Vampire Squad

Review of Vampire Squad  (Available on Smashwords)
Tiny e-booklet, by Alison Burnston ... cost: $1.29

WHAT WORKS:

Cute book cover. The male character has a decent sense of humor.  


FOR OTHER READERS -- HERE'S WHAT DOESN'T WORK IN THIS eBOOKLET


#1. The story does not adequately fit the book's title: "Vampire Squad." (There's not really a squad of vampires in it, least not vampires that work together as a posse.)


#2. The Category for this publication is labeled incorrectly. Depicted as "Fiction » Literature » Horror (YA and A only)" it's nothing of the sort. There's nothing horrifying, frightening or metaphysically alluring about this tiny eBooklet. This 11-page article needs to be labeled "eroticism." It's a tale about a petite cheerleader having a casual sexual encounter with a rather large male athlete. 


#3. The reader is not at all emotionally invested in either character when the two begin groping each other. The female repeatedly reminds her partner to be much gentler because he's repeatedly squeezing too tightly. Then, lo and behold, she's the one whose supposed to be the vampire. (A very frail vampire.) 


#4. WHAT'S TERRIBLY OFFENSIVE: 
Short as this eBooklet is, it promotes homophobia. The main character has a serious problem with THE IDEA of homosexuality. The main character's casual "lay" describes a lesbian (whom seems completely unrelated to the story but his lover scorns her for being a homosexual) with: "She can't help it. She digs chicks, that's all." To that the main character replies: "I know, but I bit a girl once and it was disgusting. Made me throw up." 


#5. OTHER FACTS
Only 11 pages long (page number 12 posts a short paragraph about the author)

Character Blog: Vamchoir

Tweet: @Vamchoir

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Publisher: SunTigerMOJO.com 

Vampire Nights And Other Stories by J. R. Rain

(ten out of five stars)
Review Of "Vampire Nights and Other Stories" (VNOS) by J. R. Rain, which is available on Smashwords.

When it comes to writers, J.R. Rain is the crème de la crème and VNOS is the book that proves it. The very first short story inside this novella offers a perfectly written and enrapturing twist to a troubled vampire's tale. Yet each subsequent story, with a completely new elocutionist and brand new setting, proves just as bewitching. That's even when the speaker might have changed gender (to the reader's surprise).

The result is a book that flows like fragrant and fresh individual breezes, animating the trees, and changing in intensity with the subsequent seasons. Just as no summertime lasts forever, so this novella comes to an end after 60 pages of delicious bliss, which is when the premium swirled ice-cream falls from the proverbial sugar cone.

As a vampire and horror fan, I was amazed by the experience each new story presented. While I drank in all of this novella, I still feel thirsty for more! (My plight now is to go back in time, to revisit the work, or hope for another warm day when I may read more of J.R. Rain's books.) This is definitely perfectly polished and entirely worth the time to read.

~ Tami Jackson
Author: Ravena & The ResurrectedPublisher: SunTiger MOJO

Character Blog: Vamchoir

Tweet: @Vamchoir

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Publisher: SunTigerMOJO.com 

NAME THIS VAMPIRE!

FamousVampire.com seeks YOUR help to name this adorable character, below. All appropriate suggestions will be considered. The individual (werewolf, spirit, vampire or ghoul, makes no difference to us) who submits the winning name will receive a personalized comic from FamousVampire.com PROVIDING your email address is sent to us, advising where you want that comic to be received. 

Character Blog: Vamchoir

Tweet: @Vamchoir

Facebook: Vamchoir

Publisher: SunTigerMOJO.com 

Vampires: The Occult Truth, by Konstantinos (publisher: Llewellyn)

(five out of five stars)

Vampires: The Occult Truth ~ 11.95


Konstantinos’ book drips with mystery and that’s only the beginning of what makes Vampires The Occult Truth a definitely spooky but worthwhile read. With so many different types of vampires to write about (human bloodsuckers, undead stalkers of the night, sexual vampires and those who work like parasites against the unsuspecting psyche) Konstantinos engorges the reader.


If there is to be a downside to the book it’s only because the author has a frustrating habit of teasing like a news anchor about fearsome information to come. The reader’s delay of pleasure is most evident in the first chapter where the author serves only a morsel of bloody meat while the bulk of those pages foretell what the reader will be able to discover when he or she sinks one’s teeth much deeper into the book, in subsequent chapters.


