Scariest Book

I believe I have only read three Stephen King Books, Carrie, Fire Starter (possibly the only novel to have a scene set in Albany Airport (NY)), and Salem's Lot.  Salem's Lot was the scariest book, vampire, paranormal or other.  I am not alone; looking at reviews for the book on Amazon I found one by Christopher Blair of Dallas, TX he says:

    The metric by which one must measure any good horror story is the
    degree to which it scared you. Well, let me tell you, "Salem's Lot" 
    scared the ever-loving &#$*@! out of me--AS I read it!

I think I was 16 at the time I read this, not a very sophisticated 16.  I would not open my windows for a year, and put garlic between the window and the screen.  My mother already thought I was insane so nothing lost there.  I don't think I read any fantasy until  I started taking Arthurian legend, Fantasy and Celtic lit classes to fulfill my minor. No book has ever come close to the visceral fear engendered in those pages. I think it was the hopeless helplessness of the residents of the town the Vamps take over that got me.  It was akin to those dreams in which you are trying to run from a danger and you can't. Anne Rice's vampires are no where near as scary as Mr. King's.  Brrrrr.

What is the scariest book you ever read?

Sex and the Paranormal

The female sleeps restlessly a white peignoir gracing her beautiful maidenly body. Having previously achieved invitation to the home the count flies to the girls window, it opens mysteriously.  A bat flies up but something that looks like a man enters. Is this the first night the ancient has visited the girl, bestowing his first kiss upon her?  Or, is it the third?  The night he will become her sire?  The night he will make her his as she feels his rapturous kiss right down to her womb.

Blah, blah blah.  The paranormal-genre is chock full of sex (except for the Twilight-series); and not just the romances. And, sex in the world of the paranormal is not just "sex" it's S.E.X filled with magic, and positively huge organs and orgasms.  No wonder the girls always stay with the vampires the male is always a super endowed, amazing lover. Orgasm is achieved effortlessly, over and over, and without any difficulty.  The body is just one big gspot. How could love with a mere human ever come close?

Then you have the reciprocating bond through which you have your partner's orgasm as well as your own and because of the reciprocation the intensity increases exponentially. Glory Be!

With vampires, the act of biting is associated with orgasm or at least very close to orgasm. In some instances the sharing of blood is required and causes a psycho-bio-sensual bond between partners - for life. I suppose it is a good way to get people to allow you to bite and, in many plots masks the pain of having very sharp teeth pierce your flesh. 

With witches, much of the "romance" depends on who is the witch.  Harry Potter, no sex. Other series, like the "____________ Magic" Series by Cheyenne McCray including Seduced by Magic and Wicked Magic.  This series combines several species, including witches and the fey including the D'Anu Warriors comprised of, you got it, tall, buff, hot and well endowed gentlemen with wings. In lovemaking they can create the very powerful "sex" magic as the fight demon hordes the queen, Lilith has raised from below the sea.



 Fairies, traditionally cannot lie, or just don't.  They aren't sweet little Tinkerbells either.  Faerie, the culture of the fairies or gentry have very different morals about sex. It is perhaps part of their inability to lie.  In the Laurell Hamilton's Meredith Gentry books, Meredith has at least 7 live-in lovers in the interest of getting pregnant which is apparently difficult in the fairy race.  They sleep together with Merry in twos or threes. And have sex two tor three times a day.  When do they find time to eat or sleep?  Merry's lovers are all bestowed upon her by the queen of the unseelie, or dark court, her homicidal, dominatrix, Aunt Andais. Her Aunt likes to do these sort of  inter-dimensional video conferences while she tortures a lover nearly to death.   Infidelity is not common once one is married but that almost always occurs only after conception.  Fertility is too rare to waste it on love for nearly immortal beings (Meredith is mortal being only part fairy).  In this series a sort of sex magic also occurs enhancing the sensations and altering parts of the world or their beings.  As the magic has been leaving fairy, Meredith and her lovers have been bringing it back through their efforts. Flowers grow, apple blossoms fall unbidden, etc.

In another series by Karen Moning, the Seelie or Light court members use "glamour" to make themselves less hot to humans.  Apparently sex with a fairy will drive you mad because it is so good.  There are even a type of fairy called "Death-By_Sex" fairies.  It is a good thing that the Seelie court is fine because members of the Unseelie court in this case are all, and quite entirely unsightly at best. They use glamour to trick humans into mixing with them.  During conversation or sex they can literally suck the life right out of you. These series is not so much concerned about the morality of sex.  There is some rape which as we are looking through the young human heroines eyes is awful, but we don;t get the feeling the fairies really care that much about with whom, how, or where they do it.  It is more about sensation.  For Merry, in the former series, sex is about sensation  and exploration, taste, touch, smell. She enjoys performing fellatio because it gives her so many things to taste, touch and smell.  And, these efforts bring forth the aforementioned magic, and are approved by the Goddess and her consort.

