Speaking of deranged – Twihards are foaming at the mouth today in defence of their Supreme Leader Stephenie Meyer after Stephen King said she sucks. Heh.

King was addressing the Meyer comparisons to JK Rowling (blasphemy!) and explained that Meyer’s success is due to the fact that 12 year old girls and loser fanmoms can’t distinguish between good writing and wanting to kiss a boy:

"People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it's very clear that she's writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It's exciting and it's thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because it's not overtly sexual. A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that's a shorthand for all the feelings that they're not ready to deal with yet."

But even though King can appreciate the intoxicating effects of Meyer’s vampire cheese, when it comes to her writing, well, he did not mince words:

"Both Rowling and Meyer, they're speaking directly to young people... The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."

As you can imagine, Stephen King has now gone into the hiding. They have mobilised against him.

Jo Rowling meanwhile was in France yesterday to receive the country’s highest honour – honourary Knight! President Sarkozy presented Rowling with the Legion d’Honneur recognising her achievement: the Order of the Phoenix was the first ever English book to top the French best-seller list in 2003 BEFORE translation. Yay Jo!

Have you ever read her Harvard Commencement Address? If no, it’s definitely worth your time. I come back to it every few months or so. Always gives me goosies. Maybe even a tear.

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Photos from Wenn.com