Book Geekery
I am so. so. SO. Excited about this. For those of you who may not have known: I don't read a lot. Yes, I work in a bookstore, yes, I want to be a writer, but I generally don't read. I prefer movies, because I'm lazy and because they get done faster. When I do read, I enjoy commercial fiction. Stephen King, I love him. I read movie novelizations and horror. Anything with Zombies? Winds up on my bookshelf.
Another thing? I read series books. Not a lot recently, because as I mentioned, I don't read. I get home and I'm so tired of books that I'd rather watch some Battlestar Galactica. When I was younger, though, I would be all over series books. I've read every Harry Potter, and every Series of Unfortunate Events. The thing about my series reading is that I am somewhat OCD. If I start a series, I finish it. It holds especially true for movies and TV shows - if I start collecting on DVD, I'll get the whole thing.
Anyway. I have what some would consider questionable taste in movies and books, and this is not a new development for me. In my teenaged years, before I read The Shining, my favorite author was LJ Smith. She wrote a quartet of vampire books that I absolutely adored when I was a teen: stuff with Epic Love and all sorts of things. Love triangles, Drama, etc. etc. Awesome books. But the best was Night World which was a sprawling and awesome epic. It had a full universe and mythology and, of course, lots of romance. My 13-year-old self was in love with them, and I can't promise that they were actually good books, but they were books that I loved.
The first were standalone stories that only had a universe in common, but as the series progressed, the books incorporated an ongoing story: a prophecy about some sort of big fight or epic... I don't remember now because it's been probably close to 10 years since I really thought about them. But! Book 10 was going to be the last book in the series. The climactic finale for the saga that was years and years in the making.
And the publisher pulled the plug. LJ fell ill and the delays continued and the final book - the one where the last three and the six before them would have come to conclusion? Never came out. And the books went out of print and the ones that I had - with the Absolutely Fantastic original cheesy covers - wound up damaged and/or lost. Even The Vampire Diaries wasn't readily available and that was only four. I was sad - I grieved for that world and those characters and that story and then I moved on.
And then when I took over Kids again, I noticed something on the shelf in Teen Fiction. Sitting there on the bottom: Vampire Diaries, Volume One. It had a new cover and it collected 2 books in one large book, but I knew what it meant: the books were back. Still, I didn't give it much thought. Sure, Elena Stefan and Damon (again: I was like 13) were back, but their story was complete and easy to repackage and publish. I didn't dare get my hopes up.
But apparently I should have.
Here's the bottom line: L.J. Smith's Night World Is Coming Back. This summer, they're going to release a book with the first 3 volumes. Then in December, the next 3 will be collected. And then there will be a third volume and then? The tenth book. The one that's been in the works since maybe '97. It will be out.
I? Am geekishly excited. Like, you have no idea. I am going to promote these books like crazy, I think.
Another thing? I read series books. Not a lot recently, because as I mentioned, I don't read. I get home and I'm so tired of books that I'd rather watch some Battlestar Galactica. When I was younger, though, I would be all over series books. I've read every Harry Potter, and every Series of Unfortunate Events. The thing about my series reading is that I am somewhat OCD. If I start a series, I finish it. It holds especially true for movies and TV shows - if I start collecting on DVD, I'll get the whole thing.
Anyway. I have what some would consider questionable taste in movies and books, and this is not a new development for me. In my teenaged years, before I read The Shining, my favorite author was LJ Smith. She wrote a quartet of vampire books that I absolutely adored when I was a teen: stuff with Epic Love and all sorts of things. Love triangles, Drama, etc. etc. Awesome books. But the best was Night World which was a sprawling and awesome epic. It had a full universe and mythology and, of course, lots of romance. My 13-year-old self was in love with them, and I can't promise that they were actually good books, but they were books that I loved.
The first were standalone stories that only had a universe in common, but as the series progressed, the books incorporated an ongoing story: a prophecy about some sort of big fight or epic... I don't remember now because it's been probably close to 10 years since I really thought about them. But! Book 10 was going to be the last book in the series. The climactic finale for the saga that was years and years in the making.
And the publisher pulled the plug. LJ fell ill and the delays continued and the final book - the one where the last three and the six before them would have come to conclusion? Never came out. And the books went out of print and the ones that I had - with the Absolutely Fantastic original cheesy covers - wound up damaged and/or lost. Even The Vampire Diaries wasn't readily available and that was only four. I was sad - I grieved for that world and those characters and that story and then I moved on.
And then when I took over Kids again, I noticed something on the shelf in Teen Fiction. Sitting there on the bottom: Vampire Diaries, Volume One. It had a new cover and it collected 2 books in one large book, but I knew what it meant: the books were back. Still, I didn't give it much thought. Sure, Elena Stefan and Damon (again: I was like 13) were back, but their story was complete and easy to repackage and publish. I didn't dare get my hopes up.
But apparently I should have.
Here's the bottom line: L.J. Smith's Night World Is Coming Back. This summer, they're going to release a book with the first 3 volumes. Then in December, the next 3 will be collected. And then there will be a third volume and then? The tenth book. The one that's been in the works since maybe '97. It will be out.
I? Am geekishly excited. Like, you have no idea. I am going to promote these books like crazy, I think.