Terminalcoffee discussion

Writer/producer Kevin Williamson (the Scream movies) is back with The Vampire Diaries, an edgy and romantic new drama in which two vampire brothers—one good, one evil—are at war for the soul of one girl. Based on the best-selling book series of the same name by L.J. Smith, the show stars Nina Dobrev (Degrassi: The Next Generation), Paul Wesley (Everwood), Ian Somerhalder (Lost), Steven R. McQueen (Everwood), Katerina Graham (17 Again), Sara Canning (Smallville), Candice Accola (Supernatural), Zach Roerig (Friday Night Lights), Kayla Ewell (Entourage), and Michael Trevino (The Riches). Williamson, Leslie Morgenstein (Gossip Girl), and Bob Levy (Gossip Girl) are the executive producers for Bonanza Productions Inc., Outerbanks Entertainment, and Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios. The Vampire Diaries will air Thursdays at 8:00 PM ET/PT this fall on The CW, premiering September 10.

Hey now, I loved LJ Smith growing up...

Her vamps don't sparkle, that would be Stephanie Meyer's creations.

Ok, sooner or later this whole vampire thing is gonna cool down. Predictions?

It's been going awhile, the whole Underworld films(just brought that up cause I adore Kate Beckinsale), and there has only been one Twilight movie as opposed to 4 books.

I love the paranormal genre, but this fad will die down eventually.

As for Twilight, the second movie comes out in Nov. of this year and they are rapidly producing the third and forth. The movies should wrap and release by the end of 2010 or middle of 2011. So I would say it will be about that long before the fad truly dies.

Thing about LJ Smith, she wrote vampire diaries nearly 20 years ago and has just recently had them re-printed.

*Note*
I know about the Twilight movies because of my love for Robert Pattinson. :)

Kate Beckinsdale in leather. That always works.

Here, here, Sherri.

Those sexy, sultry vamps are here to stay. Now if we can just get a little more screen-time for the werewolves. Rawr.

Agreed Sheri. And fair point. However, I don't think the days of large isle displays of Twilight and every other paranormal romance novel will continue for decades. Will there always be a large following of the genre, absolutely, will it be everywhere you turn in a bookstore, grocery store, Target? I think not.

Cosmic Sher, I used to shy away from were stories, but I really liked Kelley Armstrong's take...

I agree that publishers are trying to re-create the Harry Potter effect. I balk at the fact that anyone would even compare Twilight to Harry Potter. Even more disturbing are the brilliant writers within the paranormal genre that are exploited and cursed to ride on Stephanie Meyer's coat tails despite the fact that they may have been published prior to Meyer or possess more talent.

LJ Smith is a perfect example. Vampire Diaries was a NY time’s best selling series in the early 90’s. I’m amazed that SM has been sued for plagiarism as Twilight is nearly identical to VD. And yet, I see review after review of readers stating that VD isn’t as good. And I know LJ’s is only being turned into a show so that studios can capitalize on the phenomenon while the gettin’s good.

Yeah, this is not new subject matter, and there have been countless papers written about our fascination w/the undead. I think of Anne Rice, though, yeah, as the first modern literary one to bleed over into the rest of the culture... (Though, I don't actually think about it that much, so maybe I'm just not aware of it before her.)

Sherri, have you read the Jim Butcher series? If not you might like it if dangerous wizzard detectives are your type.

I love Butcher. A recent favorite of mine is Richelle Mead. I loathe her Dark Swan series, but her Succubus series (hooky name I know) is amazing!

Sure, publishers are going to try to recreate the Harry Potter phenomenon, but really, they can't. Ever since HP, every new fantasy series that comes out is touted as The Next Harry Potter!!!, and usually gets ignored by kids. Unless it actually is GOOD, like the Rick Riordan "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series.

The Twilight craze is its own thing, separate from Harry Potter, and with a different audience. It built on word of mouth, as teen girls discovered it and passed it around. The publishers, and Hollywood, are just riding the wave. You can't manufacture that kind of interest!

As for vampires, interest in them never goes away - it just goes from a rolling boil to a simmer until the next big book/movie/tv show reignites extra attention. Before Anne Rice, there were the Christopher Lee movies. Before that, there was Bela Lugosi. Before Bela, there was Carmilla by Le Fanu, and of course Bram Stoker.

Before Stoker, there was folklore about nosferatu, and lamia, and strigoi, etc....

Technically speaking, the vampire fad was started with the Bela Lugosi version of Dracula (1931), when for the first time, vampires could be attractive and seductive and NOT gruesome monsters (think Nosferatu). And if you really want to get technical, you could go back to Bram Stoker's Victorian (I know I used it correctly this time, Bun!) adventure novel (because that's how it was perceived), Dracula. No, vampires in literature and movies are not just a trend. They'll be around for a while. :) It's just... they've been introduced to a new audience (tweens).

