pelirroja | Twilight Lexicon

in Movie News

May 24, 2008

The National Post has an article on the Twilight movie, and how Catherine Hardwicke saw that the original MTV script deviated quite a bit from the essence of the book, and had the Summit script, written by Melissa Rosenberg, return to the books for a story that actually resembled the books.

Don’t forget about our Gil Birmingham (Billy Black) interview posted here. Be sure to comment on the interview there so that Gil will be able to read your wonderful comments when I send him the link to the story!!!

Filed Under: News

California The Host Signing Reports And New York Times Coverage

May 24, 2008

The New York Times mentions The Host in this week’s Inside the List Coverage. Look for The Host to be on the bestseller list again this week.

We’d like to thank xhopeonaropex and Eggo17 for their coverage of the last two The Host signing events.

I went to the book signing event in Torrance today.
Unfortunately when we got to the event and they opened the doors, they announced that we were not allowed to take pictures or record. If we do, we will be escorted out.
Luckily, a Twilight fan sitting next to me called Alexis (big shout out to her!) had a notebook, so I wrote down the Q&A’s for the event. I will try to word it out as much as I can. So, here it is:

1. What inspired you to write The Host?
SM: Well, it was in one of my files on the computer. It wasn’t like Twilight- I had a dream and it was handed to me on a silver platter. I was actually driving through a hot desert one day and I started thinking "Hmm, what would happen if two people who lived in one body fell in love with the same person?" So, I wrote it down on my computer, and when I found that I wanted to start on a new project, I found that The Host was the best between them.

2. Why Cheetos??
SM: [She laughs]. I was thinking about living in a deprived society where you don’t have these foods. And the smell and taste of Cheetos is recognizable. And I also thought if I would ever enjoy eating something that I was deprived of it would be Cheetos and Twinkies. Plus Cheetos are so dang delicious!

3. Why do Sharon and Maggie remain stubborn against Wanda?
SM: The readers need to consider that th book was written in the alien’s perspective( Wanda), and so Wanda means no harm and the reader knows that as well. And even though Melanie wanted to save Sharon and Melanie’s body is back, Sharon knows That Melanie is not inside if that body and that Melanie’s gone. For Sharon and Maggie, this alien is what they fear, what they’re afraid my take their children in their sleep. These aliens are the enemy and the most dangerous thing for people. So humans SHOULD be afraid of them.

4. When the souls take over the body host and the humans disappear, where do they go?Like Jodie, she was there but when they tried finding her she was lost and couldn’t be found? Where did her soul go?
SM: It depends on what people think where the soul of someone goes after dying. For some people it’s like an afterlife. So wherever a person thinks someone goes after they die, that’s where the human souls go.

5. The song from your playlist for The Host for My Chemical Romance "The Ghost of You", who does this song relate to?
SM: This song reminds me of Jared. When Melanie and Wanderer come back and he sees Melanie’s body and not Melanie herself in there, it hurts him because he cannot have her back completely. And he feels that Wanderer’s presence haunts him. So I thought that song reminded me of Jared a lot.

6. Who do you like better? Ia, or Jared?
SM: [She laughs]. Depending on the mood I guess. Jared has that kind of cowboy character, tough, strong. And Ian is the poetic, sensitive sweet guy. So just depending on the mood.

7. How old is Ian?
SM: Ian is 25.

8. If you could pick one of the planets you could live on, which one would it be?
SM: Definitely not The Mists, because I hate the snow. I would rather live in a place where it is 110 degrees but I cannot live somewhere there is snow. I’d probably like to live in the Singing World or Planet of the Bats. I like how it’s run by music but I don’t really like that you’re blind, but at least you can fly.

9. If The Host were to be made a movie, who would you think would be good actors for the part?
SM: I was actually discussing that earlier, and I was saying that if I had the choice I think Maggie Gyllenhaal would play Melanie just great.