The more immersed one gets into reading, however, the more one’s heart begins to race as the horror of ancient vampire tales come alive through the pages. Just as one begins to believe that a certain fable could possibly be true, the author explains why commonsense and scientific logic would most likely disprove the aged lore of such vampirism and butchery. Depending on your vampire orientation – whether you believe in them or not – Konstantinos' use of commonsense and devotion to fact finding could prove to be disappointing (or not, depending on your point of view).


Beginning with third-person accounts of various kinds of vampires, the pages grow to be more and more intimately told and are presented in welcoming detail. At one point, letters from modern day vampires spill onto the pages. (Konstantinos held out the promise of using pseudonyms instead of legal names for human vampires so they could continue to lurk from the shadows anonymously.)


With the diligence of a headless horseman searching for his lost skull, Konstantinos discussed so many vampire variations -- the author even described Renfield’s Syndrome, a blood-sucking condition that becomes evident during childhood. It’s a disorder you’ll never read about on the web site for the Centers for Disease Control but it also conjures up a mental picture you’ll not soon forget – that of small children happily lapping blood from either their friend’s or their own natural wounds.


If you are interested in learning the truth about vampires . . . this is the book for you. If you are eager to feel frightened, you could choose to read Vampires The Occult Truth while in a graveyard, at night, with only a flashlight for company. Either that, or you could forgo the cold damp ground and experience all of those goose bumps just by reading the book (in the comfort of your home)! In the final chapters, the author gives credible evidence to prove that psychic vampires do exist to drain energy from the most unsuspecting human victims. Fortunately, Konstantinos does not leave you feeling so vulnerable. The author also provides helpful hints for shielding oneself -- with explicit directions for guarding oneself against such evil doers.http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9781567183801

Character Blog: Vamchoir

Tweet: @Vamchoir

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Publisher: SunTigerMOJO.com 

2011 New Year - Vampires Celebrate

http://suntigermojo.com/ART/CARTOONS/VAMPIRE-SAYINGS/vampire-suit-new-year-comic.jpg

Character Blog: Vamchoir

Tweet: @Vamchoir

Facebook: Vamchoir

Publisher: SunTigerMOJO.com 

Save your Delicious bookmarks before they vanish!

We interrupt holiday silence for a brief announcement...

Assorted news reports and tweets and so forth indicate that Yahoo is planning to sell Delicious, and mentioned is the ominous word 'sunset'.  Hmmm.  I've been a happy user of Delicious and certainly don't want to lose my bookmarks.  I also want to keep using an online bookmarking site for its convenience - my bookmarks available from any computer.  Social bookmarking is a handy beast.

I exported my Delicious bookmarks to a saved file on my computer, so I have them as they stand (login to your Delicious account, and exporting is an option in the Tools menu).  Next, I was going to import them into Google Bookmarks (there are literally dozens of possibilities, as I found reading said articles/tweets) but hey, the Google instructions assumed you have or can install the Google toolbar and Firefox.  I'm on a DET laptop right now, and can't do either.  So instead I toddled over to Diigo and it was easy as pie to set up an account and import that saved file.

So now if you look over on the right you'll see a list of my latest Diigo bookmarks.  I'm not alone; millions of Delicious bookmarks are apparently being exported/imported elsewhere as we speak.  It's not a bad idea, anyway, to export one's bookmark file and save it to a computer from time to time, just in case...

Cheers

Ruth

PS. Another section of my presentation on Personal Learning Networks that I'll have to revise...

Until Australia Day...

Until Australia Day (26 January) we are all on summer holidays, with time to notice stained glass on wooden floors, and other such things to restore the soul and engage the eye.  Time to read, and create, and think.  If you're in Oz too, I hope you're enjoying your break.  The happy life of teacher librarians includes holidays, hurrah!

I'll show you the 2010 Christmas pictures I promised, but towards the end of this year, in time to give you some fresh ideas.

New stuff coming in late January! (I'm planning a Year 11 study skills program, among other things).

Happy New Year, and all the best to you and yours.

Cheers

Ruth