Alls well when your in the Fairy mound, just not necessarily.

Which series have you read that provide d an interesting way of looking at sex because the characters were not all human?

Twilight Versus New Moon SPOILER ALERT

I have seen the film Twilight (based on Stephenie Meyer's book of the same name) an unconscionable number of times - at least 18.  Now, unless you have been living in a cave somewhere for the past few years you will at least vaguely know the story of teenage vampire romance that is the Twilight Series: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Girl (Bella) meets boy(Edward), boy is a vampire and they fall in love, chastely.  Very. Chastely.

Twilight was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, not entirely new to the game but young.  She showed a great passion for the story that was very obvious in the directing.  The "Kiss Scene" is not at all graphic, but just the same, I can see it a thousand times and my stomach flips over as if I were a 14 year-old girl with my first-ish boyfriend.

The film was a bit choppy; and the book wasn't strictly followed,  but it was in order and unlike the HBO adaptation of Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels, True Blood,  Twilight at least follows the story line. The film also carried some humor, with good timing by Rob Pattinson (the heartthrob hero, Edward Cullen) and Billy Black  who plays Bella's dad, Charlie.

In  both Twilight, and its follow up, New Moon, Stewart and Pattinson are believable as tortured teens; They always look upset, put out or as if they smell something unsavoury.  But they are tortured, by their relationship and his immortality and strength, his lost soul. She is lost in the murky swamp of being awash in a sea of people you don't know, and maybe the Cousin-it hair do and brows the stylist saw fit to dole out.  They often seem unsure of the character and there may lie the reason Catherine was replaced by the next director.

Much fuss was made when Chris Weisz was hired for more and got a bigger budget  but, they hired another director, for Eclipse -- the next book in the series. In the Eclipse "behind the scenes" feature on my DVD much is made of the revolving door to which the producers seem to have directed the directors being due to the differences between each volume.  While Ms. Hardwicke's film showed a passion for Ms. Meyer's story, Chris's film was technically better, it lacked his emotional involvement in the story. The script was better, the story line was cogent and direct. It also seems to have followed the book more and Mr. Weisz seems to have gotten more real surety of emotion from his actors. Plus the size of both leads eyebrows were considerably diminished.

All this speculation on Twilight and New Moon leaves me eager to see Eclipse which will be released June 30th and I will be there! How about you?!

Faerie land

Okay,  I admit that I haven't thought much about fairies for a long time.  I was appalled by the sexualization of Tinkerbell, but never really looked to fairies for reading.  Speaking of Tink:  When I was growing up, her skirt was short not Micro-mini; she was flat chested - like a little girl, not a stripper. Now she looks like a cross between a stripper and a Barbie Doll.

  'Cause you know, little girls don't have enough body issues thrown at them. Let's add Tink to the list.


Now, on the other hand, fairies for adults:  they can be very hot.

One of my favorite series of late has been the Meredith Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton. Currently in its eighth volume, this story revolves around a mostly mortal half fairy princess, Meredith Gentry.  "Gentry" is what fairies call themselves. With some fairly passionate fairy hotness happening and the sheer number of books Ms. Hamilton produces I never expected the quality of writing  and the descriptive nature of the book.  This is fantasy literature with an unashamed eroticism rather than fairy porn.  Ms. Hamilton also writes the popular Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series which has at least 15 books. I have yet to start that series.

Meredith is a very engaging person/fairy.  Her many lovers include the cream of the Dark Court. My favorite is Frost, whose hair is silver.  Then there is Doyle, the Queen's darkness, her assassin.  He is not a dark brown but black and is apparently a cross between a dog type creature and a fairy or demi-fey.  Merry has many lovers and is, well read the books and you will see.  

Some good links:

Gentry Investigations This will help to keep the cast of characters straight. Not associated with the author.
Ms. Hamilton's official page with blog.  This site is a bit difficult to navigate with some auto scrolling type that you have to catch to click on.


Enjoy!

Origins of The Species A la True Blood

How do humans become Vampires? I can't believe I forgot the mysterious virus which is what the Vampire World in Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series claims to be the source of their Vampirism. It is not believed by too many people according to Sookie in the first novel.  And, this is only in the books; I haven't heard it mentioned in the HBO Series True Blood.  Apparently this virus is contagious since one Vampire can create another.  It is done the good, old, traditional way where the victim is drained to the point of death and then their blood supply is replenished by consuming the blood of their sire. But, how can drinking blood prior to the physical changes that make you a vamp replenish your blood supply.  Anything you drink is digested, so unless something is already happening to a person the blood wouldn't stay blood, it would be broken down into its components. I prefer the Nanos, myself (see Origins below).