10. I find Jamie and Jacob very similar? Did you write Jamie intentionally as a character similar to Jacob’s?
SM: Actually no, I don’t think they are that similar. But I do feel the same kind of love that Melanie has for Jamie, like Bella has for Jacob. I grew up babysitting my brothers so I always had this motherly instinct and love towards it. I find both Melanie and Bella having that same motherly love for Jacob and Jared. They want to protect them, they want to take care of them.

11. Are you going to be writing sequels for The Host?
SM: Maybe. I’m not sure yet. If I do it would be a hard trilogy. Some mean things might happen in the books, but there will also be a lot of nice things to make up for the mean ones.

12. Who is your favorite actor in Twilight?
SM: All of them are good and very nice. Ashley Green who plays Alice is a very nice girl. She never played a main character before but she really impressed me. But I guess I would have to say that the linchpin would be Edward. [crowd goes wild]. I mean when we auditioned for Edward we were looking for someone to play him really well. I expected to see a good version of Edward. What I did not expect is seeing Edward himself [in Robert Pattinson].

13. Will Midnight Sun be published?
SM: I got a lot of people asking me that. Some people wanted it to be published before the last book. I told them well I’m only half way through and I was working on this book called Breaking Dawn. [crowd laughs and applauds]. But I was surprised to see a lot of people who wanted it to be published before it. And I went "But it’s the same thing as Twilight and you know what’s going to happen!!" [crowd laughs]

14. Are your characters inspired by real people?
SM:Edward was not inspired unfortunately by anyone. For New Moon I used my brother Jacob’s name but his character was completely different. When I used Jacob’s name my sister Emily was like "Hmm so you use Jacob’s name in the book, huh? What about me? Ohhhh so it’s all about Jacob now?" And so i used Emily and Heidi since the rest wanted to be in the book too. But their personalities are completely different. The only character that was the same was Paul. He’s very tempered and hairy. [crowd laughs]. In The Host, Doc was isnpired by Seth: He’s tall, thin fair, sort of blond. He’s also very sweet and is in medical school to become a doctor.

15. What was the most enjoyable book to write?
SM: They all were very fun books to write but very different. Twilight was a pure writing experience for me. New Moon was a bit depressing for me and hard. But it also had its beauty and evalation. Eclipse was like putting all the characters into one jar and shaking them up. The Host was different because I had to write about (a) different world(s).

16. Has writing the book make you want less fame?
SM: I don’t think I’m famous. I mean I’m famous for a good 15 minutes where I find 1600 people during a book signing, but when I go home, my life is back to normal and I’m not famous anymore. The thing I don’t like about fame is that you don’t really have a lot of time on your hands. And I also don’t like talking to the cameras.

17. When you were a teenager, did you enjoy writing and reading similar things you write today?
SM: I never wrote things when I was young. I never thought that i would actually end up as a writer. But i loved reading books. I didn’t read Stephen King though. That was too scary for me. But I did read a few westerns.

18. How do you overcome writer’s block?
SM: I rarely get times where I have writer’s block but when I do, the only good thing I found is that you go inside a room. Turn off the lights until it’s completely dark, then turn on rock music like really really loud until your head is cleared. The Muse is a good band to listen to for clearing your head.

That was the end of questions. She then personalized our Host books and signed two copies of whatever books we brought. I got out early since I was number 32 out of 1000. Yes, 1000. And I waited from 12 noon to get in early and the event started at 6:30. There were a lot of creative shirts that I saw. I saw a couple of Twilight Moms and I saw Kristine (bellas_ring) there and we stayed together through the event. It was an amazing day and when it was my turn to get my book signed I started breathing hardly and my heart was beating very fast. It was a good half hour for me and I do believe the wait was worth it. I would do it again for Stephenie. I thanked her for being a great inspiration to us young writer’s. She is by far, the most amazing person i have met.

There are a few more questions, but those were some of the most memorable ones!

