Supernatural

In this issue of YA Wednesday, we jump on the Stephenie Meyer bandwagon.

It's been difficult to avoid reading about The Twilight Saga this week. What have people been calling it? Oh, yeah... "the Twilight juggernaut." Hmmm. Somebody has a pretty awesome publicity machine...

Fans have been following the Twilight series for years, but the EW cover story and the upcoming release of Breaking Dawn (the last Bella book) have launched Stephenie Meyer and her vampires into a pop culture frenzy.

Twilight, the movie based on book one of The Twilight Saga, opens Dec. 12, 2008. Breaking Dawn comes out August 2nd. Meyer is currently working on Midnight Sun, told from Edward's perspective.

Here's a timeline of the recent insanity...

Tuesday, July 7
The author herself asks fans to please, please, please not spoil Breaking Dawn for everybody else:

"I want to ask you guys for a favor. As we saw with Eclipse (not to mention that last Harry Potter book), there is always the potential for copies of the book to be leaked early. My publisher is doing everything they can to prevent this, but there is only so much that can be done. This is the favor: if someone, somewhere, somehow, gets a copy early, I'm asking you to please not post any spoilers on the internet. And if you see something, please don't spread it around."

She also lets people know that message boards on the fansites will be taken down soon, just in case anyone can't wait to discuss it. (She talks about this a little bit in her Amazon interview here.)

Thursday, July 10
The new EW shows up in my mailbox with its cover story about The Twilight Saga, including two features, "The Vampire Empire" (about Meyer and her books) and "Twilight Hits Hollywood" (about the Catherine Hardwicke film). EW.com includes the opening pages of Breaking Dawn and an interview with Meyer. A teaser in the magazine promises that EW.com will run "a super-exclusive spoiler about Bella's love life" on July 28.

An L.A. Times blog posts about Twilight fans who are displeased with the EW cover, based on comments from fansites. According to the post, complainers cite Rob Pattinson's open shirt (Edward, despite his extreme hunkiness, is quite virginal), among other too-sexy concerns, mostly related to the fact that the people on this cover look nothing like Bella and Edward, or the actors for that matter. (Have the people on EW covers ever not looked totally weird and unlike themselves?) This sparks comments from fans that they are *not* upset...

Friday, July 11
Summit Entertainment releases these two clips:

"Ballet scene"

And behind the scene footage and interviews

Saturday, July 12
The New York Times runs this opinion piece, with Gail Collins speculating that The Twilight Saga's appeal lies in the sexually innocent vampire boy, every girl's dream in a world where human boys choose porn over live girls:

Continuing Entertainment Weekly's 100 films from the past 25 years that will stand with the all-time greats over time. Numbers 50-26 are below.

50. THE PIANO (1993)
49. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000)
48. SCARFACE (1983)
47. MEN IN BLACK (1997)
<------46. CHILDREN OF MEN (2006)
45. RAIN MAN (1988)
44. THE PLAYER (1992)
43. GLADIATOR (2000)
42. CLUELESS (1995)
41. DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993)
40. SPEED (1994)
39. THE SIXTH SENSE (1999)
38. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004)
37. PRETTY WOMAN (1990)----->
36. SPIDER-MAN 2 (2004)
35. THE INCREDIBLES (2004)
34. FARGO (1996)
33. THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985)
32. FIGHT CLUB (1999)
31. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)
30. WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... (1989)
29. THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004)
28. WINGS OF DESIRE (1988)
27. ALIENS (1986)
26. HOOP DREAMS (1994)
 

More to be revealed tomorrow... —Ellen

Another fun list from Entertainment Weekly: They're counting down the 100 films from the past 25 years that will stand with the all-time greats over time. Nos. 100-76 are revealed today, with the rest coming over the next few days. (It's also fun to see a list that doesn't include the same stuff over and over again.)

100. SOUTH PARK: BIGGER LONGER & UNCUT (1999)
99. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)
98. THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999)
97. GLORY (1989)
<------96. FAR FROM HEAVEN (2002)
95. IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2001)
94. FULL METAL JACKET (1987)
93. ED WOOD (1994)
92. MENACE II SOCIETY (1993)
91. BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)
90. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (2004)
89. BREAKING THE WAVES (1996)
88. AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY (1997)
87. SWINGERS (1996)
86. Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN (2002)
85. THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN (2005)------->
84. SIDEWAYS (2004)
83. EVIL DEAD 2 (1987)
82. LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003)
81. MOONSTRUCK (1987)
80. MICHAEL CLAYTON (2007)
79. WAITING FOR GUFFMAN (1996)
78. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991)
77. SID AND NANCY (1986)
76. THE DEPARTED (2006)

don't see your favorite on this list? Don't worry, there are still 75 left to go. -- Ellen

Every once in awhile you receive a book that displays true evidence of genius. This month that book is A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft from Millipede Press. The vision of Millipede Press founder Jerad Walters, it features over 400 pages of art either influenced by the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft or directly commissioned over the years for various editions of the iconic writer's work. With several full-color fold-out pages, essays by Harlan Ellison, Stuart Gordon, and Thomas Ligotti, among others, and a clear mission to provide variety (the art styles vary from pulp to pop to avant garde), this is the kind of tome that people leave as an heirloom to their children.

Millipede Press's mission is to bring "the finest in horror and crime fiction back into print. Our books are printed on acid-free, recycled paper, and are all, hardcover and trade paperback alike, sewn rather than glued. Millipede Press books are known for high quality printing, binding and interior design. They are painstakingly proofread."

