Dark Fantasy

Twilight Saga: New Moon Updates

2009-07-27T14:49:00.001-07:00

Sorry there have been no updates for awhile, but with all the "New Moon" info pouring out of this weekends Comic Con, I figured today was a good place to start again.....

It isn't often that, right in the middle of an interview, one of the subjects will suddenly lean over and nearly give the other one a full-on, passionate kiss. But when we caught up with "Twilight" saga stars Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner recently at Comic-Con, love was in the air.
http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1616964/story.jhtml

Twilight: New Moon - Giving Iron Man 2 a run for its money was The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which also had fans sleeping overnight just to be the first into Hall H. We all know what happened last year when the Twilight panel took Comic-Con by storm (and fanboys at large by surprise). This time around things were a little more subdued - only director Chris Weitz and geek boy fave Ashley Greene joined primary stars Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, and Robert Pattinson this time.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/comic_con_2009/news/1834298/comic_con_wrap_iron_man_2_new_moon_best_in_show

A couple of really great quotes were submitted for today's New Moon quotes article. Two, particularly, seemed to echo the mood and sentiment that is playing in the minds of The Twilight Saga: New Moon enthusiasts since this year's Comic-Con panel.
http://www.examiner.com/x-4908-Twilight-Examiner~y2009m7d27-New-Moon-quotes-of-the-day

Now that Twilight and New Moon fans know how the Robert Pattinson embodied Edward Cullen will be portrayed in New Moon, Pattinson, who plays the lead Twilight Saga and New Moon vampire, gave Twilight fans insight into the New Moon hallucinations of Bella Swan, played by Kristen Stewart.
http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/105998/new_moon_robert_pattinson_hallucinations_news.php

Surprisingly, I'm not seeing much hate for the sequel in the reviews I've read.
Is it possible this one will actually top "Twilight"?
The original has grossed over $382 million in box office and over $157 million in DVD sales.
So New Moon will have a ways to go to beat Twilight.

Twilight Saga: New Moon Updates

2009-07-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

MTV To Show "New Moon" Clip

2009-05-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

Amid reports fuelled by fanatical Twilight fans, MTV has confirmed that they will broadcast a one minute sneak peek of the highly anticipated Twilight sequel, New Moon, at this year’s Andy Samberg hosted MTV Movie Awards, which will air live at the ceremony on May 31. The New Moon news had first been reported by Entertainment Tonight, which was one of the few media outlets, that got exclusive Twilight coverage of New Moon while the production recently filmed in Vancouver, BC.
http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/105721/new_moon_mtv_awards_news.php

The "New Moon" Poster

2009-05-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

...and there it is.

Sherrilyn Kenyon

2009-05-13T07:18:00.000-07:00

Sherrilyn Kenyon was born in 1965 in Columbus, Georgia.
She is one of the pioneers of paranormal romance, a #1 bestselling author and award winning writer of both fiction and nonfiction.
Sherrilyn writes under both her name and Kinley MacGregor.
Her books have appeared at the top of the New York Times and USA Today lists and she has an international following with well over twenty million copies in print in over thirty different countries.
Her website http://www.dailyinquisitor.com/sherrilyn/ gets over one million hits a month, and her annual fan convention K-Con sells out every year in under five minutes.

Success did not come easy for her.
She had to overcome an abusive childhood, and her writing became her way of dealing with that.
Sherrilyn started writing at the age of seven when she wrote and illustrated her first novel, Sharron's Secret.
In the third grade she won a contest by writing an essay about her single mother for Mother's Day.
The next year, Sherrilyn won a DAR Award for a historical story that she wrote about a girl living in Colonial Virginia.

In addition to being a pioneer in paranormal romance, she was one of the first authors to have an e-book published.

Besides writing for a living, Sherrilyn has been a sparring partner for two Golden Glove boxers, a football quarterback, an award-winning cook, a D.J., photographer, store clerk, cook, baker, dollmaker, painter, camerawoman, freelance journalist, janitor, waitress, teacher, ditch-digger, psychic, web designer, programmer, and bookseller.

Today, she lives outside of Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, three sons and pets that include dogs, cats, fish, chickens, rabbits and reptiles.

