Susan Hubbard, First "Twilight" Reviews, Faith in Leather

AUTHORS & BOOKS

Susan Hubbard blogs about her books, The Year of Disappearances and The Society of S and has a contest for hardback copies of her novels. "No, I didn't plan to write a vampire novel. But there I was, writing a novel in which some characters were vampires. Maybe I should backtrack here..." (Paranormality)

Review of Eve Silver's Demon's Hunger. "Vivian Cairn's decision to take a sabbatical from teaching Forensic Anthropology at the university is one she makes on her own. She needs to figure out why she's beginning to experience black-outs and loss of time that put her in the strangest of places." (Fresh Fiction)

Review of Colleen Gleason's The Rest Falls Away. "Many reviews have referred to Colleen Gleason’s heroine as 'Buffy meets Jane Austen.' I think she’s closer to one of Amanda Quick’s feisty regency heroines, albeit with a stake hidden in her hair or in her garter." (Love Vampires)

Here's the cover for Colleen Gleason's next novel, As Shadows Fade, to be released in March 2009. "Demons, enemies of both mortals and the undead, have found their way to earth. To defeat them, vampires and slayers must fight side by side." (Colleen Gleason)

Author Catherine Karp is taking final nominations for Best Overall Vampire Site. Of course you can nominate Vampire Wire! (Suburban Vampire)

Congratulations to Carolyn Jean on the one year anniversary of her blog, The Thrillionth Page! "These days: It’s okay to do a rambling and marginally understandable post on my confusion over the word NEXT."

Interview with Laurell K. Hamilton on her Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. "..."the new book is called Skin Trade and it begins with Anita getting a severed head on her desk. I can't decide if it comes through the postal service or FedEx. Can you send body parts through FedEx in this country?" (Riverfront Times)

Paige Tyler, author of Animal Attraction, has a link to a book cover contest. Vote for Paige's book or another.


MOVIES & DVDS

The first reviews of "Twilight" are in, so don't read them if you don't want to know more. "[Kristen] Stewart (seen recently and most impressively in 'Into the Wild') makes Bella earthy, appealing and slightly withdrawn, and British thesp Robert] Pattinson (who registered poignantly as the ill-fated Cedric Diggory in 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire') is every inch the deadly dreamboat." (Variety)

Here's a summary of all the "Twilight" reviews that have run so far. ""[Robert] Pattinson makes brooding a science. And [Kristen] Stewart finds the right blend of strength and vulnerability to play Bella. The supporting cast is strong, especially Nikki Reed as the headstrong Rosalie and Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria." (Los Angeles Times)

Here's another review of "Twilight." "It is faithful to its source material, which will likely please the fan base. It's also better written than [Stephanie] Meyer's book, which tends toward froth and fulmination." (Chicago Tribune)

Review of "Twilight" praises leads. "But for the legion of fans of Stephenie Meyer's book, this entertaining adaptation provides at least three movies worth of teen angst, dreamy good looks and sparkly-skinned vampires (more on that later)." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Hair crimes among the undead in "Twilight." "Apparently, yes. Edward [Robert Pattinson] comes from a long line of ugly-haired Euro-American vampires in cinema, and we've got a rogues gallery of the worst vampire hair imaginable..." (i09)

Interview with Stephanie Meyer about "Twilight" movie franchise. "Initially she wasn’t as lucky with the movie adaptation. Paramount/MTV had optioned film rights and commissioned a script before the book became a bestseller." (Boston Herald)

Here's a cheat sheet for "Twilight." "These vampires, Edward’s perfect family, are quite Osmond-y in their way." (MSNBC)

Interview with "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke, scriptwriter Melissa Rothenberg, etc. "What that means, maybe, is that the world of 'Twilight' is one where incoming calls from the real world can rarely be heard with any clarity in a fantasy universe of perpetual neither-here-nor-thereness. Sort of like adolescence itself, only touched up for maximum (devastating, inhuman) desirability." (San Jose Mercury)

List of top ten vampire flicks. "They really get into the torchered mindset of a vampire with Interview. Louis feeds on rats, and is ashamed of what he has become, Lestat embraces it and kills whenever he pleases him." (The Score Card)


TELEVISION & THE INTERNETS

Eliza Dusku, aka Faith in "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer," continues to rock the leather pants in "Dollhouse." "Well, this new shot from Joss Whedon's show confirms that the one-time Faith may have left her stake in the past, but she isn't discarding those tight trousers just yet." (New York Post)

Another "Buffy" alumnus, Nicholas Brendan, aka Xander, stars in new horror film, "Blood on the Highway." "Shot in Texas and directed by Barak Epstein and Blair Rowan, the story finds a road-tripping trio who roll into the town of Fate and find it's populated by vampires." (Shock Till You Drop)



GRATUITOUS VIDEO OF THE DAY

While we're waiting for Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse," here's a mash-up from Kaiios with Eliza Dushku as Faith and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester.



Here's a video from bxversebabe featuring Faith and Buffy. I miss these chicks.