Is that the sound of angry Vampire Diaries fans wielding pitchforks I hear?
The Vampire Diaries Season Two was released on DVD this past week and within its packaging was an ad for the upcoming release of a new Vampire Diaries trilogy called The Hunters, with the first novel in the series to be titled "Phantom." While this might bring some people a bucket load of joy, there is one thing on the cover that might induce enough rage to rival that of any temper tantrum Damon Salvatore has even thrown.
On the cover for "The Hunters: Phantom," the book does have TVD author L.J. Smith's name on the cover, but it is only lists her as being the creator of the series and not the actual author of the book. Remember the prequel tie-in novels, "Stefan's Diaries," also had L.J. Smith's name on the covers as being only based on her material and not actually written by her or Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec. So despite her name still being attached to the TVD brand, Smith did not write the new novel, which can be backed up by this statement on Ms. Smith's website:
"General Rule of Thumb: If a book has several names on the cover or says 'Created by L.J. Smith' you could be sure that L.J. didn't write it."
Wow.
Last fall, it was reported that Smith was fired from writing any further TVD novels, which she originally wrote back in the early 1990s. The reason behind the termination on writing the further adventures of Elena and the Salvatore Brothers was due to creative differences about the outcome of the latest TVD novel, "The Return: Midnight," which saw Elena finally choosing between one of the brothers. Fans were outraged and vowed to never pick up another TVD novel again if L.J. Smith's name wasn't on it.
On her official website, Ms. Smith begged fans to not boycott the series, because it "doesn't make sense" to do so. There was a ghostwriter appointed to write The Hunters arc onward, but it seems as if anything Ms. Smith wrote will not be included in the final product.
So fans, what is your take on this development?
The Vampire Diaries Season Three premieres September 15th @8/7c on The CW. "The Vampire Diaries: The Hunters - Phantom" will be released October 25th, 2011.
Source: L.J. Smith Official Website
I won't be buying any of these ghostwritten books. L.J. Snith wanted a Damon and Elena ending and that is why she was fired. Doesn't make sense as the majority of fans wanted a D/E ending also. I am not buying the books to read about a Damon and Bonnie ship.
i so agree with you!!!!!!!! i'm not reading this trilogy. no one replace L.J Smith.
I agree with Dawn. Will definitely not be reading the next books. Seeing as she was fired for wanting a Damon/Elena end game then it's pretty obvious that's not going to be the ending now, so why would you want to read it if that's who you've been rooting for?
She created the Vampire Diaries world and the characters so if she wanted Damon and Elena to be the end relationship then noone else has the right to change this when she'd put so much hard work into her books.
IM NOT READING THE BOOKS!! NO DAMON AND ELENA = NO INTEREST FOR ME!! Its sad really I was looking forward to the new books but not if L.J. Smith isnt writing them :(
you are so right there ruining the series
Thanks guys for agreeing with me – and more importantly for supporting L.J. Smith. Damon was always one of her favorite characters, if not her most favorite. She said that many times, and how she loved writing his character. It was always her intention from the very first book to have a D/E endgame, there was a foreshadowing of this when Bonnie cast the spell at the dinner table to see who Elena's future husband would be – and Damon showed up. To fire her after all her work on these books just at the point where D/E fans were going to get the ending they wanted. It's beyond tragic. I was looking forward to buying more of L.J. Smith's books but now feel that they just pulled the rug out from under my feet. They can go sell these books to the mere handfull of B/D fans – and good luck with that!
I was so PO when I found this out. I am a Damon and Elena fan I thought it was stupid and pointless what re company did. I never bought another book from them.
Personally, and please people dont come after me with a pitchfork for saying this but, I like SE the most. Maybe its because I can relate to some of what they feel for each other with my own relationship but either way I do like them better. Its not that I think DE are horrible together and I dont deny theres something going on there between them, I just dont prefer them. However, I think the ending should've ended how LJ Smith wanted since she is the creator of the story. If it ended with DE together when the entire series comes to end (so long as LJ smith wrote it) I'd be fine with it. A little sad but only for a moment and I'd be just as entertained with the new possibilities to come (maybe Stefan and Meredith would be interesting?). In the end of Midnight it didnt seem like Elena was so sure about how things with Stefan would play out even though Damon died. Almost like she knew she and Stefan would be together because they loved each other but not sure if it would ever be the same. I think Damon comes back as maybe a phantom because also at the end of Midnight, he showed signs of life again. or at least of being not so dead lol. And if these people want the book to sell I cant imagine them completely ignoring the cliff hanger and leaving everyone wondering about it. Its obvious SE end up together despite the vibe she gave in the end of Midnight because of why LJ Smith got fired. But it seems to me a majority of DE fans are more into the show and not really into the book, while the SE fans seem to enjoy the books more than the tv show. JMO (and Im just getting that from all forums I have read about this subject). So maybe, just maybe, the reason why she got fired and these new people are taking control is because they're following what the 'hardcore' readers want to see, not what the 'hardcore' show watchers want to see and maybe the felt Smith would actaully ruin book sales? Does it make it any less wrong? NO. It should have ended how SHE wanted it to end. Plain and simple no matter the outcome. I'll give these new books a try and if I dont like them, I'll sell em or get rid of em and act like they dont exsit =) lol! So sorry for the long ass post, but I've keeping it all in since I first read about everything. My bad >.< haha
I don't believe the fans started boycotting the series. It doesn't seem like the TVD fans. I wish with all my heart that she still wrote them, but im goingt to still read them only because I'm curious on this "Mystery person" is gonna end it. I Love SE!! Always and forever and i was liking damon a little more but oh well we're never gonna see on how she was gonna end it
What makes me angry is that The Vampire Diaries was L.J.'s creation to begin with, and the fact that they won't allow her to finish it, and are having someone else finish it instead of her is insane. It's like saying she can have a baby, raise it, give it love and care, and then have it snatched away from her and she can never see it again.
I plan to continue reading the new books, but only to see what the Ghost is going to that is supposedly so much better than what L.J. wanted.
I believe Damon and Elena belong together, Stefan and Bonnie should become a possible relationship, and Meredith should be with Alaric.
Iv just read phantom first book in the hunter trilogy. It was good but there isnt as much suspense in the book. I figured from the first few chapters damon was coming back. There doesnt seem to be as much imagination put into Phantom as there is in the other VD books. However that is just my opinion you should really read the book to see how you feel about it. It didnt have me hooked like the previous books.
I can’t believe this. I read this first hunters series, and they CHANGED MEREDITH’ S LAST NAME! That is when I knew it was not L.J. this is an outrage!
bad business decision on the WBs part. i work with over a thousand people a year and i meet many VD fans. very few are SE fans. they are going to loose many of their audience. they anticipation for a DE union keeps them watching. if it doesnt happen i bet most will stop watching the show and reading the books. im getting to that point.