Sherrilyn is best known for her Dark-Hunter series, about a group of immortal warriors dedicated to defending mankind against Daimons (vampires) and other assorted enemies.
Also under the name Sherrilyn Kenyon she has published The League Series and the B.A.D. Agency Series.

As Kinley MacGregor, she has published The Sea Wolves Series, The MacAllisters Series, the Brotherhood of the Sword Series and the Lords of Avalon Series.

K-Con will be held this year on October 9-11.

New Moon Cast

2009-04-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, this looks like it's the official cast list for the "Twilight" sequel " New Moon".

First up, the returning cast members:
Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan
Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen
Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black
Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen
Peter Facinelli as Carlisle Cullen
Elizabeth Reaser as Esme Cullen
Kellan Lutz as Emmett Cullen
Nikki Reed as Rosalie Cullen
Jackson Rathbone as Jasper Hale
Edi Gathegi as Laurent
Rachelle Lafevre as Victoria
Billy Burke as Charlie Swan

The Volturi will be played by:
Michael Sheen as Aro
Jamie Campbell Bower as Caiuss
Dakota Fanning as Jane
Charlie Bewley as Demetri
Daniel Cudmore as Felix
Christopher Heyerdahl as Marcus
Cameron Bright as Alec
Noot Seer as Heidi

And The Wolf Pack will be:
Chaske Spencer
Bronson Pelletier
Alex Meraz
Kiowa Gordon
Tyson Houseman

"New Moon" has started filming and is scheduled for release on November 20th, 2009.

Will The Vampire Diaries Be The Next Twilight?

2009-02-27T16:10:00.000-08:00

Will The Vampire Diaries Be The Next Twilight?

I know Twilight is far from fading.
Wow...that's kinda poetic....
Anyway, even though Twilight hasn't faded,The Vampire Diaries,a series of books by LJane Smith, may be the next Vampire story to step up to the plate.
The original series was a trilogy, but fan demand caused LJane to up it to four books.
And now a second trilogy has started, The Vampire Dairies: The Return: Nightfall (released on February 10, 2009).
The original series was The Awakening, The Struggle and The Fury.
Dark Reunion was the fourth book in the series.
The new series will consist of Nightfall, Shadow Souls and Midnight.
And now word comes The CW has decided to add Vampire Diaries to their schedule this fall.
So even though we lost Moonlight, we'll still have True Blood and The Vampire Diaries.
And as far as I can tell, The Vampire Diaries is not related to the film "Thicker Than Water: The Vampire Diaries Part 1."

Latest New Moon Rumors, Hilary Duff and.....Madonna?

2009-02-18T09:56:00.000-08:00

Okay we've been all over the casting calls for the Twilight sequel New Moon.
Names like Vanessa Hudgens (That's a no), AnnaLynne McCord (Maybe a yes), The Jonas Brothers (Possibly), Dakota Fanning (Again maybe)
But now the most shocking revelation.....
Madonna?
Again....Madonna?
Well that's the rumor that has been confirmed and denied by various sources.
Some say a part in the film, some say maybe the soundtrack, some say she's not involved at all.

And here's another....Hilary Duff.
Hillary has allegedly expressed her interest about playing a vampire in the Twilight sequel.

Filming should start in mid March, so we'll know soon what's rumor and what's fact.

Wal-Mart...Vampire Headquarters?

2009-02-12T10:41:00.000-08:00

Of course everyone thinks about Hot Topic when they think about Twilight Merchandise.
But Wal-Mart plans to change all that.
In mid-March Wal-Mart will open "Twilight Shops" within each of its 3,500 U.S. discount stores.
It will be selling the DVD movie, CD soundtrack and Twilight clothes, posters, jewelry and key chains.
Walmart.com will also start posting news about upcoming fan events and activities.
The Twilight movie DVD is slated for release on March 21.

And I mentioned Vanessa Hudgens and Dakota Fanning seeking roles in the Twilight sequel "New Moon."
Now comes word that The Jonas Brothers want to contribute to the “New Moon” soundtrack.

Wal-Mart, Vanessa Hudgens, Dakota Fanning, The Jonas Brothers ....they really are trying to defang the whole Vampire Mystique aren't they?
And since Twilight was basically an independent film, how do the fans of the movie feel about all this star power wanting on board NOW that its a big hit?

