Wednesday Reads: Vampires

When do we know when we have gone one vampire too many?  I cannot answer that (not without revealing my bitter and cynical true self), but the last time I was at Barnes and Noble, I took a look.  One vampire, two vampire, three vampire, snore!!!

Today's post is everything VAMPIRE.  Well, at least to the extent of my knowledge, which, thankfully, isn't all that extensive.  Let's start with my favorite vampire novels.  I'll give a brief description and go through the basics: first line, first paragraph, if it reads strong throughout, if it has a satisfying ending, and why I love/hate them.

Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward starts with Dark Lover.  These lean towards the Romantic genre, but are all in all a really good read.  Plus you get some zombie-like creatures that the vampire-assassin group has to kill to protect the rest of their kind.  If you need a book to study on how to create a unique vampire world without getting too crazy, I highly recommend it.  First line: "Darius looked around the club, taking in the teeming, half-naked bodies on the dance floor."  Intriguing, but not to the extent it stands out in a line up of first lines.  It's the second line that really sets the mood and tone of the whole book: "Screamer's was packed tonight, full of women wearing leather and men who looked like they had advance degrees in violent crime."  Each book in the series follows a different "brother", and not one disappoints.  Endings of course are satisfying (they are romance after all).

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith (author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, one of my favorite books of all time).  Didn't think you'd see this one on my list?  I do think people have gotten a little overboard with the paranormal-classic twist, but Smith delivers every time he puts pen to page.  Perhaps it isn't the best book in the entire world, but I have a strange fascination with President Lincoln and the idea that he was a Vampire Hunter had me laughing from page one.  Written with conviction, if you aren't careful you could believing that this president actually was a vampire hunter.  First line: "I was still bleeding... my hands shaking."  From axes to Confederates to Edgar Allan Poe, this one is a laugh out loud thrill ride you won't want to put down.

Dead Until Dark, a Sookie Stackhouse novel by Charlaine Harris.  I have not watched True Blood.  That said, I'll concentrate on the first book in the series without outside influence.  First line: "I'd been waiting for the vampire for years when he walked into the bar."  Intriguing.  Harris has a funny voice and we learn who the main character is straight off.  She dives right into the story head first.  It was a fun read, but not filling and super satisfying.  Like cotton candy.  The ending is satisfying enough but leaves it open for book two (and three and four).

Twilight by Stephanie Meyers.  Groaning?  Rolling your eyes?  Sorry, I have to.  I'll keep it brief; this topic has been beaten like a dead horse all ready.  At the PNWA conference, Andrea Hurst held a seminar on "Crafting Fiction that Sells in Today's Marketplace."  She read an anonymous first line and nearly every person in the room (over 100) agreed that they would keep reading from that line alone.  First line: "I'd never given much thought to how I would die--though I'd had reason enough in the last few months--but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this."  Well?  Good first line?  I had read the book, professed to hating it, but I didn't recognize the line when Andrea read it, and said I would keep reading.  I groaned aloud.  It is an excellent first line.  And the entire book keeps the tension (sexual tension, life and death tension, new tenuous friendship tension), and is extremely satisfying at the end.  Those elements alone ensure something good.  Meyer also had great timing and a lot of luck.

I'd like to back track for a moment though.  One mortal girl finds herself amidst vampires.  Add in a werewolf and telepathy.  What do you get?  Actually, you get both Harris and Meyer's books.  So what makes them so different?  And why did Meyer's hit off better than Harris's book alone (not counting the TV series), which, in fact, was published many years before Meyer's?

I'd like to know your input on the Vampire phenomenon.  Has it played itself out yet?  How can you, as a writer, capitalize on it?  Is there any way to write another vampire book while keeping it fresh and orignial?  What is going to be the next big fad?

Happy writing (and reading!) everyone.

Publishing cramps my (reading) style

My goal this past weekend was to read as much as possible to make a dent in that pile of library books on my bedside table.  One good thing about being around other people who love books all the time is that you get great suggestions of books to read.  I had a rather long list from the PNWA conference after attending a few classes on YA lit and simply talking to other YA lovers.  So I put them on hold at the library (I'm poor so I refrain from buying books).  My library list has also expanded from list of comparables I request of my writers.  If I haven't read a book on their list (more times than not I haven't even heard of them), I put it on hold and read it first chance I get.

I began six books in the last week.  During the week and early on Saturday I managed to finish two: Tiger by Jeff Stone (children's), and Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews (urban fantasy).  Both I highly recommend.  Then I began two YA: Deerskin by Robin McKinely, and Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan.  Both novels are written in a style I do not normally pursue.  The stories are lovely however, and the writing beautiful and heart wrenching.  Apparently I'm less prose and more contemporary (take that Herman Melville--I have a love/hate relationship with Herman leaning heavily in the influence of hate).  I began as well a book on tape to listen to while I drive, a romance, which I probably will continue listening to.  And, because I needed something raw, I began Dead until Dark by Charlaine Harris (True Blood), which I plan to finish reading.

Total: two completed, two abandoned, two in process.

My friends have always labeled me as bitter and cynical (I'm a realist), but I'm afraid working in publishing, in which we read dozens of queries, partials, and manuscripts every week (most of them very very very bad) has made me intolerant of even published works.  I used to be the perfect reader.  I was kind, patient, understanding, loving.  If a book didn't catch me in the first fifty, hundred, two hundred pages, I continued reading, making allowances for why it was slow, picking up on the beauty of the words and the intent of the author.  Alas, the world of publishing has destroyed the person I used to be.  No longer will I sit patiently with a book.  I have cast two aside this weekend (I haven't counted the books I have cast aside this summer), I've become extremely critical of the romance genre, and I laugh if the first fifty isn't the best thing I've ever seen.

As to whether my new reading style is a good thing, I'm still in debate over.  I'd love some input on this topic from my lovely readers.  If you are an author, how do you read books?  With an eye in mind for your own style and development?  Do you read at all (you should, for comparables)?  Agents, how do you chose what to read and how often do you find a published novel unsatisfactory?  Others, are you the kind and patient reader we all wish all readers could be?

Hopefully my discriminating eye will help me in the long run find that next best seller.  And hopefully you careful readers will love it.  Happy writing (and reading)!