Review: The Atherton Vampire by Lynne Cantwell

 Genre: Vampire fantasy

Description:

“For a hundred years, Jerome Atherton has roamed the world in a fruitless search for a cure for his vampirism. Now he has returned to the family home – a crumbling mansion that sits, brooding, on a bluff above the river town that bears his family’s name – and his faithful manservant, a gargoyle named Kamen. Jerry falls for a TV news anchor named Lauren Whitacre, but when Lauren discovers his secret, he must flee again. But not for long. Not for nearly long enough.

Upon his return, another TV news personality intrigues him: reporter Callie Dailey. But Jerry Atherton is not the first vampire Callie has run into and she is not interested in complicating her life with another. Yet Jerry needs Callie’s help to find out why an out-of-town developer is so interested in his family's old shipyard. Will he have to use his vampiric powers of persuasion on Callie? If he does, he may lose her forever…”

Author:

Lynne Cantwell’s biography tells us she has been writing fiction since the second grade, when the kid who sat in front of her showed her a book he had written, and she thought, "I could do that." The result was "Susie and the Talking Doll," a picture book illustrated by the author about a girl who owned a doll that not only could talk, but could carry on conversations. The book had dialogue but no paragraph breaks.

Today, after a twenty-year career in broadcast journalism and a master's degree in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins University (or perhaps despite the master's degree), Lynne is still writing fantasy. She is also a contributing author at Indies Unlimited.

 Appraisal:

Nosferatu (the movie) scared the bejazus out of me at an early age. Imprinted on my hind brain forever is the image of the ghoulish shadow thrown onto the wall of the staircase as the creature creeps upwards, towards the bedroom of his beloved victim. Thereafter I came to terms with vampires as scary but comedic entertainment through dear Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She sure got through ‘em, with her trusty stake and sharp one-liners. I mention all this to show that I can go either way with vampires.

There is romance in the novel, and the story isn’t really dark, so I have been pondering what genre this occupies. You can judge the result of my deliberations for yourself if you give the book a whirl.

This vampire tale kept me on the edge of my seat whenever the vampire was on stage as I examined every utterance for a careless invitation to step inside, and occasionally shouted at the Kindle in my hand ‘don’t look into his eyes!’. So tension is kept high.

There is, however, rather little staking – without which the vampire genre inevitably feels a little thin. Reasoning with a vampire, with any expectation of not ending up with a sore neck and an aversion to daylight, seems to this reader to be a fool’s game. It’s all about the catching and the biting, with vampires, isn’t it? Cantwell does, however, give something of the story of the vampire in history and its transmogrification into a fiction staple. This she does through one of her engaging narrators, Callie Dailey – a local TV news anchor, very much in the Tess Showalter mould (see the Magic series). She has the Cantwellian, spunky heroine  ‘come on, what’s the worst that can happen?’ approach to danger, and Gretchen the video operator follows gamely at her heels.

The second narrator is, however, more fun even than the ever-inquisitive reporter and her sidekick. Kamen functions under a glamour laid upon him by his master. He is the magical factotum of Jerome, the Atherton vampire, and through Kamen’s glum narrative we are given a quite different slant on events. Kamen is rather like Marvin the Paranoid Android from Hitchhiker’s Guide, but with wings. And better at catching rats at need. Kamen has a favourite line: “if a creature of stone could feel [insert emotion], then I would feel it now.” For dogged goodness, which he constantly downplays, Kamen is without doubt the most appealing character in the novel. He considers himself dull. But he is not. The vampire gets a sense of civic duty (although I still don’t trust him), the reporter gets a boyfriend, but Kamen gets a soul. Nice.

As ever, it is the cast of characters which invigorate this new novel of Cantwell’s. She gives each one breadth, depth and life (even the dead ones …). The pages turn briskly.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

An accomplished and well-edited work of fiction. No infelicities to report.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: Judi Moore

Approximate word count: 40-45,000 words

Review: I Wear My Sunglasses at Night by Paul Aster Cohen

Genre: Horror/Comedy/Fantasy/Vampires

Description:

“On vacation with her boyfriend, Nicky soon finds herself in a predicament as he's kidnapped by a tribe of vampires. Miles from home, she reluctantly joins a dwarf and his coyote, who have their own score to settle with the beasts, and travel across the country to try and save her man before he's gone for good. In the shadows of recent California forest fires, will Nicky defeat the hungry, bloodthirsty horde and perform an impossible rescue or will she become a victim herself?”

Author:

“Paul Aster Cohen is an award winning journalist for The News of San Patricio weekly newspaper and a fiction writer. His novellas, I Wear My Sunglasses at Night and Once Upon a Time in Rehab, will be released in the coming months. He is working on the second novel of his Koufax series while seeking agent representation. He spends what little free time he has with his wife and three children who live with him in Corpus Christi.”

Appraisal:

This novella, I Wear My Sunglasses at Night, was a welcome diversion. It’s a quick read full of action, gore, and humor. Nicky has convinced herself that her boyfriend is going to propose to her on this special trip they are on. Nicky is a health food freak and exercises every day. She has tried to change her boyfriend, Derrick’s, lifestyle to be like hers. Every time they argue Nicky strips 

all her clothes off and the arguing stops. Nicky feels like she won the argument.