(crossposted with Jackie)

Sherri wrote: "Well, judging from the piles of the Meyers books I saw wandering through a used book store, that particular trend might be ebbing. Vampires are fore ever, I think. Sparkly ones, not so much."


Definitely Twilight won't be around forever, but it's still going strong here. There are still over 300 holds on Twilight in my library system!

170+ holds in the Little Rock library system...

I took a great amount of satisfaction from seeing the Twilight series being sold in a local marshall's for $6.00. I'm not sure if any of you have those, for those who don't, it's a discount retailer.

Heather wrote: "*Note*
I know about the Twilight movies because of my love for Robert Pattinson. :)"

Have you heard him sing? Fantanfabulouse!!

I just have to say Buffy and Angel need to get a shout out here...The movie and series were so fun.
I have been reading the Vampire Diaries, something felt very "Twilight" about them, Iwonder what Meyers was reading before she fell asleep and had her dream?

Heather, I adore Kelley Armstrong's series. I am def a more were-magic kind of girl, but just about anything paranormal rings my bell.

Two authors come to mind with this discussion:

Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan Witch series - I love the alternate reality of magic & supernat beings already among us & us just not realizing until they come out of the freaky closet.

Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy & just about everything else she's written. I love her magical characters who aren't just white or black in their thinking, but tend to cross lines between both, and with startlingly sensual results.

These two women are heroes of mine & I use them as style references for my own writing. But, there is also much more grit & sex in these books than any of the YA stuff. I can't handle how powder-puffy most of that stuff is (except Harry Potter & Eragon).

I like my books with good writing, amazing & multilayered characters, and some realistic darkness & sensuality in it. And, I don't mean any of those pulpy para-romance that all follow the same formula of a dangerous, hunky dude with a torn, vampy-tough chick who hate each other with a passion, and then fall in love with the same passion.... ugh.

Anne Rice wrote the Witching Hour, followed by Lasher. Fugging fantastic!

Loved those, Michelle! :)

I met her once, I have read all her stuff. I am trying to get up to date on her new works. I read somthing not to long ago "Jesus the Road to ?" I should know this anyway....

While I think vampires will always be around, sure, I think they're in heightened fad mode now. They won't be thispopular in five years...but they won't disappear.

And I love Buffy. There are about five characters on that show on which I crush, but let's start with the big three...

1. Buffy
2. Willow
3. Jenny Calendar

Cosmic Sher, I agree with you on YA to an extent; however, I'm always amazed by how some authors can write a kiss so sensually, that reading sex scenes isn't nearly half as erotic. But maybe that's just me. Granted, not all YA authors can pull it off, but then not all adult fiction authors can write well either...

Ahahahaa. I started this thread to be intended to focus on the Sparkly Vampires and not the legitimate good vampire fiction that we know and love from days past. This is more a complaint how the sparkly vampires are impacting a genre that used to be not-so-sparkly. *giggles*

Cause I adore old skool vamps. Anne Rice, Bela Legosi, Anita Blake (though lately fading off that train), Buffy, Bram Stoker, etc.

Not sure what grates me about this new sparkly fad. Maybe it's because I feel it degrades a genre I know and love or it makes too light of it to appeal to a general mass. Hmm. Maybe it's a dumbing down effect.

Either way. UG.

Next, they'll make their own teenage wolf to knock MJF out of the running. *sniff* Bye, bye van surfing.

LOL Tanja. I agree, Sparkly vamps are gratting, but I'm not going to lie, I'll see the new Twilight movie. The books blow, but Rob Pattinson is hot. He is worth the price of a movie ticket. As for the VD on CW. Just by looking at the cast, I can see that they have destroyed the books, so I think I'll pass.

And someone asked eariler if I heard Rob Pattinson sing and the answer is yes. I'm trying to learn to play Never Think on the guitar. I've been playing a few years and this song is really hard to learn. The guy has some talent, though I'm not sure its acting.

I think I'll pass on the Twilight movies even though I know there's three planned (first released, second in production and third on board). Hmmm. I may watch Rob Pattinson in something /else/ in order to prevent teeth gratting.

When I first heard Rob's voice, I about fell out of my chair, I didn't realize that was him singing on the soundtrack, I bought the score.
In interviews he admits he wants to sing and he is disheartend that he cannot just go to open mike night.
I am a fan of twilight books, because of the character developement. It is good to change things up, from burning into ashes to sparkly vampire is a creative idea, and after all, that is what creative writting is all about.

Michelle, I am intrigued. I read and enjoyed Twilight, but was disheartened by the later books, mainly due to lack of character development. How do you feel the characters evolved? And please don't perceive my question as me being rude, I'm merely curious. :)

I really enjoyed the Mortal Instruments series take on demonology. And I am about to being reading a book called The Deomon's Lexicon, has anyone heard of it?

