Vampires! Vampires! And More Vampires! And True Blood!

It seems the world has gone vampire crazy. They are everywhere right now from movies to TV to books. I've seen them on t-shirts, bags, and magazines. Vampires are all around us and looking pretty healthy for being undead.

I recently talked about two recent vampire genre movies, Let The Right One In and Twilight . The first movie was flawless, amazing, and officially one of my all-time favorite movies. As for Edward and the Fangless Gang, it was fun, but nothing earth-shattering (except for Dr. Carlisle Cullen...yummmmmmmmmmy!!).

True Blood, the TV series, has been a guilty pleasure of mine for weeks now. I have read all but the latest Sookie Stackhouse books and I enjoy them tremendously. Charlaine Harris has not gone down the same road with Sookie that Laurell K. Hamilton did with Anita Blake where she has a harem of men (thank God!) and I enjoy that aspect of the books. Sookie is delicious, but her love life is not easy. I have to admit, despite the plot lines in the books, I'm still a big Bill fan.

But there has always been a few things that bugged me about the books. One thing was the severe lack of black people in Louisiana. That has been remedied in the TV series in spades and I'm relieved for it. It gives it that Louisiana feel that sometimes lacks in the books. There is a distinct vibe in Louisiana the second you hit the border and the show does a pretty good job capturing it. Also, the books are VERY chaste compared to the show. I was so relieved when they actually swore on the show and had sex scenes. Again, it felt more "real" in my perception. I love the casting, love the acting (the accents still suck though) and I am solidly on board for Season Two.

Frankly, Season One on DVD cannot come soon enough!!

But the one thing I do love most about True Blood and Let The Right One In is that these vampires are DANGEROUS. They will fuck you up. They will kill you or make you wish you were dead. They are not pretty humans with fangs. They are something different. Something to be afraid of.

When I wrote Pretty When She Dies, I wanted to get back to that danger. I wanted to get back to that feral, dark power. My vampires are sexy and alluring, but they will rip your throat out. They will rip you apart. They can act very human, but they are still killers at heart and not "safe" at all. Even with each other, there is an element of danger. Vampire sex and romance do have their place in Pretty When She Dies, but at its heart its a tale of terror.

I checked on Amazon.com today and it looks like the novel is going live there soon. I've had a few fans ask if its cool if they get it from Amazon.com and my answer is "of course!" I totally understand how its easier to buy from there if you're buying lots of other things from Amazon.com. I'm dying to hear your feedback, so please drop me a line after you get the book and read it.

I want to give a shout out to a cool blog I check out for really kick ass reviews on everything vampire. He usually has some really good insights into vampire movies (of all kinds) and I've added a few films to my "to view" list based off his recommendations. Check out

Taliesin Meets the Vampire

Meanwhile, I'm taking a break this week from writing (or at least trying to) and then its back to work.

Thanks again for all your support!