tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63661075640171779672024-03-05T00:44:26.253-08:00The Fleam: Vampire Book Reviewsveingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-59177488301918447492018-11-22T17:33:00.001-08:002018-11-22T17:34:57.939-08:00SANTA IS A VAMPIRE damian serbu<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJntWeGgXqdDapp2tHG-bBLdJGcnV94clIS1xZfeI09uQeMtGF-F6rBJevYNyyM0Z4bcxeBIro_CwizJH4dFqPGhifJHXS_tO2wX7329BHKbiI-aHrtyE-2a_p0qyY8W8mXGSpuKCDln1v/s1600/cover153532-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="255" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJntWeGgXqdDapp2tHG-bBLdJGcnV94clIS1xZfeI09uQeMtGF-F6rBJevYNyyM0Z4bcxeBIro_CwizJH4dFqPGhifJHXS_tO2wX7329BHKbiI-aHrtyE-2a_p0qyY8W8mXGSpuKCDln1v/s320/cover153532-medium.png" width="213" /></a></div>
This story is basically a set of conversations that show how
the whole Santa mythos is a front for a narcissistic murdering vampire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is borderline Bizarro genre which is going
to limit the audience for it dramatically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is also packaged in a way that I think many readers will misunderstand,
leaving them confronted with something much more offensive and less plot-driven
than they were expecting—and while clever, completely without charm.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For strength of concept, and assuming the right audience, I
am giving the story a good rating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
think it will attract many more reviews that are negative and disgusted, and
not without reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few blood spots on
a “rom com”-esque cover is not enough to warn people about a fowl-mouthed
shallow alcoholic protagonist and a story in which almost nothing happens but
when it does it involves poop, private parts and child murder.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Enter at your own risk.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Review copy courtesy of Netgalley, 4/5</i></div>
<br />veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-53315748967875125972018-10-07T16:26:00.000-07:002018-10-07T16:45:11.145-07:00ALL THE DOGS ARE DANCING j m goguen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipDKhgAm-5YnYO97yckPNY4-uSslNjPbIHBOZD2zWJ6bh6c393KcjN3TgpWS0zduwzZSHI4eFaMGWDdnH96bPXhyphenhyphenYA6fpWsQUDMFZd2ebmPC0Oi3KmriBXN3Od-DNTNBKi7D8QSoWCUGz7/s1600/cover150293-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="255" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipDKhgAm-5YnYO97yckPNY4-uSslNjPbIHBOZD2zWJ6bh6c393KcjN3TgpWS0zduwzZSHI4eFaMGWDdnH96bPXhyphenhyphenYA6fpWsQUDMFZd2ebmPC0Oi3KmriBXN3Od-DNTNBKi7D8QSoWCUGz7/s200/cover150293-medium.png" width="133" /></a></div>
ALL THE DOGS ARE DANCING is an absolute triumph in terms of world building. The post-apocalyptic North America that Burner and Aaron traverse has texture, beauty, foreboding, strange perils, deep history, and layers that give it a strange plausibility despite being fill with roaming lions, bands of human cannibals, werewolf fight clubs, and terrifying deadwalkers.<br />
<br />
Burner has a great deal of charm as a protagonist and the planned future alpha of his pack--which makes a peaceful subsistence living migrating back and forth across the re-wilded countryside and staying away from the cities which are largely dystopian nightmares. <br />
<br />
The plot, however… well. It starts off as a risky rescue mission but quickly becomes a disorganized zigzag across the country punctuated by torture, explosions, more torture, and more explosions. While Burner and Aaron instigate a few situations they spend the latter half of the story largely being rescued by more influential individuals. The author makes use of some pretty huge coincidences, a couple of info-dumps, and the story eventually just peters out without anything in the way of an obvious conclusion.<br />
<br />
This story is also very much a “with romantic elements” rather than a romance, but the charms of the main characters are undeniable and they do get a happily-ever-at-least-for-a-while. but it’s kind of a bittersweet one compared to the life Burner was living in chapter one. I found the entire book wildly original and entertaining but hope that in her future endeavors the author decides to focus more on blending these aspects with a plot that properly resolves by the end.<br />
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That said the vampires-by-another-name in the story are a truly novel take on the vampire idea in their origins, attributes, and philosophies. Goguen has mastered the art of not over-explaining how the supernatural-esque elements of the novel work, and they stand apart for the cliches that are now so common. That alone makes me inclined to see what else this author may have written and look for opportunities to return to this dark world.<br />
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<i>Review copy courtesy of Netgalley, 2/5</i> </div>
veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-64405321862614922202018-10-06T16:31:00.002-07:002018-10-06T16:31:39.765-07:00VICTORIAN VAMPIRE romance pup<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlL-ddOyHO3U1y3IMZCu0__ah5DqsmptpTCrAKUoH8By1J0I-5pCzWtsGnqx_vDH9qZSrsJDEGvbDjm1cr46IjYDNUjLZCWVALyV_uRbUuWRlFht7_iwdEiw40wHiTJLMifGS42UfL2azJ/s1600/51EipCFuicL._SY346_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="218" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlL-ddOyHO3U1y3IMZCu0__ah5DqsmptpTCrAKUoH8By1J0I-5pCzWtsGnqx_vDH9qZSrsJDEGvbDjm1cr46IjYDNUjLZCWVALyV_uRbUuWRlFht7_iwdEiw40wHiTJLMifGS42UfL2azJ/s200/51EipCFuicL._SY346_.jpg" width="125" /></a></div>