I got to the venue at 12pm but the line didn’t start to form until about 3:45pm. I was #2 in line, so I was grateful to be able to sit in the front row. It was raining outside all day, so I was happy that they let us form the line inside. The event didn’t start until 7:30p, but the Warwicks people were nice enough to let us sit in the venue at around 5:30pm. There were an extraordinary amount of Twilight Moms at this event, and the infamous twilight baby (http://youtube.com/watch?v=vsH8nzzpEhI) was at the event. People were in a frenzy to see them. One of the twilight moms also had a collection of dolls representing every character. (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/Eggo17/dolls2.jpg) It was pretty cool. One of the girls took charge and got everyone to play scene charades for about 20 minutes. Groups acted out scenes from the Twilight series and the audience would guess what scene it was. Right before they introduced Stephenie, they asked who had traveled the farthest, and while we had some people from New Jersey/New York, Canada, & Alaska, the person who traveled the farthest was from Australia. Stephenie came out at 7:30p & answered questions for about 20 minutes, then started to sign books. I videotaped the questions & will upload it soon…1 of the questions was mine! (yay!) I was number 2 to get my book signed, so I got to leave pretty early.

Questions are not word for word, but i did my best!

*Questions that have not already been asked:
Q: How did you come up with the Host, & why did you choose to write about aliens?
I didn’t have a dream like Twilight. The way I got started on the Host was a very boring car trip, & i had nothing else to think about & so the idea of these 2 people in 1 body was sort of in my head & i just thought "that would be really cool, very complicated relationship, i could get some ideas out of that"; but the reason is that it was about aliens since the beginning. It was natural for me to write because I grew up with Science Fiction. It is really my roots.

Q:Why do souls only invade 1 species per planet?
They tend to take the dominant species, because they don’t want a body that doesn’t have much intelligence because they couldn’t work with it as well. On fire world, they realized there were 2 intelligent life forms in that world, & they were trying to make it work.

Q:How did you have time to write the host with so much going on? (who do you like better Ian or Jared?)
It depends on what I’m looking for on any particular day. Sometimes you want the tough guy, & sometimes you want the poet. I found the time to write it because I was editing Eclipse. I started to work on the host before being able to start breaking dawn.

Q: (My question!)When you wrote those tense scenes between Jared & Ian did it remind you of Jacob & Edward? Although they are different characters the intense love triangle seems to resonate.
I hadn’t really thought about that. I really like to write complicated situations. If a girl falls in love with a guy & everything works out smoothly there’s not much to write about…so i like to have things more difficult to that. I guess there are some similarities, but the characters feel so different to me & the situation because there are 2 people in love with 2 different people, it doesn’t feel the same, but i can see the comparison.

Q:I sensed a young protective love of a child after reading the host. Is this relationship based on an actual relationship in your life or a fictional one?
I have a younger brother who is 10 years younger & another who is 8 years younger than me. When I was growing up, I experienced "mom nightmares" about my brothers because I was protective of them (& still am). I know how it would be to have those mother feelings for a brother, so that actually is from my own life.

*talked about covers
*about being involved in the movie

Q:Do you put any personal experiences into your writing?
Sometimes, but I don’t put really big themes. I’ve never had a really big love triangle where i’ve had to decide between 2 really hot men! But there are little things…for example, I actually burned off my finger prints.

Q: Is it usually easy to come up with your story
Yes, because I am a character writer. As long as I have interesting enough characters to write about, I don’t worry about plot.

Q: Have you ever had a crush on any of your characters?
The real question is, is there any character I don’t have a crush on? There are only very few, because I even have a crush on Alice. I can’t write someone being in love with someone else without falling in love with them yourself.

Filed Under: News

Stephenie on Salt Lake City Fox Affiliate

May 17, 2008

Stephenie was interviewed yesterday before her signing at Thanksgiving Point. In the first video she talks about The Host and the Twilight series. In the second video they covered the fan reaction. Among those interviewed was our very own Alphie. The station is supposedly airing more footage on the 9:00 broadcast tonight. Thanks to Dano for screaming from the computer to say it’s online (I’m staying at Dano’s house and then I posted it.)

