Status Report

Michael Grant has informed fans, via Facebook, that the first 6 chapters of LIES (Gone #3) have been published for free online at Pensive Sarcasm.

Read the first 6 Chapters of LIES here!

Also, in relation to this, I have noticed that there has been a lot of discussion about the Gone series in general here on the blog (see right side under recent comments), so I’ve decided to create a separate section and category on the Hirac Delest Community Forums to talk specifically about the Gone series. Simply click on ‘Community’ in the header above and sign up at the forum. (Registration is free and only takes a few minutes).

Registered members of Hirac Delest also get special privileges to the Downloads Section at the forum (some of the content which is unavailable at the site, and invisible to those who are only guests).

That about covers it for now. More updates coming soon.

This is not Animorphs related, but I thought I’d share it with the fans of the Gone Series by Michael Grant (co-author/co-creator of Animorphs). Here is a promo video released by Egmont for Hunger (Gone #2):

For those that have missed out on Hunger‘s first hardcover release, you can catch its re-release on April 6, 2010 in paperback. Also, in addition to this, Lies (Gone #3) will be released on May 12, 2010. Michael Grant has released the first few pages of it for free online, in collaboration with his son, for a new project that they are working on. You can check it out at getfre.com

Lastly, as a side note, I wanted to add that I’ve slightly changed the right side of the blog. You can now view ‘recent comments’ made on the most discussed blog enteries and go directly to them, rather than scroll through page after page, looking for your topic. 🙂

This isn’t Animorphs related, however I know that many of you also read the Gone series by Michael Grant, so I thought I’d post an update on the upcoming book anyway. Here is the new cover for LIES:

The book is currently set to be released May 4th, 2010 (US).

Update: For future updates, I’ve now added new separate categories for the Gone Series and K.A & Michael specifically on the right side of the blog. Hopefully this will simplify things from now on.

Michael Grant (co-author/creator for Animorphs) won the “Best Children’s Novel” Award yesterday at the SCIBA 2009 Author’s Feast, for Hunger (from the Gone Series). The nominees and finalists for that category, as well as for every other category, have been posted up at the Official SCIBA Website. The picture for him receiving the reward (below), was posted by the SCIBA Facebook profile today, and a close up of the award was later uploaded by Michael via Twitpic as well (right).

A very big congrats to Michael Grant from us here at Hirac Delest, and from the rest of your fans as well!

In addition to all of this, Andrew Smith, the author for In the Path of Falling Objects, also wrote about the entire event on his blog (including his meet with Michael Grant, and the speech Michael later gave in the event). You can read it all here.

Sources: SCIBA Facebook Album, and Ghost Medicine: Blog of Andrew Smith.

A fan named moriath, from the Animorphs Livejournal Community, blogged about the recent NYC Barnes & Nobles Event that Michael Grant appeared at. (See our previous blog post). Along with him, there were also other YA authors such as Scott Westerfeld, Carrie Ryan, and James Dashner. Here’s a brief look at the blog post featuring Michael Grant’s part:

“Finally up was Michael Grant of Gone and Hunger as well as my beloved Animorphs series. I have to admit I felt extremely vindicated when, during the Q&A session, he brought up the “abrupt” ending of Animorphs (oh man is THAT an understatement!) and acknowledged, “Well, that didn’t work out well.” So he’s promised that he knows how the series is going to end (though not in detail as JK Rowling claimed to know the whole Harry Potter series – he kinda thinks she made that all up just to keep her editors from freaking out) and it won’t be abrupt like Animorphs.”

Source: Bookish Blather. October 16, 2009.
“Book Events: Post-Apocalyptic Teen Fiction panel, Barnes & Noble”.

Michael Grant (co-author/creator for Animorphs) updated his Facebook and Twitter this morning to inform the fans of his GONE series that he will be at the NYC Barnes and Nobles on October 15th at 7PM, with the first 20 people at the book signing to receive a flash drive with the opening chapters of the 3rd Gone book LIES, as well as to his new upcoming series, the MAGNIFICENT 12.

