Online Leak Halts Midnight Sun

As an unabashed fan of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, I've been looking forward to Midnight Sun since I first read about it on her website several months ago. For those who don't know, Midnight Sun is the retelling of Twilight, the first book in the series, from the perspective of Edward Cullen. The first time around we heard Bella's take on falling in love with a vampire, and Midnight Sun promised the torture of a vampire falling in love with a human and loathing himself for putting her in danger.

Now, it looks like the book may never make it to print.

Meyer has had the first chapter of Midnight Sun up on her official site for quite some time now, but a while back the next eleven chapters leaked online and spread like wildfire.

Last week, Meyer finally addressed the leak. Yes, that is her writing. No, she is not happy about it. As she explains, the chapters that leaked were unedited drafts, not ready for public viewing. She's putting Midnight Sun on hold indefinitely because she's in no mood to keep writing it. I understand her point. When you're writing fiction you have to be in the right head space to do so, and if your work has been tainted by something this unfortunate your head space is going to be pretty messed up.

I for one hope that the release of the Twilight movie and the current outpouring of support from fans will help Meyer move past this nastiness over the next several months so she can get back to Edward's story. In the mean time, she has posted the twelve chapters that were leaked on her own site so that fans can see them legitimately.

Friday Odds n' Ends

Could the wonderful James McAvoy be donning fake ears and feet to play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit? What Perez says has a fairly high record of being accurate, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

If you're as obsessed with Twilight as I am these days, check out the first page or so of Breaking Dawn over on EW.com today. This weekend you can pick up a copy of Eclipse: Special Edition, which includes the rest of the first chapter.

And, also for fellow Twilight fans, during the MTV Movie Awards Pre-Show a full scene from the film will be aired.

Two things I never expected to go together? Coldplay and Guitar Hero...

New Trailer: Twilight

I've been keeping my eyes open for this one, and somehow I still managed to miss it for a day! Twilight, the film based on the wildly popular series of vampire love stories by Stephenie Meyer, now has a quickie teaser trailer streaming online. Filming only ended last week, but the trailer still looks pretty put-together despite the fact the movie won't be released until December. See for yourself...



The casting looks solid here. Robert Pattinson (vampire Edward) and Kristen Stewart (his mortal love interest, Bella) seem to have good chemistry, and Pattinson's edginess is fitting. As someone who only recently gave in to the hype swirling around the books and read the series (seriously recent, I'm finishing the third book as we speak), I can honestly say that not only am I eagerly awaiting this film, but it doesn't look like I'll be disappointed.

The movie should have everything that I love about the books (great story lines, interesting characters) with none of the little things that drive me crazy about Meyer's prose (clumsy use of vocabulary, too many adverbs, etc.). Meyer flipped the old vampire cliches (sleeping in coffins, aversions to garlic, fangs) and created new superhero-ish vampires that should be a blast to watch onscreen.

One More Reason to Love Ron Weasley

Even though he is just 19 years-old, Rupert Grint (a.k.a. Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films) is one smart cookie. His recent comments on Lindsay Lohan and why he does not want to move to L.A. were enough to make me temporarily break my own no-celebrity-gossip rule.

From Showbiz Spy:

The 19-year-old actor, who plays Ron Weasley in the wizard movies, said: “I met Lindsay last summer and she talked about herself a lot.

“She said she was going to win an Oscar before she turns 25. I just kept thinking, ‘But you can’t act’.”

Grint also mentioned that he does not want to meet Paris Hilton, and that she and LiLo are "the type of girls you need to stay away from."

I already loved Grint from watching him grow up in the Potter movies (and seeing his great non-Potter flick Driving Lessons), and his willingness to bluntly say what we know everyone else is thinking about Lindsay Lohan is fantastic. Let's keep our fingers crossed that he gets some more screen time in the next couple of films and keeps speaking his mind.

The Wakefields Get Skinnier

Francine Pascal’s teen book series Sweet Valley High, first published in 1983, is getting a tummy tuck and heading back to a book store near you. Twelve books from the original series are being reissued—with some tweaks for a new audience.

The most alarming tweak? Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, described in 1983 as a “perfect size 6” will now be a “perfect size 4.” Wow, thank god Random House had the presence of mind to take care of those cows. No teenage girl in her right mind would be comfortable reading about a size 6.

It’s 2008. There is a constant balancing act going on in women’s magazines, television shows, and movies to encourage women to be healthy. Healthy in the sense that they’re not obsessed with losing weight but also don’t contribute to this country’s obesity problems. Cutting the size reference altogether would have been what I expected from the reissue, not making the twins tinier.

From the press release it’s clear that Random House is scrambling to make Sweet Valley a little more appealing to the Gossip Girl set, not simply bring the old books into the 21st century. I feel a rant coming on, so allow me to close with this delightful reassurance from the publishers:

Although some of the content has been updated, the stories stay true to Francine Pascal’s original plot lines that older fans will remember from the originals. These timeless stories about high school, friendship, sibling rivalry, love and family are ready for a whole new generation to enjoy.