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May 19, 2009
Vampires can be losers too
It seems to me that after the success of the Twilight series, copycats started to emerge everywhere. Several vampire love stories followed suit. It was a winning formula: a smoldering hot and brooding vampire, an everygirl heroine, and lots of action, plot twists and love triangles. What's not to like? Vampires were portrayed as perfect, gorgeous, superhuman-fighting-machines, who were rich and cool and had great cars and blah, blah, blah.
Enough with the perfect vamps already!
Meet the "new" vampire - the total outcast, shy, timid, well... loser vampire. They have stories to tell, too!
Suck it Up by Brian Meehl
Morning McCobb is a pretty wimpy vampire. He's stuck in a teenager's body for life and he's never even tried human or animal blood (he drinks a soy-blood substitute). His seemingly harmless nature makes him the perfect spokesperson for the International Vampire League (IVL) once they decide to push him "out of the coffin" and into the mainstream as a Leaguer vampire. Of course, in this day and age, Morning needs to find a publicist to help shape his PR image. And wouldn't you know it, his publicist has a teenage daughter to complicate matters. Once Morning becomes famous, the Loner vampires want him to keep quiet, since they "live" (ha) by more traditional vampire means and they oppose the Leaguer ways. It's a fun read, debunking vampire lore along the way and creating memorable and likeable vampire characters.
The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks
Okay. You know that great aunt who's always complaining about her feet? She can't drive, so someone always has to leave early to drive her home from family events and she smells kind of weird? In this fresh take on vampires, THAT is what a real vampire's life is like. The book features a group of ragtag, lonely, and strange vampires who turn toward each other for support at their Tuesday night meetings. They need the support to keep from drinking human blood. Instead, these vampires feed on guinea pigs, since the animals can breed quicky and their drained bodies can be concealed easily. Plus, vampires can't drive - because it's too much of a hassle at the DMV to keep a valid license when you never age. We meet the narrator Nina, who was "infected" at 15 - in 1973 - and has to live out her boring afterlife in her mother's basement feeling like she is stuck at home with the flu...FOREVER. (As a funny side note, Nina writes a successful vampire fiction series with a gorgeous, young, sexy heroine who is her exact opposite.) Everything is as boring as ever - until there's a murder and one of their support group is turned into a pile of ashes. It's not like they pose a threat to humans, so they need to find out who would want to kill them before someone else gets staked. It's a funny premise and the characters are very well-drawn. A great spin on the vampire theme.
Try a different kind of vampire story, if you dare!
Sharon Long
Teen Services Librarian
Posted by egoldberg at May 19, 2009 3:24 PM