<span class="a-size-base review-text" data-hook="review-body">VICTORIAN
VAMPIRE has a lot of exciting supernatural and gothic elements, but
nevertheless manages to be a fairly dull read. It is a full length
novel but the prose is quite flat, the scenes disjointed, and the
overall impression is of the story written once-through hastily with
limited thought and research—but trying to hit a lot of popular tropes.</span><br />
<span class="a-size-base review-text" data-hook="review-body"><br />Our
heroine Tabitha seems to spend very little time being a governess, let
alone filling the role as would be expected in the Victorian era when
your employer is a member of the nobility. In her various wanderings
she manages to attract three suitors, one vanishes from the story
without much explanation about why he was there in the first place, the
other two are a sorcerer and a vampire. There is a disjointed story that
involves Tabitha wandering down quite a few dark alleys and finding
murderous monsters, and also repeatedly entertaining bachelor men
unchaperoned. Anachronisms about.</span><br />
<span class="a-size-base review-text" data-hook="review-body"><br />If you aren’t worried about any
kind of plausibility you might find this to be an entertaining read with
the requisite romance happy ending. For me, I think I would have
preferred it if Tabitha’s antics lead to a more realistic and
unfortunate end and the vampire ended up with her employer, the lusty
Lady Irene, instead.</span><br />
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<span class="a-size-base review-text" data-hook="review-body"><i>Review copy courtesy of HiddenGems, 1/5, #Yawn</i> </span></div>
veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-77666810915559777052018-10-01T12:00:00.002-07:002018-10-01T12:03:12.499-07:00THE VAMPIRE’S MASQUERADE Kiersten fay<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifEFmA7uJV-iv-aLbNYAk-VhyphenhyphenYt7keXagK3zLbd0CyEPkB2d2uYjrTiMOKMOnNm9tlW5sRR2rQ6_GseqqwBAJI4GGsmUmSk3KYEv-jeLMcwXNkKAQFNX8IVssa420hTFAC40daL1vis4YC/s1600/cover149434-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="255" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifEFmA7uJV-iv-aLbNYAk-VhyphenhyphenYt7keXagK3zLbd0CyEPkB2d2uYjrTiMOKMOnNm9tlW5sRR2rQ6_GseqqwBAJI4GGsmUmSk3KYEv-jeLMcwXNkKAQFNX8IVssa420hTFAC40daL1vis4YC/s200/cover149434-medium.png" width="133" /></a></div>
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Based on the blurb I expected THE VAMPIRE’S MASQUERADE to be
a dual point-of-view story, when actually it is told entirely from Kasima.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The romance is quite straightforward and mainly
impeded by the hero and heroine hesitating to express their level of commitment—which
is understandable given the overall context of the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author does a good job of filling in the
world-building and introducing characters from the first book (which I have not
read).<br />
<br />
The vampire mythos itself is not especially interesting with standard
romance vampires (a.k.a. hot vampire super-heroes with no real problems from
their condition) but I did like the back-history of the civil war between
humans and vampires after the vampire’s were outed. Honestly, I might have preferred
a more gritty story from this time period rather than a largely cozy romance
set in what seems like a very comfortable community doing well after the
reconstruction. THE VAMPIRE’S MASQUERADE is not an overly complex story but
emotionally gratifying and engaging throughout mainly due to Kasima’s
likeability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><i>Review copy courtesy of Netgalley, 6/10 #SuperheroVampire</i></span></div>
</div>
<br />veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-3086368520845354622018-09-29T14:14:00.002-07:002018-09-29T14:15:43.844-07:00MASKED LONGING alana delacroix<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVmxWEgWJcwxqh68NUrxxjeQAX0LWmx2Iuzr-d9DNhYT31uAbErdSXVAstS7k10U9xylNv4yca9tywjUymW4QO6u_J7-CV85uEVryPFKeCLqLyow2tSV5ezYkVk0-6LySaR2k2ZEJajO9X/s1600/51Q7Hz1ScVL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="320" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVmxWEgWJcwxqh68NUrxxjeQAX0LWmx2Iuzr-d9DNhYT31uAbErdSXVAstS7k10U9xylNv4yca9tywjUymW4QO6u_J7-CV85uEVryPFKeCLqLyow2tSV5ezYkVk0-6LySaR2k2ZEJajO9X/s200/51Q7Hz1ScVL.jpg" width="127" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
MASKED LONGING is a vampire adventure-romance executed with
professional polish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vampires are of
the super-hero type with all the speed, strength, psychic ability and longevity
advantages but really none of the disadvantages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Estelle is assuming the duties as the most
important vampire queen’s head of military/security.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This story is clearly part of a series and the author does a
pretty good job of getting the reader up to speed, except for taking a very
long time to explain that the <i>masquerada</i>, our hero Stephen being one, are
equally long lived human-to-human shapeshifters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both heroine and hero have hundreds of years
of baggage that is getting in the way of them getting together romantically,
and there is also an inconvenient war going on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Generally I am a huge fan of a romance where the female is
more alpha than the male.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However at
about the half way point of the book Estelle makes a horrendous decision that involves
