More Science Fiction & Vampires, part 2

This month I read Laurell K. Hamilton's Killing Dance. This is book 6 in the Anita Blake, Vampire Slayer series. I may be cheating in calling it Science Fiction, but some library systems (including mine until they changed the catagloging) do file this title in Science Fiction. It would be the alternate reality/fantasy aspect of SciFi - not the traditional outer space type.

I have been enjoying this series for a couple of months now. Like the Charlaine Harris series I talked about in my Vampires, part 1 post, this series has vampires (as well as shapeshifters, fairies, trolls and let's not forget zombies) interacting in the world with us normal (non preternatural) folk. But that's were the similarities end. The Harris series has a light, fun tone to it. This series is dark and gruesome (very graphically so). Now there is violence in the Harris series - there has to be - you can't kill vampires without staking or beheading or some other really permanent way. It's just that the Anita Blake series takes it to another level. Where Sookie is a cocktail waitress, Anita is a necromancer (she raises zombies for a living). And she's the licensed official state vampire executioner. And one of her best "friends" is a monster hit man (the challenge of killing humans was gone, so he pretty much specializes in killing things that go bump in the night). This takes her involvement in the preternatural world to another level.

I would recommend these books to people who like vampires and even those who like serial killer/thriller type books. People who like monster books might like them as well. There is a developing sexual theme that is increasing as the series plays out. Anita is torn between the master vampire of the city and the leader of the werewolf pack. It looks like this will continue to develop in future books.

The Twilight Saga

I read the much buzzed about YA Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer. I was transported to the little town of Forks, Washington where a teenage love triangle has just sprung into bloom. This is not a typical love triangle, however, (nor is it entirely teen-aged!) consisting of a human girl named Bella, a vampire, Edward, and the werewolf, Jacob. They’re pretty indulgent books, with entire paragraphs dedicated to Edward’s hard marble-like skin and deep, endless ocher colored eyes, (not to mention Jacob’s inhumanly warm, russet colored skin) but I was fascinated by the story, to be honest!
One of the more interesting plot lines is the existence of the ancient coven of vampires in Italy known as the Volturi. They are a collection of especially talented vamps that make sure their entire race stays under the human radar. One vampire myth is also squashed with the revelation that the sun does not burn them. They avoid it because if they ARE caught in the sunlight, it would attract lots of unwanted attention from humans for their skin sparkles like thousands of diamonds, and casts tiny little rainbows everywhere.
There are three books so far. Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, with the next book, Breaking Dawn, tentatively set to be released Fall of ’08. Meyer leaves lots of burning questions unanswered, including The Big One. How will Bella give up her humanity and forsake her parents to become immortal for Edward?

Vampires, part 1

I should start this off by saying that I really love vampire books. It started in high school (or maybe the first year of college) when a coworker at the Towson Library recommended Anne Rice's Interview of the Vampire to me. That got me hooked and I read everything she wrote (even the ones that weren't so great).

Well, it's been awhile since she ended that series and by accident late last year I stumbled on Charlaine Harris' "Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire" series. Sookie is a telepathic waitress in a bar in rural Louisiana. She likes vampires because she can't read their minds (they are dead after all and therefore don't have brain waves to read). Oh, I forgot to mention that ever since the Japanese created a synthetic blood alternative, the vampires, no longer needing to hunt humans to survive have come out in the open to interact in society. The weres, shapeshifters, witches, and fairies (as in godmothers) have not yet revealed themselves to society as a whole, but all play key roles in Sookie's life.

This series is cataloged as Mystery. There is an common story line that connects the books in the series (7 titles so far), but each individual story contains a murder or series of murders that Sookie and her telepathic ability helps to solve. These books have a very light feel to them, in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of gore (for it usually takes a stake or a beheading to kill a vampire). There is often a climactic battle of some sort with all sorts of supernatural carnage. But they still have an overall humorous, easy tone to them.