Vampires have been having a pop-culture moment for the past half-decade, so of course there’s a new award honoring them. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Bram Stoker’s death, the Horror Writers Association is planning to hand out a Bram Stoker Vampire Novel of the Century Award. Any vampire novel published after Dracula (which came out in 1897) is fair game, and the list of nominees has already been whittled from 35 to six. But while there are a few famous finalists — Stephen King, Anne Rice — there are also some eyebrow-raising omissions: Stephenie Meyer’s ridiculously popular Twilight series is nowhere to be found, and Charlaine Harris, whose Southern Vampire series is the basis for True Blood, is also conspicuously absent. See the full list of nominees after the jump, and tell us if you agree with the award’s jury.
We haven’t seen a screen adaptation of one of vampire mistress Anne Rice’s novels since Queen of the Damned critically bombed in 2002, but it looks like we’ll be watching a new film develop in the coming months. This one isn’t about the bloodsuckers of Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series, though. It’s about Jesus. Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt was the book the author wrote after returning to the Catholic Church in the late ’90s. It follows a seven-year-old Jesus Christ and the discovery of his miraculous abilities. Rice tried to get the project off the ground in 2007, but it was cancelled due to “creative differences.” This time around, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’s Chris Columbus will be producing, with The Stoning of Soraya M. writer-director Cyrus Nowrasteh set to direct. Nowrasteh will also be writing Rice’s adaptation with his wife Betsy. Rice was impressed with Nowrasteh’s film about the Iranian teen and asked him to work with her. Columbus described the upcoming project as a potential cinematic classic that would appeal to all ages around the world. Do you agree? [via /Film]
BookLamp.org is a new website that is similar to Pandora — it creates algorithms and breaks down your book preferences by main themes. For instance, if you liked White Teeth, then Booklamp discerns that you’re into: Culture, Life/Death/Spirituality, Extended Families, Explicit Language, and “Elements of Time.” This results in some odd recommendations, such as The Cestus Deception (Star Wars: Clone Wars) by Steven Barnes. (Really? Because we are just never going to be in to that.) However, another suggestion was The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis, which makes some sense. So click through and see what hilarious, interesting, and arguably accurate choices we found on our trip through the site.
Anyone waiting for the vampire craze to subside is in for a world of disappointment. Although the current “twihard” population is certainly the loudest and most obnoxious of the genre’s fans, there have actually been vampire lit cults for years — and, yes, we mean farther back than Interview with the Vampire. Long before Bram Stoker created his iconic Count Dracula, this supernatural creature had transitioned from rural folklore to the printed page with great success in 19th-century pop culture. Here are five now-forgotten stories from vampire literature’s early days — ranging from spooky to sexy — that will seduce even the most vamp-averse.
In an interview with Vulture yesterday, Anne Rice discussed — among other things — her interest in rebooting Interview with the Vampire. “We have so many new actors today that we did not have then,” Rice said, before throwing around a lot of possibilities for Lestat (like many of us, she was particularly upset about the decision to cast Tom Cruise in the original), from Robert Downey Jr. to Simon Woods. After the jump, we take a stab at casting a new Interview with the Vampire. Tell us if you agree, and give your suggestions, in the comments.
1. Is Jerry Seinfeld‘s new reality game show The Marriage Ref so bad that it cancels out the good of Seinfeld? [via Gawker]
2. Billboard magazine’s fourth-annual Top 40 Money Makers loves the ’80s: U2, Madonna, and Bruce Springsteen top the list. [via MTV News]
3. Get a first look at William Baldwin’s upcoming Gossip Girl guest appearance as Serena and Eric’s long lost father. [via EW]
4. How much does it actually cost to produce a printed book versus a digital one? If you want the truth, ask Anne Rice. [via NYT]
5. Roger Ebert will debut his new computer-enhanced voice tomorrow on Oprah. [via USA Today]
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, and more importantly, be entered to win a VIP trip for two to Coachella. Topics will be changing throughout the week, so get your search on and keep playing to increase your chances of winning!
