how exactly they mimicked the set-up of, like, every horror-influenced teen movie and TV show that aired between 1994 and 1998.) Anyway, this trailer looks pretty cheesetastic, but from what I remember that's a fair representation of its source material.
Oh, and in a related note, I'd like to take this opportunity to give Ms. Smith full props for her FAQ response about fanfic. When asked if she is okay with people writing fanfiction based on her books, she replied:
Of course. I’d be a hypocrite and an idiot to try to stop it. I don’t mind what you do with my characters as long as you don’t rub my nose in it. I might even run a contest for the most interesting (G-rated) fanfic ever written in all the years since my various series first came out. The same with art—which I’m glad to see, always.
Way to go, lady. It's always nice to see authors take fanfiction as the incredible compliment it actually is.
I haven't seen many episodes of the CW's Vampire Diaries, but I was surprised by how much the few I have watched reminded me of mid-90s TV. Thankfully, the female stars of Vampire Diaries wear better lip-liner, but on the whole the show seemed pretty tasteful and low-key, particularly in an era of Skins and Jersey Shore.
According to EW.com, the CW's new marketing campaign is out to change that.
After weeks of procrastination, I spent yesterday afternoon updating our Upcoming Books page. It took forever (*sobs*), but I consider myself richly rewarded by the news that the publishing gods have finally answered one of my prayers: they're reprinting L.J. Smith's Night of the Solstice and Heart of Valor! Behold:
They look good, right? Of course, I'm still waiting on Buffalo Brenda, but I'll take what I can get.
Heeeeey, they've finally reprinted L.J. Smith's Dark Visions series! I'm sure I can thank the success of the CW's cheese-tastic Vampire Diaries for this, and it raises a more important question: is anyone going to reprint her two children's books, Night of the Solstice and Heart of Valor? Because they are totally her best work, despite the fact that she apparently began the first one in high school.
And speaking of thank-yous, I'd also like to give a shout out to the person who decided to publish this sucker in a ten-dollar omnibus edition. Smith's stuff is very entertaining, but it is not great fantasy (except for the kids' books mentioned above!), so I am sincerely grateful to her publishers, who have given this teen-girl-friendly pulp fiction a totally appropriate price. Thanks, guys, for remembering that most allowances are not infinite.
Sadly, the pilot was written by Kevin Williamson, creator of the dread Dawson's Creek, which does cause considerable concern, but we'll hope for the best.
Want to read L.J. Smith's first Night World book for free?
Then today's your lucky day, because Simon and Schuster are currently offering it as a free download on their site!
Note: L.J. Smith came in second on our list of the Top Ten Books to Read INSTEAD of Twilight, but that ranking isn't due to the Night World novellas, which are entertaining enough, but not really her best work.
Apparently, author L.J. Smith actually meant it when she said that her publisher was re-releasing her Night World series. (Frankly, I'd filed that idea under "wishful thinking", seeing as re-printing the series would add to the pressure to finish it, which I was 95% certain was never gonna happen.) But it's okay, I can admit it when I'm wrong. The books are up on the Simon and Schuster web page, and will retail for $8.99--not a bad price, seeing as each book will contain three complete stories. Here's the updated cover art:
Does anybody else think the second girl looks like a goth version of Rory Gilmore?
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.
One more Wordcandy-friendly promo, and then we're done. The CW has debuted the official trailer for The Secret Circle, their upcoming adaptation of L.J. Smith's series about teen witches. (Smith also wrote the The Vampire Diaries, if that information has any bearing on your decision whether or not to check out The Secret Circle. The few episodes of Vampire Diaries I've seen were fun, although I was taken aback by how exactly they mimicked the set-up of, like, every horror-influenced teen movie and TV show that aired between 1994 and 1998.) Anyway, this trailer looks pretty cheesetastic, but from what I remember that's a fair representation of its source material. 