deserting her duties and gets a bunch of people she is responsible for killed—an
outcome she has a passing one sentence of regret about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having no respect whatsoever for the heroine
meant that the sudden resolution of the previously crippling emotional barriers
to love, in the last few pages of the book, didn’t really have the impact it
was probably meant to.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<i>A review copy was provided courtesy of Netgalley</i>, 2/5 </div>
veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-33138070090507959192015-09-29T16:57:00.005-07:002015-09-29T17:03:00.997-07:00MOVIE: Byzantium<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Ns6DRYRVAOf2i1tKFvpRZzdjwj2GJuE2EcrS7-oCtHq_-earHRaAi6FKWKLzTSJXfdKMP8VdrTQxYIWwCaGP1DfK9dOt0LwKxbaUCUrLp29QNEyOPid7k39CfbsrC07JH3DaUJJ9Q4sC/s1600/byzantium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Ns6DRYRVAOf2i1tKFvpRZzdjwj2GJuE2EcrS7-oCtHq_-earHRaAi6FKWKLzTSJXfdKMP8VdrTQxYIWwCaGP1DfK9dOt0LwKxbaUCUrLp29QNEyOPid7k39CfbsrC07JH3DaUJJ9Q4sC/s1600/byzantium.jpg" /></a></div>
Another vampire movie to appear recently on Netflix is BYZANTIUM. In theory this film should be bowed down by he weight of its tired old tropes of first love, coming of age, mother/daughter strife and braided present-and-past storylines. Yet somehow the quality of the screenplay and acting, and downbeat but atmospheric look of the movie carry it through.<br />
<br />
It may help that vampirism gives both the length of time and the stakes to make melodramatic behavior of the leads believable motivations. Mother vampire seeks a quiet life of transient prostitution to conceal her daughter from an ancient threat she has never fully explained to the girls. Daughter seeks a more refined and respectable lifestyle and yearns to tell someone, perhaps her new quasi-boyfriend, the truth about who she really is.<br />
<br />
Both backstory and current conflict come to a crux on a dark pier, where both heroines will be either destroyed or transformed.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<em>See also</em></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1531901/">IMDB</a></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantium_(film)">Rotten Tomatoes</a></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantium_(film)">Wikipedia</a></div>
veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-33616084125962416592015-07-18T17:40:00.005-07:002015-07-18T17:48:08.751-07:00MOVIE The Unwanted (2014)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglLVVKFHsH5zC4gGD6QqC2wQWDBmEMsPcPACqXcc1BvaNpXC0jgWVTX6u1ATRBRWixbI-o2x-bN0mvw7-Berd0OtRB0V5vh9JfDxIUv_e6O0bWNaNgTdGKzz3zVvSC4mEv0i4XQV7MOmQB/s1600/unwanted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglLVVKFHsH5zC4gGD6QqC2wQWDBmEMsPcPACqXcc1BvaNpXC0jgWVTX6u1ATRBRWixbI-o2x-bN0mvw7-Berd0OtRB0V5vh9JfDxIUv_e6O0bWNaNgTdGKzz3zVvSC4mEv0i4XQV7MOmQB/s1600/unwanted.jpg" /></a></div>
I started watching this movie on Netflix without having any idea what I was about, and I suspect that is the best way to watch it. Then the vampire twist part way through, while somewhat foreshadowed, is still rather surprising and pleasantly shocking.<br />
<br />
Hannah Fierman is the stand out performer as Laura, the young woman fascinated by the drifter Carmilla (Kristen Orr in an understated performance). William Kat is the least convincing, chewing the scenery as Laura's semi-psychotic father.<br />
<br />
The movie works in its own right as a modern gothic, ad is also a retelling (rather loosely) of Carmilla that vampire aficionados will appreciate. The movie starts rather slow but the narrative and cinematography built towards an evocative and visually compelling ending.<br />
<br />
<em>Highly recommended.</em><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNGNpLdmL9o">Trailer</a><br />
<br />
Links: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2488366/">IMDB</a>, <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_unwanted_2014/">Rotten Tomatoes</a>.veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-91913201393157479172014-06-10T10:51:00.000-07:002015-07-18T17:48:30.297-07:00Leech Women and Monkey Glands<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigeOQfgH9ZUq5DhyphenhyphenqmVxzv6qqAuI3ZaHHsz3Cmyh7dPbMRMwXLrQIHTOzQtWiRIgEbZWM_vf5e23CXhT9o-iN02BVIqs20dZtWfmrMPe_Yx6d6vC2XoyoOBYnugvxjdeMSIzxfv6zZb-t5/s1600/POSTER-THELEECHWOMAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigeOQfgH9ZUq5DhyphenhyphenqmVxzv6qqAuI3ZaHHsz3Cmyh7dPbMRMwXLrQIHTOzQtWiRIgEbZWM_vf5e23CXhT9o-iN02BVIqs20dZtWfmrMPe_Yx6d6vC2XoyoOBYnugvxjdeMSIzxfv6zZb-t5/s1600/POSTER-THELEECHWOMAN.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
In this 1960 movie a woman discover how to rejuvenate herself by killing men to extract material from their pineal glands.<br />
<br />
The idea that dramatic rejuvenation was possible using simple extracts had been quite popular in the 1920s, and this movie represents its last gasp.<br />
<br />
A French physician named Serge Voronoff felt that testicles could be transplanted to return youth to men. His experiments included both <a href="http://pediaview.com/openpedia/Serge_Voronoff">human and animal subjects</a>. He claimed that grafting young testicles onto older donors not only increased vigor but could combat dementia. The practice of having "monkey glands" implanted in various ways became wildly, if briefly, popular amongst wealthy men.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLVYflU0UWJ96N4adgpIeh88l6qNDbVOd8TPVYKA8cstH99pB8045ay6jBNSnrVCHJHkwLhBHikFma2QDGVvH_rP8mduNVXtM9SccCpyy3a1iwkIQBHs1YMStIvUAzf5qOZRyB7MQyiG-n/s1600/voronoff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLVYflU0UWJ96N4adgpIeh88l6qNDbVOd8TPVYKA8cstH99pB8045ay6jBNSnrVCHJHkwLhBHikFma2QDGVvH_rP8mduNVXtM9SccCpyy3a1iwkIQBHs1YMStIvUAzf5qOZRyB7MQyiG-n/s1600/voronoff.jpg" /></a></div>
