Plus-sized vampire Glory St. Claire has a new business venture and an old, on-off boyfriend. Blade wants to protect her from the techno-freak vampire hunter stalking the streets of Austin, but it’s time for Glory to explore her own powers.

I have to say, that I really liked the quirkiness of Bartlett’s writing style.  Not only does she give us a fun new character to love, one who isn’t a size 2 and still flaunts it, but she adds a problem that is totally believable of a 400 year old vampire.  I mean, after 400 years, you would think a vampire would start to acquire a lot of stuff.  Not the problem you were thinking it was, huh.  That’s the beautiful part about this novel, all expectations are thrown out.  I will say that there were parts that were a little obvious on how they were going to end up, but we’re dealing with a vampire culture that is trying to blend and they don’t keep tabs on all the new trends.  I think that aspect is what makes the vampires so much more intriguing to me.  We’re dealing with vampires who haven’t kept up to date with the times and they catch up as they need to.

The plot went well with the atmosphere that Bartlett was trying for.  We have a serious to the vamps conflict, but it wasn’t earth shattering.  They’ve had to deal with vampire hunters before, but never one who has had technology behind them.  It’s a new fight and while it energizes some, it made Glory realize that she’s been neglecting her vamp powers for all the wrong reasons.  While the resolution was left open for future novels, the final conflict did end in an interesting way.  Well, the ending did leave me with a few questions, but mainly involving the relationship between Glory and Blade.  All throughout the book it seems like Blade wants to get back with Glory, but then everything at the end screams “friends only”.  So I’m interested to see how Real Vampires Live Large goes with this.

Overall, I’m impressed.  I was a little disinterested in the series in the beginning, but now it has my attention.  So far, it’s been fun and easy to read.  It’s easily comparable to the Queen Betsy series by MaryJanice Davidson and I’ve been looking for a new light series to read.  I do have Real Vampires Live Large sitting next to me to read, so I’m going to go start it.

Read Order:
Real Vampires Have Curves
Real Vampires Live Large
Real Vampires Get Lucky
Real Vampires Don’t Diet (1/6/09)

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The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers

Published by Dorchester on April 28, 2009
ISBN 978-0-505-52770-7

Demon-slaying powers should come with an instruction book…

Seriously. Why does a new hair dryer have a twelve-page how-to manual, but when it comes to ancient demon-fighting hocus-pocus, my biker witch granny gives me just half a dozen switch stars and a rah-rah speech? Oh, and a talking terrier, but that’s another story. It’s not like my job as a preschool teacher prepared me for this kind of thing.

So I’ve decided to write my own manual, The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers, because no one tells me anything. Dimitri, my “protector,” may be one stud of a shape-shifting griffin, but he always thinks he can handle everything by himself. Only he’s no match for the soul-stealing succubi taking over Las Vegas. If I can’t figure out how to save him—and Sin City—there’ll be hell to pay.

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Interviews:

• Genevieve Cortese, who plays Ruby on Supernatural, by WIS10
• Traci Diinwiddie, who plays psychic Pamela Barnes on Supernatural, by SF Universe
• Misha Collins, who plays the enigmatic angel Castiel on Supernatural, by East Valley Tribune

The Hickory Record has an interesting article on the Evolution of the Vampire.

For everyone who loves the cocky vampire who sets the record straight on the vampire mythos, there’s a really great article over at Slate - I Vant To Upend Your Expectations.

If you haven’t been over to Lauren Dane’s blog lately, than you’re missing out on some great contests.  She’s giving away a book a day until the release of Undercover on Dec. 2nd (my review).   Today’s book is Cynthia Eden’s Midnight Sins.

Completely off topic, but….Scrubs is back and will premiere on ABC January 6th @ 9pm EST!!  I still need to catch up with the seventh season, but at least ABC realized NBC’s mistake by taking it off the air.

If you’re looking for some good dragon novels, make sure you check out Midnight Moon Cafe where they have listed 13 novels involving dragon shapeshifters.  After looking at the list, I’ve only seen about 2 or 3 of them, so it looks like I need to update my TBR.

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It’s also time to announce the winners for a couple of the contests going on here at Literary Escapism.  The first contest was for a complete set of the Stanislaski series by Nora Roberts in celebration of my 5th wedding anniversary.  And, according to the Research Randomizer, the lucky commentator is….Rashmi!  Congratulations!

