BOOK REVIEW: MY PROM DATE'S A VAMPIRE---by Kitty Keswick

This short story was adorable! Typical goth chick (and witch) Wendy stoke gets dumped by her boyfriend just days before the junior prom. Her fave hangout is the local cemetery, where she enjoys eating her Ben & Jerry's icecream! She meets Matt Glascow there, a vampire which she takes to very quickly---who escorts her to the prom. It has a cute, happy ending, although I would have loved to seen this story expanded out a bit more--- I mean, the principle of her school is a werewolf! (Her vampire date encounters him for a split second, which is why the principal 'reveals' himself. After all, vamps and werewolves don't get along well and get quite irked when one steps on the other's 'territory'. ) GETS A 3 1/2! (find this at www.thewildrosepress.com)

Something to give you a good laugh...

And in a fun way! One of my favorite indy authors, Cinsearae S., was guest blogging with another author, Christy Poff, over at AuthorsByAuthors Blogspot for a week. One thing that made me laugh my head off was this crazy-ass interview conducted by HER CHARACTERS out of her "Abraxas" series. Just for the hell of it, if you have time, check out the blog post: "HILARIOUS INTERVIEW WITH..." to see what I mean. That's the most creative interview I've ever seen, lol!

REVIEW: A LOOK INTO THE MIRROR DARKLY by THE GRATISTA VAMPIRE CLAN

I was patiently waiting for the next collection of works from this group, and once more, I'm happy to say I was NOT disappointed. The themes in this anthology might be considered 'touchy' by the more stiffer and mundane-minded, but once you read this, you'll see that it's not what you think.
"Pain" is received on many different levels and can be taken in so many ways. Sometimes, one's pain is another's pleasure. There's a wonderful medley of stories here, some hilarious, some quite sad, and some even mildly erotic. I was quite intrigued with Mr. Mullen's "The Gomorra Incident", as well as Mr. Glascow's "Vinaigrettes of Pain" in which he offers excerpts from stories he's written--which I hope one day to actually read in their entirety! "Contemplating The End" by Spider was a hoot--the ending will throw you for a loop! And my jaw dropped when I read "Hotline", again by Mr. Glascow. (What a twist on the whole 'suicide helpline' thing!!!) Ms. Poff's "Vampires Hurricane Ball" was a spicy treat. Camille, Dominic, Spider, and Phylis give their haunting offerings of poetry, and once again, Ms. Santiago wows the reader with her gothic photography, and I am very much in love with the cover as well. another image that really caught my eye within the book was of a large stone staircase and what looked like the ruins of a piece of a 19th century mansion or something! And although Mr. Boye's story, "Bastion's Pride" was a more conventional piece this time around, it was still dark enough to fit into the category of 'pain of loss' VERY well.
I give this group another round of applause. GETS A 5.

You can find it HERE in print or e-book!

BOOK REVIEW: EMBER, by Bettie Sharpe

A fairy tale like no other! I was wowed at this dark, Cinderella-ish tale, where prince Charming doesn't quite live up to his name, and our heroine, Ember, isn't exactly a raving beauty either--but a witch instead. Her stepsisters aren't cruel, but kind and caring courteseans!-- having moved in shortly after Ember's mother dies, and her father takes the eldest for his wife, bringing two 'sisters' with her.

Gaetane, a witch, bestows the prince with a blessing and a curse, to be perfect in everyone's eyes, every woman desiring him, and every man respecting him. There wold be nothing in the world that wouldn't be done for him. This ''blessing'' over time causes the Prince to long for real truth, love and honesty. Ember is the only one who fights the curse, and it is Ember that the Prince now yearns for--the one who could possibly love him for who he truly is. The big question is, will she give him what he craves?

This short story is so vivid, I felt like I was right there! I enjoyed the use of 13th century verbiage sprinkled throughout the story, and I liked the characters, especially Ember and her talent for using fire. The story takes you back to days of old, when enchantments and magic were very real. A very enjoyable story, you can still read it online at her website, or grab a print version of it (and I LOVED the cover!) at http://www.lulu.com/content/1727481. Definitely kick-ass & gets a 5!

