Charlaine Harris, author of the bestselling Southern Vampire novels, has announced that the thirteenth and final novel, Dead Ever After, will hit bookstores in May 2013.
Harris, whose bestselling books about vampires, werewolves and other supernatural beings in the small southern town of Bon Temps was made into the popular True Blood television series, has previously hinted that she was planning to bring the story to a close. But she made the definitive announcement on her Facebook page yesterday, telling readers that the 13th and final Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead Ever After, would be on sale next May. She immediately drew more than 5,000 "likes" and hundreds of comments from her fans, from: "Say it ain't so!" to "How can you do that to us!"
"I don't have anything left to tell. After the last book, I'll have said everything I have to say about Sookie," Harris said last week. "Really, I think it would be doing readers a disservice to continue writing a character when my heart wasn't in it. I've loved writing Sookie, but if you see the end of the road, you see the end of the road."
It's sad news for fans, but all book series eventually come to an end. I think Harris is making the right call, considering that the quality of writing has dropped in the last three books. I hope the final book wraps up everything nicely.
True Blood, the HBO TV series, is based on the Southern Vampire novels.
"He has walked the night beat for centuries. He is one of the finest homicide detectives in Toronto. But Nick Knight wishes he could shed the curse of this true calling. The burn of the thirst. The thrill of the kill, the endless nights longing to be human...not a vampire."
Intimations of Mortality, by Susan M. Garrett, is the second novel in the Forever Knight novel series, based on the 1990s television series produced by Paragon Entertainment Corporation in association with TriStar Television. In his quest for mortality, Nick Knight meets a mysterious woman who claims she can grant his wish. Faced with two different worlds, his dream world brought upon by a mysterious doll, and the real world, Nick soon finds himself torn between himself as a vampire in the real world and mortal in the dream world.
In the dream, he is mortal working in a police department dominated by vampires. LaCroix has also become mortal and is the leader of the anti-vampire underground. Everyone else he knows in the real world has turned into vampires. The vampires in the dream world must struggle between the vampire law, the bloodlust, their lingering attachments to the mortal world left behind, and feelings for some of those mortals. Natalie, his lover, has been assigned to turn Nick into an immortal again for his excellent work performance.
When Nick wakes up from his dreams, he can feel himself becoming a mortal each day. Has he finally found the cure for the 800-year-old monster that lives within him? However, what one desires comes with a price. Is he willing to pay dearly for it?
I think this is the best book among the three Forever Knight novels. Susan M. Garrett ingenuously captured the characters' personalities from the television series. She gives Nick Knight the ultimate challenge when he must ask himself, "What is mortality? What is it like to be human?" The moral of the story seems to be that "the grass is not always greener" on the other side. Nick Knight finds himself conflicted in both worlds and the outcomes end with mixed results. In other words, what Nick Knight may ultimately seek is not mortality per se but actually redemption. He comes to the realization that he is a vampire...forever.
For Forever Knight fans, this is an excellent novel. The characters are all true to the series, and the action is faithful to the timeline of the last half of the final season. The interactions of the various characters and how they change as the realities shift is done quite well. If you have not heard of Forever Knight, I highly recommend you rent or buy the DVDs soon!
If you are looking for a similar television series, check out Moonlight (2007). Although only one season was produced, it carries the same theme of a vampire named Nick St. John, who longs to be mortal again and works as a private investigator as his way of regaining his humanity. It has very positive reviews, and I should have a review of the television series available on this website soon.
Stay tuned to the final novel in the Forever Knight series, These Our Revels, which is a flashback of Nick's life in Elizabethan England (1500-1600s).
Aquarion (2005, 2012) is a Japanese science fiction anime about the continuous battles between humans and the Shadow Angels. Twelve thousand years ago in the past, humanity was under the control of mythical creatures known as Shadow Angels, immortal winged beings with supernatural powers and advanced technology. One day, Apollonius, a Shadow Angel, fell in love with a female human warrior, Celiane. By becoming a fallen angel, he joins forces with the humans to free them from their oppression, by using the legendary flying robot, Aquarion. Each season has 26 episodes.