The second contest is for a copy of The Wild Sight by Loucinda McGary.  I have to say, it was a blast having her here.  She’s the first author who continously checked in and answere everyone’s questions.  I loved it.  And, according to the Research Randomizer, the lucky commentator who, I’m sure will enjoy this novel as much as I did, is Judi!

Not completely paranormal, but still totally amazing.  A 12,000 year old witch doctor was found in Northern Israel recently.  A witch doctor!  How cool is that?

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Anyway, Victoria Gardella is back in London since the new Marquess of Rockley has been found, but she’s not the only one who has returned.  George Starcasset and Sara Relagado have arrived in London as well and Victoria know they are up to no good.  Plus, there are still some residual effects from her time with Beauregard that Victoria is still trying to get over.

Just like the previous novels, Gleason throws in enough twists to keep our attention and to keep us guessing.  Some of the new character developments I so did not see coming.  Well, okay, maybe some of the developments are not surprising, but the role they have was.  Th e plot itself was good and kept me glued to the pages from beginning to end, but for some reason, I’m having trouble writing this review.  When Twilight Burns was spectacular, but at this point, I’m expecting that from Gleason.  Maybe that’s wrong, but I have high expectations for the Gardella series and they are being met.

Overall, When Twilight Burns was a great addition to this series and now I’m upset that I have to wait until March to read more.  As Shadows Fade will be released on March 3, 2009 and will be the last novel in the Gardella Vampire Chronicles.  I’m really hoping that the one underlying story arc that has been magnificently played out so far (see spoiler for more details) will be concluded, because it’s obviously going to be a major part of the ending (see the As Shadows Fade description over at Gleason’s site since I’m trying to be spoiler free).  For a more spoilerish discussion, continue below…

Read Order:
The Rest Falls Away - excerpt
Rises the Night - excerpt
The Bleeding Dusk - excerpt
When Twilight Burns - excerpt
As Shadows Fade (March 2009)

Also reviewed by:
Vampire Romance Books
Stuff As Dreams Are Made on

—-SPOILER ALERT—-—-SPOILER ALERT—-—-SPOILER ALERT—-

It happened.  Max and Victoria have shared that they have feelings for each other.  However, Max is being the type of companion I love in my romance stories.  Max is that tough guy who can be just as stubborn as Victoria, yet he’s been around the block longer and sees things in a different light.  He’s no longer a Venator, and he knows he doesn’t have to protect Victoria, but he also knows that Victoria will try to protect him (which she has done) and he doesn’t want to be that obstacle for her.  He knows that Lilith wants him back and she’ll use him to get to Victoria.  He doesn’t want that either.  So knowing all of this, he leaves.  Walks out on Victoria again.  Of course, this is after the two of them has spent a very passionate night together.  Like any girl is going to let THAT go.  Seriously, he tells her he loves her, but he doesn’t want a relationship because he doesn’t want to be a liability for her.  Talk about male ego.  Victoria even points out that Kritanu stayed around for her aunt, and basically calls Max a coward for not trying to make a relationship work.  I can see both of their points of view…Victoria wants someone in her life, she misses having a male around, and to have someone who also knows about her double life gives her the chance for that.  Max can still stake vampires, he just doesn’t have the strength or the supernatural powers of the vis bulla, but he doesn’t want to be the one who could result in Victoria’s death or turning because she was trying to protect him from the Queen Bitch.

I think this is why I’m loving Gleason so much.  The twists she has given to the “courtship” (even though neither acknowledge there was one initially) were subtle and kept me guessing as to whether they would ever end up together.   Especially after Victoria had locked Max up for a bit in order to protect him.  He was sooo mad that I honestly thought that was it.  That Victoria had lost Max and she was going to be with Sebastion (I have nothing against Sebastion, but between the two men, I would definitely chose the one who I haven’t had to question about his loyalty and could count on his trust).  And then the scene were the two explode over the incident.  It was a beautiful way of getting the two together.  Both of them have been at each other’s throat’s since the Rest Falls Away that it just made it believable that this is how they ended up together.  I’m really looking forward to seeing these two get together in As Shadows Fade and I know I’m going to be eternally sad when we won’t get to see anything beyond that.

