In March of 2007, Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, excited fans by beginning a new "season" of the decade-old show. But fans haven't been searching through a TV Guide each week to make sure a new episode is going to be on. Whedon started something quite different. He returned his show the fans in a monthly comic book.

Just before the first issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight was delivered to comic shops all over the US, rumors began popping up on author Nancy Holder's website (www.nancyholder.com) that the Buffy tie-in novels from Simon & Schuster (simonsays.com) were concluding publishing.

The first issue of Season Eight sold over 100,000 copies in the first day ["Dark Horse announces second printing of Buffy #1 Season 8", 3/15/07, http://www.darkhorse.com]! After reading about the popularity of the new comic book, readers of the tie-in novels became even more confused as to why the publisher was supposedly ending the books. One by one, authors were announcing the end of the Buffy stories. But the publisher hadn't leaked anything about it on the internet.

Around the time the third issue of BtVS: Season Eight was landing in mailboxes, Buffy & Angel Magazine shipped out the last ever issue. What was going on?! With the comic showing so much popularity, why were these other forms of Buffy merchandise dying, fading away?

The publisher of the tie-ins granted permission for first-time Buffy author, and possible last-ever Buffy author, Kirsten Beyer to officially announce the end of the books in an interview with SlayerLit.us. The "official" announcement was a very brief, and almost unrecognizable attempt at spreading the news to all of the Buffy-readers. And Simon & Schuster won't even say what led them to this decision to cancel the books.

In a chat with the site Buffy & Angel: The Authors (www.btvs-angel-authors.net.tc), author Alice Henderson, who just won a Scribe Award for Buffy novel PORTAL THROUGH TIME, admitted that she was also foggy on the details of why the publisher made the decision. "The books are selling really well," she said. "...I know I had proposals that were waiting, and so did other authors." ["AliceHenderson Chat", June 23, 2007, http://www.btvs-angel-authors.net.tc].

Buffy & Angel Magazine never announced why it was concluding. No one, not even authors, can understand why Simon and Schuster are discontinuing the books. And the fandom is alive again! Season Eight is doing extraordinarily well! So what is the glitch in the system? What led to these decisions? These questions remain as mysteries.

But the glitch in the production of Buffy the Vampire Slayer merchandise leads to an even bigger question. Is the new comic the start of a massive wave of new BtVS stuff, or are we going to be hearing about the conclusion of other Buffy items before the year is over? Only time will tell.

The last Buffy book, ONE THING OR YOUR MOTHER by Kirsten Beyer, will be published in January 2008.