EDITED: They added an additional video to the late new line-up that includes coverage of the Twilight movie. You can also see Salt Lake City Lexiconers in front of their banner made by Nena Cullen. TY to Alice Witlock.

Stand by for more footage coming soon! (a soon as I upload it to YouTube).

Pel~

Filed Under: News

The Host Signing—The Phoenix Report

May 14, 2008

Last night Stephenie had a signing at her favorite bookstore, Changing Hands. If you are ever in the Phoenix area, Changing Hands is a must visit. It’s an independent bookstore that is like no independent bookstore I’ve ever seen with an excellent selection of books, New Age items, adjacent to a cafe, and best of all a knowledgeable staff! If you can’t make it to one of Stephenie’s signings, Changing Hands carries autographed copies of all her books, and they ship worldwide.

Make sure you check out the signing report so there aren’t duplicate questions at Stephenie’s signings later this week. It’s great to see Twilight fans crossing-over into The Host, but let’s give The Host some love of its very own with fan inspired tee shirts, hats, face painting, etc. Alphie and I want to feature your Host love on the Lexicon later this week when we are in Salt Lake City. Publishers Weekly also featured it in a recent article.

Now on to the signing report via adrienne

Summary of Phoenix Signing for The Host!

It was an amazing 80 degrees and cloudy in Phoenix today. Why is this amazing? It’s May and we didn’t need to run the air in our cars; it’s unheard of! It was so balmy; Flagstaff (ski resort) actually received 4 inches of snow. That never happens in May. It was also overcast so I am sure it made the vampires happy!

We started up to a Local High School Marcos De Neza for the signing. We arrived around 3:30 and there was a line already. The doors open at 5 and the Question and Answer started at 6. The line wrapped around the High School and there were a fair few with t-shirts from the various web sites (Lexicon, Twilight Moms, His Golden eyes). Some where home made. I was worried I would be one of the oldest members in the crowd but I wasn’t. There was a nice selection of people in their teens, 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. There were even a few great grand moms that have read the book and were waiting for the signing to begin!

As we were waiting for Stephenie, I took a few pictures of the crowd. It was packed. The auditorium even filled up on the very top bleachers.

As we waited, everyone was super friendly and we actually made some new friends. They were mother and daughter and super excited for the signing. We exchanged numbers to meet up and the Breaking Dawn Part in August!

The announcer came out and asked us to sing Happy Birthday to Rob. I have a short video of that. It got a little crazy and everyone was super excited when his name was mentioned!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQOECH9EvdQ

It’s short only because it got super loud and everyone started to squeeze in so I got bumped a little bit.

Stephenie came out and the crowd was so loud; it was a proper Phoenix welcome! She looked so pretty and so nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XwVcsKl-gA

As the rest of the signings, we were lucky to fill our white cards for questions and submit them for review. Since Stephenie said her publicist wasn’t there to keep her under wraps, she pulled more then normal!

The Host questions

So Stephenie started her responses with a good question. Did you have a plan the way it (The Host) ended or did you change your mind several times?

She replied that she did have a plan but it change, and that change was Jared (I am summarizing her but I attached the video clip) She said that Jared was the original love interest however, he got on her last nerves being so inflexible (the audience laughed, it was pretty funny). Jared just would not bend. At this point she told us those of us that haven’t read the book to cover our ears and no one did (most people had read the book already which is great!) She stated that Ian was much more caring and compasionate and he changed the book.

This was the question I submitted (sort of). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fauWVo2tEo “You write a lot about the color of eyes, whether they be black, golden, silver, etc., why do you write them so many colors”

(I paraphrased here, it was hard to hear and the video didn’t capture the whole question). Her answer was she believes that the eyes are the windows of the soul and you can tell when someone is being sincere or caring and it is a way to weight people of their value http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EIkxwmzFYQ

The next question that was asked was a reference to Aliens (souls) being mixed up with the Jim’s and the Pam’s, was this reference to the Office?

