In vampire pop culture news, Charlaine Harris's latest Sookie Stackhouse novel, Dead in the Family, hit stores on Tuesday, but that's not exactly news--but if you love the Sookieverse, you should know that Harris, along with a few other best-selling authors, developed another collection of Sookieverse short stories called Death's Excellent Vacation, being released in early August of this year! Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels are the basis for HBO's True Blood series. The next season of True Blood premiere's next month, and so does my book (with George A. Dunn), True Blood & Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things with You. The official release date has changed a few times but I can tell you that books will be sent to major book stores on May 17th, though the official release date is June 7, 2010. There will also be a Polish translation of True Blood & Philosophy. I'll keep you posted on future updates!
Harris is more than just the author of one popular book series, she has several, including her Harper Connelly novels. Harper Connelly is a human who can see and experience a person's last moments on earth. Like Sookie, Harper is a bit of a detective, helping herself and others to solve mysteries...of the dead. The latest news here is that Harris's Harper Connelly will be made into a comic book series by Dynamite Entertainment. Dynamite publishes major comic titles like Red Sonja, Army of Darkness, and Battlestar Galactica (and if you love Battlestar, be sure to check out Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy!).
The Vampire Diaries, a series based on LJane Smith's novels of the same name, is on the CW on Thursdays at 8pm EST; the show will be airing it's last two episodes for the season starting tonight. If you love the character of Damon played by Ian Somerhalder (also of Lost), you should check out his photo shoot for GQ this month!
TWI-HARDS: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (a Twilight novella) by Stephenie Meyer will be released on June 5, 2010. The next Twilight movie in the franchise, Eclipse, comes out June 30th in the States--July 9th in the UK. Director Bill Condon, best known for Dreamgirls (2006) and Kinsey (2004), has agreed to direct Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final installment in the film franchise. The movie is in pre-production with a release date set for November 18, 2011. Summit Entertainment is not confirming or denying rumors that Breaking Dawn will be split into two movies--but fans shouldn't worry--either way, we'll see Breaking Dawn on November 18, 2011! And to get yourself ready for all this Twilight-goodness in the next month, buy your copy of Twilight & Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians and the Pursuit of Immortality, available in English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Russian, also available on Amazon as a kindle edition AND an audio-book--which I voiced--and was released March 30th.
That's all for now, Vampirazzi! Get ready to get your FANG ON in the next two months....
PS: Look for more on forthcoming interviews with me on Twilight and True Blood from Woman's World (scheduled to run in October 2010), the Huffington Post, and Inside Higher Ed!