Blood Maidens - Vampire Book Review

Hambly, Barbara. Blood Maidens. Severn House, January 2011.

An intense relationship has developed between Don Simon Ysidro, a powerful vampire of London, James Asher,a former secret service agent for Queen Victoria, and Asher's young wife Lydia, a physician with a penchant for medical research. In their third foray Ysidro demands that James accompany him to St Petersburg, Russia where he has learned that agents for Kaiser Wilhelm are plotting to bring members of the Undead into the German web.

Ysidro insists the existence of vampires must remain secret to the living world and convinces Asher to once again help the cause of the undead. Inevitably Lydia's special talents are needed, and the three are once again caught in a nail-biting adventure. In Those Who Hunt the Night (1988) and Traveling with the Dead (1995) the fascinating interaction of the main characters is well described, unfortunately some of that is lost in Blood Maidens.  This is Book three in the Don Ysidro series. It's an engaging  story but not as compelling as its predecessors.

[A version of this review originally appeared in the October 15, 2010 issue of Library Journal.]

Stoker Sisters - A Vampire Book Review

The Stoker Sisters (Book One): Daughters of Dracula
by Kailin Gow
The Edge, Oct. 12, 2010

It is 1818 and the sweet, charming Sadie Stoker is turned by the handsome Lord Ashwen in order to  save her life. Throughout the years he clings to her humanity by  taking only as much blood as needed. Her victims are never killed or seriously harmed. Her basic nature of wanting to do good in this world has never changed.

Older sister Alexis also turned by Ashwen embraces the vampire life, reveling in the power it gives her. Still she has worked hard not to cross the line by leaving only enough in her victims to allow them to live. This allows her from turning into an evil vampire, a Strigoi.

The sisters were born in the early 19th century . Adopted by the Stokers they did not realize that they could claim special status in the vampire community as the last biological descendants of Vlad Dracule.

This entertaining novel will appeal to the vast YA audience with its insatiable appetite for vampire fiction. Author Kailin Gow tells a lively story with a strong moral center. Daughters is also the basis for a TV/Web series and book 1 in the Stoker Sisters series.

A copy of this book was provided by author Kaitlin Gow. Thank you, Kaitlin.

Watch for  The Stoker Sisters (Book 2): Angels and Hunters. The EDGE (February 8, 2011)

J Maberry and Janice Gable Bashman - Wanted Undead or Alive

Please welcome Jonathan Maberry and Janice Gable Bashman who are here at PVN to tell readers about their new book an "indispensible guide that identifies and describes mankind's enemies - supernatural beasts, ghosts, vampires, serial killers, etc. - and unearths effective time-proven responses to each horrific threat." Halloween is the perfect time for the valuable information in this book. You never know who or what will come knocking at your door.

FIVE THINGS YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT VAMPIRES

by Jonathan Maberry and Janice Gable Bashman, authors of WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE: Vampire Hunters and Other Kick-Ass Enemies of Evil, Citadel (September 1, 2010)

There are a lot of misconceptions floating around about vampires. The ideas came about because most people get their vampire lore through books and movies, through the fictionalized versions that modern storytellers have created.

So what’s the real scoop? We’ll tell you.

1. How about driving a stake through the heart to kill a vampire?
Sure a stake was used in folklore but it didn’t provide the instant kill we see in most modern day vampire movies and books. To kill a vampire, a stake was driven through the body of a resting vampire. This prevented the vampire from rising and the creature could be destroyed through the Ritual of Exorcism, which generally included decapitation, stuffing the mouth with garlic (and sometimes turning it backward in the coffin), immobilizing the body with steel pins or a tightly-sewn shroud, and other equally nasty measures. The only vampire species believed to die from a stake through the heart is the Kozlak of Dalmatia.

2. What about sunlight? Do vampires really fear it?
Most vampires in folklore don’t fear sunlight—that’s a modern twist on the vampire lore we’ve created to ante up the stakes (no pun intended) in movies and books. For example, the Upierczi of Poland hunts during the day; and numerous vampires, including the Bruja of Spain and the Loogaroo of Hariti, live normal lives during the day and turn into vampires at night.  Even Dracula walked around in daylight in Stoker’s novel. The origin of the ‘fatal sunlight’ concept comes from the production of the silent movie, Nosferatu: the filmmakers were over-budget and over-time for the film, so they needed a quick and inexpensive method of destroying the vampire. The lighting designer suggested using sunlight, and the director, F.W. Murnau thought it was brilliant. They shot the ending that way and from then on sunlight has been connected to vampires.

