The Strange Fate of Strange Fate
This is the story of a book that does not exist.
Some of the details, such as dates, may be fuzzy, since this is all from memory, but the bones of this story are, to the best of my knowledge, correct.
Lo these many years ago, when I was young and starry-eyed I was a voracious reader of the Night World series by one LJ Smith. Actually, I was a voracious reader of anything Ms. Smith cared to commit to the page, but our tale begins with Night World. The Night World exists alongside our world! It has vampires! And witches! And hideous covers other supernatural-type things! And sometimes they fall in love with humans, and sometimes they are even soulmates, because it was the late nineties, soulmates were very hot. And this was forbidden oh noes, but luckily there was a group of, like, hippie supernaturals you could run away to who were totally down with that kind of thing.
Then about halfway through the series things started happening re: a prophecy of millennial apocalypse, because it was the late nineties, millennial apocalypse was very hot. There were, you see, four special Night World teenagers who had super-special powers that would save the world or something. Three books were written, each focusing on one of these teenagers. They came out pretty quickly. The fourth book in this sequence, which presumably would be about the fourth and final super-special teenager and how they stopped the millennial apocalypse, was due out sometime in, I think, 1998.
It never happened.
Eventually, the internet came to my corner of nowhere, and I have a strong memory of sitting at a friend's computer, looking at Strange Fate's spankin' new Amazon page, probably in 2000, because I got internet access at home in 2001, and squeeing because there was a cover and a synopsis and a release date and you could preorder it, so that meant it had to be coming soon, right? Right? (I was so naive.)
I also remember thinking that the synopsis sounded absolutely ridiculous (the protagonist's name was given as Sarah Strange, which I thought was tacky), but whatever, finally, the book would be mine!
Then that Amazon page came down with no fuss, and Strange Fate disappeared. Vague rumors circulated that LJ Smith had health issues, and the book was incomplete, but even with my vague understanding of the publishing industry I didn't see how this could be so--the book had been less than two weeks from release at least twice that I was aware of before delays were announced.
Fast forward several years. Twilight hit the scene and made someone a whole lot of money. Vampires were hot again, not that they ever really quit. LJ Smith's books started being reissued with much more attractive covers, her Vampire Diaries got optioned for the CW and they cast someone people had actually heard of as Damon, even if they did butcher details left, right, and center to the point that I prefer to pretend the show doesn't exist, and she emerged from whatever rock she'd been under since 1999, seemingly having gone rather Cloudcuckoolander. Her new website features a drawing of her hugging a unicorn. But she was back! And she had a new book! And it was...not Strange Fate, but rather a sequel to The Vampire Diaries which is, I have been told, a travesty and a murder of my tweenhood. Then a second volume of the travesty-sequel, and then, we were promised, on April 6, 2010, Strange Fate. From what was said on her website, it looked to be at least as cracked out as the VD sequels, but I've been waiting for this book for eleven years, I didn't care, I just wanted closure.
The second volume of the Vampire Diaries sequel series was released recently, but Strange Fate was nowhere to be found. Ms. Smith announced in a blog post that her next release would be the reissue of Secret Game. (Yay, Julian! Yay, rune magic! Yay, the protagonist's kickass BFF whose name I suddenly cannot remember, but who I kind of wanted to be when I was twelve! Awesome! Doubly awesome for me, because all my LJ Smith books burned with my house when I was in high school, and now I can complete my recollection! But that is so not the point here!) and after that, a Vampire Diaries prequel trilogy, and then, finally, Strange Fate. Release date TBD. Maybe in a couple of years. Strange Fate's Amazon page was taken down. Again.
Believe me, I get that Vampire Diaries is the cash cow here, as it has a TV show and all, but I have been waiting for this book for twelve years. I do not think it would kill them to toss us a bone.
So, here is what I think: I do not think Strange Fate exists. I do not think Strange Fate ever existed. I think someone is fucking with us. I don't know if it's Ms. Smith or Simon & Schuster, but quite frankly, I will believe the book exists when I see it. Until then, I give up. As far as I'm concerned, the millennial apocalypse happened on schedule, and they all died. Except Ash. Ash was too hot to die. The end!
