May 2, 2008

• Secret Vices

  I have a secret vice. 

  Brace yourselves.

  I like vampire stories. 

  I got really disgusted with the Laurel K Hamilton stories after they became so much about gratuitous sex that hardly any real vampire/zombie/were creature stuff ever happened any more.  But in recent years, I've discovered a couple other authors who write much better stories of supernatural happenings and manage to avoid the weirdness that LKH sunk to.

  First on my list is the Kim Harrison series starring Rachel Morgan, a leather wearing witch who lives in a church with a living vampire, consorts with pixies, and is an honorary were creature and member of a pack of two.  I was a little unhappy with the ending of the last book I read "A Few Demons More" because one of my favorite characters got killed off.  And there's tension in every book because the pixy, Jenks, has been established to have a life span of about 20 years and he's pushing that so any book now, we are probably going to lose him too.

  The stories though are smart, funny, contain enough twists and turns to keep me guessing.

  For several years now, I've been seeing the Charlaine Harris books on the shelf next to the Kim Harrison ones, but to be honest I was a little put off by the cover which to my way of thinking made them look ... cheesy.  I know, you can't (or shouldn't) judge a book by the cover, but I do.  So there you have it, another little vice of mine. 

  Well, last week when I had dinner with Jeri at the Jade restaurant the fortune in my cookie said that I deserved a treat.  Then I had a coupon for 20% off at Borders, plus they were doing buy one get one half price ... and I decided that it was time for me to pick up some of the Southern Vampire series and see what all the fuss was about. 

  Sookie Stackhouse is a great heroine.  She's a telepathic cocktail waitress in a small Louisiana town when a vampire moves into her neighborhood and puts the moves on Sookie.  Sookie is drawn to him because she can't read his mind, and the blissful silence allows her to relax with him as she can't with human boyfriends.  As though the possibility of a supernatural boyfriend weren't enough to keep her busy, she's also drawn into a murder investigation when a serial killer begins targeting women who work with Sookie and it looks like she's next on his list. 

  Harris combines mystery, horror, and romance in a genre bending series with something for everyone.  She's won numerous awards for her work and continues to turn out stories of a high caliber to satisfy her growing band of international fans.  I kind of like it that she lives in Arkansas and has an obvious Southern flavor in her writing. 

  Like this excerpt from the first book, Dead Until Dark, "Predictably, Gran was excited out of her gourd.  She fluttered around the kitchen as if Prince Charles were the expected guest.
       "Tomorrow night. Now what time's he coming?" she asked.
        "After dark.  That's as close as I can get."
        "We're on Daylight Savings time, so that'll be pretty late."  Gran considered.  "Good, we'll have time to eat supper and clear it away beforehand.  And we'll have all day tomorrow to clean the house.  I haven't cleaned that area rug in a yes, I bet!"
        "Gran, we're talking about a guy who sleeps in the ground all day," I reminded her.  "I don't think he'd ever look at the rug."
        "Well, if I'm not doing it for him, then I'm doing it for me so I can feel proud," Gran said.  "Besides, young lady, how do you know where he sleeps?"

  Take this quote from book three (Club Dead) when it appears that Sookie's boyfriend Bill may have been killed and she's contemplating her future.  "I'd been a virgin until Bill.  Now the only sex I might possibly have would be with JB du Rone, who was so lovely you could almost overlook the fact he was dumb as a stump.  He had so few thoughts that his companionship was almost comfortable."
  
  I like it that even though her boyfriend is a vampire Sookie's relationship difficulties are no different than any other woman trying to work things out with a man.  She gets angry with him when he's less than truthful, when he is highhanded and unconsciously disrespectful, he doesn't pop the question, and he thinks he can smooth everything over with great sex. 

  Which for the most part he can, because Sookie has all the standard weaknesses of any normal woman with a secret vice or two. 

   

  • 12:46 pm
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