These efforts were eventually ridiculed and any benefits attributed to the placebo effect. And Voronoff accelerated his downfall by undertaking in creasingly bizarre experiemtns such as trying to ineminte a monkey with human sperm. However, his work did pave the way for more productive transplant surgery and the discovery of testosterone--and he certainly inspired a great deal of speculative fiction.<br />
<br />
"The Leech Woman"<i> </i>plays on Voronoffs masculinist focus in a strange way in that the female "leech" must have male donors and meets her downfall when extracting the material she needs from a woman.<i><br /></i><br />
<br />
<i>See also:</i><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054020/">Internet Movie Database </a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Leech_Woman">Wikipedia</a></li>
</ul>
veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-62268103605184841042013-06-12T17:51:00.003-07:002013-06-12T17:51:37.513-07:00THE VAMPIRE PROJECT Ashley Keogh<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRKPqG0zc82SZ7xW0H7Y_lPLFi9_XMpT3mqc2151-7vxNPvvvLbwTxpyJC_PDW7_U4cynEK8HRxFVtL-w_L_9LF-Hv95sRmqKFvXpnPbhtG8QmzpR4-48TwqOnwyL3d7jhPWRcmSY7E4bf/s1600/41MUj5vx4mL._AA160_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRKPqG0zc82SZ7xW0H7Y_lPLFi9_XMpT3mqc2151-7vxNPvvvLbwTxpyJC_PDW7_U4cynEK8HRxFVtL-w_L_9LF-Hv95sRmqKFvXpnPbhtG8QmzpR4-48TwqOnwyL3d7jhPWRcmSY7E4bf/s1600/41MUj5vx4mL._AA160_.jpg" /></a></div>
If <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Vampire-Project-ebook/dp/B00DBEONVY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1371084534&sr=1-1">The Vampire Project</a> had been the first chapter of a book I would have been very enthusiastic about it. A vampire child I captured and taken to a research center. There are intriguing hints that her refusal to eat human flesh may have made her special.<br />
<br />
However the story just ends without any real resolution, which is disappointing. That said, it is free on Amazon and might be a good way to sample the author's work, although to what purpose I am not sure as she has not other titles on sale.<br />
<br />
1/5veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-71146614434168510802012-12-18T18:05:00.004-08:002012-12-18T18:09:09.604-08:00THE DOG NEXT DOOR AND OTHER DISTURBANCES m lopes da silva<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGmd3h2PdRsMSUYSCWAFKvfnQTc41KhwSkAqDhq5ERA1yKyzztqhHAoZdK1gkOTRZ9OUC-6TVDYxda0bp4kXZVmowdTdybtoLJ_ouZM-DADmZAUHuK3o1rwt8bBUmixDMjfs1pesUYBSAK/s1600/dog-next-door.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGmd3h2PdRsMSUYSCWAFKvfnQTc41KhwSkAqDhq5ERA1yKyzztqhHAoZdK1gkOTRZ9OUC-6TVDYxda0bp4kXZVmowdTdybtoLJ_ouZM-DADmZAUHuK3o1rwt8bBUmixDMjfs1pesUYBSAK/s320/dog-next-door.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
This short story collection opens with a vampire tale that is fist deep in the sex/death overtones of vampire myth. The rest of the stories have a similarly perverse and thoughtful tone. Some are more successful than others but all are worth the time spent reading them. <br />
<br />
Perhaps the simplest of the stories are the ones that will stick with me the longest. <i>The Chipperlee Chair</i> portrays a future where life extending AI is believably banal and imperfect. <i>Something Better</i> shows how a monstrous mother may not be quite the complete villain she appears. And 'the dog next door' from the title turns a the typical boy-meets-dog stories in a rather twisted direction.<br />
<br />
Overall every story displays a genuinely creepy imaginative concept to good advantage. While the characters are often recognizable types they are refreshingly unstereotyped. In fact the implicit misogyny often found in the work of developing horror writers is turned deftly on its head.<br />
<br />
Overall I would consider this collection a qualified success, enough to put this author on my "will buy" list when it comes to future works.<br />
<br />
3.5/5<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A9X40GI">Available on Kindle</a><br />
<br />veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-29292058083049283112012-06-07T19:18:00.001-07:002012-08-19T15:30:43.192-07:00HOW TO EAT A HUMAN BEING dan dillard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBBuvaGMVWPMZg2hHeiepHPIs6iBaW4gmKAXEd6lr_VnzKmOprePQYuu4UFJ_lGk4k5GwcNYhAUYRUTMYbZ4o8zLmiF7ODAWpwhxIrjGdFszUF32hC7I3Jk5Bi4w-tOrYvSYExKttGecOW/s1600/eat.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBBuvaGMVWPMZg2hHeiepHPIs6iBaW4gmKAXEd6lr_VnzKmOprePQYuu4UFJ_lGk4k5GwcNYhAUYRUTMYbZ4o8zLmiF7ODAWpwhxIrjGdFszUF32hC7I3Jk5Bi4w-tOrYvSYExKttGecOW/s320/eat.JPG" width="225" /></a></div>
<i>How to Eat a Human Being</i> is an anthology of one poem and six short stories. The poem is fresh and funny and launches you into the collection. Many of the stories have a Stephen King-like tone and set up a great scenario, but the pay offs are a little weak.<br />
<br />
There is a bit of a recurring theme of hero who starts off a bit unlikeable, and end up damned, and women who are either perfect wives or dissolute sluts. One story called 'Stray' was very effective perhaps because it broke that mold, but it was little over-explained at the end. Overall, an interested if rough-hewn collection.<br />
<br />
