Status Report

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:

Some new info on a rumor we posted a few months back, our source (who still wishes to remain unnamed) says that Scholastic seems to be on board with making an Animorphs 2.0 happen. They supposedly had a recent discussion on how to handle the continuity from 1.0, which is the series we left off at.

Please note that we, at Hirac Delest, don’t post every rumor (or any rumor, for that matter) that is given to us (and there are a LOT), unless we feel that the source is legitimate in some way. Saying that, we’re not posting this as an official announcement either, as no official news has been released by Scholastic to confirm this. More updates from our source on this matter will be posted on Hirac Delest as they come.

Today is Hirac Delest’s 2 Year Anniversary! I’m surprised at how fast the time has flown by, and by the fact that the site has successfully still been around for as long as it has. I just wanted to take the time and thank you, all of you, for the great amount of support that you’ve shown for this project and this site over the last two years.

It honestly has received a lot more praise, attention, and dedication than what I had originally expected when I first started this project, so thank you. The last 2 great years have been a great pleasure for me, to work and interact with the fanbase that is still very much active all around the world, we’ve certainly accomplished a lot during that time, and I’m looking forward to the many more years to come.

I do have something special set aside for today’s occasion, an insanely huge update that I want to share with you. However, I wanna make sure it’s all set and ready to go without any problems, so stay tuned for another update coming soon. 🙂

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!

There’s a new video on youtube showing off the many places that Michael Grant and K.A. Applegate have moved to over the years, via Google Earth. Check it out:

Also, an update with Michael Grant’s appearance in the Chicago area, a time has been set for 7:00 PM on May 28th according to the Anderson’s Bookstore website. Thanks to Michael for letting us know!

MICHAEL GRANT
Anderson’s Bookstore.
Naperville, Illinois.
May 28th.
7:00 PM.

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.

According to Michael Grant’s newest blog post at Stupid Blog Name, both him and K.A. Applegate are planning on making some special appearances in this month of May.

K.A. APPLEGATE
Ridgedale Library.
Minnetonka, Minnesota.
May 4th.
7 PM.

K.A. Applegate is also visiting some schools in Minneapolis during this week. She will be making personal visits to talk about her last book ‘Home of the Brave’. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find out any information regarding which schools she may be visiting as the blog post itself is pretty brief on this.

Be on the look out for Michael Grant in that week as well, as he may sign books at the International Reading Association. If anyone knows of any specific times, then be sure to forward them to me so that I can pass them along to the rest of you.

MICHAEL GRANT
Anderson’s Bookstore.
Naperville, Chicago.
May 28th.
Time unknown.

Michael Grant is also planning a second visit at the end of May in Chicago for the launch of his newest book in the Gone series called ‘Hunger’. The time is currently unknown, but I would assume it’s in the evening. If anyone can give me a confirmation on this, it would be much appreciated.

That’s all for now. If you happen to be one of lucky fans in Minneapolis or Chicago that ends up seeing these two authors, then be sure to say ‘Hi’ from the rest of us. 🙂

Its been quite some time (well over a year) since we last heard about the possibility of an Animorphs movie. Previously Michael Grant and K.A. Applegate stated that it was being pitched by a producer to some studios to be considered. This was around the time when the WGA strike was still happening. Since we never heard anything further and were told that the entire thing was a 20 to 1 shot, I assumed that nothing ever became of it.

However, according to Michael Grant’s newest blog post at Stupid Blog Name, it looks as if an Animorphs movie is still in discussion amongst him and some Hollywood producers that he knows. His new series ‘Gone’ was also apparently part of the discussion too. Unfortunately, it seems as if the meeting itself didn’t go too well, but it’s hard to say from the post since it doesn’t exactly go into a whole lot of detail. Here is the direct quote:

“Talked to various Hollywood weasels re: ANIMORPHS and GONE. Results: blah blah blah, we respect your work, blah blah blah.”

Michael Grant (Stupid Blog Name)

Think of that what you will from reading that. As for the rest of blog post, it’s a list of highlights for many of the things that Michael Grant has been preoccupied with lately, such as the Crack and Stack Signing Contest in England in which he recently participated in, in order to beat Meg Cabot by signing more than 1000 books in one hour.

Some other highlights in the blog post also include upcoming appearances by him and K.A. Applegate (info coming soon), along with new information for the Gone series — The 3rd book, titled “Lies” is now complete and being edited, with the 4th book now being named as ‘Plague’ (Still a working title).

There’s also 2 new videos of Michael Grant that he filmed while in UK for Wordia. Watch as he describes “Nemesis” and “Bald“. Also, check out the new poster for Gone in the back, featuring Stephen King’s quote from our previous post 😉

More coming soon regarding appearances by Michael and K.A., so stay tuned!

Turns out that Michael Grant (co-creator and author of Animorphs) has been in touch with Stephen King lately, and has gotten him hooked onto Michael’s new series: ‘GONE’. Stephen King read the first book, as well as an advanced copy of the unreleased second book ‘Hunger’, and this is what he wrote about the series to Michael’s editor:

I’ve been corresponding with your “Michael Grant” about his Gone books. More important, I’ve been reading the Gone books–the first and Hunger, the follow-up. These are exciting, high-tension stories told in a driving, torrential narrative that never lets up. There are monsters, there are kids with mad-crazy super powers, there’s the mystery of where all the adults went. Most of all, there are children I can believe in and root for. This is great fiction.

If you want to quote any or all of that, be my guest. I love these books.

Stephen King

The quote was taken from Michael Grant’s SBN (StupidBlogName). The full article can be viewed here: http://stupidblogname.com.

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A very big congrats to Michael! I highly enjoyed ‘Gone’ myself, and am glad that the books were well received. The praise is well deserved.

Gone 2: Hunger is set to be released May 13th, 2009.

Also, for those that missed out on the first book, Gone is being re-released on paperback on April 28th, 2009