Erica Durance told TVGuide.com that her contract ran through Season 10. Justin Hartley also said he would return if the show wants him back and Cassidy Freeman said that her contract runs three years, meaning she could be included in next season. A rep for the show would only confirm that Tom Welling is set to return.

The show is currently in a brief re-run phase over this month, and will return April 2nd for the remainder of the 9th season.

That ended ten years ago. In a cataclysmic event, the arcane energy of the Elantrians changed. They became powerless and sickly, their hearts stopping and their bodies no longer healing from even minor wounds. The once great city of Elantris became a miserable place of grime and tormented denizens. The Shaod, continued to select new Elantrians. Instead of turning those picked into divine beings, however, it cursed them.

In the ten years the followed, Elantris become something to be ignored. The merchants of Arelon formed an aristocracy and placed a despotic king on the throne in the neighboring city of Kae.

The story follows two main characters: Raoden, the king’s son, who is taken by the Shaod and cast into Elantris within the first chapter, and Sarene, a princess from the neighboring country of Teod, who came to Arelon to marry the prince, and perhaps shake-up Arelon politics a little with her forward-thinking ideals. Raoden seeks to improve the state of living in Elantris with his hope-inspiring leadership, while Sarene attempts to dethrone the king and simultaneously save Arelon from impending destruction by the empire centered around the Derethi religion. The solution to many of their problems is linked to one question: what caused the fall of Elantris?

Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris is a complex story full of twists, intrigue, politics, and none of the traditional fantasy clichés. It’s difficult to describe the story in a way that shows the depth and uniqueness of the book. I think it suffices to say that Elantris is a very enjoyable read and highly recommended.

Also see BookAdvice.net’s take on Elantris.

The animation was good, with a great attention to little details, though not up to big-budget Disney standards, of course. Story-wise, the film followed the book very closely, but with its own added jokes that were funny and in keeping with the original material.

Interestingly enough, the part I liked the best of the video was not from the book. It was the music. The film’s soundtrack includes several original songs that the Band With Rocks In plays throughout the story. For the most part they are style parodies of The Beatles, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, The Blues Brothers, and a few others. (Oh, and there’s even a brief, and hysterical, performance of the hit Discworld folk song Gatherin’ Rhubarb.) The songs are very well done, and often remind me of two or three “real” songs at once. You can listen to the tracks for free on Last.fm, if you want to give them a try.

The story, as those who have read the book already know, follows two main arcs, which collide several times as events play out.

Susan Sto Helit is the granddaughter of Death. (You know, Death — deep voice, scythe, cloak, a little bit skeletal…) There was some business with an adopted daughter and an apprentice named Mort, but that was in a different book… When they die in a tragic carriage accident, Death abandons the Duty to go and “forget.” Susan is called upon to do the job in his absence, since she inherited some of her grandfather’s abilities.

Imp y Celyn (Welsh for “Bud of the Holly”) is an aspiring bard from rainy Llamedos. He journeys to the great city of Ankh-Morpork to become a famous musician, only to be beset by exorbitant guild fees. Eventually he ends up with a strange magic guitar, and starts a band with two friends who also couldn’t afford the Musicians Guild’s entry fee.

Eventually their paths cross when Imp, or Buddy as he later calls himself, is nearly killed while performing at a riotous bar. As his lifetimer runs out, a blue flame appears in the top end of the hourglass, signifying that his life has been taken over by the music. Susan continues to watch out for him while investigating the potentially harmful guitar.

I don’t want to spoil the whole story for you, as it’s a particularly good one, so I’ll leave you to watch Soul Music for yourself. If you’re a reader of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, watching Soul Music is mandatory. If you’re new to Pratchett, it’s definitely worth a watch; you may very well want to give the book a try afterward.

LORD SUNDAY is the breathtaking conclusion to The Keys to the Kingdom series. In this, the seventh and final book, the mysteries of the House, the Architect, the Trustees, the Keys and the Will are all revealed, and the fate of Arthur, our Earth, and the entire Universe is finally decided.