I asked Walters how long it took to bring this amazing project to completion--his answer displaying a refreshingly fanatical approach to the details. "It took about two years. The hardest part was simply contacting all of the involved artists and narrowing down the range of material. It was physically demanding, too, in that hours and hours were spent color correcting all of the scans. Many images took upwards to 20 hours to get just right."

As for his own favorites in the book, Walters told me he likes it all, but "perhaps the Lee Brown Coye section and some of the fold-outs. The thumbnails section is useful. With any project of this size, of course there are going to be small details that you wish you could change. However, I feel very fortunate in that everything I wanted to be in the book is in the book, and everything I wanted to do has been done. I do miss the presence of Wayne Douglas Barlowe, whose Old One would have been a good inclusion. However, I feel very privileged to have made a book that includes at least one work of every major fantasy and horror artist of the last 50 years. Wrightson, Frazetta, Whelan, Giger, Morris, Potter, Fabian, Coye, Rowena, Palencar, Eggleton, Bok, Finlay, Ian Miller, Tim Kirk--they are all in here."

Millipede Press has several other books scheduled for the next year or so, and I'll keep Amazon readers in the loop as they come out.

Clarkesworld Magazine is one of the latest and most interesting of online sources for original genre fiction and nonfiction. Within its virtual pages you can find stories from the likes of rising stars like Catherynne M. Valente, Tiptree Award Winner, as well as from relative newcomers like Paul Jessup, who may help form the nucleus of a new explosion of creativity and imagination. You'll also find interviews like the one I conducted with Laird Barron, who recently garnered three nominations for the Shirley Jackson Award. His The Imago Sequence is a bravura performance, a first collection that borrows from the macabre literature of the past while bringing his own viewpoint and modern sensibilities to the mix. Check out Clarkesworld, which has a new issue up every month, and also check out my interview with Barron, which I've excerpted below.

What are some of the important qualities of the fiction you most love?
I could make a list of qualities that compel me to pick up a book and turn pages, but it comes down to poetry in all its glorious manifestations. I didn't really begin to find my way as a writer until I learned to appreciate poetry. I'm a fan of Charles Simic, Wallace Stevens, Sylvia Plath, Dylan Thomas, to name a handful. For exactly one year of my life I attempted a poem a day, and when I wasn't writing poetry I devoured it, did my level best to absorb it by osmosis. Noir is famous for this affiliation, but all of my favorite writing sings with poetry. Much of my admiration for Michael Shea, for example, stems from his lyricism, his ability to wield language in a manner that engages and enthralls — sometimes reckless and coarse, other times utterly mellifluous, but always layered, always multifaceted and as ornamental as it is functional. He's not satisfied to employ language as a necessity. Shea demonstrates that it's insufficient for prose to function as a utilitarian device when it can so readily transform literature, imbue narrative with a force capable of transcending the medium, of devastating the audience with a gesture.

Urban fantasy, supernatural suspense, paranormal romance--all of these subgenres are hot right now, and Juno Books has been publishing a cornucopia of such novels in bright, sharply designed mass market paperbacks. There's a wide variety of fiction between those covers. For example, Personal Demons by Stacia Kane is about a reporter and a demon lover, while Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti is set in an imaginary world and has more in common with steampunk and epic fantasy. Blackness Tower by Lillian Stewart Carl is in a Mary Stewart Merlin vein, except featuring a Spanish armada. Matthew Cook's Blood Magic chronicles the adventures of a necromancer named Kirin. Three other Juno Books seem to fit snugly into the supernatural suspense category: House of Whispers by Margaret Lucke, Dancing with Werewolves by Carole Nelson Douglas, and Apricot Brandy by Lynn Cesar.

These trends in book publishing appear to be driven by the success of TV programs like Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as the huge success of such writers as Kim Harrison. The audience for such imprints is predominantly women, and most of the writers are women. What's interesting is that Juno, an independent press, seems able to compete on an even playing field with the big publishers for quality fiction in this area. Whether this is a self-sustaining niche or a category that will ultimately become overly familiar has yet to be determined, but in the meantime check out some of these interesting titles.

Okay, so it's still Monday, which isn't good, but it's also another day in First Second's self-declared "Vampire Month," in honor of Little Vampire and, drum roll please, Life Sucks by Jessica Abel, Gabe Soria, and Warren Pleece. Life Suck reads as if Joss Whedon and Dazed and Confused movie director Richard Linklater collaborated on a graphic novel about a 24-hour convenience store run by vampires. Just imagine if you're the night manager for that convenience store and you're "facing an eternity of restocking beef jerky and blood brew for Radu, your crappy boss and Vampire Master." Throw in romantic complications and you've got the undead recipe for something pretty unique as far as vampire stories go. Stylish and modern, Life Sucks made my Monday worthwhile.

For another unique vampire story, you could do worse than check out Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch. This heady blend of adventure, intrigue, surreal imagery, and savage supernatural conflict set in modern-day Moscow totally re-energized the vampire subgenre. (The movie's not bad, either.)

(Also remember--the extraordinarily cool First Second blog has brought readers a downloadable vampire kit, and links to features at Comics Worth Reading, Colleen Mondor's blog, and Interactive Reader. And in reply to your question, no, I'm not on First Second's payroll--I just think they're one of the coolest graphic novel publishers out there.)

T.A. Pratt's Marla Mason urban fantasies, Blood Engines and now Poison Sleep, relate the adventures of a "smart, saucy, slightly wicked witch of the East Coast" who combats murderous hummingbirds, weird frogs, and all kinds of human enemies in these lively, imaginative supernatural thrillers with elements of humor and whimsy. I talked to Pratt