Merci, ladies of the Pink Fuzzy Slippers, for allowing my post...
This past weekend, my anthology Sweet Sips of Blood was released by Vamptasy Publishing in the UK. A series of ten short stories about the Undead condition, these are stories aim more for the lighter side of being paranormal, and are designed to amuse, titillate, and with a couple of exceptions, not to chill…
…a light-fingered thief steals the wrong identity…
…a vampire again courts a woman he knew thirty years before, refusing to let her wrinkles and white hair blunt his desire…
… a vampire with a toothache seeks out an unusual dentist…and gets an unexpected bonus...
Though there have always been vampires among us, the literary vampire didn’t begin to flourish until the mid-1880’s. It was in 1819 that the novel The Vampyre birthed a vampire-frenzy lasting to this day. And then, in 1845-57, Varney the Vampire crash-landed on the scene. A newspaper serial running 220 chapters (that certainly eats any of my stories!), it was written by either James Malcolm Rymer or Thomas Preskett Prest, depending on which you prefer. Now, the fanged fiend was off and running…uh…flying. Stage plays, more novels, short stories, and eventually cinema followed.
The Undead have flourished ever since, but it was in the 1970’s that the literary vision of the vampire began to change. Until that time, the vampire was a creature damned and doomed… to walk the corridors of time for Eternity with an immortality enabling him to laugh at puny humans. Then, something happened. The vampire is still cursed…but now immortality’s no longer a blessing. Now, he acknowledges the ennui and despair accompanying being immortal. He laments his ability to live forever, hating the fact that he’s forced to kill others to continue his own survival. He wrings his taloned fingers in dispair. He searches the world for someone brave enough to accompany him on his Undead tour of eternity.
From creature of the night subsisting on a liquid protein diet and cursed to forever appear in a tuxedo, to sympathetic protagonist wanting only to be accepted, he’s adjusting his lifestyle into more acceptable patterns; the literary/theatrical/film vampire has done a complete about-face. These days sunscreen shields him from the sun, he has a friend at the local blood bank (or makes a stop in Bon Temps and asks Sam for a bottle of synthetic blood). and generally doesn't morph unless he or his colleagues/friends are in danger. He works for a living—as a private eye, on the night shift of a police department, as the owner of a New Orleans restaurant.
The 21st century version—the new breed of vampire—seems to have shaken off his dulled-by-the-millennia boredom and bounced back with enthusiasm. The Undead now wants to have his cake—being treated as human—and eat it too—being immortal. In Sweet Sips of Blood, sometimes the vampire gets his “cake”; in others, he’s still outside, staring in through the bakery window. Like the sweet sips of blood sustaining the vampire’s existence, these stories are sweet sips into vampires’ secret souls…
Sweet Sips of Blood is available from Vamptasy Publishing (UK), http://www.vamptasypublishing.co.uk/#/new-reads/4549210091
SPECIAL BONUS: go to: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/75593 and get a free download. Voucher Code: CT78N
Bonjour, Tony-Paul. Je suis les vampires charmant. I prefer charming vampires to those who must force me to do their bidding.
Loved the information!
Great post Tony-Paul. So much to learn about the world of the undead. Thanks for sharing.
Well! I will definitely use that promo code. I love all the new and different vampires that show up nowadays.
It's interesting to know how much a part vampires have played in the history of story telling. As usual, you've got some good stories going! Merci!
I wish I knew some French besides Bonjour and Merci, but unfortunately I don't. As usual, some great stories here.