So, to all of you who have been impatiently waiting for this book: the wait is nearly over.

The blog update includes a press release along with some thoughts from Sanderson.

When Chris Geary emailed me about making a Mistborn movie, I really thought nothing of it—I just assumed it was another nibble that would go nowhere. But then Chris showed how incredibly serious they were—when I was in New York he flew there to meet me and explained his really great and exciting plans for the movie adaptation. When I read Paloppa’s script treatment for the beginning of the story I immediately felt that they truly understood the book and how to adapt it.

It’s a little early to get too excited, seeing as there’s a long path from optioning the rights to the eventual release. However, it’s always great to see serious plans for a fantasy film, especially one as unique as Mistborn.

There is a new video preview for the game that looks promising, the tongue-in-cheek humor of the Star Wars games still obviously present. A website for the game is now online as well.

A release date has not been announced yet, but some retailers are expecting mid-March.

A thousand years ago a prophesied hero was meant to save the world from a terror called “The Deepness.” He failed. In the ash-filled wasteland that resulted, the Lord Ruler forged an empire that would never fall, an empire that would always be dominated by the one never-aging man: The Final Empire.

In the centuries that followed, every revolt failed miserably in the face of the armies and magic of their oppressor. Until now…

The part of the book that stands out the most is probably the unique and well-planned system of magic. The people who wield it are called “Allomancers,” as their powers come from metals. They ingest small quantities of various elements, and gain specific abilities from the metals. The most flashy of their powers is the ability to pull and push against any metal object in their vicinity. This enables them to leap over tall building by throwing coins to the ground and pushing against them, or to rip blades from their enemies’ hands. Anything metal becomes a potential weapon or means of transport when an Allomancer “burns” the right alloy.

Kelsier is one such Allomancer, one of the powerful and feared Mistborn, but he comes from the serf-like “skaa” class (who are forbidden such power) rather than the nobility. As the story unfolds, his grand plan to overthrow the Lord Ruler is slowly revealed.

The story is mainly shown through the perspective of Kelsier and Vin, a former thief with Allomantic powers that becomes an apprentice of sorts to Kelsier.

I don’t want to give away too much and spoil the story, so we’ll leave it at that. It’s an interesting and atypical fantasy novel, and is definitely worth a read.

Up for best score soundtrack album are “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (composed by Alexander Desplat), “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” (Nicholas Hooper), “Milk” (Danny Elfman), “Star Trek” (Michael Giacchino) and “Up” (Giacchino). - Variety.com

The fifty-second annual Grammy Awards will be presented on January 31, 2010.

The movie is to be released November 2010.

Edit: It looks like Fantasy Fan got it first. So, thanks to them.

The Brothers Grimm is set in France-occupied Germany during the Napoleonic era. It follows Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, two con artists who travel from village to village “exorcising” monsters and witches in return for considerable sums of money, who run into a genuine case of enchantment. They have to fight magical beings and enchanted forest to rid the village of Marbaden of the Mirror Queen’s curse.

The movie has a somewhat historical feel, and it blends elements from the actual Grimm brothers’ fairy tales into the story, along with some of Terry Gilliam’s signature touch. It’s interesting to watch, and it’s pulled off well.

Note: Do not be deceived by the term “fairy tale.” The film is dark and a bit creepy at times. It draws upon the works of the Grimms, not the watered-down “light” stories popularized by Disney. It certainly deserves its PG-13 rating.

After watching the movie, I checked out the deleted scenes. One of the cut scenes, in particular, was intriguing. It seemed like a parody of the Whomping Willow scene from the third Harry Potter movie. It was very similar, and absolutely hilarious to watch. Sadly, Terry Gilliam didn’t have much interesting to say about the clip, other than that it was “expensive.” I have to assume that it was a (great) attempt at parodying the Whomping Willow, but I’d like to hear more about it.

The bottom line is that The Brothers Grimm is a unique and enjoyable movie, definitely worth adding to the old Netflix queue.