Title: Forever Hunger
Author: David Salkin
Release: January 2012
Genre: Mystery Vampire
Adam Priest has been on the run for 200 years, ever since as a Prussian soldier he was turned. Since that time, he has been on a constant hunt to end the hunger that never seems to leave him. In all that time there has been no thought for his victims, until he met Sara.
Doug Patmore is an FBI Special Agent who has hunted a cold killer for years, a killer who brutally ends the life of women in a relentless pattern. He knows this is no ordinary killer, for he has seen what the killer has done to the victims, draining them of their blood and leaving horrifying remains behind.
Roy Ruiz is just an NYPD cop, but when his path crosses Patmore and Priest he will come to understand there is far more to life than what he could have ever considered. When he first started tracking down the serial killer, he didn’t know it was a two hundred year old trail he was following. But he is following it, down to the deadly end. As the cops circle in closer, Sara becomes the one thing that Adam can see might save him – if he can find a way within himself to deal with the emotions she stirs in a heart that no longer beats, and should not be feeling what he knows it is feeling.
In Forever Hunger Salkin spins a different kind of vampire tale, with the grit of an old style detective story combined with the heat of the vampire fantasy sex we have all come to expect from this genre. That this particular vampire is a victim of his own terror is just one more element in a dark tale that will have you gripped and slashing the pages to see where it can possibly go to resolve it all. Or can it?
Like many writers who also write book reviews, I have authors that I have on my short list that I would love to interview. Of course, when it comes to vampire books, the one that always tops my list is Anne Rice. But if you put the Queen of Vampire Fiction aside, there are plenty of great authors I can think of that would be fun to interview for this blog.
One guy that I have come to like as a write is Jim Butcher. I got into his stuff via his character Dresden and it just snowballed from there. I mean, there pretty much isn’t a single thing the guy has written that I haven’t loved. And the cool thing is, he is so down to earth on his blog, which you can read here. The guy even outlines what you need to do when you sit down to write your own masterpiece. And somehow, the attitude that I love in his books shines through even more on his site. His latest book, Ghost Story was nominated for Best Paranormal Fantasy at the Goodreads Choice Awards and his latest collection of Dresden stories Side Jobs is finally out. So although Jim writes far more about wizards and such then vampires per se, I still put him in the “good guys” list for authors I would love to interview.
There are a couple of other authors that come to mind: Poppy Z Brite wrote Exquisite Corpse, a book that for me was a shock and yet also a great introduction to thinking in a whole new way about vampires. If you don’t think her serial killer/lovers are vampires, at least acknowledge they sure as heck share the sensibility of vampires. I know her writing has gone in a lot of different directions in the last bunch of years, but I still consider her one of those very precious vampire/horror writers.
Of course, of the modern crop of vampire writers, I would be remiss to leave Sherrilyn Kenyon off the list. Her Dark Hunter series is just about the best “poster child” for a great fantasy series there is and even her Bad Moon Rising in the Hellraiser series kicks butt and takes names later. It is hard to classify her work because she has created such an inclusive universe of beings that vampires just seem like the least of anyone’s concerns. Well, except that she doesn’t know how to make a non-lethal character, so it would not do to underestimate any of her characters. I love a woman who knows how to write 
awesome and powerful characters that can still leave you rooting for them to succeed. They kinda leave you thinking, if these are the “good guys” the ones they are after must be beyond frightening, and they are!
I am sure there are dozens of great writers I missed out here, but this was just a bit of a musing about how many great writers are out there providing us with some of the best fantasy writing that has been seen in a long time. It really is a great time to be a fan of any kind of paranormal storytelling – but especially of vampire tales!
Well, let’s take a look at a few things that are happening in Tinsel Town lately that have to do with our favorite creatures, vampires. It used to be if you wanted to see something about them, you had to watch old Bela Lugosi films or read Anne Rice, quietly to yourself and hope no one noticed. Now it is not only hip, but everyone seems to be elbowing in on our little part of the world.