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Interviews:

• Vicki Petterson talks about her Signs of the Zodiac series on YouTube (courtesy of Harper Collins)

The River Front Times has an interesting article on Laurell K Hamilton, where she talks about the next Anita Blake novel, Skin Trade.

Zombies vs. Unicorns….that’s the epic question going on over at io9.com right now.  I guess there is a feud building between young adult readers who want more zombies and those who want to remember the classic unicorns that represented YA for so many.  I’m  not one of those girls who was all over the unicorns, but after seeing picture on the article (see above), I couldn’t resist reading.

Cynthia Eden is guest blogging over at Bitten by Books today, where they are also giving away a copy of Cynthia’s new release, Midnight Sins.

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Interviews:

• Kalayna Price, author of Once Bitten, by Columbia Writers Workshop
• Melissa Rosenberg, who adapted Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight for film, by Wired
• Peter Facinelli, who plays Carlisle Cullen in Twilight, by E! Online
• L. J. Smith, author of the The Vampire Diaries series, by The Ya Ya Yas

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The one thing that did get to me a little was the overemphasis on the “god” and creationism angle.  I’m not a fan of chrisitan literature mainly because I always feel like religion is being pushed onto me regardless of how I feel and I did get a little of that feeling once Lady Flatterley emerged as a butterfly.  However, if this had been a full blown out novel, it probalby wouldn’t have bothered me at all, but, this is a children’s book so there isn’t as much content as you’d find in a novel.   I will say, it doesn’t bother me enough to prevent me from picking Lady Flatterley up and reading it to Ian again.  I actually like the science aspect in telling how a butterfly is born.

Overall, I did enjoy this novel and it did recapture Ian’s attention while we were reading, so it’s a keeper.

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Overall, the illustrations are cute, but the story ran flat. It’s not one I can see me pulling out to read again unless Ian brought it to me.

Also reviewed by:
American Bibliophile

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Make sure you stick around and enter the contest at the end.  We’re giving away a copy of Immortal Warrior to a lucky commentator.

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For those of my readers unfamiliar with Immortal Warrior, can you give us a brief look at your novel and what readers can look forward to?
Immortal Warrior is the first in a series about a crew of Vikings who were cursed by a powerful sorceress after they killed her son. Enraged and full of grief, she wipes out most of the crew, and then condemns the survivors to live for eternity as were-beasts, spending half their lives as men and half as the embodiment of their fylgjur, their animal spirit companions (think Norse totems). Then she chases them into the forests to be hunted by men.

Ivar Graycloack is the first of the warriors to find his back into the edges of human society, some 240 years later. A great eagle by day, Ivar works as a mercenary/spy for the new Norman kings. But it’s a terribly lonely life, and one night he succumbs to temptation and asks the king not for gold, as usual, but for land and a hall. A home. He knows it won’t last, but he wants that little scrap of normalcy, just for a while. And then he discovers that, along with the land, King William has given him a wife.

What a wonderful, dangerous word to a man in Ivar’s situation: Wife.

The Viking men that you have cursed, how did you decide on which animals they would be? Are there any animals that mean something special to you and hence the reason they were included?
Mostly it was a matter of coming up with nine animals that were known by the Vikings in 850 AD and that were “sexy” — not too many people would want to read about a were-lemming or a were-pig.

Basically, you can expect to see all the large predators, game animals, and domestic animals of northern Europe–plus a raven. The only major omission (besides that pig/wild boar), is the polar bear, which were common fylgjur, but just too difficult to hide in the English countryside for my purposes. To replace the polar bear (ice bear, to the Vikings) I brought in a lion, which the Vikings knew from their wide travels in Asia and northern Africa.

You’ve included a strange twist to your shapeshifters, where did that come from? Why are some men able to retain their humanity in their animal form while others are not? What is the significance between having some be human at night and animals during the day and vice versa?
The men are beasts at the time that their animals would naturally be active, i.e. eagles are diurnal creatures, so Ivar is an eagle by day. Steinarr, the hero of the next book, Immortal Outlaw, is a lion. Since lions are most active by night, that’s when the lion comes out. I did make a judgment call for Brand, since bears are active both day and night, so I made Brand’s life more miserable by making him human only at night. The only one who goes absolutely contrary to his animal’s natural patter is Ari the Skald, who is a raven (more about that in a second).