Stephenie confirmed this was a reference and a fair few people clapped.

This question has been answered during a few other signings. Are you inspired by the people you know and do they become characters in the book?

She made a reference to Jeb and how much she loved him. Out of all the voices, his was the clearest. She also mentioned Doc reminded her of her brother Seth; being tall and very caring. She gave him props running her web site.

Was The Host co-authored? It looks like it might have been from your website?

The answer was that their might have been some confusion from the website. There were no co-authors but a collaboration of stories from “Prom Dates from Hell”. There was some confusion because of the way it had looked on her website.

What was your favorite world to create in The Host?

The reply was the Planet of the Bats or signing world. She liked how the bats could fly and how they had music

Then someone came prepared and had a TYPED question. It was pretty complicated and the question was about Stephenie stopping in the middle of writing Twilight and started in on The Host. I attached her answer and it’s a nice, long one! Why is the book called The Host and not The Soul since it mostly takes placed from the Soul’s point of view?

Stephenie’s answer was because it was this host that changes the souls and has the deepest impact on her lives and changed everything. Also because the book is from the Soul’s perspective.

Who would be some of the actresses and actors today that you would like to see play the characters from The Host? (

Question has been asked at a few signings) Matt Damon as Jared. According to Stephenie, if you want to get things done, Matt is your man (I have video of this, but you can hear myself and my friend do the “Matt Damon” reference from a movie and then we start to giggle. Too embarrassing to give you the video and that we are super geeks. I want to keep it a secret that I am a super geek. She mentioned James McAvoy as Ian. The crowd went a little nuts on this suggestion. She had no clue who could even try to play Mel. It would be too hard to be both Wanderer and Mel and try to convey that on the screen that you have two voices in your head. She would like to see a screen writer try though!

How much influence on Twilight Move did you have?

She answered that she did go over the script with them a few times. She asked them to change some “potentially retarded things” (audience laughed, it was hysterical). Stephanie told us she looked at them (screen writers) and said “Really? That could not possibly happen” . She did specify that after seeing the trailer (all the girls went crazy when she mentioned the trailer) and a few more scenes we don’t have access to (lucky girl!) that the movie has a sense of what it should be. The feeling of tension between Edward and Bella, they got it right. Sounds like a good endorsement!

There was a rumor that Stephenie said at one time if they cast someone else besides the Bella, who Stephenie though was perfect (I believe it was Emily Browning it was hard to hear) that she would jump off a building.

Again, we all laughed at this. Her response was that no, what she really meant was that if they cast some horrible “it” actress/singer that wasn’t good and just to drawl in the crowds, she would jump off a building. She stated that she felt they didn’t do that with any of the characters.

Now at this point in the video I took, you can hear my friend ask “who was she thinking, Brittany Spears? And I start to giggle because she did have a point. No one heard it but us but it steps on Stephenie a little bit with her talking. Do you plan on finishing Midnight Sun (Ya, where is that darn book?)

She stated it was her next project and that if she didn’t finish it, people would kill her. We all start clapping which is ironic that we agree with her to finish it or that we will kill her in the literal sense.

In Twilight you have a theme of Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet (New Moon) and in Eclipse it was Wuthering Heights. Do you have a theme for Breaking Dawn? (This has been asked on a previous signing but she expanded very, very little)

She answered yes; there are TWO books (new info?) She told us one which is Midsummers Night Dream. So she teased us with the second book.

Who is your biggest critic and why?

Her biggest critic is herself. She has no idea if she was sending out “total crap” when she wrote Twilight. She expected the rejection letter to come back with big Ha Ha Ha’s written all down the pages. She was very shocked that people really like the book. She went on to say that she still has trouble judging her own writing. She wanted to tell us that she wants to encourage us to write and believe in our writing. If you love to re –read your stories that means something. If you get excited and think about your characters in the middle of the night that means something. Trust yourself as a reader. If you really like it, there is probably something there. If you are bored with the story and the characters aren’t interesting, you should probably quit, but if you are interested in the story, other people will be too.

