Book Review | Seize the Night edited by Christopher Golden

Seize the Night: New Tales of Vampiric Terror is an anthology edited by Christopher Golden.

A blockbuster anthology of original, blood-curdling vampire fiction from New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors, including Charlaine Harris, whose novels were adapted into HBO’s hit show True Blood, and Scott Smith, publishing his first work since The Ruins.

Before being transformed into romantic heroes and soft, emotional antiheroes, vampires were figures of overwhelming terror. Now, from some of the biggest names in horror and dark fiction, comes this stellar collection of short stories that make vampires frightening once again. Edited by New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden and featuring all-new stories from such contributors as Charlaine Harris, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Scott Smith, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Michael Kortya, Kelley Armstrong, Brian Keene, David Wellington, Seanan McGuire, and Tim Lebbon, Seize the Night is old-school vampire fiction at its finest.

For me, there is nothing better suited for October than a great horror anthology. I spent this October reading Seize the Night edited by Christopher Golden. It was the perfect choice!

It's been a while since I've enjoyed an anthology as much as Seize the Night. With this list of contributing authors, it's no wonder it was great collection:

Kelley Armstrong • John Ajvide Lindqvist • Laird Barron • Gary A. Braunbeck • Dana Cameron • Dan Chaon • Lynda Barry • Charlaine Harris • Brian Keene • Sherrilyn Kenyon • Michael Koryta • John Langan • Tim Lebbon • Seanan McGuire • Joe McKinney • Leigh Perry • Robert Shearman • Scott Smith • Lucy A. Snyder • David Wellington • Rio Youers

This anthology claims to make vampires frightening again. Outside of having read Twilight, I don't actually know anything about romantic, emotional, sexy vampires. My vampires have always been frightening so that's the place I'm coming from with this review. These tales aren't just original because they are taking the vampire back to its roots (did it really leave?), they are tales that are original in their own right.

While the vampires in Seize the Night are of the scary variety, most of them aren't your traditional Dracula derived vampires. This is wonderful thing. Seize the Night is a great anthology to curl up with on a dark night. (And frankly, a new story from Scott Smith is worth purchasing the entire collection.)

8/10: Great Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Tour Stop & Giveaway | Vampires Don't Sparkle!

I am very excited to be a tour stop for Vampires Don’t Sparkle! as part of the SSP Anthology Extravaganza. This anthology contains so many kick ass authors and is edited by none other than Michael West. Make sure you enter the giveaway while you are here!

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MY KIND OF VAMPIRES: a guest post by Jerry Gordon

I’m lucky enough to be born in the world’s most plentiful country.  My fellow Americans compose roughly five percent of the Earth’s population while consuming almost twenty-five percent of its natural resources.  Our way of life is literally sucking the planet dry, and we’re not alone.  China, India, Russia, and the EU are all doing their level best to match our voracious appetites.  And behind them, an almost nameless sea of countries left behind, looking at the developed world with a mixture of admiration, contempt, and anger.

So what does this have to do with vampires?

You can tell a lot about a person by examining their monsters.  I wrote “Vampire Nation” for Michael West’s charity* anthology, Vampires Don’t Sparkle!, with dwindling world resources and first-world arrogance in mind.  Gandhi once said that you can judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable members.  I wanted to take a look at what happens when the developed nations of the world are forced to pay a high price for dogged self‑interest.

“Vampire Nation” takes place in an overpopulated future where space has replaced energy as our most precious natural resource.  China and India have pooled their military and scientific might to dominate the world stage.  That is, until a global pandemic resembling vampirism explodes in the most primitive reaches of the third world.

It’s no secret I’m a great fan of Richard Matheson’s book, I Am Legend.  I wanted to pay homage to his vision of a worldwide vampire plague while exploring the politics of our current energy crisis, nuclear brinksmanship, augmented reality, and the price nations pay for ignoring the less fortunate.

The world is full of vampires.  Some wear suits and ties.  Some try to save the world.

None of them sparkle.

*Proceeds from the book donated to breast cancer research in honor of Sara J. Larson.