The ability of each man to retain a portion of himself while in the beast is related to how wild/violent his creature is. Brand, a bear, has almost no control or awareness over the bear (also related to the rage of the berserkers, who wore bear skins to express their furor–although Brand was never a berserker). Ivar has a little more awareness, just enough that he can use it in his spying, but he is still largely eagle. Steinarr, like Brand, will have almost no control over himself, becoming pure lion and extremely dangerous even to his friends.

Again, Ari is the exception, retaining almost all of himself when he is in raven form. Ari holds a unique place among the crew and in the series,and there are several layers of magic at play with him. First, Ari is a skald, or poet/storyteller, which gives him a unique connection to the myths and legends of his culture. He keeps the chronicle of the men, an excerpt of which ties together each book in the series. Second, he is a seer, and has been all his life. His deeper connection to the gods brings him added benefits and trials–especially since the gods don’t always choose to give him visions that are useful, or even accurate. Third, his fylgjur is a raven. Ravens are the sacred messengers of Odin, the father of all Norse gods, who sends his two ravens, Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory) out at dawn each day to gather information. They return each evening to sit on Odin’s shoulders and whisper the news into his ear. Ari serves this purpose for Brand, who is so dangerous as a bear that he can’t linger near people. Ari goes out during the day as a man, then spends his nights on Brand’s shoulder, having carried back news of world in the form of his written chronicle and the notes he leaves. Ari will be the lynchpin of much of the series, spinning out his saga, keeping the connection to the old ways, and serving as a conduit for magic.

We’ve met three of the nine cursed warriors and I’m wondering…how did Brand, Ari, and Ivar obtain their personalities? What was your inspiration when you were developing their characters? Will the six remaining men be equally as honorable or will we have a rogue in the mix?
Brand stepped out of a dream full-blown: hearty, tragic, bigger than life in all ways. The others have personalities related to the nature of their beasts and/or to how those beasts were perceived in the Middle Ages. The noble eagle. The trickster raven.

There will definitely be a rogue or two, and maybe even a few that go beyond rogue into bad-boy-needing-serious-redemption. In any group of nine men, you’re going to find some that have, shall we say, issues. (Think Lord of the Rings: Boromir gave in to the call of the Ring, Merry and Pippin were scamps, Gimli was overly competitive and anti-elf). I have rough personalities outlined for all my warriors, but I’m sure some will surprise me, and some will have harder lessons to learn than the others. In the end, though, they will all demonstrate their innately heroic characters. I do write romance, after all.

You’ve given us a strong heroine in Alaida. Was she inspired by anyone you personally know? Does she share the same qualities with yourself?
She has the qualities I wish I had–including the body. I stole her hair- and eye-color from my daughter.

I have to say, I didn’t see the twist coming at the end. I figured Cwen would make an appearance, but I didn’t think she would show up the way she did. Will Cwen be making appearances in all of the novels? Will she be affecting the lives of her cursed warriors much the same way she did with Ivar/Ivo?
Cwen is the ultimate stalker-bitch, obsessed with hurting the men even more than they have hurt her. However she is not all-powerful, so there will be times when she is hurt or otherwise finds her powers restricted, and times when she will come roaring back in full might and fury. Whether the magic is with her or not, however, she is definitely a force to be reckoned with, and she will create as much misery as she can for these men. She literally lives for it. And yet there will be moments when her humanity will come out, too, because in her way, she is as tragic as the warriors she haunts.

Cwen cursed the warriors to immortality as shapeshifters, and at the end, she cursed herself as well so she would live to see them suffer. Are you able to tell us what will happen to Cwen when the ninth warrior breaks his curse (at least we hope he will)? Will we end up with a story for Cwen or will she stay the bitter villain?
I’m going back and forth on this. There’s a part of me that says Brand can’t be fully healed until Cwen is either healed or dead. I just haven’t decided which yet. But you raise an interesting question: Could love be the answer for Cwen, too? Just what would it take for a mortal man to break through all that rage?. Or would it be a mortal man? Hmm.

Ah, it’s good to be a goddess in my own universe.

Something I’ve just thought of, your men are immortal and will stay that way until they all find their Fylgja (guardian spirit)…will all of your stories remain in this time period or could we find a tale in more modern times? Are the novels going to be spread throughout history or will they be restricted to a certain century?
The stories are spread throughout a thousand years, bringing the story (and Ari’s chronicle) right up to present day. Each book will be set in a different time period, not necessarily evenly spaced. And some stories will overlap in interesting ways.