This was asked by my friend Jen who you can hear on video squealing and screaming so it steps on some of Stephenie’s answer.

She also goes on to add that you should be waiting to go home and write a story and be excited about it. Writing shouldn’t be about work it should be the fun part. She said there are other parts that aren’t fun, and that was talking to a crowd of a thousand people! (She was a little nervous up on the podium)

Did you get any pressure from the editors in the beginning to make your books more edgy? (I.e. include sex, more violence, etc)

She did get some of that in the beginning, and that is an aspect that could relate to anything. She stated that you will be pressured at one point or another. She specified that some times you do need to listen (that is the tricky part) to your editor and other times you need to fight back and say “no, this is how it’s supposed to be”

The vast majority of your fans are female. Do you have anything you would like to say to your male readers?
A: you rock
B: you are my favorites
C: you are more likely to get a response back on my space
D: you are brave to be here with 990 girls (we all laughed).

Part of the video gets cut off, but Stephenie mentions that they are really smart to be here with so many females. One of the guys in the audience jumps up and takes a bow. I have this on video somewhere and it’s really funny.

That was the end of the Q & A so we lined up by our group numbers to get the books signed. She was sighing multiple copies of The Host but only two of her other novels.

The actually signing started at 6:45 and I was finished with a signed copy of The Host and my very well traveled, battered Twilight (which she commented on that she likes to see books well worn, pages falling out and tape to hold the outside together). I was pretty nervous to go up and get my book signed only because I admire her so much. This is how close I was allowed to come to Stephenie while she was signing. The handlers were shooing people away. All in all, it was a great signing.

Stephenie is a warm person and you can tell she cares about her fans and readers. Now if she could just type faster so Midnight Sun will come out sooner.

I have more video posted and some that I have been trying to post but You Tube is not cooperating tonight so it is no loading. It all should be (hopefully) up by tomorrow night. It will be referenced under ‘The Host, Phoenix Signing”. I hope everyone enjoys the videos!

Filed Under: News

Twilight appealing to Horror Film buffs?

May 14, 2008

AMC, American Movie Classics, recently interviewed Kellan Lutz and me. The thing they wanted to know was if Twilight could have crossover appeal to the horror audience. You can read the article on AMC and the full interview on interviewer, Tom Blunt’s blog. The good news is we actually convinced a very skeptical writer…turning people on to Twilight, one skeptic at a time!

Ropes of Silicon wonders if Twilight can appeal to guys. We all know it can and does. In fact, tomorrow, we are doing a major SALUTE TO THE TWILIGHT GUYS! Given that the Twilight Comic Con video, currently available on the Twilight movie official page, was a HUGE success at the male-dominated Comic Con in New York, it certainly has male appeal in the action sequence department…and we don’t just mean the ballet studio.

Also check out Portrait Magazine’s 30 under 30, (link removed due to porn spam) go an vote for your favorite, eligible Twilight Cast member. Thanks to Natasha for the heads up!

Hollywood Backlot has some behind-the-scenes, candid Twilight photos and the promise of more.

Filed Under: News

Important Update Concerning the King’s English Signing this Saturday!

May 13, 2008

This was just posted on Stephenie’s MySpace. Please contact King’s English directly if you have any concerns.

Saturday event at the King’s English
Current mood: hopeful

ATTENTION SALT LAKE CITY TICKETHOLDERS FOR SATURDAY!

Due to time restrictions with the venue for Saturday’s event with King’s English, I’m going to get to the event early to start signing books. This will make sure that everybody gets their book signed. See the new schedule below, but don’t worry if you can’t make it early, everything will still be the same starting at 1pm, this is just for people who want their books signed early and they can leave after my talk. Please remember, you MUST have a ticket to this event (which is already sold out)!