Now actual vampires in this one, but everyone needs some variety in their life.veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-42715269611699866902012-03-21T12:19:00.000-07:002012-03-21T12:19:45.867-07:00EMOTIONALLY CHARGED selina fenech<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3qpafzliV2tuI7MxgNK1_glIRxJv0_tk5Fz2MRfkyanRs3q1uzHPTZrlGT7NLpL48JeX3XE4rKu2AKcoTkMdmy-Um4ROi_S4IVdGBpgpzzqf_1d0yES-6GemSXgL8x-TZRq6R8VhqvaUS/s1600/charged.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3qpafzliV2tuI7MxgNK1_glIRxJv0_tk5Fz2MRfkyanRs3q1uzHPTZrlGT7NLpL48JeX3XE4rKu2AKcoTkMdmy-Um4ROi_S4IVdGBpgpzzqf_1d0yES-6GemSXgL8x-TZRq6R8VhqvaUS/s1600/charged.jpg" /></a></div>An unremarkable teen girl learns that she can turn other people's emotions into super-speed and strength. Like any superhero story a team turns up to take her in, but it turns out they aren't the heroes she expects.<br />
<br />
Emotionally charged is a novella, about 25,000 once you deduct the sample from another book that makes up about ten percent of the pages. I think it had some pacing issues in that it started slow and ended suddenly. It starts like team drama, is more like an adventure in the middle, and romance in the end. <br />
<br />
But overall the writing is strong and the story engaging after the suspicious super-team appear on the scene. It hits on a few mild but worthy themes such as what true heroism is and where to get true self-esteem. However the ethics of draining or blocking emotion go largely unexamined other than some obvious conclusions about how the resulting power should be used. [3/5]veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-9220414525578154762012-02-28T19:58:00.001-08:002012-02-28T19:58:57.268-08:00EMBRACED BY THE SHADOWS mayra calvani (Twilight Times Books)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN-BHLami1Rx_vBkYxNfy6uYKvqv62SvB0UjTusJV5sKsaw8SbKMNlS0_dBkdiu-DLHT8LL1qpMcwJ-5ULkJi_cU2T2LLjT9jk8XCaHeFIJ2xiJ4nMnjRRMh1Awijiu8LbzkucWum9LKXX/s1600/EmbracedbytheShadows_150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN-BHLami1Rx_vBkYxNfy6uYKvqv62SvB0UjTusJV5sKsaw8SbKMNlS0_dBkdiu-DLHT8LL1qpMcwJ-5ULkJi_cU2T2LLjT9jk8XCaHeFIJ2xiJ4nMnjRRMh1Awijiu8LbzkucWum9LKXX/s320/EmbracedbytheShadows_150.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>Alana is a fantasy heroine in more ways that one. For a starts she a stunning twenty-two year old red-head with curly hair to her waist. But also the book opens with her starting her first job as a restaurant manager, her only qualification a bachelor's in philosophy, and the day before opening she is hanging out in her apartment and having drinks with her friends (not going crazy over last minute arrangements and taking a crash course in hospitality and accounting). And then the restaurant closes at midnight and the "manager" immediately leaves to go dancing with her friend and get drunk. If that isn't a fantasy world, I don't know what is. Meanwhile her best friend is "secretly" seeing a married man... by openly frequenting a hot nightclub with him on opening night. <br />
<br />
But never mind. If that sort of thing doesn't bother youthis is a nice retelling of the engenue and vampire trope. the plot progresses a little jumpily with leaps in time that I a not sure are meant to read as hours or days or just be completely non-linear. But essentially Alana thinks she is sleep-walking and having hot dreams. When of course she is really having not entirely consensual vampire-style lovin'. Sadash the vampire alternates between frightening, seducing and saving Alana like a good super-alpha-male should. <br />
<br />
One part of this books I really appreciated was the very uncompromising approach to immortality which sets this story apart from the usual 'vampire as superpowers with fangs' romances. There are little flashes of subtlty like:<br />
<br />
<i>"Remember what you told me. The Devil is also an angel."<br />
"Was."</i><br />
<br />
The story gets more complex in the second half. A strange love, a twisted friendship, a murder mystery. It also develops some implausible elements, like a gunshot at a party that nobody hears. Overall there is more to like than dislike in this story but it is an untidy melange of cliched and novel, romance and mystery, and a plot that seems to wander at times as if the author's intent changed as the story progressed. That is why 'Embraced by the Shadows" ends up with a 3/5.veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-82191850616788034392011-12-05T15:54:00.000-08:002011-12-05T15:55:26.702-08:00LEECH david eveleigh<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGC_OGLb333f55qlw8CaeIWyZ_gIfDbRR1pDIG25U6evkosBAg7VCKuEQREWZybWVzBZoAbBpnYehPUQqQZkdarcVs1CHDU7ZZbTkc4TO-jjf6dp94AjPuqfXxjPlVd32OX5bbto_JX3R/s1600/leechcover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGC_OGLb333f55qlw8CaeIWyZ_gIfDbRR1pDIG25U6evkosBAg7VCKuEQREWZybWVzBZoAbBpnYehPUQqQZkdarcVs1CHDU7ZZbTkc4TO-jjf6dp94AjPuqfXxjPlVd32OX5bbto_JX3R/s320/leechcover.png" width="250" /></a></div>Playwright Jean Kerr once said <i>“I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you want - an adorable pancreas?”.</i> But in the word of leech by David Eveleigh, vampire-like beings see, smell and hear humans inside and out—and so have very different notions of beauty. Thus reluctant paparazzi photographer “just pretty” Maria, becomes an unfortunate participant--and ultimately pawn--in a game of wits between a brave private investigator and an evil vampire king.<br />
<br />
Leech is really a fairly straightforward horror/adventure story with a hero, hero’s girl, villain and minions and a small cast of secondary characters. It flirts with more adventurous themes such as what really makes one a parasite, but never gets very far into them. It toys with taking a new angle on vampires but uses them ultimately as a stock embodiment of evil. It strays somewhat into romance territory with the unusual decision to have Maria be the point of view character for much of the middle of the book, but its culmination of the story is the triumph of hero over villain not love over adversity.<br />
