Television, Books, And Updates...

As I write this I’m out in Los Angeles covering the new TV season for my day job. I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time saying the following: Vampire Diaries was written L. J. Smith 20 years before Stephenie Meyer ever thought about TWILIGHT. I’ve grown a little tired of people calling Vampire Diaries a rip off. That said, I really enjoyed the pilot, and I’m looking forward to seeing where they go with the show. You TRUE BLOOD and Sookie Stackhouse fans will be happy to know that the series has been picked up for a third season. It will air next June. And Charlaine Harris is going to write three more Sookie books. I’m a big fan of Young Adult books and one of my favorite new authors is Melissa Francis. In BITE ME AJ Ashe isn't your typical seventeen-year-old vampire—as if there is such a thing! She's stuck in the middle of a huge fight between her two BFFs. Her ex-boyfriend—whom she's still totally in love with, by the way—is now her stepbrother. A former classmate—who, um, she may or may not have turned into a vampire—is stalking her. And now, apparently, the fate of humankind lies in her little undead hands.

“I had been writing women's fiction (no paranormal elements) and with each book
I'd get closer to a sale, but something would inevitably fall through,” Francis
says. “I had been playing with a YA idea, but kept ignoring it. First of all,
the new character who was talking to me was a vampire girl. I had never played
with paranormal or YA so I just kept telling the kid to shut up. Then my
wonderful agent Deidre Knight, called and out of the blue asked me "Have you
ever thought about writing vampire YA? I know some houses who are looking for
vamp YA with a strong 1st person voice..." I decided that maybe I shouldn't
ignore the little vampire girl anymore, sat down and wrote 10 pages and sent
them to Deidre. She called me back and said, "Write this!" So I did and now you
can buy it!”

My fellow witchychick Annette Blair has a new one out this month, LARCENY AND LACE. She tells me that, “Madeira Cutler's former morgue turned funeral chapel carriage house, which she turned in Vintage Magic, her shop for vintage clothing and designer originals, bears the history and design of a building that my husband rented for his electrical business for years. It had once been the Kent County Morgue then the Read Funeral Chapel Carriage house. And yes, we did find caskets and funeral surprises inside, like a baby's casket and the stand you filled with ice and set the caskets on for home wakes. While we had the building, we went on vacation to the Ford Museum and found a horse drawn hearse that said it came from the Read Funeral Chapel Carriage House, our building.”

Blair also wove in some personal family history. Tunney Lague is the friendly
neighborhood meat cutter. He knows everything about everybody in Mystic, cuts
the meat and tells you how to cook it,” Annette says. “He's the prime suspect
in Larceny and Lace. Tunney Lague was my dad, a meat cutter, and everything
this lovable characters is. I love having made my dad as a character in my
Vintage Magic series.”

Alexis Morgan’s second book in her Talion series is DARK WARRIOR UNBROKEN. “Sandor Kearn is the Talion Enforcer tasked with policing his people, the Kyth,” Morgan says. “His latest assignment is the new killer stalking the streets of Seattle. But while Sandor is hunting the Kyth renegade, someone else is hunting him. Lena Wilson has vowed to find justice for her murdered friend and mentor. When she meets Sandor, she feels suspicion—and desire—like she’s never known. With dark forces closing in, Sandor must keep Lena from digging deeper and exposing the existence of the Kyth. The only way is to convince her of his innocence. But how can he when he can’t keep his hands off her?” In Karen White-Owens I CAN MAKE YOU LOVE ME Single mom Wynn Evans is still reeling from her husband's betrayal and isn't looking for love - especially not with a younger man. She soon learns, Adam is a man who doesn't take no for an answer. “I love the concept of older women in love with younger men and vice versa,” White-Owens says. “There's so much to explore in their stories.” Until next time... Candy

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Candy is a nationally syndicated entertainment columnist, who has interviewed just about every celebrity there is in Hollywood and written thousands of articles. She is the author of the Charmed & Dangerous series including Charmed & Ready Charmed & Dangerous, Charmed & Deadly, and Like A Charm. Her latest book The Demon King and I is available now!

Her non-fiction prose includes Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy, and essays in Alias Assumed: Sex, Lies and SD-6, and Five Seasons of Angel. She's also the entertainment critic providing the latest on TV, film and celebs for the radio station 96.3 KSCS. And she's the managing editor for FYI Television.

You can visit Candy daily at her blog or her website