Book Review: The Vampire Sextette

I REALLY liked this collection of stories about vampires. My favorites, out of the six, were probably Vanilla Blood by S.P. Somtow, The Isle is Full of Noises by Tanith Lee and Sheena by Brian Stableford, though the other three, Some Velvet Morning by Nancy Collins, In the Face of Death by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro  and The Other Side of Midnight by Kim Newman were also really good and made it very difficult for me to pick favorites.

I love stories about vampires. This book was made for me. I may or may not have taken to keeping with it under my pillow next to Dracula. Of course, in my mind, none of these stories measure up to Dracula, indeed many of them feature vastly different types of vampires than everyone's favorite nosferatu.

The Other Side of Midnight had some great humor, including a "vampire hunter" suspiciously like Buffy, but annoying and and cliché as viewed through the eyes of a vampire detective named Genevieve. This story has mystery, action and amazing jokes, with a strong main character and interesting (and often amusing) secondaries. I recommend it.

Some Velvet Morning was about a countess who bathed in blood to make herself young. She was hunted by a woman apparently introduced in earlier stories, namely Sunglasses After Dark (which is not included in this compilation and I didn't read, so I was a bit confused.) It reads well and has an nice plot.

Sheena was amazing. The girl (Sheena) was incredible, and the man who fell in love with her, and through whose eyes the story was told, was relateable, as was Sheena's family. This is one of those stories that's kind of hard to sum up or describe without giving away, and I want all of you reading this to go read Sheena as soon as you can. Some of you may not like it, it is suited to a particular style and a certain interpretation of some sentences, but I think that overall this is one of the things you should love.

Vanilla Blood was humorous in that it was funny in ways one really doesn't want to laugh at... but then does chuckle quietly. The story follows the trial of a boy who killed his family and is told through witness accounts. There is some fairly explicit sexual stuff in here, so be warned, but it's all presented in a language that downplays the gravity scenes like that could otherwise have. If you're looking for entertainment and don't mind the sex things, great, read this story. I certainly liked it.

In the Face of Death is a historical fiction about a vampire lady's affair with William Tecumseh Sherman. It's pretty good, well-written and a nice plot, with believable characters. If you like historical fiction and vampires who bite their lovers with little to no self-recrimination, this story is definitely for you.

The Isle is Full of Noises was a psychological thriller of sorts, one where the killer is as apparent as the victims' helplessness. Another one with some sex stuff, don't read if you're offended by sexual descriptors. I really liked this one, it had really excellent descriptions of everything, created the perfect mood for a vampire story and had purposely complex characters whose minds were not open books unless they were meant to be; a truly great main character and a perfect ending.

This collection was worth buying, to me, just for Sheena and the Isle is Full of Noises, the rest of the stories being delightful bonus material. I will definitely be rereading this one. I got my copy at a local used books store, I saw a couple copies at Powell's in Portland, and I'm sure amazon or ebay would have a fairly cheap copy. There is no original retail price sticker on my copy, but I got it for 7 US dollars, a great bargain for such a wonderful book.

Random Outfit Post

Yes I am enjoying having a camera.

I got a Bauhaus shirt for my birthday ^.^

isn't this shirt amazing? It's from goodgoth.com. That website deserves to be checked out.

This outfit: not as flattering as the last one, but a fun black and white theme to go with my very light at the time hair.

Just to be sure you can see the incredible stockings that I love.

Princesses Redone

 

So I got bored a few days before school started and decided to play dress-up with what I have in my closet. My goal is to one day have outfits revamping the look of every Disney/fairytale princess. So far, I have Cinderella and Ariel:

Cinderella

One picture captured the whole outfit perfectly, though without showing my then-blond hair (it faded back to it's infernal natural state over the summer) which would have been perfect for Cinderella as it's fairly short and I had it held back with a headband... ah well, regrets finished.

sorry this is such an awkward picture, it was the only one that properly showed the print on the dress >.<

Red wig :) I like my black one a little better, perhaps, though this one is very nice too

This one might be my favorite because the greenish blue tights are visible and face isn't. My hand is doing something weird though...

 

Back to School

My schedule:
US History
AP Chemistry
AP Government
AP Statistics
Advanced American Literature
Journalism 2
Emergency Care and Prevention
French 3

plus out of school activities:
Thespian Society/Drama Club/participate in plays
YODA (Young Oregon Democratic Association, I think)
GLSEN (Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network)
Guide Paws (We raise Guide Dogs for the blind)
Editor of Literary Magazine
Writer for school newspaper

I think I'm going to go mad. Particularly because I also have to do driver's training and college class.
At least it's my last year of highschool.

In other news, I turned sixteen! On August 26th. Yay.

Here's what I wore my first day:

These shoes are freaking adorabel! Bats for buckles. @.@

       Bat-themed first day, as you can see. I also have earrings but no good pictures of them.

Book Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty, Wither, Confessions of a Working Girl

A Great and Terrible Beauty: (Libba Bray) I very much liked this book, filled with adventure and ghosts and girls and yes a little romance. A girl named Gemma Doyle goes off to boarding school after her mother is mysteriously killed. She there discovers her otherworldly powers and puts them to use. I enjoy the way this book is written as well as the storyline, but the way I see it, most girls of that era would not have behaved in quite the way Gemma and her friends sometimes did. The tone is just a little... off. But, regardless, a good book and one I would reccomend if you like magic, ghosts and various things of that sort, as well as some extremely humorous moments.

Wither: (Lauren DeStefano) I have not quite finished this book and have just discovered it to be the first of a trilogy, but I quite like it so far. The main character is very human and relatable, as are the others, even though the backdrop of their lives is some crazy hellscape and later a too-pretty mansion/prison. The book is set in a future where humans have doomed themselves through genetic engineering and warfare. The main character, Rhine, knows she will die at 20 like every girl and that her twin brother will die at 25 like every boy. She is captured and taken to be the bride of a wealthy man who lives in a sumptous mansion. The rest I consider spoilers, so read it for yourself!

Confessions of a Working Girl: (Miss S) This book is certainly not my type. Being stubborn, I read it through anyway. If you like quick and crass descriptions of sex, life as a house prostitute and shallow romances with loaded old guys, read this book. If not, back away as quickly as possible. This was a very disappointingly written but quite realistic memoir of the author's days as a prostitute. I learned some interesting terms.

I Liiiiiiiive!

Ach! Profuse apologies for my extended absence, the learning experience reccomenced and then, at the most inopportune of moments... my computer died. C'est mort. But now, I have an amazing laptop, I love it already, and a pretty camera and so *drumroll please* I give you... a picture of me!

My first day of school...
So... yeah. Again, apologies for the madness that is my face, I of course overslept but was determined to forge ahead with my plot. As a result, my eyebrows look funny and my hair apparently decided to just suck. Ignore the natural unprettiness, I swear I am smart!

Hello Again!

At the moment I am quite swamped with work but I shall soon post pictures, reviews, possibly a vacation rant and hopefully some short stories or chapters of a book I'm working on.