<br />
Leech is a very readable vampire novel with hints of greater ambitions but, in my estimation, the different between good and great is the willingness to take at least one major risk. Any one of Leech’s more novel elements could have represented an exciting departure from tried and true tropes of the genre, if pursued just a little further.<br />
<br />
3/5veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-72912451749202800972011-09-23T07:11:00.000-07:002011-09-23T07:11:37.960-07:00New Release: Other Side of Night: Bastian & Riley Series: Other Side of Night by S.L. Armstrong & K. Piet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIrvWOgHtwVZvF-e1FDBg-Hj5OT4rb5qruzw3Umv-bpPkeLUM6A1f9_3efkl3LaPLuKl2DzAidH2bGO-Iip8DzRgoEqPLLLtRNyk89V5R0O4FUEU4sKbVvXOwaGneERBjWJ1tGcn5AL3-M/s1600/OtherSideOfNighttb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIrvWOgHtwVZvF-e1FDBg-Hj5OT4rb5qruzw3Umv-bpPkeLUM6A1f9_3efkl3LaPLuKl2DzAidH2bGO-Iip8DzRgoEqPLLLtRNyk89V5R0O4FUEU4sKbVvXOwaGneERBjWJ1tGcn5AL3-M/s200/OtherSideOfNighttb.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>Out today: <a href="http://www.stormmoonpress.com/books/Other-Side-of-Night-Bastian--Riley.aspx">Other Side of Night: Bastian and Riley</a> by S.L. Armstrong and K. Piet (Storm Moon Press)<br />
<br />
"<i>Vampires walk among us. For centuries, they have adapted, learning to pass undetected in our world. They no longer fear the day, only the sting of direct sunlight. They are students, bankers, lawyers, and even actors. But when the sun goes down, they are all united by their eternal thirst. We do not see them from our safe and comfortable side of the night. But sometimes, one of us is drawn away from the light and we cross into their world. Into the other side of night."</i>veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-33419666232169444972011-01-22T12:35:00.000-08:002011-01-22T12:35:26.482-08:00Vampire as Baby/Baby as Vampire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvGs20ZXiQdXwwe4EpKvIlPtC-UCfJklP14n4y_hyGnFZrKP8SbefANlMXp80eGuTIQWrfBObYr4lxqe3PLnbhA6YqSdwasm9IlyBM3RyVldmbVA0Y1W_b1gxLvLqAApfIPlCtiF8jSH1l/s1600/baby-as-vampire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvGs20ZXiQdXwwe4EpKvIlPtC-UCfJklP14n4y_hyGnFZrKP8SbefANlMXp80eGuTIQWrfBObYr4lxqe3PLnbhA6YqSdwasm9IlyBM3RyVldmbVA0Y1W_b1gxLvLqAApfIPlCtiF8jSH1l/s200/baby-as-vampire.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>One of the most interesting theories about the essential nature of the vampire comes to use from<strong> Lloyd Worley</strong> at the University of Northern Colorado. Worley identifies the vampire as one of the stock mythical figures of the our culture. Something that is changeable on the surface but derived from an enduring and fundamental fear.<br />
<br />
<div> </div>Worley proposes that the the vampire somehow springs from our feelings about fetuses and babies. The fetus, after all, is sustained directly by its mother's blood for none months. While young babies are active throughout the night and demand nourishment directly from their mother's body. <br />
<br />
<div> </div><em>References:</em><br />
<ul><li>Worley L (1991). The Prenatal and Natal Foundations of the Vampire Myth. International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts.</li>
</ul>veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-36115856497482035002010-11-25T17:24:00.000-08:002010-11-25T17:24:55.258-08:00Buffy 2.0Warner is<a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/heat-vision/buffy-remake-finds-home-warner-48105"> planning a remake</a> of the Buffy movie. Joss Whedon is <a href="http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2010/11/22/joss-who-meet-the-writer-of-the-new-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-film/">not involved.</a>veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-17523607433010084552010-11-24T15:43:00.000-08:002011-12-05T15:56:45.163-08:00IN SEARCH OF DRACULA raymond mcnally and radu florescu<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Search-Dracula-History-Vampires/dp/0395657830?ie=UTF8&tag=veingloryverse&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0395657830&tag=veingloryverse" /></a>This is the 1994 edition of a book that was first published in 1989 as 'Dracula, prince of many faces: his life and his times'. Most of the book focused on the historical figure of Vlad Tepes and his connection to the character of Dracula. There is a lot of information and some helpful grey scale illustration.<br />
<br />
The main limitation of this volume is it's rather haphazard structure which seems to relate more to how the authors discovered the material than how a reader might want to assimilate it. The later section on vampire fiction and movies in general is already hopelessly out of date. This is no long an area where effective comprehensive coverage is really possible. <br />
<br />
This book might be a little tiresome for a casual Dracula enthusiast, good for a more dedicated one, but lacking the rigor and referencing a true expert would demand. <br />
<br />
<br />
3/5veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-83478946977975969692010-11-22T16:53:00.000-08:002010-11-22T16:53:31.206-08:00THE VAMPIRE WITH THE PINK HANDBAG sharee greeneI wanted to like The Vampire with the Pink Handbag, I really did. It is gay fiction, it has vampires--two of my favorite things. Oriole, a unfeasibly gorgeous male teenage vampire is going to a school specifically for vampires for the first time. He immediately becomes friends with two vampire girls, Jamie and Pear. He also immediately gets caught up in a tumultuous romantic relationship with another boy called Josh, and entangled in Josh's mysterious connection with two other powerful teen vampires, Roland and, um, Rayon. (Yes, a sexy mind-reading vampire named after a cheap synthetic fiber).<br />