*laughs at Sherri* That's about the time I did hop off the train although I did like Micah at points. Merry Gentry was so wonderful right at the beginning then crashed into the Anita Blake porn style. I haven't been able to read past book 2 or 3. I forget which.

I'll have to peek at Detective Inspector Chen. Chinese mythology? So there!

But didn't the demon fad phase out already?

LOL. Despite there being no tables dedicated to demons, who better to know how to be devilishly alluring than a minion of hell? But I like em bad :)

Maybe I'm thinking along the lines of manga/anime fads. They have a lot of demons in that material.

Hellboy?

There are tons of demons in manga/anime, though I haven't read it.

I read a series once, blanking on the name, where vamps were actually fallen angels cursed to a life on earth for all eternity is search for absolution. Demons were vamps who chose to embrace their vampiric traits.

In most series, however, demons are humans who sold their soul, or fallen angels.

Great article Sherri.

"More and more often, on nights when my brain is just too weary for Ian McEwan but not soft enough to settle for "The Mentalist," I find myself switching off the set and nestling into the sofa with a page turner about a girl who reminds me of nothing so much as the savior of Sunnydale High."

Yup, that just about sums it up. And I love that they even managed to mention Jim Butcher.

I think she developed Edward better through Midnight Son than through any other relm, tie it in with Twilight and he is very well rounded and tortured. Bella is not presented well in the screen play nor is Edward's torment well written in the screen play. When Edward and Jacob have to spend time together in the tent, is the part I felt she brought more to the characters.She brought more to Rosalie, and Esme, in the last book.

Sherri wrote: "I'm about tired of seeing the things and hearing 40 year old women gush over them."

This is what bothers me about the whole Twilight thing. I understand that there are some well written YA books that can be enjoyed by many ages, but I unfortunately read this one and its very clear what the audience was supposed to be. It reads like a 14 year-old girls diary. There is no way anyone not a teenage girl should find it interesting. Sorry if I'm offending anyone, but I find it a little sad that people my age can get so obsessed with something that should be so below their intellect level. I think it must be the same condition that makes 40 year-olds listen to bands like NSYNC or Backstreet Boys.

I have to admit, my 16 year old had these books lying around for a while before I read them, My thinking is this, one, I have always loved the "vampire myth" for many reasons,and b, it reminded me of the early days of my romance with my husband, for I am a hopless romantic. But really, do I have to admit I love Justin Timberlake, cuz without shame, I do...

I enjoyed the Twilight series for the same reason I enjoyed Harry Potter, nostalgia. You never forget the angst, passion, and sheer stupidity that are induced by your first love. I dare say that it is most young girl’s naive belief that she will spend eternity with her first love, which is perhaps why the first love cuts the deepest. It gave that young girl in me a wee bit of guilty satisfaction that the fairy tale came true for Bella, as that is the very nearly the only way any of the living will attain it.

Michelle, the scene you mentioned is my favorite as well, I loved the Frost tie in as he one of my most beloved poets.

I agree that Edward was a wonderfully tormented character, though I can't say any of the characters developed. This series was brain candy, but I ate it up.

I am with my first love Heather, maybe that is why I loved the first one so much. I do not gush over it though. I am not a gusher...I smolder

Let's hear it for smoldering...:)And Michelle, I think it amazing that you are with your first love.

Sherri, I'm not sure why women are making such a show of the books, they're good, but not that good. Its weird and slightly annoying, but I suppose its good to find such enjoyment in life from time to time, even if it is about a not so well written book. Hell, you should have seen the way I lusted after Gavin Rosdale when I was younger. I would put these twi-hards' enthusiasm to shame. And men are guilty of it too, let us look at all the Trekkies. Is it really so different to live long and prosper as it is to squee over these books?

LOL, you should be scared. Twihards tend to travel in droves, squeeing at ear splitting levels. Take ear plugs.

At least Trekies are obsessed with something that was/is aimed at adults. I'm bothered by adults being overly obsessed with a book written for teenagers. Again, enjoying is OK, obsessing is scary.

I can see your point Wingedbeaver, you find it disturbing that women gush over a character that was written as flawless dream boat, note that I did not say he was flawlessly written. And I find it disturbing that people don prosthetic ears, make odd hand gestures and spend hundreds of dollars on collectibles in admiration of Star Trek. I think the fact that it is adult, or that Twilight was aimed at teens is moot. I've seen adults dress up like Harry Potter. I worked at a bookstore during the midnight release of Half Blood Prince and I saw adults knocking over children for a place in line. That is obsessive in my eyes, as are those adults who throw Harry Potter themed parties and yet no one seems to judge them too harshly as Harry Potter transends numerous demographics, whereas Twilight does not.

Point being, we all have different likes, dislikes and obsessions. Some are fanatical about bands, t.v. or movie stars, t.v. shows, and some are fanatical about books. All of our obsessions are bound to be found weird by someone who doesn't share similar intrests.