Allyson, your book explains to my parents how I can go on vacation to a remote (to me) island on a major normally kin holiday when I've never met half the people (I outed myself to my brother, given I'm going to be in print, if even only passingly!)
Why is it important? It portrays a slice of chosen family, derived from a largely laughed at and derided medium, the internet. It shows the deceits and delights and draws us to what really matters: human relationships. It shows how we carve out, in the midst of crazy masses and fractious communities borne of like interests in something as ephemeral as tv, clusters of people who we ultimately call home.
It's about people. And if you aren't fascinated by people, well... I can't help you.
Ima just plagiarize sarameg, then.
sarameg, problem is, what they want is a one to two-sentence blurb so that they can pitch it to a reviewer. These pr info forms are tear-inducing; I tried being eloquent and got back "that's wonderful can you put it in less than forty words it's for our marketing pitches".
Go right ahead! I'm mightily flattered should you do so. I tripped a lot trying to sum it up.
(ps, my brother, poorass that he is, told me he'd buy the book based on my lame-ass description over the phone. So yay!)
Heh. Allyson, go get 'em.
Eh, I'm just offering my impressions. I don't know crap about publishing. If what I can describe helps, that's the least I can do.
You could plagerize a certain Allyson Beatrice who said that Vampire people
"is an introduction to online communities, and the lovely sense of acceptance that could be found by connecting with like-minded souls."
Okay, halfway through!
This one: Is there anything about the book or author that is unprecedented, trailblazing or surprising? Does it reveal any secrets?
Um. Help?
Vampire people is a book about a world where the writers can be bigger stars than actors. A world where the most traditional of family weddings celebrates the marriage of two women who met one another on-line, attended by guests who mostly did too. A world where you meet a dear friend for the first time when she travels across the country to stay with you. Where celebrity pussy refers to finding a home for the a star's cat.
Penlind? Fate of Joss's cat? The nature of detective work in the internet? Portrayed identity versus trust & all that. "Normal" people are active in internet communities (not counting myself as normal...)
OK, I'm not helping now. But really, it's slice of life that most think is degenerate! All sorts of revealing things there. My dad just doesn't get it. So I don't try to explain in between his rantings on cell phones and blackberries, though I might this next trip. Mom...oh man. She'd get it, if she could figure out amazon.com. She'sjust happy I am happy.
