Werewolf Russell Crowe, Twilight Contest, Keanu Saves the World

AUTHORS & BOOKS

Contest for Susan Squires' One with the Darkness and chocolates! "Contessa Donnatella di Poliziano has power, beauty and — as a vampire — eternal life." (Susan Squires)

Advance review of Lara Adrian's Veil of Midnight. "For those who haven’t yet discovered the Midnight Breed world, this series follows the romantic relationships of a group of warrior vampires called the Order, who battle against rogue elements of their own kind in order to protect the future of the vampire race." (Love Vampires)

Read an excerpt from Catherine Mulvany's Wicked is the Night. "Nevada White is on the run from a strange psychic gift that enables her to see evil...from two deadly predators who are tracking her every move...and from a past she can't recall." (Simon & Schuster)

Sharon Ashwood, author of Ravenous, guest blogs about the future of vampires at Lynda Hilburn's site. "One of the ideas bounced around is that, once the heroic, romantic vampire is old hat, we’re going to start seeing a return of the truly monstrous, evil vampires." (Paranormality)

Read an excerpt from Julie Leto's soon-to-be-released Phantom's Touch. "Pain erupted in his skull and for the first time in centuries, Aiden Forsyth remembered what it felt like to face death." (Julie Leto

Read an excerpt from Tate Hallaway's Romancing the Dead. "Could I really see myself married to a... vampire? The diamond ring on my finger sparkled in the early morning light." (Tate Hallaway)

Review of Stephani Hecht's Blood Lust. "Stephani Hecht starts her Drone Vampire Chronicle series with a bang." (Paranormal Romance)


MOVIES & DVDS

Catherine Karp has a contest for "Twilight" giveaways. "I'll draw FIVE winners who will all receive gift packets that include Twilight movie bookmarks, wristbands, key chains, and mini-posters." (Suburban Vampire)

Everything you need to know about "Twilight," to be released next week. "Just check out our cheat sheet on the world's favourite, 107-year-old angsty bloodsucker and the teen girl who loves him." (The Vancouver Sun)

Russell Crowe may play a werewolf in Ridley Scott's next movie. " Bear in mind here that we don’t even know if Scott is directing this werewolf project, only that he’s recently purchased a werewolf script." (Cinema Blend)

Here's the trailer for the upcoming remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still," starring Keanu Reeves. (Cinema Blend)



GRATUITOUS VIDEO OF THE DAY

VW reader Shell told us that it was Gerard Butler's birthday yesterday, so this is a Happy Birthday GVD from Mirahuevos.

Ghosts, Werecats, Witches, and Demons, Oh, My!

Computer Status: I mentioned to several of the Dell customer service people that kept transferring my calls to various continents for over two hours that I would blog every day "Don't buy from Dell." Seriously. Don't do it.


AUTHORS & BOOKS

Lori Devoti, in celebration of the release of Holiday with a Vampire, is hosting 30 days of vampires on her blog. Today she has an interview and contest with Maria Lima, author of the Blood Lines series. "My vampires can be religious, can see themselves in mirrors, and aren’t allergic to garlic. However, they still need to avoid the sun and prefer the night. They can eat and enjoy regular food, but need blood to survive."

Kimberly Swan reviews Wendy Roberts' Devil May Ride. "Sadie’s ability for talking with ghosts has helped those who were ready to let go of the living and move on. Now her ability has put her life in danger and left Sadie to wonder who in her life can be trusted." (Darque Reviews)

Read a review of Candace Havens' newly released The Demon King and I. " I have to give this book 5 tombstones. I think that it is a great read and I know I had trouble putting it down." (Bitten By Books)

Candace Havens is offering readers several ways to win a copy of her latest novel, The Demon King and I. Among them, "Attach a picture of yourself holding a copy of The Demon King and I (Outside of a bookstore please)..."

Read the first chapter of Madelyn Alt's No Rest for the Wiccan. "I used to think that living in a small town meant boredom, monotony, and slim pickin's in the way of potential male companionship. On the other hand, I also used to think a belief in magic, ghosts, and witches was a symptom of an overactive imagination, wishful thinking, and possibly even outright insanity." (Madelyn Alt)

Amberkatze interviews and has a contest with T.A. Pratt, author of Blood Engines. "The series follows the adventures of Marla Mason, chief sorcerer of the East Coast city of Felport, whose job is perhaps best described as a cross between mob boss and superhero. She protects her city from assorted supernatural dangers." (AmberKatze's Book Blog)

Popin's Lair has a very nice piece on her favorite book covers that have red in them, including Kimberly Raye's Just One Bite and my second novel, Midnight Brunch. "The Casa Dracula series all have red in it in the covers, but I picked this one, because of how simple, yet elegant it looks with very little red."

I love all the covers she's posted, especially the fabulous cover of The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. This is only one of several covers for the collection of fantastical short stories.



