Vampires Drained My Interest!

Ben Cross

     I cut my teeth on Dark Shadows and Ben Cross.  Well, not literally...the television was much too large to fit in my mouth, but you catch my drift.  I was enticed by the vampire genre, and it kind of stuck with me for a while.  I greatly enjoyed romance novels in my teens, but eventually lost interest in them after actually falling in love and realizing that my books had LIED to me!  My utter bitterness towards my overflowing bookcase aside, I was intrigued by the idea of a marriage between the Romance and Paranormal genres.  Christine Feehan's Dark Carpathian novels and JR Ward's Lover series were a great hiatus from my usual Highlander (Hannah Howell) and Historical Regency scene.  Now, I'm fairly sick of the whole thing.  Twilight has viciously murdered my interest in all things Vampire and Werewolf- I'm thinking seriously about pressing charges.

      I admit that I did read ALL of the Twilight books.  I was intrigued by a copy of Twilight I found at the local Wal-Marts.  Twilight wasn't popular at the time (hence its location in the clearance bin with a meager $4 price tag).  I was looking for something to read and it was cheap, so why the hell not?  I thought it was pretty good at the time because it was something different and I was suddenly drawn into the Young Adult genre.  I despised YA when I was forced to read it in school, but now I actually like their literature more than my age appropriate stuff (Vampire nonsense aside). 

     I am so tired of reading Vampire books!  I'm fairly convinced that there's absolutely no new and interesting ways left to spin the whole idea.  I did, however, break my rule to read Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books, but that was more because of the television show.  I did like the attempt to return to Vampires' non-romantic, ultimate killing machine former glory that Ms. Harris brought back from the dead, so to speak.  She is reminiscent of Anne Rice, just not as boring.  But even those got a little dull (and a tad cliche) after a while.  In case you haven't read the books, the HBO show True Blood is far more entertaining and sex-packed than the novels.  I'm not saying that I only read books for the sweet action, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

    When I was actively attempting to market my writings, I came across several literary agencies who stated that because they had so many paranormal/vampire/werewolf books on the shelves they were no longer accepting manuscripts in those genres because they had lost their marketing potential.  In fact, one agent posted that she would vomit if she was forced to read anymore Undead Dribble.  At that point, I couldn't blame her.

    My next fad was, and still is, Zombies.  It's not a huge leap from Vampires, but at least it is different.  You don't typically see the heroine humping on the rotting, reanimated corpse...unless you count the Necromancer series by Laurel K. Hamilton.  I'm not sure if any of that actually went on in any of her books since I only read one...but for these purposes I'm going to say that it's a good possibility.  If you are interested in some good Zombie books with a little romance drizzled on top, I suggest The Forest of Hands and Teeth novels by Carrie Ryan (Movie companion set to hit theatres sometime in 2013).  It definitely won't make you want to vomit rainbows.

     I did notice that another Sookie Stackouse book hit the shelves on May 1st or so, and I'm not sure if I'll rush right out and grab a copy.  First of all, hardback first releases are usually much more expensive than second string Paperbacks.  Second of all, like I said- I'm freaking sick of reading about Vampires!  Haven't you been paying attention?

     As for Connor Lathan, he's still firmly wedged on the Vampire-Fan Band Wagon.  He loves big, hairy, slobbering Werewolves and glittery, wussy, teenage Vamps.  So, I guess as long as he's still interested I'll also be forced to watch the drudgery.  Poor Me!

:.Connor Lathan in an Actual Wagon.: