All your favorite vampires from fiction gathered in one place

Illustrator Matthew Griffin put together this fabulous poster to celebrate Bram Stoker just in time for Halloween. It's all your favorite vampires from fiction gathered in one place. And yes, Alex, it features your favorite vixen from "Underworld" in tight black leather. As a side note, I totally want one of these, framed, and on the wall of my apartment. So cool.

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True Blood is one of the worst things on television that you should watch regularly

My really guilty pleasure is watching True Blood during the summer. This show is just plain awful and the writing is so bad. Yet, I enjoy it thoroughly. Here's the laundry list of things that you really should never do (from JUST one episode), but no one is telling Charlaine Harris or the makers of True Blood:

1) Half the cast got high on blood and then gave each other...piggy back rides.

2) They hired an awesome actor (Christopher Meloni) from the Law & Order series and then just gave him a few lines and killed him off.

3) We have vampire night vision. Why do we even need this?

4) We have another plot line still continuing from the past...you know, the fae one...where I guess we give bullsh*t lines to Sooki about her luminescence and how she's basically a battery and is gonna run out.

5) We have another plot line with a raging Ifrit or Efreet or some djinn thing chasing Belflour.

6) We have another plot line with Lafayette and former lover Jesus (who is now just a disembodied head with his lips sewn together). Oh and the same lip sewing happened to Lafayette who had the courage to spit in the face of the guy holding the gun on him but then didn't take the gun away.

7) We have another plot line with Lilith becoming real. Why did we need another cast member?

8) We have another plot line with Alcide challenging the wolf pack leader for supremacy. The other wolf leader is unworthy because he's a drug addict.

9) We have another plot line with humans using Barack Obama rubber masks to kill vampires. They call themselves a "hate group" and serve someone called "Dragon" but we don't know who that is yet. They managed to suck in Hoyt who is angry at Jessica for dumping him for Jason Stackhouse (his buddy). Sam Merlott is kind of in on this plot line and does a lot of sniffing and rolling around on the floor like a dog. It's bad acting, looks bad, and is just plain stupid.

10) We have another plot line with Tara as a vampire who is slowly de-icing Pam's heart. Somewhere in all of this, Tara's mom shows up and says she's married to a preacher now and that "she can't have no daughter who is strippin'! and bein' all vampire-like."

My head is spinning. How could the writers let all of these plotlines get out of control like this. Why are there now so many cast members in True Blood that I can't keep track of them? It's ridiculous.

But yeah...I'll be watching again on Sunday. So terrible, I know. I'm part of the problem.

True Blood is one of the worst things on television that you should watch regularly. If anything, it will tell you that 1) terrible makes CA$H and 2) If you want to have respect as a writer, don't do this sh*t in your stories. But then, you probably won't make #1.

Have a great Wednesday.

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Nightfire by Alyson Burdette will set your kindle on fire

I give this book five stars out of five.

I just finished Alyson Burdette's Nightfire, and I have to say that this is one of the best vampire books I have ever read. Just so you know, I read Anita Blake (Laurel K. Hamilton), Anne Rice (Lestat), and have read the first book in the Twilight series so it's not like I'm a stranger to vampire fiction.

What I loved:

1) Olivia. She's an amazing and refreshing protagonist. This is a vampire novel told from the female point-of-view (as a vampire and something else). I'm going to leave the "something else" as a spoiler free thing. But trust me...Olivia is not a run-of-the-mill vamp. There's a reason she hangs out around all that water in Peninsula, and I can't wait to see Alyson explore this in future installments of the series.

2) Jesse. Although he does something that is pretty terrible, I couldn't help feeling drawn to his obvious charm. It's clear that he loves Olivia, wants what he sees as is best for her, but ends up hurting her terribly in the climax of the book all to prove a point. I wonder if she'll be able to see that Jesse is probably better for her than William, but Olivia is definitely stuck on William.

3) William. The handsome vampire hunter. Aside from being a tough-as-nails guy he's also got the whole swoon worthy blue-eyed boy-next-door thing going on. I loved every scene in which Alyson explores with this guy. It's some of the best romance writing around.

4) Alyson's prose. She is a great writer. Here are examples pulled from the book:

"He's suddenly little more than a memory, and I wonder if my body has remembered how to dream...His deep blue eyes open wide as he pulls me toward him. They are two glass jars full of fireflies that dance in the moonlight."

"I spit the words out at him, wishing they were knives."

"He laughs, and it is the sound of a thousand birds in song."

Pretty amazing, right?

So yeah. Alyson...when can we expect a sequel? Nightfire has left me wanting more :))

If you haven't met Alyson yet, you might want to hit her up on her blog HERE.

If you want to be supportive, mark her book "to read" on goodreads so that others that follow your stream will see that you at least find the book "of interest". Go HERE to do that.

And if you want a sample or can't wait to read it, go to Amazon right HERE.

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Can you name all the vampires?

Have a great Thursday.

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Fangtales

For my weekend post I wanted to put up the official press release for the extremely talented writer, Theresa Milstein.  She has a short story in this beautiful book, and I am so proud of her accomplishment. Additionally, I'm honored to be on Theresa's blog tour and will be hosting her on October 12th, 2011. Have a great weekend. :)

Edited by Berni Stevens

Fangtales is the third anthology in the popular ‘tales’ collections published for the YA market by Wyvern Publications. It joins Dragontales, published in 2009, and Mertales, published in 2010.

Fangtales visits the terrifying realms of the most popular creature ever to grace the pages of fantasy fiction. The vampire. The tales are fresh, original and scary enough to send delicious shivers down the spine of every reader. Each tale brings something new to the genre, and will be a welcome addition to any fantasy fan’s bookshelf. Vampires will always be a hugely popular theme – there’s a very good reason why Bram Stoker’s Dracula has never been out of print since  it was first published in 1897.

Lose yourself in the blood-soaked pages of Fangtales, where a best friend mysteriously disappears; wonder why a small child roams the woods alone at midnight, and how a terrified girl can get help when her house is surrounded by hungry vampires.

Fangtales • ISBN 978-0-9560363-6-0 • Published by Wyvern Publications • October 2011 •

Wyvern Publications began in 2009 as a small press dedicated to bringing quality teen fiction into the mainstream. Its first publication, The Faerie Conspiracies by Holly Stacey, received rave reviews on Amazon.  www.wyvernpublications.com

The Fangtales editor, Berni Stevens has worked in publishing for over twenty years as a cover designer. She has several published short stories to her credit.Her debut vampire novel, Fledgling, was published on 23^rd September 2011, by The Wild Rose Press.    http://www.thewildrosepress.com/

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