Where to start, where to start?? Today LKH posted the official press release (click link above to view) for the Anita Blake TV series/movie (not really clear which it is) to be aired in the summer of 2010. If you had told me this five years ago, I would have been jumping for joy. Today, I am more than a little unenthusiastic about the project. Feelings for the direction of the series aside, it feels a little like jumping on the bandwagon, which is something that Hollywood has down to a T. I can hear the arguments starting already. The Anita books have been out for more than 15 years! They predated the cult-like Twilight phenomenon. The books are less paranormal romance/epic love story with a supernatural twist and more gritty urban fantasy with a hard-boiled detective slant.
Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before. But the reality is this. Hollywood doesn't like to take chances. So it waits until it sees something that works (letting someone else assume the risk) and then tries to replicate it to death and make as much money as possible before the trend crashes and burns. And it will crash and burn. The market will become over saturated with crappy vampire media and there will undoubtedly be a backlash where folks think that writing or filming vampires is cliche and over done. And who can blame them? It's already happened before folks!
Only a handful of vampire based TV shows have even been successful in the last twenty years and it has nothing to do with how sexy or gory the actors are. People like things because they are fresh and different. Something new. Not because they are a poor imitation of the last book they read or film they saw. I love vampires, have been reading and writing them for years, even when they weren't cool and I will continue to do so, but even I want to throw up in my mouth a little at the mere mention of Twilight.
Is there room for a very well made successful TV show or movie...of course. Look at True Blood. It is edgy and eclectic, graphic and sinful. It somehow manages to keep the charm of the Southern Vampire books while creating a show that is so drastically fresh it does the vampire name justice. I'm all about vampire media I can be proud of! But I worry that the Anita movie won't cut it and will be one more nail in the coffin (pun intended).
Other questions: Will the show take on the tone of the older books or the newer books?(As you probably know, I'm an old school fan and haven't been able to get into the last two or three books, so my opinion of the show will probably be skewed depending on which approach they take.) However, given there are so many books, maybe it won't follow the plot of one single book, but simply take on the characters and relationships and create a totally new story premise?
Regardless, I can give you a whole host of fresh vamp-friendly reads to get you through the long wait for the next vamp series/movie you're waiting for, be it New Moon, True Blood or Anita Blake. For starters, check out the link below for Wicked Game.
The CW jumps on Vampire Bandwagon
So this is a touchy subject with me and has been for some time. I like vampires. I like paranormal and supernatural. I always have. So I get a little annoyed when I watch the runaway vampire blitz on the road to crashing and burning because hollywood does, what it always does when some hot new trend emerges. It infiltrates the market with crappy immitations, trying to leverage the success of someone else's work and people get so sick and tired of crappy movies and tv shows trying to be good the trend burns out or worse is labled a fad.
Case and Point. CW has secured the rights and is working to produce a pilot for the Vampire Diaries. The article references that the original books were written in 1993 way before the Stephanie Meyer phenomenon. That's right. I read them in 93 when I was 13! I loved them then. The brilliant Alloy Entertainment who brought us Gossip Girl and Privileged (two shows which the world could live without) is backing this as well. What I think is so funny is that by simply acknowledgeing that the books came out in 93 they are admitting that someone else thought vampires were cool, but networks weren't interested in taking a risk and passed. Now, after the twilight books exploded, after Alan Ball directed an amazing first season of True Blood (based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series) the CW thinks it is being innovative by jumpping on the bandwagon?
My guess, this pilot won't even make it to the lineup. Regardless, i'd like to see urban fantasy survive the definite backlash that will follow the crappy hollywood imitations.
Speaking of folks jumping on the money train, did you know that after the success of Stephanie Meyer's books the whole Vampire Diaries sereis was reprinted with flashy new covers. I recently reread one and guess what? Not nearly as good as some of the other YA stuff being written today. The quality and diversity has gotten much better.
Case and Point. CW has secured the rights and is working to produce a pilot for the Vampire Diaries. The article references that the original books were written in 1993 way before the Stephanie Meyer phenomenon. That's right. I read them in 93 when I was 13! I loved them then. The brilliant Alloy Entertainment who brought us Gossip Girl and Privileged (two shows which the world could live without) is backing this as well. What I think is so funny is that by simply acknowledgeing that the books came out in 93 they are admitting that someone else thought vampires were cool, but networks weren't interested in taking a risk and passed. Now, after the twilight books exploded, after Alan Ball directed an amazing first season of True Blood (based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series) the CW thinks it is being innovative by jumpping on the bandwagon?
My guess, this pilot won't even make it to the lineup. Regardless, i'd like to see urban fantasy survive the definite backlash that will follow the crappy hollywood imitations.
Speaking of folks jumping on the money train, did you know that after the success of Stephanie Meyer's books the whole Vampire Diaries sereis was reprinted with flashy new covers. I recently reread one and guess what? Not nearly as good as some of the other YA stuff being written today. The quality and diversity has gotten much better.