Jerry Gordon is co-editor of the Dark Faith and Last Rites anthologies. His fiction has appeared in Apex Magazine, Shroud, and The Midnight Diner.  You can find him blurring genre lines at www.jerrygordon.net and saying inappropriate things on Twitter @jerrylgordon and Facebook @jerrygordon.

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VAMPIRES DON'T SPARKLE!

Vampires Don’t Sparkle! (editor Michael West): What would you do if you had unlimited power and eternal life?

Would you…go back to high school? Attend the same classes year after year, going through the pomp and circumstance of one graduation after another, until you found the perfect date to take to prom? Would you…spend your days moping and brooding, finding your only joy in a game of baseball on a stormy day? Or would you…do something else? Anything else?

The authors of this collection have a few ideas; some fanciful, some humorous, and some as dark as an endless night. Join us, and discover what it truly means to be “vampyre.”

Edited by Michael West
Foreword by Michael West

“A New Life” by J. F. Gonzalez
“What Once was Flesh” by Tim Waggoner
“The Darkton Circus Mystery” by Elizabeth Massie
“Robot Vampire” by R. J. Sullivan
“Beneath a Templar Cross” by Gord Rollo
“The Weapon of Memory” by Kyle S. Johnson
“The Excavation” by Stephen Zimmer
“Skraeling” by Joel A. Sutherland
“Dreams of Winter” by Bob Freeman
“Dracula’s Winkee: Bloodsucker Blues” by Gregory L. Hall
“I Fuck Your Sunshine” by Lucy A. Snyder
“A Soldier’s Story” by Maurice Broaddus
“Rattenkönig” by Douglas F. Warrick

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GIVEAWAY

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MORE INFORMATION

Thank you so much, Jerry, for stopping by Book Den!

If you guys want to check out more tour stops for Vampires Don't Sparkle or the entire SSP Anthology Extravaganza, you can see the full schedule here.

Book Review | Incarnation by Emma Cornwall

Incarnation by Emma Cornwall is a vampire novel with tie ins to Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Book Description

In the steampunk world of Victorian London, a beautiful vampire seeks out the author of Dracula–to set the record straight . . . If one is to believe Bram Stoker’s legendary vampire tale, Lucy Weston is Dracula’s most wanton creation, a sexual creature of the night who preys on innocent boys. But the real-life Lucy is nothing like her fictional counterpart—and she demands to know why the Victorian author deliberately lied. With Stoker’s reluctant help, she’s determined to track down the very fiend who transformed her—from the sensual underworld where humans vie to become vampires, to a hidden cell beneath a temple to madness, and finally into the glittering Crystal Palace where death reigns supreme.

Haunted by fragmentary memories of her lost life and love, Lucy must battle her thirst for blood as she struggles to stop a catastrophic war that will doom vampires and humans alike. Ultimately, she must make a choice that illuminates for her—and for us—what it means to be human.

I'm still a newbie when it comes to steampunk. Sometimes the genre is obvious to me, and sometimes - like with Incarnation - I have a hard time understanding where the genre classification stems from. Incarnation is definitely Victorian, but I wasn't able to pick up on the technology that would place this as a steampunk novel. That being said, I think this is the perfect time of year to read a Victorian novel. Last year I read Ghosts by Gaslight: Stories of Steampunk and Supernatural Suspense throughout the month of October. The gothic style of Victorian literature is very fitting to the change in the season.

If I were to classify Incarnation, I would just label it a Victorian vampire story. The main character, Lucy, is the same Lucy from Bram Stoker's Dracula. Except she's not. In Incarnation, Bram Stoker is an author for hire who penned Dracula with large deviations from the truth. Lucy tracks down Stoker on her way to tracking down the creature who turned her. The lack of true connection Incarnation had to the real story of Dracula was a disappointment for me. I'm a fan of Dracula, and the use of the Dracula characters felt like an angle at first. By the end, though, I did enjoy the references that came into play.

The beauty of Incarnation to me is the descriptions of the vampire culture in London. Lucy is not like other vampires. While my usual taste in books left me wanting to know more about the vicious and seductive vampires tucked away in London, I remained captivated by Lucy and the world Emma Cornwall created.

I recommend Incarnation to those who are fans of vampire lore and enjoy the beauty of Victorian literature.

6/10: Good read

Review copy provider by publisher

Release Date Giveaway | Incarnation by Emma Cornwall

Today marks the release of Emma Cornwall's steampunk vampire novel Incarnation. The awesome folks at Gallery Books have offered to give a copy of Incarnation to one lucky Book Den reader.

In the steampunk world of Victorian London, a beautiful vampire seeks out the author of Dracula–to set the record straight . . . If one is to believe Bram Stoker’s legendary vampire tale, Lucy Weston is Dracula’s most wanton creation, a sexual creature of the night who preys on innocent boys. But the real-life Lucy is nothing like her fictional counterpart—and she demands to know why the Victorian author deliberately lied. With Stoker’s reluctant help, she’s determined to track down the very fiend who transformed her—from the sensual underworld where humans vie to become vampires, to a hidden cell beneath a temple to madness, and finally into the glittering Crystal Palace where death reigns supreme.

Haunted by fragmentary memories of her lost life and love, Lucy must battle her thirst for blood as she struggles to stop a catastrophic war that will doom vampires and humans alike. Ultimately, she must make a choice that illuminates for her—and for us—what it means to be human.

To enter the giveaway, just fill out the Rafflecopter below. I will leave the giveaway open through Monday, September 24. Open to US residents only.

By entering the giveaway, you agree to Book Den's contest policy.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review | Temporary Monsters by Ian Rogers

Temporary Monsters is the first novella in the Felix Renn series of chapbooks by Ian Rogers. Take a quick look at the whole series:

I'm not an Urban Fantasy reader, but I am obsessed with black-eyed kids. Black-eyed kid stories are among my most favorite creepy stories ever.

I knew this series would be a must read for me.

Temporary Monsters by Ian Rogers

Book Description

Felix Renn is a private investigator in a supernatural world, an alternate reality where a dark dimension called The Black Lands co-exists alongside our own. Travelling to and from The Black Lands is dangerous - and illegal - but that doesn't stop some of the creatures that reside there from crossing over into our world from time to time. After a man goes berserk in a posh Toronto restaurant, Felix suddenly finds himself torn between both worlds as he is drawn into a deadly game of movies, murder, and monsters.

I'll admit I was a little nervous about reading Temporary Monsters. I'm like a coffee drinker who only takes her coffee black. I like my vampires one way. I needn't have worried, though. Temporary Monsters had something special to offer. I wasn't actually planning to read Temporary Monsters yet when I first started reading it. I was just planning to open the cover and check it out a little, but I couldn't stop once I started. I got hooked and wound up appreciating the origins of Ian Roger's monsters.

If you're an Urban Fantasy fan, I'm sure you will dig Temporary Monsters. It has some pretty unique happenings surrounding the vamps and weres and ...more. I can't wait to find out more about The Black Lands and the people who have access to it. If you've been wanting to try Urban Fantasy, I can tell you from experience this is a great place to start.

I'm trying not to crack the cover on The Ash Angels yet in case I can't put it down either.

7/10: Recommended Read

Are you a fan of Urban Fantasy? What would you recommend to beginner UF readers like me?

Guest Post and Giveaway: Kathryn Leigh Scott, author of Dark Passages

I'm so excited to welcome Kathryn Leigh Scott to Book Den today! Be sure to check out the awesome giveaway where one lucky reader will have a chance to win a copy of Dark Passages!

Dark Passages is my debut novel, my first fiction. I’ve written many nonfiction books, including several about Dark Shadows, the 60s-era soap in which I played Josette DuPres, the doomed fiancé of vampire Barnabas Collins. In fact, I recently filmed a cameo in the new Warner Bros. production of Dark Shadows starring Johnny Depp, directed by Tim Burton.

I also wrote The Bunny Years about the 25-year history of Playboy Clubs, the rights to which have been acquired by Imagine Television for potential use in upcoming episodes of the new NBC drama, “The Playboy Club.”

So it wasn’t too much of a surprise when my agent asked me if Dark Passages wasn’t, in fact, memoir. “No!” I said. “It’s complete fiction.” Not a single thing that happens to Meg Harrison happened to me in my own life, but I did write about a period of time and a world I know well.