When Derrick is ‘kidnapped’ by being forcefully taken from their motel room by vampires, Nicky isn’t going to let these goons take her man. She puts up a good fight, beaten to a bloody pulp, but keeps going back for more. I kept expecting to learn she has a super power, but no, she’s human. There are some surprising twists that keep the story moving forward as Nicky, her delusional dwarf protector, and his pet coyote, Sheky, hunt down the tribe of vampires who took Derrick.

Mr. Cohen’s colorful imagery and unique vampires pulls the reader into the story. I generally try to stay away from horror stories, and didn’t realize one of the genre tags was horror until I started writing my review. I’d call it horror-lite. The ending confrontation blew me away. I did cheer for Nicky every time she killed a vampire, even though I was totally grossed out. I would like to see I Wear My Sunglasses at Night go through another round of editing. The one thing that threw me out of the story is in the beginning Nicky’s hair is brown. Later in the story her hair is blonde. The other proofing errors are just an annoyance.

Bottom line — I Wear My Sunglasses at Night is a unique story with vampires. It’s a quick fun read with proofing issues. If those kind of things bother you then maybe this story is not for you. Otherwise, if you like kickass female leads with a quirky sidekick you’ll likely enjoy this novella.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Lots of blood and gore as well as adult language that may not be acceptable for some readers. You’ve been warned…

Format/Typo Issues:

More proofing misses than there should be for this length of story. Mostly missing or extra words, as well as a few wrong words.

Rating: *** Three Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 20-25,000 words

Rain of Ash / Rachel Elisabeth Judd

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Paranormal/Vampire/Contemporary Fantasy

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: YES Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Rachel Elisabeth Judd is an independent writer and game designer living in Southern California. She enjoys writing books, designing games, and live action role playing. Rain of Ash is her debut novel.

Learn more about Ms. Judd on her website or stalk her on Facebook.

Description:

“Three years ago, after a terrible fight with her father, Lydia Bradshaw vanished without a trace. Her younger sister Gwen never gives up hope, though, waiting for Lydia to eventually come home.

But when Lydia finally does resurface, it's not what Gwen expected. Lydia's changed in her time away, in ways Gwen can barely understand. After her family home burns, Gwen gets taken in by a cadre of vampire hunters who call themselves Project Fifteen. They welcome Gwen, teaching her how to hunt and fight vampires. And Gwen embraces the opportunity to take revenge on the vampires who have hurt her family.

But not everyone is what they seem. Everyone has secrets, even Gwen. Will Gwen be able to survive her introduction into the hidden world of Project Fifteen?”

Appraisal:

I think Project Fifteen could prove to be an interesting series. The set-up was unique and so are the sisters, Lydia and Gwen. The story was told through Gwen’s eyes and she was only privy to what she was told throughout the story. However, much was learned by the end of this book. The characters were well developed, diverse, and interesting. You could call this a coming of age story as Gwen’s eyes are opened to the reality around her.

The story moves at a nice pace as Gwen learns more about the vampire 

hierarchy, trains to be a vampire hunter, and work as a team. There is something more about Gwen than we are told though, and that is going to be compelling to learn more about as the story moves forward. With her mother in a coma from the raid on their home though, it may take a while to learn if there is more to her bloodline than she was ever willing to admit to her daughters.

The last 30% of the story is a rollercoaster ride. Everything is turned upside down and inside out. Nothing will ever be the same for Gwen or Lydia ever again. This being Ms. Judd’s debut novel shows readers she will be an author to watch. She has done a wicked job bringing her vampire fantasy to life.

FYI:

This is book 1 of the Project Fifteen Series.

Format/Typo Issues:

I found a small number of proofing errors.

Rating: **** Four stars

Delta Force Vampire: Insurgency / Alex Shaw

Reviewed by: Keith Nixon

Genre: Thriller / Occult / Vampire

Approximate word count: 35-40,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Alex Shaw was a drama teacher in an international school based in Kyiv until he left to set up his own consultancy business.

Hetman, the author’s first novel, took 12 years to write, subsequently followed up by Cold Black. Both were Kindle bestsellers.

You can learn more about the author at his website.

Description:

A Delta Force team, led by Brad Black, raid a Taliban stronghold – a tunnel of networks in the Afghan mountains. Pretty routine stuff, until the team are attacked and wiped out by something. All are presumed killed in action.

But Black survived.

At the same time a Russian intelligence officer is attempting to keep a devastating cold war weapon hidden from prying eyes.

Appraisal:

This is a degree of departure from Shaw’s normal fare. His work is typically military (check) and fast moving (check), with an Eastern European slant (check) – but this time it includes… vampires.

Historically I’ve tended to shy away from novels such as these, however previous novels I’ve reviewed that would also fall into this ‘avoid’ section have turned out well, plus I like Shaw’s previous writing. Thankfully Vampire… held up to scrutiny.

This is mainly because the story is thick on military action and the vampire element, although crucial to the story, doesn’t swamp it. Black’s transformation into a soldier with pointy canines adds, rather than detracts.

It’s a relatively fast read (in terms of length and narrative pace) with well-drawn characters, Black’s internal conflict at being ‘turned’ is interestingly done. Worth picking up.

FYI:

Some swear words.

Format/Typo Issues:

Some typos and clunky sentences.

Rating: **** Four Stars