EXCLUSIVE NEWS! The Hunger Games "Panem Companion" Unofficial Guide to be Released 12/4/2012!
From Smart Pop Books:
The True Fan's Hunger Games Companion
The Panem Companion
An Unofficial Guide to Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games, From Mellark Bakery to Mockingjays
By V. Arrow
From the creator of the most well-known fan map of Panem comes an unofficial guide to Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series. Writing with an engaging blend of literary insight and true fan passion, Hunger Games fan academic and seasoned media writer V. Arrow brings Panem to life, from how Panem could have evolved from the America we know today to textual clues as to socioeconomics, ethnicity, culture, sexuality, and more in the districts and the Capitol.
The Panem Companion includes a full lexicon of character name etymologies and an updated, fully illustrated, fold-out reference map of Panem.
Please note: Current cover image may not reflect final art.
Now, hey, wait a second.
V. Arrow? Isn't that...
I am SO excited that I am finally able to announce this to the fandom! It’s been killing me to keep it quiet for the last few months -- I’ve probably almost spilled the beans more times than Finnick tied knots in Mockingjay.
In December 2012, I will be releasing a book about The Hunger Games series and fandom, published by Smart Pop Books (who also produced the wonderful “The Girl Who Was On Fire” in 2011). Additionally, a sneak preview will be available in the January 2012 Movie Edition re-release of TGWWoF - which means that I get to share anthology space with writers like Carrie Ryan, Ned Vizzini, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Bree Despain. My mind boggles. It’s boggling like crazy. “The Panem Companion: An Unofficial Guide to Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games, from Mellark Bakery to Mockingjays” is easily my biggest accomplishment as a fangirl and, to date, as a writer.
I have so much love and respect for the people in this fandom who made this possible for me, and I’m grateful to everyone for being so accepting and enthusiastic about my writing and various academic THG pursuits, like the map (which is getting a professional art treatment and will be included in the book as a fold-out poster! Eee!) and THG Lexicon/Etymology, which will be fully polished, updated, and included as well (with lots of new stories and facts). There are so many intelligent and insightful fans of The Hunger Games and I can only hope that “The Panem Companion” will represent everyone gracefully.
I would be totally remiss if I didn’t thank my co-cartographer in crime, Meg AKA badguys AKA spearwife, for helping to create the map that started this whole process rolling. You are forever the Finnick to my Cinna (and anyone reading this who doesn’t follow her really should, because she is delightful).
I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to Adam and Savanna at The Hunger Games Fireside Chat for discovering the map in a serendipitious Google search and allowing me to be a frequent guest on the show, and to Steph at themockingjay on LJ and fuckyeahthehungergames on Tumblr for posting the map to Tumblr before I even had an account, which is, I think, how it really gained traction in the first place.
More than that, I have to thank Leah Wilson at Smart Pop Books for believing in this project and for giving me such an incredible, incredible opportunity to get a taste of the publishing world (which I’ve been striving for since I was three and my mom taught me to type - fanfiction, incidentally!) while talking about one of my very favorite book series. I know that this is the kind of opportunity that many fangirls deserve but few are given, and I am promising everyone right now that I will try my absolute hardest not to squander it. My goal now is to make the fandom proud and create something worthy of Cinna, really - artistic, principled, and provocative.
On that note, to those of you who have sent me messages asking things like, “Why do you think Prim is half-Mellark?” or “Why do you use Spanish when you write about District 4?” -
Well, the reason I haven’t answered you is because those are long, involved answers that are going into “The Panem Companion”!
And speaking of fanfiction, you may have noticed that my rate of posting has slowed in the last few months. Now you know why! Unfortunately, it will remain slow until at least February as I write and revise “The Panem Companion.” The next story in the Five Loaves of Bread series will be up sometime in the next few weeks (I think) but after that, I’m going on a longfic hiatus. Not a long fic hiatus! Just a longfic hiatus. I’ll probably continue/revert to posting smaller, lighter, multifandom fics for a while in lieu of complex, novel-length stuff. However, if you haven’t read any of my fic, well, there’s plenty of longfic to tide you over until December, haha!
Despite quibbles and tiffs, the Hunger Games fandom is by far the most passionate and invested fandom that I’ve seen in a decade and a half of being a hardcore fangirl. Every single person in this fandom genuinely loves Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Finnick, and the world of Panem in a way that I think few fandoms more than a year old can really boast, and that’s something I’m tremendously proud to be a part of. I hope that “The Panem Companion” will be received with as much (or more) enthusiasm and support as the original map post and my various fanfics have been.
Although “The Panem Companion” will, sadly, not feature kindergarten Peeta hiding in a breadbox.
Probably.
V.
FOR UPDATES ON THE PANEM COMPANION: http://www.smartpopbooks.com/book/the-panem-companion
PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY DEAL RELEASE: [Link coming week of 10/31/2011]