Any casual Collider reader probably knows that we are all BIG fans of Guillermo del Toro. I realize that this fact doesn't exactly make us unique, but I thought I'd lead off with it just the same. So as fans, we are always happy when Guillermo announces another project – and he's done a lot of announcing lately. Check out Cal's story here in case you need a refresher… all caught up? That makes one of us.

As if adapting three- possibly four- novels plus two classic monster movies wasn't enough to keep him busy for the next ten years, del Toro is now extending his resume by becoming a published novelist. According to Variety, del Toro has inked a book deal with Harper Collins to co-write (along with Chuck Hogan) a trilogy of vampire thrillers beginning with "The Strain" in the summer of 2009.

For those of you who may be thinking that del Toro is just cashing in on the recent vogue of vampire fiction, you may be right… then again, he did direct "Blade 2" six years ago, so I choose to believe that he was, once again, way ahead of the curve on this one. You can't deny that the man is a trendsetter. 

So what's in store from Guillermo the published author? His series will focus on a vampiric virus that invades New York via an infected transatlantic flight, and the director promises that the books 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."    

His books will have a lot of blood-sucking competition: another trilogy with a viral-vampire theme, "The Passage," saw its film rights sell to 20^th Century Fox last summer, we've got the mania of "Twilight" before us and HBO's "True Blood" was just renewed after only two episodes. Still, del Toro is a genius at interpreting familiar themes in unexpected ways, so all other peddlers of vampire tomes should be feeling very nervous right about now. He is legend.