If you'd like to see how a Vampire story aimed at a younger audience is done without getting rid of all the mythos, check out the British children's television series "Young Dracula".
You can find it online.

Stephen King, Stephenie Meyer and New Moon

2009-02-05T07:52:00.000-08:00

Well he may not be a paranormal romance writer, but I think you could safely say that Stephen King has more than a few books under his belt.
The reason I'm writing about him here is that in an interview with USA Weekend to promoting his latest book, Mr. King lit into Stephenie Meyer and her skill as a writer.
Basically saying she had none.
He seems to like J.K. Rowling, but not Stephenie Meyer.
But to be fair, he doesn't like Dean Koontz much either.
You can read more about the interview here
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b82354_smackdown_of_week_stephen_king_vs.html

And after that Dakota Fanning entry last time, here's another "New Moon" related tidbit.
It's being reported that '90210' star AnnaLynne McCord is being considered for the part of Heidi in the "Twilight" sequel.
Her "90210" costar Kellan Lutz is already there, having played Emmett in "Twilight".

So is "New Moon" turning into Transylvania 90210?

Dakota Fanning in New Moon?

2009-01-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

There's a rumor floating around that Dakota Fanning may be interested in playing Jane, the small but deadly leader of the Italian vampires in Stephenie Meyer's sequel to Twilight, "New Moon."

Before this idea is blown out of the water, remember Kirsten Dunst as Claudia in "Interview with the Vampire"? She was 11 at the time opposed to Dakota being 14 now.

And despite earlier reports, it doesn't look like Vanessa Hudgens will be appearing in "New Moon".
Maybe Zac Efron doesn't want her hanging around Robert Pattinson.

Kresley Cole

2009-01-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

Bestselling, award-winning author Kresley Cole is more than an author.
Before she started writing, she was a world-ranked athlete, professional coach, and Master's grad.
Her series The Immortals After Dark is made up of six books currently, with two more coming out in 2009.
The Immortals After Dark series has everything from valkyries to vampires to werewolves.
The first story in the series, The Warlord Wants Forever, was actually published in an anthology, Playing Easy to Get, published in February of 2006.
This was followed by A Hunger Like No Other (April 2006), No Rest for the Wicked (October 2006), Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night (October 2007), Dark Needs at Night's Edge (April 2008), Dark Desires After Dusk (June 2008) and will continue with Kiss of a Demon King (February 2009) and Not That Innocent, Anthology (July 2009).
You can visit her website here:
http://kresleycole.com/

Nora Roberts

2009-01-13T08:08:00.000-08:00

As I have noticed with a lot of paranormal romance writers, Nora Roberts has more secret identities than a superhero.
She writes under Nora Roberts, a shortened version of her own real name Eleanor Marie Robertson, J.D. Robb for her "In Death" series, Jill March for a story she wrote for a magazine called "Melodies of Love", and in Britain, her "Born In" series was released under the name Sara Hardesty.

Over 280 million copies of her books are in print and her novels have been published in 35 countries.

And for you budding writers out there, don't feel bad, this lady has published more novels and novellas than you can shake a stick at, but she was turned down repeatedly by Harlequin when she first started out.

Under J.D. Robb (The initials "J.D." were taken from her older sons, Jason and Dan, while "Robb" is a shortened form of Roberts.she writes the "In Death" series, featuring NYPSD Detective Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke. Theses novels are classified as science fiction police procedurals. Her 34th release in the "In Death" series, "Promises in Death" is scheduled to be released in 2009.

Her novel "Midnight Bayou" is being turned into a movie with Ciera Payton, Jerry O'Connell, Lauren Stamile and Faye Dunaway.
IMDb lists the movie as currently filming in Louisiana.

If you're like me, the current book you are seeing on shelves everywhere is "The Pagan Stone",the last book in the Sign of Seven trilogy.

Stephenie Meyer

2009-01-06T07:54:00.000-08:00

Stephenie Meyer, the mother of the Twilight series was born on December 24, 1973 in Hartford, Connecticut.
I find it a bit unusual that this author of Vampire romance is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
But in keeping with Twilight's romantic side Stephenie says that the idea for the book came from a dream she had.
Even though she had little writing experience, she managed to turn the dream into a story and signed a three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company for $750,000.
People always say to follow your dreams.....

