Contest for MJD Swag, Derek's Vamp Anniversary, Crappy EW Vamp Surveys

I finally had time to sent off questions for Q&A's with some of your favorite authors. So I'll be having new interviews and book contests soon!

If you'd like to win some swag from MaryJanice Davidson, NYT bestselling author of the Queen Betsy books, enter my new contest. The winner gets a gift pack, including a t-shirt, a book, and some tattoos.

To enter the contest, leave a comment with a title suggestion that includes "Undead and..." For example, "Undead and Unrecognizable," or "Undead and Undercooked," or "Undead and Underwhelmed." The contest runs through November 8, Sunday evening, and a winner will be chosen by random draw. Winners limited to the U.S. and Canada.

I'm waiting for the end of the trend that says that vampires are over. This trend comes up every few years and we're told that zombies are the new It Monster, or we should be wild about the Loch Ness Monster. This theory is routinely brought out like a monkey in a suit by people looking for a story, not fans of paranormal and fantasy.

Derek Tatum pens a thoughtful essay about the 20th anniversary of his love for vampire fiction at Mondo Vampire. "By the end of the 1980's, you could find more and more books that dealt with what it was like to be a vampire; being an outsider, I have always tended to sympathize with the monsters. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and vampire novels were the only books that I was aware of at the time that dealt with the monster's perspective."

Now, the flipside to true fandom is creepy trendiness, and when you think of creepy trendiness, you naturally think of the Backstreet Boys. (Boys? Still? How old are these guys, anyway?) Writer and editor P.J. Gach was kind enough (or cruel enough) to share this video with me. Teen boy bands and vampires...a match made in hell fer sure. She says, " Watch out the for the surprise ending."




Doug Knipe, SciFi Guy, interviews Susan Blexrod about her new book, Real Men Have Fangs. (Hmm, should this be "real men have fangs and don't do dance routines"? Just a thought.) Susan says, "My first priority is to write the book I want to read. I get so caught up in my characters that they’re like family, and when you have muses like Gerard Butler, Jon Hamm, and Alexander Skarsgard, who wouldn’t want to get swept away?"

Love Vampires has an advance review of Once Bitten by Clare Willis. "Set in a San Francisco advertising agency, the story follows the adventures of Angie McCaffrey, an executive assistant whose boss (Lucy) goes missing at the time that the pitch for 'Macabre Factor' vampire cosmetics is due. Filling in for Lucy leads Angie into the strange underground world of wannabe vampires and nightclubs where blood flows in secret ceremonies conducted in hidden back rooms."

Vampires in San Francisco? Maybe I should talk to Clare Willis!

After a much deserved break, I'm selfishly glad to see that Kimberly Swan is back in action at Darque Reviews. Read her review of Devon Monk's Magic in the Shadows. "Allie Beckstrom continues her struggle to hang on to her memories, while learning to cope with her new found skills. Danger stalks Allie’s every move, and there’s always the chance that she’ll take on more than she can handle."

Entertainment Weekly is having another of its stupid surveys about who is the best good vampire, and they've limited it to three TV characters: Bill Compton of "True Blood" as played by Stephen Moyers, Stefan of "Vampire Diaries" as played by Paul Westley, and Angel of "Buffy" as played by David Boreanaz. Angel? Yes. The others? You gotta be kidding.

I'd list Angel, Spike, Henry Fitzroy, Mick St. John, and others from Vampire Wire's Ultimate Hawt Vampire Poll.

AUTHORS BE WARNED: So I was clearing up my email and there are some very old ones in the pile, and I found a message from a publisher's publicist telling me about a new vampire book's release. I wrote back and apologized for the delay, but offered to have a contest here. This is usually a pretty good deal for an author because I put up the summary, cover, links to the author's site, etc. The publicist wrote back and said they were over their publicity push for now.

Hello? Since when do you turn down a chance to promote a book? She could have said, "How about a Q&A with my author?" and I would have said, "Sure." I'm sure the author doesn't know that the publisher's publicist has this "maybe later" attitude. Once a book is out, you keep promoting. If this was my publicist, I'd be furious.


GRATUITOUS VIDEOS OF THE DAY

Now, completely boy-band free! Even though I'm not watching "True Blood," I know it has a lot of fans. This is for you from Sabaceanbabe.



As for the Entertainment Weekly survey, except for Angel (Naked David Boreanaz), those guys are not worthy of the Jonesian Effect (TM), that extra sexitude brought on by fan tributes set to songs by Sir Tom Jones. Behold the wonder that is Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin) and "Sex Bomb."