<br />
My first stumbling block was that none of the characters are very nice. They behave erratically and several of the 'love interest' males are extremely abusive, violent, judgemental, unfaithful and controlling. But that's fine so long as they love you, apparently. I get that vampires in this world are slow to mature and at the mercy of a turbo-charged form of adolescence, but that doesn't mean I find their melodramatic dialogue and sexual violence acceptable and entertaining. (By contrast Edward Cullen starts to look like a sensitive new age metrosexual.)<br />
<br />
I suppose I could have gone with the premise and content of the book if the writing and formatting had allowed me to get swept up in the hyper-hormonal world of vampire college. Unfortunately Ms. Greene's prose is feels like it needs some time to mature. The narrative seems more focused on costume than motivation, and is rife with shifting points of view and jarring word choices. Add to that the lack of right justification and spacing between paragraphs that ranges from none to four of five lines for no apparent reason, and reading this book became something of a chore.<br />
<br />
The Vampire with the Pink Handbag is a reasonable and timely idea for a teen vampire novel but it fails in the execution, quickly becoming a mire of head hopping and bed hopping lacking either the style or narrative momentum needed to make this a book a pleasure to read.<br />
<br />
2/5<br />
<br />
<a href="http://podpeep.blogspot.com/2010/11/review-vampire-with-pink-handbag.html">Cross-posted with POD People</a>veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-74923995012646987192010-11-16T18:59:00.000-08:002010-11-16T18:59:57.852-08:00BE STILL MY VAMPIRE HEART Kerrelyn Sparks<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Still-Vampire-Heart-Love-Stake/dp/0061118443?ie=UTF8&tag=veingloryverse&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Be Still My Vampire Heart (Love at Stake, Book 3)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0061118443&tag=veingloryverse" /></a>I like a good vampire trope as much as the next gal, but I do have my limits. A red-haired Scottish vampire in a kilt is kind of pushing it. Especially as he is meant to be 500 years old but treats the late Victorian costume kilt as if it was authentic.<br />
<br />
That said the vampire hero is funny and charming, and the mortal slayer heroine is ironic and independent. The romance between them is amusing enough, although the ending is even more of a forgone conclusion than usual and the adventure sub-plot is thin-to-non-existent.<br />
<br />
Overall I would give this a 3/5.<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=veingloryverse&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0061118443" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-41426852183527174742010-10-17T14:08:00.000-07:002010-10-17T14:08:31.646-07:00FILM: The First Vampire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqtIvo2L_HC50PtB57PVP9ReC0IcC3ZPen0PRs2SswbE-j9opxeJPpfGcNKbdh21XsVC2iFP9B1B_LJX792Ty4Ww3NOnStSRwhLt061mQGYlQYPJ_tokUcaUtz6oUtB8KBP47Ofv527XRQ/s1600/fleam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqtIvo2L_HC50PtB57PVP9ReC0IcC3ZPen0PRs2SswbE-j9opxeJPpfGcNKbdh21XsVC2iFP9B1B_LJX792Ty4Ww3NOnStSRwhLt061mQGYlQYPJ_tokUcaUtz6oUtB8KBP47Ofv527XRQ/s200/fleam.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>I downloaded this short film from iTunes to watch on a flight. Set in 4th century Sweden <strong>The First Vampire</strong> (2004, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401424/">IMDb</a>) has a dark, sepia-toned feel a bit like a Breugel painting. <br />
<br />
The movie is 24-minutes long and opens with a man riding at night encountering a mysterious figure carrying a child who is near death. He rescues the unconscious child but soon other people are sickened by attacks from 'the vampire'. A doctor is summoned and soon questions the supernatural explanations of the disease, but can he solve the problem before the people's fears drive them to rash actions?<br />
<br />
The first half of the film is rather muddled, dark and confusing--but it is worth hanging in there to see the rather interesting conclusion.veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-12519061087507554302010-10-07T16:51:00.000-07:002015-07-18T17:49:50.682-07:00Movie: Bloodsuckers<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Wars-Universe-Joe-Lando/dp/B000FDEVAM?ie=UTF8&tag=veingloryverse&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Vampire Wars: Battle for the Universe" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B000FDEVAM&tag=veingloryverse" /></a><br />
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=veingloryverse&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000FDEVAM" height="1" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /><strong>Bloodsuckers</strong> a.k.a.<em> Vampire-Wars_Battle-for-the-Universe</em> is a low budget 2005 TV movie. It starts of just plain bad and manages to finish with a certain (small) amount of kitchy charm. <br />
<br />
Basically, in a future where humans have gone into space and found it full of vampires, an earnest hero joins a team of semi-official vampire killers. The team is, like the hero, pretty much a collection of cliches from central casting--reckless captain, vampire ninja babe, cowboy grunt and sassy sarcasticc chick. <br />
<br />
The acting is not great, the sets are not great, the action sequences are not great and the special effects are terrible--but the plot gets a little more sophisticated as it goes on, from 'kill the vampires!' to 'be loyal to your friends and kill the vampires!' <br />
