"Blood Ties: Season One" DVD Contest & "Warehouse 13"

Eagle Rock Entertainment, the distributor of "Blood Ties," the vamp crime show that got lost on Lifetime, gave me the dvds of Season One. After hearing all the fan raves about this series, I expected to like it and I did very much.

I expected to like: Christina Cox as the difficult, dogged Vicki Nelson, who will throw herself into danger to save others; Kyle Schmidt as hawt vampire Henry Fitzroy; the Toronto setting; the supernatural crime element; and the occasional humor.

But I was really suprised by a few things, including how damn likeable and engaging Dylan Neal is as the copy Mike Celluci, the third part of the crime fighting team. He has such a square-jawed, blown-dried look that I thought the character would be an uptight, by-the-books hardass. But Neal plays Celluci as a good guy whose able to adapt to the fact that his ex-girlfriend has partnered with a vampire. He's also got a nicely dry delivery of funny lines.

I loved many of the secondary characters and extras on the series. My favorite is Nimet Kanji as Dr. Rajani Mohadevan, who's surprised by absolutely nothing. Vampires, ghosts, monsters -- it's all in a day's work.

THE CONTEST:

To win my copy of "Blood Ties: Season One," just leave a comment telling me if there was a television series or book series that you thought got cancelled too soon. I'm pretty disappointed that "Blood Ties" didn't make it to year three, but other great shows, like "The X-Files," dragged on well-past their expiration date.

The contest runs through Wednesday night, July 15, and a winner will be pulled at random. You can comment if you're not in the U.S. or Canada, a winner must be in the U.S. or Canada.

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OTHER STUFF

Have you heard about "Warehouse 13," coming out on the SciFy channel? You can read an interview with its star. "Eddie McClintock was ready for his role on 'Warehouse 13.' In the new dramedy, premiering tonight at 9 on Syfy, the actor plays Pete Lattimer, a Secret Service agent assigned to protect a warehouse full of fantastical objects and investigate supernatural occurrences." (Boston Herald)

The reviews for tonight's premiere are good, including this one from the Los Angeles Times. "'The X-Files' meets 'Fringe' by way of 'The Librarian' with a little 'Indiana Jones' and maybe even 'Bones' thrown in for good measure, 'Warehouse 13' is unapologetically and delightfully derivative, happily plucking the best stuff from our favorite shows and leaving all the heaviness behind. In this loud and angry world of post-mythology and damaged heroes, how nice to see a television show satisfied with being simply entertaining."

Derek Tatum discusses a series that was not cut off too soon, the long-running, cult favorite, "Dark Shadows." "But my favorite Dark Shadows story by far involves one of my elderly relatives (who died before I was born) was going progressively blind. In order to 'save her eyesight up' so she could watch the show, she would shut her eyes until the program started. That, my friends, is dedication." (Mondo Vampire)

Beth Fantasky, the author of the teen novel, Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, is giving away two prize packages on her blog, including signed copies of her book. "Once again, I was going to have you actually DO something to win - and once again, I changed my mind, thinking, "Summer is supposed to be LAZY. We should all just be reading by the pool!"

Okay, my dogs are whining because they want to go out to the park. I'll try to add a Gratuitous Video of the Day later.

We Have Our THE HOST Winners!

Thanks to everyone who participated in my contest for three copies of Stephanie Meyer's sci-fi novel, The Host, and thanks to Hachette Books for contributing the prizes!

The winners of the random drawing are:

Elaine G -- who's not a scifi fan, but thinks she'll like this book
etirv - who got hooked on "Dr. Who"
Heather - whose fave scifi shows are "The X-Files" and "Roswell"

(This reminds me that for a long time I told my spawn that I was born in Roswell, New Mexico, and, no, I can't remember why I thought that was funny.)

Weiners, please send me an email with your mailing address and I'll forward it on to Hachette so they can send your prize.

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IN OTHER NEWS


I'm signed up for Google Alerts about my book titles and sites and I got one this morning for "Vampire Wire." It seems that two women started a "Vampire Wire Tours" a few months ago and are Twittering about "Twilight" and OMG! LOL! Rob Pattinson. Well, they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery -- but is copying imitation or copying copying? If they'd have asked me, I would have helped them think of other names for their site, like Stephanie Meyer Mania Tours, or Twittering Every Five Seconds About OMG Rob Pattinson Tours, or something pithy like that.

Well, Vampire Wire (since 2006) is often imitated, but never duplicated and my posts shall remain free of LOLs and OMGs unless I'm, you know, mocking something.


Derek Tatum reviews Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge. "Street Magic is one of the best opening novels to an urban fantasy series that I have read since Tanya Huff's Blood Price. In fact, this novel is so potent that I would recommend it to fantasy and horror fans who typically write off contemporary urban fantasy as being 'too girly.'" (Mondo Vampire) I think by "fans," Derek means guys.

Speaking of all things fabulously Tanya Huff, Eagle Rock Entertainment gave me the "Blood Ties: Season One" dvds and I watched them all. I really, really like the series and will write about it later this week. I'm also going to pass the goodness along and have a contest starting tomorrow to give away the dvds.

