In Which Trai Is Surprised

I'm posting twice in one day--unusual for me, but I've just found out some interesting news and I thought I'd blog about it.

You all might remember my post back in March about how series I either loved or expressed interest in as a 14-year-old or younger are being reprinted. One of the series I mentioned in that post was Melinda Metz' Fingerprints. Fingerprints was an absolutely amazing series about a girl who could read the thoughts people leave when they touch something (she would touch their fingerprints and experience what the person was thinking as he or she left them).

I discovered this series after it was out of print; I obtained it through Amazon and a really fortunate find at a free-book thing (the last three books in the series were extraordinarily expensive and somehow I found them all free; it was a miracle in my mind). I absolutely loved this series and it drove me on to Metz's Roswell High books, the basis for the beloved series Roswell. I was sad that Metz's writing was not recognized more often; since the series was OOP by the time I found it, I could never find other fans, and Melinda Metz herself was scarce. There was a website at one point in time that was being worked on, but it is now defunct.

So imagine my surprise when I put Metz's name into Amazon today and learned that the first three Fingerprints books are being reprinted as an omnibus entitled Echoes. The titles of the original three books are Gifted Touch, Haunted, and Trust Me--it looks like the titles of Gifted Touch and Trust Me have been changed to Echoes and Trust, respectively. I dearly loved these books and I'm so excited to see the omnibus is being published--I hope this will draw more attention to Metz and give the series a renewed readership.

What I am dismayed about is the cover design and the retitling. Fingerprints worked as a title to the series because Rae, the main girl, picked up thoughts from people's fingerprints. As a title, Echoes is more vague and I don't think it does the story as much justice. Fingerprints was concise and expressed exactly what all the books revolved around: Rae's powers. There's also the girl on the cover: she just looks too sexy to be the Rae I remember, who was humble and more of an everygirl type. I much prefer the old cover model, with her wavy hair that reminds me of my own untameable hair and her enigmatic smile. The old books also had two other key characters on the cover: Anthony, Rae's friend and love interest, and Yana, another friend of hers. Rae's personal relationships were integral to the series. She builds a relationship with Anthony, who if I remember correctly helps her discover she is not crazy (which she repays by helping him overcome his dyslexia), and Yana becomes a very central part of the story in the later books. By having Rae alone on the cover, I think the cover is missing the point that Rae very much has allies in her story. I'm so happy about the reprint, but I just wish the cover didn't have to be quite so like what sells today.

I'm really excited that the series is being reprinted--I might just have to break out my old copies of all seven books and reread them this summer, and I might even buy the omnibus in order to pay back Ms. Metz some of the money I denied her by having to buy the series used. She gave me so much enjoyment as a teenager that I wouldn't mind buying the book over again at all. I hope that maybe all Ms. Metz's books could come back--it would be fun to see the Roswell High books reprinted, and I'm even holding out a tiny bit of hope that maybe there will be more Fingerprints books if this series is being reprinted! I hope that young readers will read the series now and find as much enjoyment in it as I did.