True, I was raised on a farm, went to New York with dreams of becoming an actress, worked as a Playboy Bunny to support myself until I got my "big break," which was a role on Dark Shadows. But all of that is background and setting -- and I did want to capture that intense period of great change and discovery that I experienced when I left my home town in Minnesota and went to the big city. The story is really about Meg Harrison’s very secret life as a vampire living among mortals.

The early 1960s was not only a time of great change for me but also for our country, which is why I chose to bookend my story with two significant events: the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 and the assassination of President Kennedy in November 1963, just a year and a month later. That time frame also marked my first year in New York.

I’m steeped in Dark Shadows and vampire lore, but I still had to do considerable research when I decided to incorporate paranormal elements into my story. I took my cue from Jonathan Frid, who created the iconic character of Barnabas Collins. He made the vampire his own, and I knew I would be creating my own vampire world with Meg Harrison. I enjoyed the process of writing Dark Passages so much that I am now well into work on the sequel.

Kathryn Leigh Scott can also be found at www.kathrynleighscott.com.

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Dark Passages, be sure to fill out this form!  (This contest is limited to US only.)  I will leave this contest open until Saturday, September 17.  The winner will be contacted on Sunday, September 18 to provide a US mailing address.

Update: This contest is now closed. Congratulations K. E. Bergdoll!

Book Review: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago listing some of my favorite vampire books.  I cannot imagine what I was thinking leaving off a very excellent book - fit for the top of the list - Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.

Book Description

Robert Neville may well be the last living man on Earth . . . but he is not alone.

An incurable plague has mutated every other man, woman, and child into bloodthirsty, nocturnal creatures who are determined to destroy him.

By day, he is a hunter, stalking the infected monstrosities through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn....

First of all, the movie with Will Smith is a cool movie.  I dug it.  But... it is so loosely based on Matheson's work you can barely call it an adaptation.

I Am Legend is a fantastic read.  The vampire virus (to which Robert Neville is immune) is plausible, and Neville's plight is heart-wrenching.  The ending of I Am Legend has to be one of my all time favorite endings.

There are a couple of movie adaptations that pre-date the Will Smith version.  One of them is a great adaptation starring Vincent Price called The Last Man on Earth.  This adaptation follows closely to I Am Legend.  If you haven't seen The Last Man on Earth, I highly recommend you read I Am Legend first.  While the movie includes Matheson's ending, it fails to capture the same depth and meaning that Matheson conveyed.

If you are a zombie fan - especially a George Romero fan - or a fan of the vampire, I Am Legend is a definite must read, but I also highly recommend it in general.

9 Great Vampire Books

If you are looking for a great vampire read, give one of my favorite vampire books a try!

Live Girls by Ray Garton

Davey's on the down and out when he loses his girl, his job and practically his sanity. While some men drown themselves in a forgiving bottle, Davey believes it's much more profitable to sink into Times Square's nightlife and lose himself inside Live Girls. They are the free ravishing pleasures who beckon Davey into a world of irresistible fantasy and ecstasy. One of them propositions him with a kiss, an insatiable kiss that leads him far from the misery he once felt to a demonic place where body and soul are sacrificed for obsessions.

Amazon | Goodreads

Here's a fantastic post on Ray Garton's blog that details the inspiration behind Live Girls: LIVE GIRLS: The Story Behind the Book.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon after wards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival. In "Dracula", Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and also illuminating the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

Salem's Lot by Stephen King

Published a year after his stunning debut novel, Carrie, 'Salem's Lot firmly cemented Stephen King's name in the literary lexicon of great American storytellers. His rich and finely crafted tale of a mundane New England town under siege by the forces of darkness is both a homage to Bram Stoker's classic Dracula and an allegory of our post-Vietnam society. Considered one of the most terrifying vampire novels ever written, it cunningly probes the shadows of the human heart -- and the insular evils of small-town America.

Amazon | Goodreads

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles #1)

Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force--a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses.

Amazon | Goodreads

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles #2)

Once an aristocrat in the heady days of pre-revolutionary France, now Lestat is a rockstar in the demonic, shimmering 1980s. He rushes through the centuries in search of others like him, seeking answers to the mystery of his terrifying exsitence. His story, the second volume in Anne Rice's best-selling Vampire Chronicles, is mesmerizing, passionate, and thrilling.