Saturday, May 17
10:30 a.m. Doors open at the venue
11:30 a.m. Early signing starts (Signing numbers you received from King’s English still apply. Groups will be called by number).
1:00 p.m. Presentation begins
After presentation, regular signing starts (We will start the signing groups over at the beginning – you can not come through the line twice, your autographing number will be marked on your way through).

Don’t worry – everybody with a ticket will get their books signed!

Filed Under: News

Stephenie Updates Her MySpace and adds The Host playlist

May 13, 2008

Stephenie updated her MySpace today talking about her upcoming tour legs.

"Texas, Arizona, Utah, and a playlist
Current mood: chill

It took me a few days to catch up on lost sleep, which is why I didn’t update right after my Texas signings (also, I had a book report to "help" my 5th grader with. "We" better get an A because it ROCKS). So, to recap, Texas was awesome. I got to meet a lot of cool people and there were even a few old friends in the line, which was a nice surprise. Frisco got a little hectic, due to the fact that I had a plane to catch, but everyone was very nice about it, and I’m sure you’ll all be relieved to know that I did catch my plane and made it home for Mother’s Day.

Tonight, I have my hometown event with Changing Hands. I’m hoping to see a lot of familiar faces. (You know who you are.)

Now that The Host has been out for a week, I’m also looking forward to some new, challenging Q&A questions. I’m pretty sure that Utah won’t disappoint me there.

Finally–a bit tardy, sorry–I did get my The Host playlist up on my website. I noticed that there is a lot of Linkin Park and Nine Inch Nails. It’s funny how some bands (and not always the ones you expect) express your theme so clearly in so many different ways. (Nine Inch Nails–experience with aliens? There’s just not enough evidence to make a determination at this point.)" *

*reposted with permission

While we are on the subject of The Host, the major booklists such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and others will print their bestseller lists that pertain to the period covering the start of The Host sales this Sunday. However, word sometimes out as to what is coming as early as Thursday , so stay tuned! As of right now The Host is

Number 7 on Borders/Amazon
Number 13 on Barnes and Nobel
Number 39 on Indigo/Chapters

Filed Under: News

Happy Birthday Rob

May 13, 2008

Today is Robert Pattinson’s birthday. Although Edward stays 17 forever, today Rob turns 22. Hopefully he is celebrating in style some place warm and sunny after the last few weeks of cold and rain filming Twilight.

Thank you to Chaos, long time member of the Lexicon and Vesperarium, for the terrific banner.

Filed Under: News

Exciting Week For Twilight Fans, kicking it off with a video from Catherine

May 12, 2008

Tomorrow is MTV’s regularly scheduled Twilight Tuesday. It also happens to be Robert Pattinson’s birthday on Tuesday and Nikki’s on Saturday. (Please hold off the happy birthday’s until tomorrow though :D)

So, to start off the celebrating just right, we thought it would be a good time to share a little bit of director Catherine Hardwicke’s enthusiasm for the film. It’s even more fantastic when you consider that she’s this upbeat after what they called "the worst day of filming on any set ever" due to the weather conditions.

Off camera you can hear Alphie asking the questions while Cocoa films. This is just another in a long line up of amazing content we brought back for you, the most dedicated of Stephenie Meyer fans, from the set of the movie Twilight. Discuss this and other Lexicon movie set exclusives on our message board.

Edit: Bumper Music: Starlight by Muse
Intermission: Wanna Be by The Spice Girls

Filed Under: News

The Frisco Texas signing report

May 11, 2008

Here’s BethG reporting in!

The pre-dawn hours of May 6 found us making our way to the Barnes and Noble at Stonebriar Mall in Frisco, TX, with hopes of getting tickets to the Q&A and signing with Stephenie to be held on May 10. We arrived at 6 am to find about 250 dedicated fans (which included a surprising number of very patient dads) already in line for the store’s 7 am opening. Those at the front of the line had arrived more than 12 hours earlier! The weather was damp, windy and chilly. Hats off to the brave souls who camped out. By the time the store opened, the line had grown to around 400, but things moved quickly and we were back in the car by 7:45 am, clutching our tickets for auditorium seats (Row G!) and multiple copies of The Host. Good timing, as it began to pour down rain soon after.