Some of the details, such as dates, may be fuzzy, since this is all from memory, but the bones of this story are, to the best of my knowledge, correct.
Lo these many years ago, when I was young and starry-eyed I was a voracious reader of the Night World series by one LJ Smith. Actually, I was a voracious reader of anything Ms. Smith cared to commit to the page, but our tale begins with Night World. The Night World exists alongside our world! It has vampires! And witches! And hideous covers other supernatural-type things! And sometimes they fall in love with humans, and sometimes they are even soulmates, because it was the late nineties, soulmates were very hot. And this was forbidden oh noes, but luckily there was a group of, like, hippie supernaturals you could run away to who were totally down with that kind of thing.
Then about halfway through the series things started happening re: a prophecy of millennial apocalypse, because it was the late nineties, millennial apocalypse was very hot. There were, you see, four special Night World teenagers who had super-special powers that would save the world or something. Three books were written, each focusing on one of these teenagers. They came out pretty quickly. The fourth book in this sequence, which presumably would be about the fourth and final super-special teenager and how they stopped the millennial apocalypse, was due out sometime in, I think, 1998.
It never happened.
Eventually, the internet came to my corner of nowhere, and I have a strong memory of sitting at a friend's computer, looking at Strange Fate's spankin' new Amazon page, probably in 2000, because I got internet access at home in 2001, and squeeing because there was a cover and a synopsis and a release date and you could preorder it, so that meant it had to be coming soon, right? Right? (I was so naive.)
I also remember thinking that the synopsis sounded absolutely ridiculous (the protagonist's name was given as Sarah Strange, which I thought was tacky), but whatever, finally, the book would be mine!
Then that Amazon page came down with no fuss, and Strange Fate disappeared. Vague rumors circulated that LJ Smith had health issues, and the book was incomplete, but even with my vague understanding of the publishing industry I didn't see how this could be so--the book had been less than two weeks from release at least twice that I was aware of before delays were announced.
Fast forward several years. Twilight hit the scene and made someone a whole lot of money. Vampires were hot again, not that they ever really quit. LJ Smith's books started being reissued with much more attractive covers, her Vampire Diaries got optioned for the CW and they cast someone people had actually heard of as Damon, even if they did butcher details left, right, and center to the point that I prefer to pretend the show doesn't exist, and she emerged from whatever rock she'd been under since 1999, seemingly having gone rather Cloudcuckoolander. Her new website features a drawing of her hugging a unicorn. But she was back! And she had a new book! And it was...not Strange Fate, but rather a sequel to The Vampire Diaries which is, I have been told, a travesty and a murder of my tweenhood. Then a second volume of the travesty-sequel, and then, we were promised, on April 6, 2010, Strange Fate. From what was said on her website, it looked to be at least as cracked out as the VD sequels, but I've been waiting for this book for eleven years, I didn't care, I just wanted closure.
The second volume of the Vampire Diaries sequel series was released recently, but Strange Fate was nowhere to be found. Ms. Smith announced in a blog post that her next release would be the reissue of Secret Game. (Yay, Julian! Yay, rune magic! Yay, the protagonist's kickass BFF whose name I suddenly cannot remember, but who I kind of wanted to be when I was twelve! Awesome! Doubly awesome for me, because all my LJ Smith books burned with my house when I was in high school, and now I can complete my recollection! But that is so not the point here!) and after that, a Vampire Diaries prequel trilogy, and then, finally, Strange Fate. Release date TBD. Maybe in a couple of years. Strange Fate's Amazon page was taken down. Again.
Believe me, I get that Vampire Diaries is the cash cow here, as it has a TV show and all, but I have been waiting for this book for twelve years. I do not think it would kill them to toss us a bone.
So, here is what I think: I do not think Strange Fate exists. I do not think Strange Fate ever existed. I think someone is fucking with us. I don't know if it's Ms. Smith or Simon & Schuster, but quite frankly, I will believe the book exists when I see it. Until then, I give up. As far as I'm concerned, the millennial apocalypse happened on schedule, and they all died. Except Ash. Ash was too hot to die. The end!