Review of Lora Leigh's Mercury's War. "The perfect mix of lion and human, Mercury has suppressed his inner beast, and wants to know what turns Ria on and reasons for being at Sanctuary. He doesn’t believe she is performing an audit for one minute." (Scooper Speaks)


MOVIES & DVDS

Is "Twilight" a feminist's nightmare just because it features a 100-year-old man with the hots for a teenager? "He is obsessed with Bella’s safety to the point that he becomes psycho protective in his behavior. When he leaves town, he bribes his sister into kidnapping Bella and not letting her out of her sight." (Houston Press)


TELEVISION & THE INTERNETS

In defense of the marvelous Jim Beaver, who plays Bobby Singer on "Supernatural." "Someone also questioned why Bobby would speak Japanese. Well, that's my fault." (Buddy TV) I have always hearted Jim Beaver and think his presence makes anything better.


GRATUITOUS VIDEO OF THE DAY

Daniel Craig, inane lyrics, and a hideous disco beat? What is not to like? I wasn't fond of the latest Bond flick, but I really liked Craig in the crime movie "Layer Cake" and I loved the paranoid thriller "Archangel" in which he plays Professor Fluke Kelso. I know.

Sherrilyn Kenyon, Kristen Stewart, and Things that Go Whooo-whooo in the Dark

UPDATE: My computer is still crapped out, but may be repaired tomorrow. In case you are all worried and stuff.


AUTHORS & BOOKS

Author Catherine Karp is still taking nominations for Best Vampire Website! I'd name all the blogs/sites on my sidebar if I could. Be sure to name your fave sites. (Suburban Vampire)

Interview with Suzanne McLeod, author of The Sweet Scent of Blood. "So Genny’s London is place where you can party the night away with a celebrity vampire, ride the underground with a goblin worker, buy a love charm from the witches’ market, report a crime to a mountain troll or hire someone to sort out that annoying pixie infestation." (Love Vampires)

Want to get a mystery promo item from Sherrilyn Kenyon, author of the Dark Hunter novels? "...please note that Promo items are ever changing, but if you will please send a Self-Addressed, Stamped Envelope large enough for the items with at least 83 cents postage in the US, my assistant will be happy to fill the envelope up with goodies." (Sherrilyn Kenyon)

Read an excerpt from Sherrilyn Kenyon's upcoming novel, Dream Warrior. "Delphine paused to get her bearings as she looked around the old buildings with iron work balconies or elaborate wood trim, many of which had boards over their windows. What a strange city... but then she wasn’t used to being in the mortal realm except through human dreams." (Sherrilyn Kenyon)

Spotlight on Parker Blue, author of Bite Me. "Barely eighteen-year-old heroine Valentine Shapiro got a raw deal in the parent lottery. Her father was part incubus demon, and her mother's never forgiven her for that." (Fantasy Debut) [Totally irrelevant: I wanted to name my first novel Bite Me, but my editor nixed it. Still love the title.]


MOVIES & DVDS

The chicks are digging the vampires bigtime, especially the upcoming "Twilight." "Vampires have always represented a certain psychosexual allure that has appealed to women." (Variety)

Interview with Kristen Stewart, who plays Bella Swan in "Twilight." "Once I read the script, I begged for an audition. The script showed completely different sides to the characters. It fleshed them out. You see that the power balance between Edward and Bella is actually really skewed and more interesting." (Los Angeles Times)


TELEVISION

Joss Whedon's fans fear for future of "Dollhouse," the upcoming series featuring Eliza Dushku. "This is remarkable - it's still three months until the premiere of the series Dollhouse by television genius Joss Whedon and already people are prophesying its demise, pointing the finger of blame directly at Fox, the network responsible." (The Guardian)


GRATUITOUS VIDEO OF THE DAY

For Jane, here's the Richard Armitage GVD. Embedding is disabled, but go to the site for the vid.

Here's another. Don't ask me why I like this Britney Spears' song. I think it's that whooo-ooooo sound in the chorus.

New "Twilight" Interviews, Photos, Fan Riots

Computer Crap-out Alert: My computer crashed so I'm just posting a short VW until I get it fixed, no thanks to Dell's customer service.


AUTHORS & BOOKS

Lori Devoti, author of Holiday with a Vampire II, guest blogs about vampire personalities. "Is there some trait that does or should shine through with all weres, vamps, etc.?" (Paranormality)

Review of Blood Lite, edited by Kevin J. Anderson. "So for vampire fans there isn’t a huge amount of content here. Zombies seem to be the most prevalent supernatural beasties in this anthology with the odd tale about demons, ghosts or were-animals thrown in for good measure." (Love Vampires)

Read an excerpt of Rachel Vincent's next novel, Pride. "Infecting a human is one of three capital offenses recognized by the Pride — along with murder and disclosure of our existence to a human." (Rachel Vincent) I think the cover shows how proud the character is that she uses the Abdominizer.

Patricia Altner interviews Diane Whiteside, author of Bond of Darkness: A Novel of Texas Vampires. "So my characters are playing for the highest of stakes. They can’t change their minds later, unlike somebody in another world. It’s a wonderful knife-edge for an author." (Patricia's Vampire Notes)

Urban Fantasy Land has recently posted some lovely covers of upcoming novels, including Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev and Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr.