Is there anything you can tease us with regarding the next novel in your series or anything regarding the remaining six men we have yet to meet?
Well, I already told you that Steinarr is a lion by night. (The tag line on this one is: “When the sun goes down, the beast comes out…” I do love the copy-writers at Berkley) He’s also much more bitter than the others we’ve met so far, and much lonelier, since he stays deep in the Shire Wood to keep from killing innocents. He has resigned himself to a pretty miserable existence–and then a chance encounter with a couple of travelers calling themselves Robin and Marian turns that existence upside down. It’s hard to be stolid and solitary when you’re surrounded by merry men and have met a woman who calls to the very beast within you.

You’ve written a few novels in the past, but from what I can tell, this is your first foray into historical (or medieval/renaissance) romance. What made you decide to focus your series in this time period? Is there anything about it that intrigues you? Was it difficult to write for this time period?
My first serious effort at writing was a medieval set in 1186. It’s now safely tucked away where it can’t hurt anyone, but when I stated this one, all I had to do was dig the banker’s box out of the closet and I had the biggest part of my research done. As I noted, the series isn’t actually focused in this era–it just happens to be when the first warrior finds his way out of the woods. The next one is medieval, too, though 200 years later, the third one another 150 years or so after than, and and then we start moving up through all those fun English eras: Elizabethan, Restoration, Georgian, Regency, Edwardian, etc.

Who do you like to read and why? Have you noticed your reading preferences changing as you’ve developed as an author?
In romance, I read Julia Quinn, Laura Kinsale, Eloisa James, Kristan Higgins, Nalini Singh, Yasmine Galenorn, both Robertses (Nora and Sheila), Angie Fox, and so many others it would be hard to name them all. Then we get outside of romance: Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. LeGuinn, R. Scott Shanks Jr. (a critique partner who is just starting to sell), Lawrence Block, Christopher Moore…I think I’ll stop now.

The why part: great story, sense of humor or deep emotional connection, slightly twisted characters, wonderful wordcraft. Something, in other words, that stands out, but which is supported by solid, craftsmanlike writing and story construction–’cause it doesn’t matter how stand-out one aspect is if the rest of it goes clunk in my brain. That’s harder to find now that I write–I’m so sensitive to craft issues, and what might be small flaws to some, can lool like the Grand Canyon of story holes to me

And my favorite question to ask, since it sets the tone for the contest, what would your Fylgja be? If you had been with Brand during the battle and Cwen had cursed you as well, which animal would have been your guardian spirit and why? What makes this animal so special to you?
At one point in my life, I would have said a horse–I love the image of a powerful horse running with the wind–but I think now I would choose a black jaguar: sleek, sexy, scary.

If you’ve seen my picture, though, you know those are wanna-be characteristics, not ones I actually possess. And since fylgjur chose the person and not the other way around (darn!), I suspect I run, not with wolves or great cats, but with pandas.

What about you? What’s your fylgjur and why?

Lisa Hendrix is the author of Immortal Warrior, the first book in an all-new paranormal historical romance series, The Immortal Brotherhood. Please visit her website, Lisa Hendrix for excerpts, contests, and more information about Lisa and her books. Lisa can also be found on MySpace, Facebook and Goodreads.

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I would like to thank Lisa for taking the time to chat with us today.

Contest time.  Today we’re going to give away a copy of Lisa’s newest novel, Immortal Warrior. It’s a great historical romance with the added bonus of shapeshifters and magic.

So how to you enter…easy, just answer Lisa’s question - What’s your fylgjur and why?. In order to be entered, you have to answer the question.  So don’t be shy. For me, at least according to my hsuband, my fylgjur would be a house cat. A meek, non-aggressive, tabby cat, who is also sometime a scaredy-cat. I could go for that. Although, I would rather have a lion or tiger (love those animals), but I’m not that aggressive.

As always, if you want more chances to win, you can post about today’s contest on your blog, social network, or anywhere you can. Digg it, stumble it, share it with the world. Wherever you share it, make sure you add a link to it along with your answer.

And I’m adding a new way to get an extra entry…join the Literary Escapism blog group over on Facebook. This gives you three chances to win!

The contest ends at midnight on Nov. 25th.  I’ll determine the winner with help from the Research Randomizer.

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