There has been some new casting news for True Blood, this time of an actor who is quite familiar with playing the role of a vampire. Christopher Heyerdahl is one of those guys who just plays vampires with such power and grace, it is no wonder he had been tapped to portray a new character at TB. If you recall, he played one of the Volturi in “Twilight” and it seems someone noticed. A new character, not in the Sookie books is being created, called Dieter Braun. This will be the third new character announced so far for the Fifth Season of TB, which is currently filming.
A big whisper making the rounds right now is the possibility of “Twilight” being seen on TV screens near you some time soon. It seems that this all started when Lionsgate bought Summit Entertainment recently. Summit is the studio that has been producing the Twilight films, and when Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer was heard to comment that he could see Twilight going beyond the next and last, film set to come out in November- well rumors started buzzing. Feltheimer has said he could see Twilight as a TV series, so time will tell.
And finally, I saw on Fangoria that there are plans to do a vampire film with that old dog of rock n roll, Marilyn Manson. It will apparently be a story of a murder mystery with the central figure to be an old rock and roll star vampire named DarcyManning, to be played by Manson. If you have ever seen Mick Jagger in Performance (that is a shot from it above), this should be something like that – with vampires! . Should be worth watching for, as I bet it will come and go pretty fast! But man, a great one to have on hand for late night watching.
Well, that is all for now on the vampire beat – will have more for you sometime soon!
Title: The Falstaff Vampire Files
Author: Lynne Murray
Release: September 2011
Pages: 282
Genre: Urban Vampire
It starts with The Thing in the Shed – and the files we get to read in the package. Kristen Marlow is a therapist, she views herself as someone who is “sane for a living”, but things have been revealed to her that leaves her with that identity in question.
And so we begin to follow the clues left behind, the digital tape recorders, handwritten notes and typed case files. They are the remnants that reveal the chaos left behind when Kristen encounters something that in the end changes not only her own life, but the lives of those around her irrevocably.
It all centers around Hal, a somewhat mysterious but in the end selfish man whose need for power sends him and those around him into places they should never have ventured. Then there is Mina, innocent and just looking to find love. Unfortunately she finds something far darker, and far more dangerous. The twists and turns of the plot take us to unforeseen places, to organizations in the shadow and to knowledge of beings that have dwelt amongst us for centuries, unseen and unknown.
Lynne Murray does a fine job of leading us down a somewhat familiar path, the concept of the “found diary” by in the end showing us more than just notes on paper. The journey is enticing, mostly because the main characters have enough depth to them that you truly want to know what happens. Sir John Falstaff, the charming vampire that is the catalyst for the action in the story, is brought in well into the story and brings a new take on an old tale. His is the story I am most interested in, and I am hoping Murray will consider telling us more of the charming rogue. His story of how he met Shakespeare alone makes the story worth reading!
To tell too much of the story would take away from some of the charm of discovery that makes this story work so well. Suffice to say, if you are someone who likes urban vampire tales with a humorist twist, you will enjoy The Falstaff Vampire Files.
I was catching up on one of my favorite authors, Richelle Mead (of Vampire Academy and much more) to see what she was up to the other day. She has been kinda outta the circuit these days what with the baby boy to take care of and all. You can send her congrats and stuff at her blog here. Her blog is always a fun site and she is one busy lady so if those nasty ex-KGB spies haven’t absconded with her yet, you just might want to check it out!
Meanwhile, I thought I would check out a very fun site that she often does a guest blog for, The League of Reluctant Adults. It is such a well-named blog, made up of fantasy writers who just chat together. Having hung out with fantasy writers most of my life, (hi Len!), I know that most of us are indeed reluctant adults. It is sometimes a wonder we get anything done!
Nicole Peeler was chatting about her latest release, Something Wikked This Way Comes, and it looks like a bit of pure fun. It will be a digital short story (sorry, no old school books for some of us) and feature our old friends Capitola, Shar and Moo from Tempests Legacy. We will be checking this out for a review very very soon. Especially since it is coming out January 17th – hey wait a minute that was a few days ago! Well, you will see it very soon. I promise! Heck- I just checked and our friends at Amazon don’t seem to carry it. Well, no worries. We will see what we can find, but be sure to see her very fine Tempest line to see what Moo and the crew are up to.
