Posted by Red | July 20, 2010, 11:14 (EST) | 64 Comments
Category: Books, L.J. Smith

L.J. Smith has written in her blog that she’s finished writing The Return: Midnight, and it’s now going through the editing process. All looks to be on track for publication next year. In other book news, we heard a while back that Ms. Smith was involved with a prequel trilogy, which we all originally assumed was part of the book series, but turned out to be the TV series tie-in, Stefan’s Diaries, that she’s (apparently) consulting on. Well, turns out a new Vampire Diaries trilogy is in the works, starting with Phantom. We have no idea about publication dates, what it’s about or when it will be set (though, given the spoiler at the end of this blog post, it’s likely at least some of it will be set after Midnight), but we’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we have more information.

Also, I have been finished with Midnight, the final book in the last Vampire Diaries trilogy about a month ago and am waiting (you can imagine how eagerly or maybe–if you’re not an author–you can’t) for the edits. I’ve also signed on for a new trilogy and finished the first book in it, Phantom. So there is more Vampire Diaries in store for readers of those books.

And another little spoilery Vampire Diaries tidbit from the blog post (spoiler blocked because it gives away some of what might happen in Midnight:

And I’ve already bought a fantastic brand new Tiffany and Co. (the real Tiffany’s) gold locket and chain. Now I just have to make up a scene in which Stefan gives Elena the locket (crucial for the new trilogy coming up after Midnight) and we’ll see if we really can cause my computer to implode.

(Thanks to Ayna for the heads up!)

Posted by Red | February 14, 2010, 18:17 (EST) | 6 Comments
Category: Books, L.J. Smith

As a part of the Harper Collins 28 Days of Winter Escapes, My Friend Amy has an interview with author of the Vampire Diaries, L.J. Smith in which she talks about the books, Valentine’s, and which of the Salvatore brothers she’d like to date.

Stefan and Damon are always in competition for Elena’s love, among other things . . . is it possible that the brothers will ever get over their rivalry?
Well, that happens to be the very focus of the new trilogy. In Shadow Souls and Midnight the brothers are forced to work together—or at least on the same side. But while Stefan would probably try anything for Elena, Damon is more like a half-tamed panther relentlessly stalking her every move. The question each day is: Will the good, helpful Damon come out or will the wicked, wild Damon emerge? So it really depends on Damon—who’s not very dependable.

Related to this, if you want a chance at winning a copy of The Return: Shadow Souls, head over to the 28 Days of Winter Escapes website to vote in the poll and enter the sweepstakes.

The first five Vampire Diaries books were released over in Poland back in January in omnibus editions, and you can check out the covers for them below (courtesy of the L.J. Smith Cover Resource). The Polish publishers are going a different route to everyone else, and instead of the original series being split into two volumes, they’ve gone with the first volume containing The Awakening, The Struggle and The Fury, and the second volume containing Dark Reunion and the first half of The Return: Nightfall. Given the content and endings of the various books, that is actually a logical way to split them. Maybe we’ll start seeing some more omnibus editions being split this way in the future?

Posted by Vee | February 10, 2010, 10:40 (EST) | 7 Comments
Category: Books, L.J. Smith

HarperTeen is in the midst of their 28 Days of Winter Escapes Book-A-Day Giveaway and The Return: Shadow Souls is their February 14th featured title. What does this mean? It means this Sunday, Valentine’s Day, you can be automatically entered to win a signed copy of L.J. Smith’s brand spankin’ new Vampire Diaries book by visiting their Shadow Souls V-Day page and answering the poll question of the day. It’s that easy!

You can also answer their daily poll and possibly win an iPod Touch.

And be sure to check out the partner blog for Shadow Souls – My Friend Amy. (You may remember Amy from the L.J. Smith Reading Challenge she kicked off back in August.)

Check out HarperTeen’s 28 Days of Winter Escapes for more information, and good luck!

Posted by Red | December 7, 2009, 10:37 (EST) | 9 Comments
Category: Books, L.J. Smith, TV Series

Blast Presents: New Moon has a feature on the Vampire Diaries with snippets from Nina, Paul, Ian and L.J. Smith (from her blog). Thanks to Kyra over at Media Blvd for the scans!.

 
We tweeted this yesterday, and it impressed quite a few people (including us!). @Sonylicious recorded the process of vampirising a picture of Nina Dobrev in Photoshop. It really is fascinating, and it’s amazing the skills that Vampire Diaries fans possess.

 
Finally, thanks to Jen for pointing us at some Australian publication dates for the Return Trilogy. The Australian Harper Collins website is listing January 2010 for the paperback version of Nightfall, and March 2010 for the paperback version of Shadow Souls. Nightfall has already been published in hardback, but there’s no mention at the moment of a hardback release for Shadow Souls.

Posted by Red | November 25, 2009, 15:16 (EST) | 7 Comments
Category: Books, L.J. Smith, TV Series

L.J. Smith (along with authors Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris and P.C. and Kristin Cast) was interviewed recently by Matthew Peterson on The Author Hour. The discussion centres mostly on the Vampire Diaries (the books and the TV series) and her writing career. You can listen to the interview with L.J. Smith (the interview starts at the 45:50 minute mark), or read the transcript.

Matthew Peterson: What was the trigger for you that helped give you the idea to write The Vampire Diaries?

L. J. Smith: I was given a call by some people who wanted a trilogy of vampire books written and they said that they wanted me, within nine months, to produce 3 books about vampires. So the idea was that there were two brothers who were both in love with the same girl: one good brother, one bad brother. And I kind of like the bad brother better, that’s Damon, and he’s one of my favorite characters to work with, so it didn’t come out exactly perhaps as it was intended, but it seems that people enjoy the effect, so I can’t complain.

Thanks to Nilly for sending us the info.

Posted by Red | September 24, 2009, 9:41 (EST) | 5 Comments
Category: Books, L.J. Smith, TV Series

L.J. Smith talks to MTV about Twilight, her writing hiatus, Damon in Shadow Souls, and the Vampire Diaries TV series:

If Smith unabashedly favors the bad brother in her books, she’s also becoming a big fan of him on the small screen too. “I especially like Damon; Ian Somerhalder does very well,” she said. “But I really, really like the Elena that they picked, Nina Dobrev. Even though she’s brunette, and not blond, which took some getting used to for me, she’s a great actress. And I love the Stefan that they’ve picked. I just think that they’ve done a terrific job of interpreting it for TV.”

Posted by Vee | September 22, 2009, 15:24 (EST) | 5 Comments
Category: Books, L.J. Smith, TV Series

L.J. Smith is one of 40 authors participating in Simon & Schuster’s Blogfest 2009, a two-week event “where Simon & Schuster’s top teen authors and their fan bases come together to share ideas on one single blog.” Blogfest runs from Sept. 21st – Oct. 4th and each day is devoted to a single teen-submitted question. Every author will answer at least five questions over a two-week period.

LJS has only made one post so far, answering “What made you start writing?”, but she’s also answering a lot of questions in the post comments. She’s dropped some info about the next volume in the series, Shadow Souls, thinks Ian Somerhalder makes a great Damon, and says that she’s liking the show so far. As for the potential of even more volumes in the Vampire Diaries series, she had this to say:

As for Vampire Diaries: I will continue to write them for as long as the publishers and I get along.

Watch for more Blogfest posts in the next two weeks. Thanks to Jezebel and Nilly for letting us know!

We’d seen some chatter about people being “freaked out” by a Vampire Diaries ad, but couldn’t figure out what on earth they were talking about. Well, thanks to Digital Signage Today, we now know and it’s all Blade Runner n’ stuff:

Playing on the concept that vampires don’t have reflections, pedestrians who approach the Inwindow Storescape will initially see their likeness on a screen. Shortly thereafter, a black crow approaches the viewer, circling around the viewer’s head before flying off. The screen then flashes momentarily and the image of the viewer vanishes while the background scene – other pedestrians, cars, etc. – remains. A trailer of the show then launches on the screen and the pedestrian is sent a message to their mobile device, via Bluetooth, that allows them to view the trailer on their phone.

The displays are in New York and Los Angeles – and they’re huge. You can check it out over at DST. The company responsible is Inwindow Outdoor and you can find out how they put the interactive display together on their website.

UPDATE: Thanks to Lily for the heads up on this video of the display.

Posted by Staff | September 4, 2009, 7:46 (EST) | 19 Comments
Category: L.J. Smith

 
It’s our author’s birthday today, and we hope you’ll join us in wishing her a very happy birthday. If you’d like to leave Lisa a birthday message, please feel free to do so in the comments and we’ll pass them along. :)