Review of Kiss of a Dark Moon by Sharie Kohler. "Together the unlikely pair runs for their lives from lycans and two merged organizations that will stop at nothing until Kit is dead." (What I am reading now...)


MOVIES & DVDS

"Twilight" fans riot while waiting to see Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen. "About 3,000 people — mostly teenage girls — arrived early Monday at the Stonestown Galleria mall hours before the scheduled appearance of Robert Pattinson." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Vampires and "Twilight" obsession is deconstructed, includes new pics of "Twilight" cast. "Perhaps this fresh profusion of vampires is representative of a pop culture that is sucking itself dry—draining the last drops out of a pulp genre, having exhausted its creative resources—or perhaps it testifies to the procreative power of gothic sensibility to regenerate fear and eros and reclaim the night." (Vanity Fair)

Q&A with "Twilight" stars including Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Peter Fracinelli, Cam Gigandet, and more. "VF Daily joined in on the frenzy and caught up with 12 of the young cast members. " (Vanity Fair)

Read an overview and watch a trailer for the vampire flick, "From Dusk to Dawn." "George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino star as the Gecko brothers -- two dangerous outlaws on a wild crime spree." (Vampiric Rage)


TELEVISION

Recap of this week's "True Blood" on HBO. Warning: gory, gory pics. "Let this be a lesson to you vampires: if you mess with your own, then you must stand trial in front of a bunch of goth rejects and be judged." (io9)

Interview with Ryan Kwanten who plays Jason Stackhouse in "True Blood." ""I think we all know someone like Jason, don't we?...He's hiding his insecurities through bravado and by sleeping with as many women as he can." (London Free Press)


GRATUITOUS VIDEO OF THE DAY

Something for Robert Pattinson fans from 2coolmerry4ever.



M.C. Hammer? It doesn't get more gratuitous than that. Here's a new Richard Armitage tribute by Sparkleplenty101. All it needs is those parachute pants to be perfect.

Ravenous, Unusual Suspects, "Dollhouse" Problems

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: My Dell notebook has crashed so I'll be out of touch until I can get it repaired. I spent two hours on the phone this a.m. talking to Dell service people on various continents, none of whom is actually capable of authorizing repairs that I paid for on an extended warranty. My advice is: don't buy a Dell computer. Don't buy their warranty.


AUTHORS & BOOKS

Read Catherine Karp's highly illuminating interview with me over at Suburban Vampire! "I get stuck on YouTube doing searches for videos with vampires and Bon Jovi songs. There are actually a lot of them, but even better are videos of Jon Bon Jovi as a vampire hunter."

Be sure to nominate Vampire Wire on Suburban Vampire's contest for the best vampire site. "If I receive gobs of nominations, the sites that receive the most will go into the poll, so feel free to list a website even if someone else has already done so."

SciFi Guy reviews Kerrelyn Sparks' All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire. "Toni on the other hand is human. She is rescued by Connor from a vampire attack by the Malcontents (the bad vampire faction) while investigating her best friend/roomates claim that she was attacked by vampires."

Review of Charlaine Harris's Dead Until Dark. "This is a surprisingly sweet love story, considering it’s between a human and a vampire, and therefore has a certain requisite level of blood and guts." (Working Title)

Win a signed copy of Sharon Ashwood's Ravenous and more. "Holly Carver is a small-time witch who busts ghosts for tuition money, but ends up wrangling a demon when a haunted house job goes bad." (Fresh Fiction) Okay, I recognize the cover of this book -- someone tell me what it resembles.

Kimberly Swan reviews the anthology, Unusual Suspects, edited by Dana Stabenow. "...an entertaining collection of short stories that should please fans of both mystery and fantasy. " (Darque Reviews)

Review of Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton. "I’m kind of afraid to say too much more in the interest of not revealing everything, but as a fan of LK Hamilton, I can say that I am thrilled with this novel." (Literary Escapism)

Review of Beyond the Grave by Lina Gardiner. "For 50 years Jess Vandermire has been a vampire and vampire hunter. Miraculously she has been able to keep a large part of her humanity intact, and much of this is thanks to the prayerful intercession of her brother Regent, a Roman Catholic priest." (Patricia's Vampire Notes)

Read the first chapter of Jeaniene Frost's upcoming Night Huntress novel, At Grave's End. "The man smiled and I let my gaze linger over his face. His eyes were a lovely shade of pale blue. Their color reminded me of a Siberian husky, except the person sitting next to me was no animal. Of course, he wasn't human, either." (Jeaniene Frost)


TELEVISION & THE INTERNETS

Agh! Fox is dumb enough to question Joss Whedon's artistic choices on "Dollhouse." "The LA Times is reporting that production of the show is about to be delayed again because of concerns over the quality of the script - and this is after the show's second longterm pause to retool. " (io9)


GRATUITOUS VIDEO OF THE DAY

So I'm thinking vampires. Here's an entertaining tribute from QuiteOrdinary for Josef in "Moonlight."



And here's a tribute to "True Blood" from JenniferKemmis. I like the Soft Cell version of this song way better, but Marilyn tries.