3. Not all vampires are dead.
Some are and others are shape-shifters capable of turning into dogs and cats and dragons and all kinds of creatures. Then there’s the humans who transform into vampire-like creatures, living vampires, and vampire gods. Living vampire species include the Pryccolitch of Romania, the Strix of ancient Rome, the Talamaur from the Bank Islands off the coast of Australia, and many others.

4. A bite to the neck is the only way to transform a human into a vampire. Wrong. That started with Dracula and it was part of the story because Bram Stoker was an Irish Catholic and he loaded the novel with plenty of Catholic elements.  The bite, and the swapping of blood, was his way of showing a demonic perversion of communion (which symbolizes drinking the blood of Christ). Every culture has its own opinions on this belief. Some think a vampire is created when a cat or dog jumps over a grave; others believe a person born with a caul or teeth will become a vampire; and in some cultures you are destined to become a vampire if you die without repenting for your sins. Being born with a deformity, or with red hair, or certain kinds of birthmarks will also do it, according to various world cultures.

5. You can tell if someone is a vampire by having them look into a mirror.
If there’s no reflection then they’re definitely a vampire. However, that’s not necessarily true. Again, this belief is something the movies cooked up, although the notion is popular in ancient beliefs where it was thought the soul could be seen on reflective surfaces and that breaking that surface would damage one’s soul.

So there you have it. Five things you didn’t know about vampires.

For more about vampires and other monsters, check out WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE: Vampire Hunters and Other Kick-Ass Enemies of Evil. The book deals with the struggle of good vs evil in film, comics, pop culture, world myth, literature, and the real world. Everything from ghosts to vampire slayers to paranormal investigators to FBI serial-killer profilers.

It includes interviews with folks like Stan Lee, Mike Mignola, Jason Aaron, Fred Van Lente, Peter Straub, Charlaine Harris and many more; and the book is fully illustrated by top horror, comics and fantasy artists. In stores everywhere.


Janice Gable Bashman has written for THE BIG THRILL, NOVEL and SHORT STORY WRITER'S MARKET, THE WRITER, WILD RIVER REVIEW, and many others. Her website is www.janicegablebashman.com .

Jonathan Maberry is a NY Times bestseller, multiple Bram Stoker Award-winner and a writer for Marvel Comics. His works include ROT and RUIN, THE DRAGON FACTORY, CAPTAIN AMERICA: HAIL HYDRA and THE WOLFMAN. His website is www.jonathanmaberry.com.

A Few Vampire Goodies for October

It's the month of Halloween, and I've gathered a few items of interest for us vampire aficionados.

Look for this episode of Supernatural tonight (Friday Oct. 22) on CW at 9:00. The title is "Live Free or Twi-Hard".  The Winchester boys meet the newest fad - Vampires.

"After a group of young girls go missing, Sam and Dean realize that a group of vampires have taken up residence in the small town. After a fight with two of the blood-suckers, Dean is bitten and turns into a vampire. Samuel tells Dean he can change him back but he’d have to get the blood of the vampire who turned him. Dean infiltrates the nest and runs into the Alpha."  








V C Andrews has finally jumped on the vampire wagon. Her new book will be available October 26.

Daughter of Darkness by V C Andrews

When I was a little girl, Daddy told me never to fear the dark. “We exist because of the darkness,” he told me. “All of you are daughters of darkness.”Beloved bestselling author V.C. Andrews’s passion for vampires comes to spellbinding life in a long-awaited novel of dark desires as all-consuming—and forbidden—as in Flowers in the Attic. One night, with the sound of a young man’s scream, high school senior Lorelei discovers that her stern but loving father, who adopted Lorelei and her sisters as infants, is no ordinary man. He has raised his beautiful girls for one purpose: to lure young men into their world of shadows. Like her sisters, Lorelei has been trained in the art of seduction and warned never to fall in love. But when she meets a handsome and charming classmate, she boldly defies her family and follows her heart—even if love is a poison. . . .Dangerously enticing and deliriously intoxicating, V.C. Andrews’s Daughter of Darkness will leave readers thirsting for more.

A year ago I interviewed Sarah-Jane Stratford author of Midnight Guardian. Now this novel is available in paperback.  Read a review.