<br />
This would have been a semi-promising TV series pilot, but as a movie it is pretty lacklustre. But if it is on sale or on TV, Bloodsuckler is and okay movie for someone who has some free time and is prepared to kick back and descend to its level.<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430926/">IMDb</a></li>
</ul>
veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-23919061911561730372010-10-01T16:47:00.000-07:002010-10-01T16:48:31.604-07:00Stephen King's Intro to 'American Vampire'....What <a href="http://www.ew.com/ew/special/0,,20397912_20430023,00.html">Stephen King thinks vampires should be</a>:<br />
<br />
<em><strong>"Killers, honey. Stone killers who never get enough of that tasty Type-A. Bad boys and girls. Hunters. In other words, Midnight America. Red white and blue, <span style="color: red;">accent on the red</span>."</strong></em>veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-45315642419262392352010-09-03T19:50:00.000-07:002010-10-17T14:09:54.955-07:00FILM: Let Me In<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Let-Right-One-Novel-ebook/dp/B003E4CYGW?ie=UTF8&tag=veingloryverse&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank">ilm<img alt="Let the Right One In: A Novel" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B003E4CYGW&tag=veingloryverse" /></a>There is a vampire movie remake in the works. <strong>Let Me In </strong>[<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1228987/">IMDb</a>] <a href="http://www.reelzchannel.com/movie-news/7628/first-let-me-in-clip-sneaks-up-on-you">is a remake</a> of <strong>Let the Right One</strong> [<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_the_Right_One_In_(film)">Wikipedia</a>], a Swedish vampire movie (2008). Both movies are based on a novel by <em>John Ajvide Lindqvist,</em> in which a young boy learns how to stand up to bullies after meeting a mysterious (vampire) girl.<em> </em>Release is scheduled for October 1.<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=veingloryverse&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B003E4CYGW" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <strong>Dark Horse Comics</strong> will be <a href="http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/rorschachsrants/news/?a=17159">producing a tie in graphic novel</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.letmein-movie.com/">Official site</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTzJW1TM9uK43G0AMKKNXCZ2mJKpKtqFhIp8zNG-mmW7gwDQ-2AlTSzZQYJojs5rPZiw-VNIMcF6lLMx-w3V5mjAUhlKJpQDIWVmIRBe331wmBi2752G8eh0WCPSoWZZ3wrWUq_R-1mD0i/s1600/let-me-in-movie-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTzJW1TM9uK43G0AMKKNXCZ2mJKpKtqFhIp8zNG-mmW7gwDQ-2AlTSzZQYJojs5rPZiw-VNIMcF6lLMx-w3V5mjAUhlKJpQDIWVmIRBe331wmBi2752G8eh0WCPSoWZZ3wrWUq_R-1mD0i/s400/let-me-in-movie-poster.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366107564017177967.post-81120013527483040082010-08-28T18:30:00.000-07:002015-07-18T17:50:49.532-07:00DVD: Ultraviolet<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ultraviolet-Jack-Davenport/dp/B00005KA70?ie=UTF8&tag=veingloryverse&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><strong><img alt="Ultraviolet" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B00005KA70&tag=veingloryverse" /></strong></a><strong>Ultraviolet</strong><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=veingloryverse&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00005KA70" height="1" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /> is a 1998 British series of six one-hour television episodes focused on a small paramilitary unit that deals with a vampire threat (Not to be mistaken for <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370032/">the 2006 movie</a> of the same name). A police Sergeant, Michael Colefield, is the main protagonist, recruited by this unit after his best friend becomes a vampire (referred to in this mythos a 'leeches'). The team is rounded out by their leader, an ex-Catholic priest, a female doctor who lost her husband and daughter to the disease, and a ruthless ex-army operative.<br />
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The show and is characters had considerable potential, but this rather low key show never really hit its stride. Often it seemed to me, that the acting and cinematography didn't really match the quality of the writing. The stories raised great issues of what to do in situation of moral ambiguity, and in the absence of truly scary monsters (the vampires seemed rather under-powered) the sub-plot of a hero trying to balance his secret life with real world concerns had great potential. Ultraviolet is worth watching more as an exercise in what might have been, rather than what is actually achieved in six scant episodes.<br />
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3/5<br />
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<strong>Other reviews:</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.feoamante.com/Movies/TV/Ultra_Violet/Ultra_Violet.html">ULTRAVIOLET - 1999</a>: [3/5] <em>"This is a cool show and it's done in a fairly "realistic", police procedural way. There's a lot of interesting conflict as the brooding Michael tries to balance his life and his relationship with his friends...."</em><br />
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<strong>Links:</strong> <a href="http://www.world-productions.com/wp/content/shows/other/uv/uvhome.htm">Official website</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_(TV_serial)">Wikipedia</a>veingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.com0