NEW YORK, Sept. 5 / -- It is bad enough that an unsuspecting public is about to fall victim to two new books in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events ("The Beatrice Letters," available September 5th, and "The End," the thirteenth and final book in the series, on sale October 13th). Now, the first in a series of shocking video clips concerning the elusive author and his work has appeared on the Internet, threatening innocent browsers everywhere.

"12 Books in 120 Seconds" first appeared suddenly at http://www.LemonySnicket.com, a website visited by hundreds of thousands of misguided souls every month. The distressing video, which exposes viewers to over 3,000 pages of misfortune in less time than it takes to brush one's teeth, prominently features the art of series illustrator, Brett Helquist; the voice talent of Tim Curry (Spam-a-lot, The Rocky Horror Picture Show); and the music of The Gothic Archies, a musical group led by Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields), which will soon release an entire album of songs inspired by A Series of Unfortunate Events entitled "The Tragic Treasury" (available October 10th on Nonesuch Records).

Anonymous sources say that two more Vile Videos will be released in the weeks leading up to the publication of "The End," each one more disturbing than the last. The third and final video might even include rare footage of Mr. Snicket himself.

The Vile Videos are merely the latest development in a much larger, more devious year-long online campaign to inform the public of the dangers of Lemony Snicket and A Series of Unfortunate Events. Since January, regular e-mail warnings have been sent to nearly 200,000 very brave or very brave foolish subscribers to the Lemony Snicket AuthorTracker newsletter from HarperCollins. In May, an informative interactive booklet entitled "13 Shocking Secrets You'll Wish You Never Knew about Lemony Snicket" was posted at http://www.lemonysnicket.com, and it has since been downloaded by more than 731,000 unsuspecting internet users. We can only hope that far fewer people choose to subject themselves to the Vile Videos, but the rate at
which viewers are already forwarding "12 Books in 120 Seconds" to their friends and enemies suggest that it may already be too late.

Some alleged experts assert that LemonySnicket.com may now be the most dangerous site in the World Wide Web. You certainly don't want to go there to investigate the contests, view the first Vile Video, or read the ever-worsening news of Mr. Snicket and A Series of Unfortunate Events that is leading up to "The End."

SOURCE HarperCollins Publishers

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