Wow, you've really mastered the power of positive giving-up.

Cordelia ,'End of Days'


We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good  

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


deborah grabien - May 04, 2004 10:42:29 am PDT #2624 of 10002
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.

Totally (re the vampires). Mine are certainly going to be dead (or formerly dead, now undead); the woman was one of the last victims of Elizabeth Bathory's pet henchwoman, and she herself turned her male companion in a grubby alley near the Bastille during the Terror.

They can NOT go out in sunlight. They don't eat cheeseburgers. They aren't cute. They also aren't stupid, because I have this idea that writers who offer up creatures who have successfully survived for the equivalent of five human lifetimes and are portrayed as dimwits? OUght to be nibbled to death by ducks.

edit: oh, and the chicken? Dead first, as well. Much easier to pluck that way.

double-edit: GINGER! Thank you for an intelligent, well-thought out Amazon review!


Ginger - May 04, 2004 10:47:31 am PDT #2625 of 10002
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda

You're welcome. I meant to do it long ago. At least at this point I could point people at the next one.


deborah grabien - May 04, 2004 10:51:48 am PDT #2626 of 10002
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.

Hell, if the Amazon rankings are anything to go, the pre-order on "Famous Flower" is more active than "Weaver" is right now. Which, in fact, is just how it should be.


Typo Boy - May 04, 2004 10:56:07 am PDT #2627 of 10002
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.

"re-thinking" the standard mythology so they can go out in sunlight, don't have to drink blood, and can eat cheeseburgers means you are no longer writing about vampires

With you on the main points of the rant. But Bram Stoker's Dracula could in fact go out in sunlight; he just had no superpowers in daytime. Being caught by the first rays of sunrise or the last rays of sunset would however have been deadly to him. Also I think so would being out exactly at noon, but I don't remember that last for certain.

t /nitpick


deborah grabien - May 04, 2004 11:00:12 am PDT #2628 of 10002
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.

Gar, where in Dracula do you remember him being out in sunlight? I'm trying to remember that part, and can't; all I'm coming up with, without referencing the book, is the part in London when (I think) Harker sees him, and says "it is the man himself - but he has grown young!", and I don't remember the actual encounter, or time of day during which it happened.

Of course, Dracula could also cross running water (the ship running ashore at Whitby with his coffin in it, setting him free on English soil, is one of my favourite bits of horror ever written), so apparently Stoker played with the mythos, as well.


Typo Boy - May 04, 2004 11:03:08 am PDT #2629 of 10002
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.

We never actually saw Dracula out in sunlight. Van Helsing in sharing vampire lore and talking of the strengths and weakness of vampires specifically said that vampires could walk in the day, but if they did they had no special strength or ability to turn into mist etc. Since sunrise, sunset, and (I'm 90% sure of this last) noon could kill them, I can understand why Dracula and most vampires would choose in practice to sleep days ; a hell of lot safer to go out only at night.


Polter-Cow - May 04, 2004 11:04:23 am PDT #2630 of 10002
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

Oh yeah, this reminds me that I was planning on reading the original Dracula and Frankenstein this summer. I've begun Remember Me already...but hm, should I do the monster books now or read my new Davies? I suppose I should do them next in honor of Van Helsing, or something. Which one should I read first? Which one is better?


Dana - May 04, 2004 11:04:32 am PDT #2631 of 10002
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

Yeah, Dracula was stuck in whatever form he was in during the day, or something like that.


Atropa - May 04, 2004 11:04:37 am PDT #2632 of 10002
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.

But Bram Stokers Dracula could in fact go out in sunlight; he just had no superpowers in daytime. Being caugt by the first rays of sunrise or the last rays of sunset would however have been deadly to him. Also I think so would being out exactly at noon, but I don't remember that last for certain.

I always forget that bit about Dracula. I don't know why. But every other author that decides to have their vampires be able to go out in sunlight still lets them have their superpowers, which I don't agree with.

Because I've been thinking about this for a bit now, I present to you ...

Jilli's List o' Top Vampire Novels (in no particular order, 'cos my favorites change around a lot):

Anno Dracula by Kim Newman

Those Who Hunt the Night and Traveling with the Dead by Barbara Hambly

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite

Gothique by Kyle Marffin

Dark Dance, Personal Darkness, and Darkness, I by Tanith Lee

The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers

Hotel Transylvania by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro


Dana - May 04, 2004 11:05:29 am PDT #2633 of 10002
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

Dracula is long. And pretty darn Victorian, for being a novel about vampires.