Until that time, I found a very funny little post by Allison Pang, the gal who inspired me to check out Hello Kitty a little more seriously. She is such a blast. She posted this picture of what she calls “Unicorn Poo” . Watch for her latest fantasy book A Sliver of Shadow, out now. Very cool tale of faeries the way I always imagined their lives might be. The girl can tell a tale!
And finally, Ellen Schrieber who writes those delicious Vampire Kisses books is on tour, even now as we write. She is doing a Dark Days of Winter Tour with Veronica Rossi creator of Under the Never Sky and Tahereh Mafi who penned Shatter Me. They are heading to warmer climates like California and Arizona (who can blame them?) and may be coming your way! Check out the schedule here for more info.
That’s the news for now folks- more later!!
Allison's Unicorn Poo!!
Title: The Secret History of Vampires
Author: Darrell Schweitzer
Pages: 320
Release: April 2007
Genre: Vampire Anthology
Schweitzer has put together a fascinating collection of vampire stories, connected by an interesting concept. They record a secret history, as opposed to a more familiar concept such as alternate histories, and how perhaps vampires were a part of that story. To tell these tales he has enlisted the talents of some of the best fantasy writers around.
From Carrie Vaughn’s questing look at how the machinations of royal succession have a familiar but eerie tale behind them to Mike Resnick’s story behind the big stick that Roosevelt always carried; we have vampires in the background. They may be the ones who manipulate the strings and move the history forward, but if so we will never know.
The Secret History of Vampires is an interesting premise to build some stories on – the idea that vampires are in the shadows creating a secret history we don’t know a thing about. We have always had the idea of vampires around, in almost every culture. Perhaps there is more of a reason for that then we really want to consider. Perhaps there really is a secret history, with vampires sitting in the wings moving us like pawns in a giant chess game.
Believe it not, there is a course about vampires at University of Toronto called Our Vampires, OurSelves that looks at the role of vampires throughout literature. It is taught by Erol Boran who is the Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies in the German Department at U of T. He feels that when we study vampires we study ourselves, and that is the basic concept behind the course.
Boran points to 1997, which was the hundredth anniversary of the publishing of Bram Stoker’s Dracula as the starting point for much of the interest in vampires these days. He was actually interested years before when he applied to have his MA thesis center on the subject of vampires in literature. Although the idea was not approved (his supervisor deemed vampires unworthy of such scholarly study) he has remained interested in them ever since.
His course takes its name from the book by Nina Auerbach and starts by discussing the myth of Dracula for six weeks before he then turns to modern interpretations of the vampire. The student presentations in the second part of the class have always had an enthusiastic following and he intends to follow this format again this year.
Okay- I got curious and looked up the book her refers to. Turns out it is still in print and available from Amazon. In it, Auerbach explores how we have used vampires in our media to reflect and reveal a lot about ourselves. Her point is that each era gets the kind of vampire it both desires and deserves. The book was written in 1997, before the current vampire craze. But I think it looks like interesting reading, particularly for those of us who can’t make it out to Toronto for that course! You might want to check it out; Amazon does have a “look inside” feature for it though it doesn’t look like you can get it for Kindle. Too bad!
Now is your chance to be part of Hollywood. Well, not really but at least be a part of an indie vampire film and help to make it happen. Our pals over at Suburban Vampire let us in on this fun little opportunity. Check this out-
There is an indie company that is making a film about Dracula, but set in modern times. It is going to be called Solid Venom (catchy title, don’t you think?). They are looking for fans of the vampire genre to help them raise the funds for things like insurance, makeup, catering, set design and other production goodies. Even the little guys need this kind of stuff. Having worked (briefly) at a horror film company myself called Full Moon Entertainment, I can tell you that everything costs money. Way more money than it should.
So if you have ever wanted to get in on the ground floor of a little indie horror film, especially one that is going to be doing vampires, here is your chance! If this sounds like something you’d like a piece of the action on, then head on out to their site
In the meantime, here is a bit of a trailer to let you know your money would not go to waste, that these guys really mean to make a vampire film:
