Guillermo Del Toro

The writer and director of the film Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro, is set to tap what has become a rich vein of new vampire fiction, signing up with HarperCollins to write a trilogy of books about a vampiric virus that invades New York.

Kicking off in summer 2009 with The Strain, the trilogy will be co-written with thriller writer Chuck Hogan and, promises Del Toro, will be “epic in scope”. “The trilogy advances in unexpected ways and each book contains unique and surprising revelations about the history, physiology and lore of the vampiric race, tracing its roots all the way back to its Old Testament origins,” said Del Toro, who has already given the genre filmic treatment, directing vampire sequel Blade II in 2002.

Del Toro joins vampire invasion of the bookshops | Books | guardian.co.uk.