What a fun series!  Both my husband and I enjoy it. Ms. Harris certainly hit on a gang buster of an idea here.  Her concept is entering its third season on June 13 on HBO.  What happened to Bill immediately after his proposal to Sookie?   Can these two ever catch a break.  What is the buzz in the online community?  Find out and see production snippets at HBO's True Blood Home Page. Ms. Harris's next novel in the series Dead in the Family will be out this May.

On and on, there are many ways to become a vamp - here are two more:

Cursing - Kathryn Smith's The Brotherhood of Blood Series, commencing with Be Mine Tonight starts of with the cursed False Grail carrying the curse of Lilith. Don't confuse this series with Bianca D'Arc's Brother hood of Blood series.  I have not read this but if you could tell a book by it's cover these would be hot hot hot!

Three Bites - Hopefully there is no baseball reference behind this although there is that Vampire baseball game in Twilight..... This is one one of the more traditional methods of creating a vampire and it occurs through some mysterious biological alchemy.  It is as old as Count Dracula and as new as

The Third Kiss: Dorian's Dream by Heather Killough-Walden and is currently just $1.  This seems to have been produced only in e-form but you don't necessarily need a Kindle to read a Kindle book -- you can download the software free from Amazon to PC, Mac, iPhone or Blackberry. Lots of New Orleans in this one. There are different back stories on the three bites and how they work.

Have you read any other ways of creating our immortal pals?  Let me know.

 

Currently Reading

I love my Kindle Reader but while size in Kilobytes is a rough estimate of book length, after 49 plus years I am always going to think in pages.  I have paid for many ebooks only to find the story ending at 75% with a coming attractions section taking up the remaining reported KB.  And, many books are going to Kindle only and don't even have a page number for us to reckon by.  Hence, paying for Kate Douglas' Demonfire, (http://www.katedouglas.com/id51.htm) where I could see how many pages there were, I figured it would take me more than five minutes to read it. 

Kate Douglas lists on her own web page (link above) as "Erotica superstar."  So, sex from page one to the end.  Not so much.  But when the sparks fly they are tastefully written.  The story is about a demon who has been kicked out of demon-ville and sent to the void where paradisaical beings pull him out and give him a human body to go fight the demons attacking a small town in California.  With only 7 days to live and defeat the demons, the heroine and he fall madly in "true love."


Long review short:  This is more a sexy romance book in the guise of fantasy.  It is not unpleasant, but I feel it is a bit slow.  I will probably read more of her books,  It is enjoyable and was actually published in paper prior to being an e-book. A good beach or "holiday" read.  And, I have been tearing up a bit - you know getting verklempt in the recent chapters. Read, enjoy, have a loved one nearby -- not a blood relative.

Origins of The Species

One thing I first noticed when I started paying attention to comments about the Twilight series was that a set of theories relative to the root of alternative species, and Vampires in particular.
I started to take note of the origin of "the Vampire."  I continue amending the list (only exists in my mind at this time), and want to look more closely at two of these.

Aliens
Lara Adrien's Midnight Breed series, classified under erotica, feature a species which consumes blood which is descended from a single ship of alien creatures, all male, which crashed on earth millennia ago.  After apparently savaging the natives  they found women with an anomaly that them to breed with the aliens and carry a child to birth.  The vampires are always gorgeous, tall, muscular and well-endowed. Always gorgeous, usually having long flowing hair, Breed mates carry a crescent shaped mark somewhere on their bodies.  A type of physio-emotional bonding occurs between the vampire and the breed mate when they consume each others' blood. By feeding on him the breed mate also gains near immortality and perfect health.  I am always struck by the similarity of "breed mate" and "brood mare."  
The vampires are basically immortal unless their bodies sustain too much damage. The first generation of vampire to breed with the aliens are called Gen 1.  Generations can be identified by the tattoo-like glyphs on their bodies. The closer one is to Gen 1 the more likely it is you will suffer from "Blood-lust" where one overfeeds and "turns rogue" which the breed warriors, sworn to protect humanity have to "remove." They only seem to be able to create a type of altered being called a minion who, when drained of most of their blood falls into the thrall of their master.