By contrast, the afternoon of May 10 was windy, hot and humid. Welcome to Texas, Stephenie! We had our books ready to go, so we joined the crowd of 1000 enthusiastic fans filling the auditorium and cafeteria of Frisco’s Centennial High School, including Twilight celebrities such as The Bella Cullen Project band. Many creative shirts were spotted throughout the crowd. As it got closer to starting time, the excitement built and spontaneous chanting/cheering for Edward, Jacob, and Stephenie broke out.

Shirt pics

Pics from the event

Introduction by Barnes and Noble lady, with lots of screaming from the audience. (YouTube video)

Stephenie says she’s happy to be in Dallas (more screaming) and explains that she is answering pre-submitted questions.

YouTube Playlist with questions

The Host Questions

1. What was your inspiration for The Host? Twilight was a dream, was it something like that?
No, my theory is that you only get one dream that good in your life. You can choose to forget about, or you can choose to write it down. I chose to write it down. She goes on to speak about how her favorite thing in the world used to be reading a good book, but at age 29 she figured out that her favorite thing was actually writing a good book. She talks about enjoying complicated relationships, such as two people in one body fighting over the same guy. Sci-fi was what she grew up with, so it was natural that she would venture into sci-fi.

2. On your website, you say that you are anti-human. What exactly does that mean?
She talks a little about how people have accused her of being anti-feminist, but the story of Bella and Edward would have been the same if the roles were reversed and Bella was the vampire. Same goes for the genders of the characters in The Host. She refers to herself as an equal opportunity oppressor. She says the humans in her stories tend to be weak, compared to the other characters she makes up. Stephenie says writing from the perspective of the alien (Wanderer) came naturally.

3. How did you go from Twilight to The Host? Did you have to catch yourself from using Edward’s and Bella’s names?
She tends to get very involved in the story when she is working on a book, so it does take a while to switch gears to another story. After working on editing for the Twilight series, she’d have to take about 2 days to read over what she’d already written, outlines, etc. to get back into Host mode.

4. Are any of the characters in The Host based on people in your life?
The character Doc ended up taking on some characteristics of her younger brother (and webmaster) Seth. *big cheer from the audience*

5. Was it hard transitioning from writing for teens to adults? (part of question cut off in video)
There is no difference. The last thing on her mind is the target market of her audience. A good story is her focus.

6. In both The Host and Twilight, you explore the value of a soul. Why?
Stephenie talks a bit about her religious background influencing her thoughts about why we are here and what’s coming next. In The Host, her characters explore the question: If the world has been destroyed or taken over, what does that mean for people of faith? She feels this makes them more real, more well-rounded.

Miscellaneous Questions

1. Do you have any tips for people like me who want to publish books?
Don’t focus on the publishing, focus on the enjoyment of writing. The writing is the fun part. Being an author is not as glamorous as it seems. After you’ve written a book, do research, follow the rules, be persistent, and you have a good chance at getting your work in the hands of someone who will give it a chance.

2. How do you keep a plot going once you’ve started your idea?
It is always about the characters. As long as you have interesting and exciting characters, the story will flow. Exception would be for a mystery, where you have to plan out that plot very carefully.

3. What other characters would you like to write stories for?
Right now in her computer, she has started a story about a ghost, one about mermaids, and some about regular ordinary people in a murder-mystery plot. She’d like to try a little bit of everything.

Stephenie remained on the stage for the signing, and everyone waited patiently for their chance to file across and have their books signed. When our turn came, she was gracious and funny. She said to say hi to everyone at the Lex and to be sure and say good things about her. We assured her that we would give a full report on her amazing wit and beauty. It was a great day!

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