Thursday, September 24, 2009

Marcia Colette: Serious Vampire Kick

Foreword: Among the contributors I have asked to help out with my blog, while I tend to my secret projects, I have urban fantasy and paranormal romance author Marcia Colette, an expert on all matters dreary and creepy as well as a dear friend of mine to take up the spotlight and do her thing. While we are the subject at how awesome Marcia is, she just had a book launch. "Stripped" is her third novel published by Samhain and also on my list of books to review. So I will go back to lurking in the darkness and leave you Marcia and her new obsession.













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Lately, I’ve been on a serious vampire kick. From movies to books to even researching the vampire subculture that exists. What is it about this genre that makes a lot of us paranormal folks gravitate toward it?

For me, it’s the mystique. Let’s face it. We’re attracted to curiosities and that’s pretty much what a vampire is or any supernatural creature for that matter. We want to know what makes them tick. What’s it like to be one? How would you live if you were turned into one? All of these questions and more are turning around in a brain and they ignite inquisitiveness fires.

Not all vampire stories or lore have provoked these questions. For instance, I’ve seen the movie Let the Right One In because so many people had raved about how good it was. Perhaps. But like everything else it’s a matter of opinion. I didn’t like it so much. Since it’s a Norwegian film—I think—I’m guessing that something got lost in the translation. Don’t get me wrong. It had its moments. However, it fell flat for me because there wasn’t enough excitement to draw me in.

On the other hand, I just started reading Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead and I’m damning myself for not having picked up this series sooner. It didn’t suck me in with the first page because I found it a little confusing, but it built to the point where if anyone had snatched the book out of my hands, they would’ve found themselves bleeding from the jugular. I love love love this book. Who would’ve thought that high school could be that interesting? The vampire angle is weaved within the story so well that if you were to take it out it would fall apart and be a sad mess.

One thing I’ve discovered during my vampire kick is the lore and world building drives the story forward. However, it’s not the only thing. A good writer can weave such an incredible story around vampires that reused things like sensitivity to sunlight, allergies to silver and crosses, and sucking blood won’t matter.

My love for vampires has been reenergized. Whether that means I’ll be writing a vampire story remains to be seen because I love my shapeshifters. But that’s all I’m saying about that right now. At this point, the only thing I have on my vampire agenda is to bring it back to adult works because I’ve been reading a lot of YA Vampire books lately. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them. I’ve already read most of the heavy hitters like Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris, and Laurell K. Hamilton. The same goes for some of the new blood to the genre like Jenna Black, Jeanine Frost, and Jennifer Armintrout, and Jeri Smith-Ready—what’s up with the J’s. *grin*

And if you know of any vampire movies that are coming out, please feel free to share those too.

7 comments:

Daelith said...

You might want to look into Raven Hart's Savannah vampire series. I've really enjoyed those. The Vampire's Seduction is the first in the series.

Staked by J. F.Lewis - also good.

If you get in the mood for some vampires with more of a fantasy twist, try Barb and JC Hendee's Noble Dead series. First book is Dhampir.

Harry Markov said...

Daelith: Thank you for these picks. I love recommendations and I might use these as well.

Edie Ramer said...

Waving hi! I'm not big on vamps myself. I'm waiting for Michael Moore's latest movie, "Capitalism: A Love Story." Since it's about US economy, that's going to be scarier than any vamp movie!

Magaly Guerrero said...

Thanks for mentioning the part of bringing the sexy blood suckers back to the adult side. I kind of have a bit of a problem with young vamps, maybe because I see them as super sexual beings and when you add that to books read by 'tweens' (I just learned that word lol) it is kind of disturbing. Hm, I was reading Desire when I was 11... okay, never ming.

Kath Calarco said...

More vampires, please. They suck for a reason! ;-)

Marcia Colette said...

Thanks for the recommendations, Daelith. I have JF Lewis's Stakes on my TBR pile. After sharing an urban fantasy panel with him a few months back, I just knew I had to have his book. He's a really terrific guy. Also, now that you mention it, I've heard of Raven Hart and have to ask myself why I hadn't I thought of her before. The same with Barb ad JC Hendee.

*waving hello to Harry* Thanks a bunch for having me. I'm sorry I didn't stop by earlier. Life got in the way, as usual.

Edie, for some reason every time I hear Michael Moore's name, I think of Christopher Moore who also writes vampires. Not to mention, I can see Michael Moore using the title You Suck for his newest movie about Wall Street. LOL!

*waving to Magaly* I've found that I'm okay with tweens (love it too) being vampires as long as they're done in a smart way. Then again, that's always been one of the reasons why I'm not a Stephanie Meyer fan.

Kath, you're a woman after my own heart. LOL!!

Melissa said...

I have to confess, vampires are my favorite paranormal/urban fantasy creatures.

I absolutely love them. I prefer the adult vamp versions.

I've read all the usually suspects, Laurell K., Charlaine Harris, Anne Rice, Steven King etc.

I'm loving Kim Harrison's version of vampires right now.

I really haven't seen a movie or tv series with vampires except "True Blood" that has held my attention.

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