Nanos
One of my favorite story lines is the Argeneau series by Lyndsay Sands.  They are lighter than the average Vamp romance although people are still be killed and they are still quite erotic.  Sex and eroticism are very big in fantasy lit. in general unless it is intended for children. Even fairy tales carry lots off sexual innuendos.  I will talk more about Vampire eroticism and sexuality another day. The series has gone in a new direction: the Rogue Hunter. I think the original model was becoming stale (rich vamp meets mate has great sex, turns them, has more sex while solving some big problem and lives happily ever after) and they needed a change.

Back to Nanites:  Frighteningly, and perhaps due to my marriage to someone in the electronics industry, I consider this the most plausible explanation for vampire existence and longevity.  Millennia ago, there was a culture isolated by various geographical features.  This culture was technologically advanced and worked on eliminating disease through the development of small recreating AI devices called Nanos.  The Nanos were supposed to go away once they cured your disease, but, since human bodies are always in a process of cellular renewal, the Nanos never saw the body they inhabited as "well."  These "immortals" as they prefer, were tossed from their home due to a series of earthquakes and fires.  Guess what their original home was called  -- let's see it was an island that disappeared beneath the sea.......?

So, the nanos (not the first generation but the second), give the Immortals the skills and physical attriburtes needed to survive( fangs, speed, strength, ability to read minds.  They need blood because the cellular repair uses up a lot of blood as that is what fuels the Nanos. As in many vampire tales the immortals have at least one life mate identified b/c they cannot read the mind of that person as well as a renewed interest in food ( these vamps can still eat - they are just bored with it after so many years).  Regular humans can be made immortal by receiving blood from an Immortal and thus having the Nanos injected into their systems. So these immortals are not the "undead"  at all, they are not threatened by religious symbols or holy water. They are killed only by beheading or burning or getting enough blood to repair damage. Sun causes damage so exposure to it causes an increased need for blood and terrible "hunger pains." Staking only causes death because the stake stops the heart from distributing nanos through the blood.

There are several other theories, such as concurrent species, genetic anomaly, Lillith (Adam's first wife (?!!?) probably the whole "damned and soulless issue").  We can look at those another day.

Twilight Time in Suburban Housewife-land

Got the New Moon Blu Ray today.  My disatisfaction with Walmart and FedEx over a ridiculous delivery snafu aside, I was eager to get home with it.  My friend Linda came over and we watched parts of the Special Features of the Exclusive Walmart Edition before over wine before making dinner which simmered during the film.  Linda and I saw the movie at the Cinemagic in November and then I saw it again in December.  So we had a lot of comments and noted bits we had not.


Despite a few points where we were unwilling to suspend our disbelief (sadly - I cannot remember them now) I think we enjoyed the movie.  One big question, why (other than product placement) do Alice and Bella fly Virgin Atlantic to Italy from Seattle?  Being wicked rich why don't they rent a faster jet? In fantasy, one is already suspending their normal world structure so the rest of the movie needs to back off and be believable.


In Blu Ray the wolf effects were sometimes a bit hokey, particularly the first time one of the young men transforms, I believe it is Paul.

All in all I felt that Catherine Hardwicke's interpretation had more passion for the storyline although technically it was not as well made.  Chris Weitz's version was more technical correct and followed the story more closely -- perhaps too closely.

I am sure I will be seeing it again soon as well as exploring the special features more closely. And, I am sure you will be hearing about it again as well.

Why Are We Here?

One of my husband's cousins professes disbelief in my love of fantasy or paranormal literature.  I used to say "I like witchy stuff." Now I have come to appreciate the popular literature with vampires, witches, Wiccans, faeries, elves and such a great deal.

But it was probably the Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series that really pulled me wholly into the paranormal camp.   First the books, a terrific escape as I nursed my beloved cat through his final few months. Then the first film, an imperfect film created by a passionate director and her young actors, really got to me (one scene in particular makes my stomach flip over as if I were 14 again - every time). 

Then, I began reading other vampires stories -- mostly series.  As I read my way through Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series (currently being popularized in HBO's True Blood), the
Argeneau series by Lyndsay Sands and Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series (all filled with scenes of a much more erotic nature than Ms. Meyer's series), I became fascinated with the rules of the genre regarding origin, behavior, dining habits and such.  I also enjoyed the romantic scenes.I also got a Kindle reading device around this time and I read some of the books  because they were free and because I love my reading device!

With Ms. Meyer's, who says that her faith influences what she writes, the themes are very interesting examined from that perspective.

This is where I begin, as I sit here awaiting delivery of my New Moon Blu-Ray special edition.  Future posts will discuss the genre, ideas about them, who should be in the films (if they were made), controversies, and what ever comes to mind.

The  above books are all found on Amazon and in fine bookstores online and on the ground.

See you soon!