Over the past week we discussed in class how and why (at least for a few minutes on Friday) American media and American media-consumers seem
obsessed with "immortals" -- vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Students had some good theories -- these "characters" are
stand-ins for us in our current despair over the economy and rancorous politics and people are natural thrill-seekers and the
ultimate thrill is cheating death, as these "immortals" do.
There are some books coming out in the next several months that carry forward the "immortals" media trope.
1. The final installment,
The Night Eternal, in
The Strain trilogy, the futuristic vampire thriller from director Guillermo del Toro and writing buddy Chuck Hogan shows up in stores and online on Oct. 25, 2011.
2. In early 2012, English professor
Justin Cronin's The Twelve will publish.
The Twelve is a sequel to
The Passage, the tremendously well-received "literary" vampire-novel, published in summer 2011. As of this writing,
The Passage is available in paperback and, of course, as an e-book.
3. Finally, while it's characters are not "immortal" in the supernatural sense,
Lev Grossman's The Magician King came out in mid-August.
The Magician King is the second installment in,
Time fiction critic, Mr. Grossman's Magician Series.