First Season: Genesis of Aquarion
Eleven years prior to the story, known as the "Great Catastrophe" destroyed significant parts of the world and killed off many of its inhabitants. Along with the disaster came the return of the Shadow Angels. They began invading human cites on Earth to harvest human beings, dubbing them as "the wingless ones", to extract the prana (life force) from the harvested humans not only to serve as energy and nutrition to them, but also to feed the legendary Tree of Life.
To fight against the Shadow Angels, young people with special powers called Elements from around the world were gathered and trained to pilot the "vector machines", three ancient ships that together form mankind's ultimate weapon, "Aquarion". They also discover the Elements can ultimately unite the vectors into one of three formations and can use Aquarion to defeat the Cherubim. The story primarily focuses on Apollo, who seems to be the reincarnation of Apollonius. The people become convinced when he single-handedly unites the vector machines into the Solar Aquarion formation and defeats the enemy, thus recruiting him to join their ranks.
Second Season: Aquarion EVOL
12,000 years later after Sousei no Aquarion, mankind on planet Vega are threatened by a new enemy by the planet, Altair. The female population has mysteriously died to a disease called the Curse of Eve on Altair. They send Abductors (much like the Shadow Angels) to Vega to retrieve female inhabitants and search for the true Eve who can save their planet.
Meanwhile, the story of Apollon and Sylvie have become a children's story called "Skies Of Aquaria". DEAVA, the Aquaria Academy, trains young men and women to use Aquaria, but they cannot ever merge because of Guize stones, blocking an "unholy union" between genders. The story follows Amata and Mikono as they enrolled in DEAVA and fight the Abductors. With his help, he combines the Vectors with female and male pilots into one single robot, the legendary Aquarion.
There is also an OAV (2007) and movie (2007) adaptation of the series.
Sousei no Aquarion was a fresh idea with an epic ending. I enjoyed the characters and how they overcame their challenges and fears on their own. The action scenes were great and well-designed. Although it didn't have a happy ending, it felt complete with the "we've saved the world as martyrs" theme.
Meanwhile, It is still hard to believe that Aquarion is back with a second season. When I heard the news (I am one of the few who watched the original seven years ago!), I had to publish this review. I really enjoyed Sousei no Aquarion and thought the studio would take the franchise to the next level. What would happen 12,000 years later between the reincarnations of Apollo and Sylvie?
After watching the second season, I felt disappointed with the entire delivery. Since the characters are much younger in the sequel, I realized the producers were aiming for the teen demographic.The plot felt cheesy, characters seemed more immature, the acting was somewhat robotic, and the ending left little to desire. Although first season characters make cameo appearances in latter episodes, they did little to help uplift Aquarion EVOL into a masterpiece worth praising. I also thought the directors rushed the ending hastily with no complete closure on the relationship between Amata and Mikono. Nevertehles, to my knowledge, the curse of another 12,000 years of ill-fated love and conquest has been broken.
As for the music, both seasons have good music soundtracks. You can hear an English rendition of the first season's opening theme in the sequel. Overall, I highly recommend the first season, and viewers should skip the second season altogether. Although viewers will discover the true identity of Toma's lover in the sequel (was this the main purpose of the show? If yes, why were viewers forced to endure the Amata-Kagura-Mikono-Zessica love triangle every week??), the rest of the episodes are not worth watching because of the bad acting and poor plot development.
First Season Opening Theme: Sousei no Aquarion" by AKINO
First Season Ending Theme: "Omna Magni" by Yui Makino
Second Season Opening Theme: "Kimi no Shinwa ~ Aquarion Dai Ni Shou" by AKINO with bless4
Second Season Ending Theme: "GekkÅ Symphonia" (Moonlight Symphonia) by AKINO & AIKI from bless4
If you are looking for a similar television series, check out 