Stephenie draws inspiration for the Twilight series from several classic novels including Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.
She also draws inspiration from the music of bands such as Muse, Blue October, My Chemical Romance, Coldplay, and Linkin Park. She posts playlists on her website of songs which inspired her books.

In May 2008, she released a sci-fi novel, The Host and is currently writing a sequel called The Soul.

Charlaine Harris

2008-12-23T11:17:00.000-08:00

Charlaine Harris was born November 25, 1951 in Tunica, Mississippi.
Charlaine has been writing mysteries for over twenty years, but her inclusion here is for her The Southern Vampire Mysteries .
The stories revolve around a telepathic waitress in Bon Temps, Louisiana named Sookie Stackhouse.
Charlaine's series consists of eight books. A ninth will be released in 2009.
The Sookie Stackhouse Novels caught the eye of Alan Ball (creator of the HBO television series Six Feet Under) and was turned into a TV series by HBO called True Blood.
True Blood just finished up it's first season, and will return for a second season.

Jayne Ann Krentz / Amanda Quick / Jayne Castle

2008-12-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

Jayne Ann Krentz was born March 28, 1948 in Borrego Springs, California.
She's a writer of romance novels thatt has had a string of New York Times bestsellers under seven different pseudonyms. ...but now she's down to three.
For the contemporary romantic-suspense she writes under the name Jayne Ann Krentz. For historical romantic-suspense she writes under Amanda Quick, and for paranormal romantic-suspense she writes under the name Jayne Castle.

As Jayne Castle, she has pushed the enevlope of paranormal romanance a little further with paranormal futuristic romantic suspense!

Under the name Jayne Castle she has written over 20 novels, the latest being Dark Light, 2008.

You can check out her website here:
http://www.amandaquick.com/

Twilight / New Moon

2008-12-12T09:49:00.000-08:00

In the last entry I referenced an article about why the Twilight sequel should not be made.
But this isn't stopping Hollywood, $140 million so far looks pretty good to them.
Things are already going full speed for the sequel "New Moon".

There's a new dawn for Twilight.
Days after Catherine Hardwicke was ousted, despite having directed the vampire romance satisfactorily enough to pull in $140 million worth of business from fanggirls and average moviegoers alike, The Golden Compass director Chris Weitz is close to signing on for the blockbuster's sequel.
Following up on some recent Deadline Hollywood scoop, EW.com reports that Weitz has been tapped by Summit Entertainment to helm New Moon, based on the second book in Stephanie Meyer's phenomenon-inducing franchise.
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b72995_golden_compass_director_sire_twilight.html

True Blood Out, Twilight In

2008-12-03T08:01:00.000-08:00

"True Blood" just ending but Twilight is just gaining momentum.
Twilight opened last weekend at $70.55 million, putting "Quantum Of Solace" into the number two postion and "Bolt" into third.
Already the buzz has started for the sequal to Twilight.......

'Twilight': 10 reasons 'Breaking Dawn' should not be made into a movie
While “Twilight” fans begin to debate the issues facing the filming of “New Moon" -- the next installment in Stephenie Meyer’s teen vampire series involving werewolves and a growth spurt that will require actor Taylor Lautner to appear 6'5" and 25 years old on screen -- an even more urgent problem nags:
The problem with “Breaking Dawn.”

Full article here:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2008/12/twilight-10-rea.html

Amazon and Paranormal Romance

2008-11-25T16:42:00.000-08:00

I checked the Amazon Bestseller list a minute ago and look how many of the the books in the top 25 are paranormal romance......

1. Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
2. Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)
3. New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)
5. Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)
13. Sookie Stackhouse Boxed Set (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood)
16. The Pagan Stone: The Sign of Seven Trilogy
21. Twilight (Twilight, Book 1)
23. New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)

Okay, most of them are Twilight related, but Charlaine Harris and Nora Roberts snuck one in.
Of course True Blood (The Sookie Stackhouse Series) may have a good longevity due to the HBO TV series. The first season just ended but the series has been renewed so there will be a season two.
I wonder why V-8 hasn't started selling a "True Blood" edition of the juice?
Too creepy for some maybe?

You can check out these books and more here:
Dark Fantasy

J.R. Ward

2008-11-21T07:27:00.000-08:00

J.R.Ward, the number 1 New York Times and USA Today Best Selling author is also known as Jessica Rowley Pell Bird.
As Jessica Bird, she writes contemporary romance novels.
But as J.R. Ward she writes paranormal romance.
Her Black Dagger Brotherhood series is set in a world populated by vampires.
Vampires and paranormal romance seem to go hand in hand huh?

The series is comprised of Dark Lover (2005), Lover Eternal (2006), Lover Awakened (2006), Lover Revealed (2007), Lover Unbound (2007) and Lover Enshrined (2008).
Lover Avenged will be released in 2009.
The focus of the series is on six vampire brothers who live together and defend their race against the Lessening Society (de-souled humans who threaten their kind).
Despite surface similarities to Christine Feehan's Carpathians, they are quite different.

You can check out her official website here:
http://www.jrward.com/

Amazon.com Widgets

Laurell K. Hamilton

2008-11-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

See what happens when you adapt a novel into a comic book? Superhero zombies!

Another very prolific and talented writer of dark fantasy is Laurell K. Hamilton.
She is probably best known for her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novels. More than 6 million copies of Anita Blake novels have been printed and the series has branched out into a comic book!
In 2000, she started another series Merry Gentry (interesting because she grew up with her grandmother Laura Gentry).
Laurell does a lot of animal charity work, supporting dog rescue efforts and wolf preservation.

Even though she started the Merry Gentry series, the Anita Blake series is still going strong, with around one a year coming out since 2000.
The Anita Blake comic is published by Marvel Comics, and the first printing was a sell out.

The Merry Gentry series is also moving right along with around one book a year being released also.

Amazon.com Widgets

Christine Feehan

2008-10-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

Christine Feehan is a prolific writer of paranormal romance.
She has written the Dark Series (with the Carpathians, my personal favorites), the Drake Sisters Series, the Ghostwalkers Series and the Leopard Series among others.
This lady has eleven children! Where does she find the time to write?
Well wherever she finds it, she puts it to good use. She won three Paranormal Excellence Awards for her debut novel " Dark Prince" and has won several more since then. She has also received a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times and has been nominated for a RITA award from the Romance Writers of America.
I haven't read her other series, but I do really like her Dark series.
Personally I think those books would make a great movie. A really good sweeping Gothic romance.
I found this video on YouTube for her book "Dark Curse" and thought everyone would get a kick out of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-qt5JOgiHk
Actually there's a lot of Christine Feehan related material on YouTube.

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Twilight

2008-10-26T16:05:00.000-07:00

Dark Fantasy and Romance has become wildly popular.
If you don't believe it, just look around.
Christine Feehan, Nora Roberts, Jayne Ann Krentz and Charlaine Harris all sell truckloads of books.
On TV we had Moonlight, Buffy and now True Blood.
And soon Twilight will be coming out.
So what I want to do here is kinda highlight these works and weed out the good from the bad.

First up, Twilight.

Twilight will be coming out on November 21, 2008.
The movie is directed by Catherine Hardwicke and is based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer.
Bella Swan, a clumsy 17-year-old girl who moves to the small town of Forks, Washington from Phoenix, Arizona will be played by Kristen Stewart (Panic Room, Into the Wild, Speak, Zathura, The Messengers, In the Land of Women).
Edward Cullen, the 108-year-old vampire will be played by Robert Pattinson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).
Carlisle Cullen, the "300-plus years" vampire who looks to be in his mid-20s and serves as the town's physician, will be played by Peter Facinelli (Fastlane).
Esme Cullen, Carlisle's vampire wife will be played by Elizabeth Reaser (Stay, The Family Stone, Saved, and Grey's Anatomy).

The soundtrack for the movie will be released on November 4, 2008.

I wonder if they purposely dodged a Halloween release?

The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer has sold over 50 million copies worldwide and over 8.5 million copies in the U.S.
To be as wildly successful as it has been, it has received relatively negative reviews from critics.
But of course the town of Forks, Washington, the setting for the Twilight series, is very enthusiastic about it. They have "Twilight Tours". The tours showcase places such as La Push's First Beach, the hospital where Carlisle Cullen works (in the book), and a two-story house that's meant to be the Swan residence.

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