Amazon | Goodreads

The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles #3)

In 1976, a uniquely seductive world of vampires was unveiled in the now-classic Interview with the Vampire . . . in 1985, a wild and voluptous voice spoke to us, telling the story of The Vampire Lestat.  In The Queen of the Damned, Anne Rice continues her extraordinary "Vampire Chronicles" in a feat of mesmeric storytelling, a chillingly hypnotic entertainment in which the oldest and most powerful forces of the night are unleashed on an unsuspecting world.

Amazon | Goodreads

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

It is autumn 1981 when the inconceivable comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last---revenge for the bullying he endures at school, day after day.

But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door---a girl who has never seen a Rubik’s Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night. . . .

Amazon | Goodreads

FOR THE KIDS (ages 9 - 12)

I only have the first Bunnicula book listed here, but the entire series is awesome.

Bunnicula by James and Deborah Howe

BEWARE THE HARE!

Is he or isn't he a vampire?

Before it's too late, Harold the dog and Chester the cat must find out the truth about the newest pet in the Monroe household -- a suspicious-looking bunny with unusual habits...and fangs!

Amazon | Goodreads

UP NEXT

I haven't had the chance to check out Draculas yet, but it's coming up quick on my to be read list!

Draculas by Crouch, Kilborn (Konrath), Strand, and Wilson

A DYING MAN'S GREATEST TREASURE...

Mortimer Moorecook, retired Wall Street raider, avid collector, is losing his fight against cancer. With weeks to live, a package arrives at the door of his hillside mansion-an artifact he paid millions for...a hominoid skull with elongated teeth, discovered in a farmer's field in the Romanian countryside. With Shanna, his beautiful research assistant looking on, he sinks the skull's razor sharp fangs into his neck, and immediately goes into convulsions.

OPENS THE DOOR TO AN ANCIENT EVIL...

A rural hospital. A slow night in the ER. Until Moorecook arrives strapped to a gurney, where he promptly codes and dies.

WHERE DEATH IS JUST THE BEGINNING.

Four well-known horror authors pool their penchants for scares and thrills, and tackle one of the greatest of all legends, with each writer creating a unique character and following them through a vampire outbreak in a secluded hospital.

The goal was simple: write the most intense novel they possibly could.

Which they did.

A Word of Warning:
Within these pages, you will find no black capes, no satin-lined coffins, no brooding heartthrobs who want to talk about your feelings. Forget sunlight and stakes. Throw out your garlic and your crosses. This is the Anti-TWILIGHT.

Amazon | Goodreads

SUGGESTIONS AND FEEDBACK 

Are you a vampire fan? Do you have any favorites to add to the list?

Book Review: Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

I'm a big fan of traditional vampires.

Book Description

It is autumn 1981 when the inconceivable comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last---revenge for the bullying he endures at school, day after day.

But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door---a girl who has never seen a Rubik’s Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night. . . .

There were times while reading this I thought "This is so good!" and there were times I thought "Not more of this...".  Overall I found this to be a very enjoyable read.  I love a good vampire tale, and it's been a while since I've read a really good "traditional" vampire book.  By traditional I mean the kind where vampires can't go out in the sun (for fear of pain - not for fear of sparkling), sleep during the day, have to be invited in, etc.  John Ajvide Lindqvist did manage to bring some new things to the vampire genre, but he did so without compromising the basics of the vampire mythos.

Despite how much I really did enjoy Let the Right One In, there were a couple of things that bothered me.  First, I'm not a big fan of sexual perversity.  I love horror - and I understand why sex and horror go hand in hand - but there are sexual horrors that I could do without.  This list includes anything related to children (even if they have been a child for over 200 years).

There were also some "picky reader" things that pulled me right out of the story like the graffiti on the walls would pop up in the story or something weird would get repeated and my mind would wonder back to where I read it last instead of paying attention to what I was reading.

I do recommend this book to those who like creepy stories.  Lindqvist's vampires are kind of zombie-like.  They should appeal to anyone who enjoys creaturey types of horror.

Do you enjoy the creatures of the night?  Have you read (or seen the movie adaptation of) Let the Right One In?  I haven't seen the movie yet.  I'm excited to sit down and watch it.  It's in my Netflix queue. :)