Along with him will also be Scott Westerfeld, who will be celebrating the release of his latest book LEVIATHAN (cover image on right). Scott Westerfeld, by chance, is also another one of my long-time favourite authors. A personal recommend from me to check out his UGLIES and MIDNIGHTERS series if you haven’t already!

Below is also a quote by Michael Grant from his blog:

Yes. I am still alive.

If you’d like proof, I will be at the BARNES and NOBLE at 86th and Lexington in New York City, October 15th, 7:00 PM.

I’ll be wearing black.

Also there: the great and powerful Scott Westerfeld! The lovely and vivacious (I assume) Carrie Ryan! And the, oh, let’s say the talented and translucent (look, I’m tired and I’m out of adjectives, okay?) James Dashner!

Never in the history of young adult literature has such a panel of luminaries assembled in one place. The sheer brilliance will astound you! It’s entirely possible that we will combine to form a singularity and suck not only you but the entire bookstore into a black hole. That’s right: we are just that deep.

But wait: there’s more! The first 20 people who show up and buy a book (one of mine, duh) for signing get a flash drive containing the first chapters of LIES and the first chapters of an entirely separate series, THE MAGNIFICENT 12.

Sweet Lord, can you imagine a more astounding offer? You can? Well, too bad because this is all the offer I have right now.

Come one, come all, and hear four YA authors bloviate, pontificate, and try to top each other in pandering to you, our devoted audience. Should be fun.

Michael Grant

So the short version:

Barnes & Nobles
86th and Lexington, New York
October 15th, 2009
7:00 PM

Got it? Good! Until next time!

SOURCES: stupidblogname.com; scottwesterfeld.com/blog

While there still hasn’t been much news on an Animorphs movie, the new series ‘Gone’ by Michael Grant (co-author/creator of Animorphs) seems to be seriously being considered for a movie. Michael Grant explains it in his own words, using the Twitter video, below:

Not a whole lot of updates for the actual database today. I’ve been in a blur of busy-ness the last couple of weeks, with my graduation and all. I’ll hopefully add some new stuff in soon though, so no worries. In the mean time, I thought I’d update on Michael Grant’s latest online activities.

Those that follow Michael Grant on Twitter will already know this, but for those that don’t, he has begun posting ‘video tweets’ of himself reading his latest book ‘Hunger’ from the ‘Gone’ series (Hunger came out a few weeks ago, so grab it if you haven’t yet!). Each video tweet will have Mr. Grant reading from the book, eventually covering all of it. Five parts have been uploaded already, but here is the first one for you to view:

Here are the rest: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

The Fayz website also went through a cosmetic update (simulating Sinder blogging on her laptop). The Official Harper Teens ‘Gone’ website is also now online as well (link added to the side).

Lastly, there is a foreign subtitled interview that took place with Michael Grant which was posted on youtube (I have no idea what language, but he talks in English). There are 10 parts to it. I’ve assembled them all into a playlist for you guys, so you can watch it all easily here:

That about covers it for now. Until next time!

Nothing new today, I’ve been too wrapped up with my final term, but I did come across a new trailer for the Gone series on youtube. Check it out:

The promotional image for the book series seems to have also been set to this now (as seen in our previous post). Be on the look out for the newest Gone book, ‘Hunger’ coming out this month, on May 15th.

A poster named thedolphingirl at the Animorphs LiveJournal Community recently posted a new flash animation of Cassie talking. The animation itself is done by a Trisha. It’s a small clip, but I actually thought it was really well animated, so I just had to share it with the rest of you as well. Check it out:

Also, an update in the Articles & Interview section. Matthew Weaver, an Animorphs fan who also works as a staff writer for ‘The Vanguard’ at the University of South Alabama, recently published an article for Gone’s next book ‘Hunger’. In the process he got to interview Michael Grant and allowed us to post it here on Hirac Delest as well. Take a look here.

It’s actually a very interesting interview, where they discuss everything from how K.A. and Michael first started out in the writing business to where they are now. Do check it out if you haven’t read it yet.