Lisa, vampires are make-believe, like elves, gremlins, and eskimos
— Homer Simpson
Ah c’mon, like I could resist that quote? Vampires keep coming out of the woodwork today, so I’m giving into my vamp fascination and posting about it.
J.R. Ward’s next Black Dagger Brotherhood book comes out today! I’ve really enjoyed the whole series, mainly due to Ward’s ability to zap me right of my present reality and provide a truly escapist over-the-top paranormal love story.
In other vampire news, SMTB has posted about a new vampire detective series (gee, never heard of that before) on CBS and, as usual, their commentary is hilarious and, er, pointed.
So if I love to read about vamps, why don’t I write my own novel about them? The main reason is that we need a truly new idea about vampires, not rehashing of cliches. Ward’s books work on this level because of two new twists: (1) her vampires must feed off of each other of the opposite gender (they can feed off humans, but it doesn’t sustain them) and (2) they have their own religion, including their own female deity.
So, as soon as I come up with something equally compelling and original, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, I’ll get my fix from the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Angel reruns and the occasional Ann Rice and Stephen King re-read.
Just remember, Homer was wrong about Eskimos…