GOD, ROB! NOOOOO!

*SIGH* and I've recently found out that Rob Zombie will continue the Halloween franchise by doing Halloween 2, due for a summer release. ARGH!!!!! And I've also found out that Billy Bob will not be playing Freddie Kreuger, but a "Watchmen" movie actor instead. My head hurts.

Can't WAIT to get my hands on THIS book

Okay, so I'm lurking around (Ahem...following) Ms. Santiago and her kick-ass ABRAXAS series. I am totally hooked. One thing I like is that she offers free chapter downloads for the more impatient folks, like myself, lol. and I happened to discover she has a 'Halloween' book coming out that will revolve around the Abraxas 'clansters', mainly Jonathan, who's severely piqued my interest from the chapter download I got. All I can say is, he's a WEIRD kid, lol!! I LOVE the in-your-face style she has, and how fast paced and exciting things go. The download alone was a severe TEASER!!! And the book trailer was so cool!

However, I'm still trying to wait patiently for book 4 in her ABRAXAS series, "Seeing Green", and hopefully some of the mysteries in this series will be unraveled a bit more in this volume.

You HAVE to check her stuff out at http://bloodtouch.webs.com/abraxas.htm You WON'T be disappointed if you love the dark, gothy stuff.....

REVIEW: The "Twilight" Series

Yeah, I'm know, I'm late jumping on the Twilight bandwagon. But, I have to say, I'm kinda glad I didn't rush it. I'll give my brief review of each book.
Okay, so the first book was 'meh'. I had to keep in mind that this is a teenager talking and the characters will have teeneageish ways. Okay. Fine. But sometimes I just wanted to strangle Bella. I've never seen or read of a character so clumsy and so uncoordinated that she could trip on her own shadow if possible. That was the one thing that irked me about this one. New Moon was better. I happen to LIKE Jacob. A lot. I love his sarcastic humor. And I just couldn't believe how much Bella pined away over Edward disappearing on her like that. I'm not being hard, but still, get a backbone, girl! Eclipse wasn't bad either, but Breaking Dawn left a lot to be desired. Halfway through the book, I caught myself wondering, 'When is this going to end?' One of the many things that irked me about the last book was the readers got gypped out of reading about Bella and Edward making love for the first time. There's no descriptions whatsoever about the act itself. It's like a 'fade to black' and then it's the next day. WTF?!
Bella's changeover was absolutely hideous. It's not enough that she gets pregnant and has a supervamp growing in her at practically triple speed, but she wants to have the baby while still human, which very nearly kills her. to save her, Edward injects her with his venom, (so that kills the whole 'romantic' changeover thing) and also, despite being a newborn vamp, she's not all psycho crazy like how everyone tell her newborns are. She's her regular boring self. And her first hunt--she goes out in a satin dress and stilettos?!?! (At least she had the sense to take them off.)
And God--is she ever the worry-wort. That got on my nerves too. Even the other freakin' characters in the book kept telling her not to worry about things.
The happy ending was just too cheesy for me. it was like a win-win-win without any real sacrifice. And Bella was right. She was a selfish person. She wanted Edward and Jacob, and in so many ways, she did get them both.
Okay, I can understand the whole vampire craze-thing going on lately, and how folks just loooove happy endings, and need an escape from reality. We all need that every now and then. But I prefer a bit more excitement, tension, something to keep me turning the pages. I found myself taking nearly a month to finish the last book. I can consent to the fact there were a lot of other readers not too satisfied with how this series ended as well, but no matter, Meyer has made her millions and has her fans, so negative comments don't really mean crap to her, lol.
My fave characters out of this series? Jacob and Alice. Not Bella and Edward. Surprise!! They seemed more 'alive' to me than everyone else.
This series just seemed average at best. Not wonderful, but ok. I have yet to see the movie, but again..I'm in no rush.
PS---Renesmee is a HORRIBLE name for a child.