Friday, July 23, 2010

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You've probably all heard about SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con). It's a convention in San Diego for geeks and nerds all over the world. ;-)

There are all sorts of things going on at Comic-Con having to do with comic books, movies, TV shows etc. But what we are most interested in is of course everything related to Vampire Academy.

First and foremost, Richelle Mead is attending Comic-Con! She posted her schedule for the weekend on her blog, here.

Also, Arcane Vault is there, selling official Vampire Academy merchandise. (I know we haven't posted about them yet, but we will.)
They've tweeted a bit from Comic-Con already. Among other things, they tweeted this picture from the Mysterious Galaxy Booth. It's posted on their Facebook page:




Another cool thing is that you can get Vampire Academy tattoos at the Penguin Booth! Penguin Teen tweeted the info earlier today, and it's booth 2913R, for those of you going to the Con.

I'm so jealous of all of you who get to go! For the last few years Comic-Con has been a big Twilight event, and I'd of course have loved to go then, but it wasn't until I heard that Richelle was going that it occurred to me that all these wonderful authors are also at Comic-Con, which makes me want to go even more!

And totally btw, Stacia Kane is a friend of Richelle's, and I've recently read her wonderful Downside books (Unholy Ghosts, Unholy Magic, and City of Ghosts coming out next week). I really recommend these books!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

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As I mentioned in my last post, Preger Entertainment has optioned the Vampire Academy books. This means that they have the rights to turn the books into a movie. However, they need the support from a studio to be able to make this happen, and a way to get that is to show that there is a solid fan base supporting the franchise.

This is a quote from the press release:

Fans of the book series world-wide have flooded the online Social Networks with fan-created movie trailers, chat rooms, blogs, and even, online movie petitions -- sending a powerful message to Hollywood to bring Mead's characters to the big screen. "This spontaneous viral event has exploded all across the internet," comments Preger. "Finding an epic story like this for adaptation is one thing, but to then discover this mass market audience, that's growing exponentially, who are eagerly awaiting --- even demanding --- a film be produced, is something very compelling."

This shows that Preger knows that there are a lot of fans out there, but they have to be able to show that to the studio, and that's where we come in.

Preger Entertainment has created an official Facebook page for the Vampire Academy Movie, and they're hoping to have 20 000 members by the end of this week. They're almost up to 17 000, so it's looking really good, but if you want the movie to be made, and you want the studio to see your support - be sure to join The Official Vampire Academy Facebook Page.

There is a discussion forum, and the producers have been asking the fans a different question every day. Today, for example, the question was which character we relate to the most, and why?

If you visit the Notes section of the Facebook page, you can also read the notes that the producers have written so far, about what their goal for the movies are, and what is required to get there.

Preger has also set up an official twitter account @OfficialVAMovie, so if you're on twitter, make sure you follow them.
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Now for the BIG news that spread across the Vampire Academy world the past few weeks. :-)

Of course when a series is as good as Vampire Academy (and given the popularity of vampire stories right now) there is going to be rumors about making the books into movies. And the fans of Vampire Academy have heard a few of them.

Then on June 29 2010, we finally got the news we'd been waiting for; a confirmation from Richelle Mead herself that the Vampire Academy books have been optioned by Preger Entertainment!

Richelle explained, in her blog post about the news, what this actually means for the books:

Vampire Academy has been optioned for film by Preger Entertainment! Yay! Let me make it clear, though: an option is exactly that. An option. It's a right to the books I sell, and it means Preger now has the option of turning VA into a film. It may not happen anytime soon. Some books are optioned for years with no action. So that may mean nothing is happening right now. Of course, it can also mean they're already scripting and making plans. The point I want to make is that you shouldn't brace yourself for a VA film coming out next spring.

Richelle also posted a link to the press release about Preger acquiring the rights to the books.

So what do you think about these news? I think it's really great that they may be making (a) movie(s) out of the books, but of course I'm aware of how hard it is to translate a book onto the screen.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

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Okay, so I know I promised to report all the exciting news from the last month (and it is coming!), but Richelle just tweeted this picture and I had to post it for all you who might have missed it. I think this is pretty exciting news as well. :-)

What you see here are the copy edits for Iron Crowned, and line edits for Last Sacrifice. They are both due in under two weeks and the one on the right is Last Sacrifice!

Richelle also wrote a little bit on her Facebook page about what the different edits mean.
For those curious about the manuscripts below, here's the status. IC goes through first draft, revision, copy edits, proofs, and production. LS goes through first draft, 2 revisions, line edits, copy edits, proofs, and production. So, still a ways to go on both.
I have no idea what the different terms are, so I looked it up, and this is what I found on WiseGeek.com:

Line editing is a stage in the editing process in which a manuscript is edited for tone, style, and consistency. [...] As the term “line editing” implies, a line editor literally goes through a written piece line by line, taking the time to be extremely thorough and meticulous. Line editors may read a piece several times to ensure that it has been thoroughly edited, often starting with a rough pass to look for basic issues like spelling and grammar problems and then digging in deeper with each successive pass.
There are a lot of stages a manuscript has to go through before it reaches us, the readers. We don't always think of that when we're waiting for the book. Still, I want to read Last Sacrifice now! :D

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Hi everyone!

I know we've been terribly off the last month or so. There are, particularly since there are three of us, several reasons for that. A couple of us were pretty busy with our "Twilight lives" in June, and a third one has had her hands full with starting her own company. Also, we've had an unusually hot summer in Sweden so far, and it doesn't happen that often, so it hasn't felt right to sit inside blogging. We hope you forgive us for that, especially since there has been sooo many exciting Vampire Academy news lately! So we definitely have some catching up to do. Hopefully we'll get there.

Before talking about the REALLY great news that we got this month, I have to post a wonderful interview that Twilight Series Theories did with Richelle Mead. You may remember that I posted that readers could ask Richelle questions in their original post, and that they would include some of them in their interview with her. Well, I asked a couple of questions, and Richelle answered them! I'm totally fangirling over that fact, and I don't care! :D

Also, Twilight Series Theories usually do a Twilight podcast, but they recently dedicated an entire episode just to Vampire Academy! It was very exciting to listen to, so make sure you either find it in iTunes Store, or subscribe to it here.

Anyway, below is the interview in its entirety. If you have time you should really read it, because the questions were very interesting (not just mine :-). (And for those of you wondering, my questions ar #4 and #12.)