Last summer, Guillermo del Toro took the plunge with yet another medium of entertainment. "The Strain," his first book (co-written with Chuck Hogan), is all about vampires. These blood suckers don't succumb to crosses or holy water, nor do they sparkle in the sunlight. "The Strain" smartly introduces the concept of vampirism as transmitted disease. Vampire myths are cleverly woven in to as long-established distortions of the facts, helping to create a tale that very much fits into a real world setting.
"The Fall," the second book in del Toro's planned trilogy, is out next week on September 21. It's less focused on tense horror -- though it's certainly there -- and much more centered around action. The vampire threat is now out in the open, chaos reigns and our scattered group of heroes are doing everything they can to put a stop to it before things spread out from New York City, which is established as ground zero in the first book.
To promote the book, del Toro is coming to NYC to participate in the New York Times' TimesTalks series. Next Tuesday, September 21, he'll be giving a talk at the TimesCenter, located at 242 West 41st St, at 7pm. Tickets were still available the last time I checked; you can get them here.
In addition, del Toro will be swinging by the MTV Newsroom the next day for a deep-dive chat on "The Fall," his 2/3 finished trilogy, all things vampires and whatever it is that keeps you up at night. There are no shortage of questions to ask, but as always, we want to give you a chance to pitch in. If you have any questions, send them our way at tips@mtvmoviesblog.com. And make sure you check out the TimesTalks speaking engagement if you can!
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This Thursday, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro will be stopping by to chat with us on his upcoming book/movie project, "The Strain." For those who don't know about it -- and if you like del Toro, then you should -- "The Strain" is the first volume in a planned trilogy about... wait for it... vampires. Yeah, those blood-suckers are pretty popular. That first book actually hits shelves today, so make sure you pick yourself up a copy.
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