"It’s 1938, and Hitler's tentacles have commenced their stranglehold on Europe. The Nazi empire will soon be purged of all "tainted" bloodlines…including vampires.
London’s ancient tribunal of vampires is aghast at the destruction taking place on the Continent and resolves to send its five most formidable vampires— immensely powerful "millennials" who have lived more than a thousand years— to infiltrate and destroy the Nazis. Brilliant and beautiful millennial Brigit is loath to go, for it means leaving behind her vampire lover Eamon, whom she made eight centuries ago. But go she must; her powers are needed if the mission is to have any chance of success.
As the millennials attempt to penetrate and sabotage Hitler’s armies, they discover that the Nazis are more capable and more monstrous than they'd ever imagined. Forced to take bolder, more dangerous steps, they soon attract the attention of specially trained vampire hunters loyal to Hitler and his vision of a vampire-free world. Exposed, deep inside enemy territory, with vicious Nazi officers and hunters at her heels, Brigit must attempt a daring escape from the Continent, guarding precious cargo that marks the only hope of salvaging their mission. "

Film buffs should enjoy The Vampire Film: From Nosferatu to Twilight by Alain Silver and James Ursini (Limelight, October 2010) Fourth edition.  I haven't received my copy yet but am looking forward to it.

"The new edition explores the surge in vampire media since the millennium, including films like Underworld, Van Helsing, I Am Legend, and Let the Right One In and television series like Buffy, Moonlight, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries. Many current portrayals explore tragedy as much as terror—as Tennyson’s Tithonus put it, “Cruel immortality consumes.” And with modern digital effects, today’s filmmakers no longer need to rely on rubber bats and plastic fangs to depict the bloodthirsty undead. This book takes a look at all the visions and re-envisions of these creatures of the night, from the monsters of The Last Man on Earth to love-struck Edward Cullen of Twilight to a tortured and kick-ass Blade"




Joann Sowles begins a new YA series with Laney.

Laney: The Brookehaven Vampires
by Joann I. Martin Sowles
Brookehaven Publishing  Oct 30, 2010.

A YA paranormal Romance











If you have a longing for vampire cookies the one pictured below is available from Kneed a Cookie

In case you like to do your own baking why not try Dracula's Bite Halloween Cupcakes

And last but not least let's give it up for The Monster Mash

Cecilia - Guest Blog and Contest - Vampire Anthology

Welcome back, Cecilia Tan! Today Cecilia writes about her newest anthology, Bites of Passion (Sept. 2010), which centers on erotic tales of VAMPIRES. What a treat! Cecilia is generously offering a copy of this book to one lucky reader.

[see details at end of post]

It's Got A Little Bite to It
by Cecilia Tan

I've edited a lot of anthologies of erotic fantasy in my career, including erotic fairy tales, erotic cyberpunk, erotic steampunk, and more. In all of those I invariably end up having to explain to numerous people what's erotic about the topic.

But that never happens when I say I'm editing an erotic vampire book. In fact, I can usually just say "vampire book" and people make the assumption it will be erotic. The vampire is a sexual figure and an erotic icon in our society and has been since long before Anne Rice put Lestat and Louis in a coffin together or Stephenie Meyer added high school dating angst to the mix.

The great Victorian vampire novels, like Bram Stoker's Dracula and Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla can be interpreted as being about fear of sex, especially fear of sexual power and female sexuality in the Victorian age. The allure of the vampire in those days was partly about fearing erotic surrender, and the transformation it could bring to a highly repressed society. A vampire's hunger or lust was a supernatural force that mere mortals could not resist. That meant, however, that succumbing to a vampire's seduction was not the fault of the victim. Guilt-free ravishment.

Thankfully, we're not so repressed now. What was terrifying and yet titillating to an earlier age is merely sensual and thrilling in ours. But in this era of erotica by women for women and the celebration of eroticism for all genders and sexes, the vampire is still a vehicle for our desires. When I put together the anthology BITES OF PASSION (just released in trade paperback by Red Silk Editions), I wanted to look beyond the old formula of "vampire as sexual conqueror."

Yes, the stories feature passion and lust that reach supernatural heights, but the vampire also represents immortality. What could be more romantic than undying love? Of course, immortality also means that it's more difficult to forget an ex. Vampires allow a writer to take all the usual emotions in the romance pallet and punch them up even more. In BITES OF PASSION the settings range from the Western range to Victorian drawing rooms. There are detectives solving mysteries, and vampires waking for the first time from the long sleep. They've got love and lust and more to deal with.

Because here's the ultimate secret about what makes the vampire one of the most compelling "monsters." Like the werewolf and the zombie, every vampire was once human. And being undead doesn't take away the pains or passions of the human heart; it magnifies them. That's why I like my erotic romance with a bite.


For more info:
Amazon link:

Cecilia Tan's blog

 CONTEST

One lucky reader will win a copy of Bites of Passion

To enter simply comment on Cecilia's post OR ask her a question.

[Contest for paper copy of book is open to US/Canada residents only. International readers are eligible to win an ebook copy. 

Contest ends November 2, 2010