Kimberly Swan's contest for a copy of the anthology Strange Brew runs through July 7. "There are 9 stories in this anthology by a very talented group of authors in Urban Fantasy. I’d love to hear which author’s story you’re most excited to read. The authors are: Patricia Briggs, Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine, Karen Chance, P. N. Elrod, Charlaine Harris, Faith Hunter, Caitlin Kittredge and Jenna Maclaine." (Darque Reviews)


GRATUITOUS VIDEO OF THE DAY

Here's a Gerard Butler tribute from Catiadaniela, who hopes to someday clone the sexy Scot. Regular Vampire Wire readers know that I admire cloning and have been trying to clone my dead dog in my garage/laboratory with common kitchen appliances and test tubes. If I succeed in my scientific endeavors, I shall share my knowledge with Catiadaniela. Stockholm, Sweden (and the Nobel Prize), here we come!

Is It Friday Yet?

The graphic above is from Nightwalker, a "Blood Ties" fanlisting. I've been really enjoying the "Blood Ties: Season One" DVD, just an episode at a time, and will report on them later.

I'm taking the day of blogging, which doesn't pay me anything except the joy of posting Gratuitous Videos of the Day (which is considerable), because I need to do the tweaks on my manuscript for Nancy's Theory of Style.

Check out the posts on my blogroll -- all excellent sites full of good stuff. One of my favorite sites, Love Vampires, doesn't have updates because it operates as a website, not a blog, but there's always new content there, as you can see below.

Latest Vampire Book Reviews on LoveVampires

Moonshine by Rob Thurman - review posted 27th June 2009
The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan - reviewed 24th June 2009
The Struggle: The Vampire Diaries 2 by L.J. Smith - reviewed 20th June 2009
The Twilight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko - review posted 16th June 2009
Dead If I Do by Tate Hallaway - review posted 12th June 2009
The Cold Kiss of Death by Suzanne McLeod - review posted 8th June 2009
Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill - review posted 4th June 2009
Undead and Unwelcome by MaryJanice Davidson - reviewed 30th May 2009
Chasing The Shadows by Keri Arthur - review posted 25th May 2009
Royal Blood by Rona Sharon - review posted 20th May 2009

I feel bad about leaving you with nothing but links, so here's something for your viewing pleasure and have a wonderful Fourth of July!



"Burn Notice" is back on, yeah! The terrific video is from LadyKnight1991.

"Vampire Diaries" & Flagrant Misuse of Hugh Jackman in a Leather Costume

BOOKS

Enter my contest for three copies of Stephanie Meyer's The Host.

Nightdweller at Bibliphiles 'R' Us is having a contest that runs through July 15 for a copy of Marjorie M. Liu's The Iron Hunt. "Along with the book, the winner will also receive a flask necklace inspired by Kim MacDougall’s book Luminari and some author swag."

Read an interview with the dynamo writing team of P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast, authors of The House of Night series. " I was in the very beginning of writing chapter 1, before Kristin had gone to live at college for her first semester, and I kept calling down the hall to ask her for word choices. After about three or four times I just thought this would be so much easier if I could just write it and have Kristin go back through it. " (Fresh Fiction)

SciFi Guy has new cover art for Linda Robertson's The Hallowed Circle. Uhm, am I the only one thinking, what the hell is growing out of that girl's butt? Not all design ideas are good ideas. (Don't even ask me how I feel about the covers of my first two books.)


MOVIES & TELEVISION

Read a recap of the CW's (and what the hell does CW stand for and why the the?) new series pilot, "The Vampire Diaries." "...what sets it apart is its offering of pure innocence combined with light doses of romance and comedy. Think more along the lines of 'Kyle XY' combined with 'Moonlight' and you will be closer to what this vampire story portrays. It has lots of 'heart,' poignancy, humor and light-weight suspense." (Rabid Doll)

Fangoria reviews the classic Hammer flick "The Brides of Dracula." "When Marianne (Yvonne Monlaur) frees the captive Baron Mienster (David Peel), she unwillingly unleashes all hell…or, just one really bad vampire. One way or the other, village people begin dropping like flies, and the charming Baron Mienster is responsible."

Review of "Van Helsing," which is the worst use of Hugh Jackman in a leather costume that one can imagine. "The result is the kind of expensive flop that makes you feel very sad for everyone involved. " (The Realm of Madness)

Hugh, leather, the possibilities were endless, but they blew it, as I have illustrated below.

I have tried to watch this "Van Helsing" in bite size chunks (about five minutes worth at a time), but I always end up spitting it out because it's so damn rotten. If you need to see a bad, unwatchable movie that has many five-minute chunks of Gerard Butler deliciousness, watch "Dracula 2000."


GRATUITOUS VIDEOS OF THE DAY

"The X-Files" tribute continues, because Vampire Wire cherishes commitment to a theme. And one of the GVD's reoccuring themes is BAD EURO DISCO! Yes, this video of David Duchovny, who played Fox Mulder, is almost too much goodness in one place. Please wait through the slow beginning.



Vampire Wire is also dedicated to fangirl collages and graphics. I hope you will enjoy the flying hearts as much as I do.