Attack of the Killer Urban Fantasy Novels
So, I am not sure how it happened really. One day I was so bored to tears with my reading material that I picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and decided to relive the tale from beginning to end. Then suddenly the layers of ice and inches of snow melted away and every week that I visited the bookstore I found a new book by one of my Fab Five Authors. Now I have three new books to read and I am afraid to start them! I don't know which one to read first, I know that as soon as I get past the first page I will be sucked in. Then, much like good S-E-X it will be over to soon. I'll have to mentally let go of one set of characters and get psyched up about a different set, and then the cycle will start all over again. I doubt I'll be able to stretch it out for a month.
My "mother" (Melissa says, rolling her eyes) had the ludicrous idea of reading one book per month to stretch out the gap between now and the next Fab Five book release. I thought she had actually succeeded in being sarcastic(because she is the only person in the world who doesn't get it) but she was really trying to be helpful. Hmm. She's actually things that someone like me, who puts book release dates on her calendar and gets psyched about release parties, has enough restraint to keep a high priority book on the shelf for months without reading it? Granted I have several books that I haven't read yet, other urban fantasy novels, desperately trying to break into Melissa's inner circle. When I get desperate, which is bound to happen in the next thirty days, I'll pick one up and give it a shot. But only after I've gone through all stages of grief and withdrawl.
So it all comes down to this. Which book is going to win out. Pride by Rachel Vincent, White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison, or Bone Crossed by Pattricia Briggs. I'll ask my twitter followers!
My "mother" (Melissa says, rolling her eyes) had the ludicrous idea of reading one book per month to stretch out the gap between now and the next Fab Five book release. I thought she had actually succeeded in being sarcastic(because she is the only person in the world who doesn't get it) but she was really trying to be helpful. Hmm. She's actually things that someone like me, who puts book release dates on her calendar and gets psyched about release parties, has enough restraint to keep a high priority book on the shelf for months without reading it? Granted I have several books that I haven't read yet, other urban fantasy novels, desperately trying to break into Melissa's inner circle. When I get desperate, which is bound to happen in the next thirty days, I'll pick one up and give it a shot. But only after I've gone through all stages of grief and withdrawl.
So it all comes down to this. Which book is going to win out. Pride by Rachel Vincent, White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison, or Bone Crossed by Pattricia Briggs. I'll ask my twitter followers!
Hello....Is there anybody out there?
Where oh where has my little writer gone? I know that's what you've been asking yourself in my absence. Could I have been trapped in a basement re-reading Breaking Dawn over and over again until every word was ingrained in the back of my mind? Not likely. BD, not my fav. I did however just finish rereading all of the Harry Potter books. I forgot how long the last four books were. It took a little while but was fun as I forgot a lot of the stuff that wasn't in the movies.
So other than reading what am I doing? Am I writing...Where's my book? Why isn't on shelves beside my second favorite author?
All legitimate questions.
Yes, I am still writing. In September I met with Editor Paula Guran and who reviewed my submission packet. They, like im' guessing many other publishers, are being very cautius about buying giving the economy and the borders deathwatch (I kid you not on the Borders thing, check out their stock, it's been less than a dollar a share for the last two months). She gave me some good feedback and simultaneously gave me permission to work on a new project (though that might not have been her intention). So now I am about a third of the way into another novel, which is so drastically different from the first, and I love it. It's not as dark, not as monolithic, not as likely to be banned by 80 percent of the south (though I still love my OK peeps). The characters sort of came to me as a whole unit, this disfunctional cluster (youknowwhat) that cracks me up with their paranoias, OCDs and of course their otherworldy drama. I'm still wrapping my head around some of the magic and how it works, but I have the full plot mapped out in my head and just need to find time to put it down on paper.
Oh and one of the ladies in my writing group sold two novels...(at least I think it was two). The first one will be out in the next few months. I will send a reminder so that you all can go out and buy it!
Oh and for the totally random thought of the day...have you seen Joaquin Phoenix lately? He was on letterman a few weeks ago and they replayed the episode tonight...and hmmm...I thought Ben Stillers impersonation was exagerated but whoa.... bizarre to the ninth degree.
So other than reading what am I doing? Am I writing...Where's my book? Why isn't on shelves beside my second favorite author?
All legitimate questions.
Yes, I am still writing. In September I met with Editor Paula Guran and who reviewed my submission packet. They, like im' guessing many other publishers, are being very cautius about buying giving the economy and the borders deathwatch (I kid you not on the Borders thing, check out their stock, it's been less than a dollar a share for the last two months). She gave me some good feedback and simultaneously gave me permission to work on a new project (though that might not have been her intention). So now I am about a third of the way into another novel, which is so drastically different from the first, and I love it. It's not as dark, not as monolithic, not as likely to be banned by 80 percent of the south (though I still love my OK peeps). The characters sort of came to me as a whole unit, this disfunctional cluster (youknowwhat) that cracks me up with their paranoias, OCDs and of course their otherworldy drama. I'm still wrapping my head around some of the magic and how it works, but I have the full plot mapped out in my head and just need to find time to put it down on paper.
Oh and one of the ladies in my writing group sold two novels...(at least I think it was two). The first one will be out in the next few months. I will send a reminder so that you all can go out and buy it!
Oh and for the totally random thought of the day...have you seen Joaquin Phoenix lately? He was on letterman a few weeks ago and they replayed the episode tonight...and hmmm...I thought Ben Stillers impersonation was exagerated but whoa.... bizarre to the ninth degree.
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