By Blood We Live Review

Let's get something straight. I am not a freak. I do not drink blood. I do not dress in all black and wear liquid paper on my face mooning after my immortal soul.

I am not a vampire wannabe.

I just like vampires.

So when I wandered into the library last week and found a new vampire short-story anthology edited by John Joseph Adams called By Blood We Live, lets just say I was intrigued.

First things first. If this were a movie, it would have an all-star cast.

Lets just name a few of the authors shall we?

Neil Gaiman--a personal favorite of mine, the man is a legend in film, comic book and fiction arenas.

Joe Hill--a creep-master to the extreme, Joe Hill created the eerie series Lock & Key. Joe comes from a long line of awesome authors---HIS FATHER IS STEPHEN KING!!

Stephen King--need I say more?
Anne Rice--basically reinvented the vampire genre with her Vampire Chronicles series. Interview with the Vampire--both novel and film--are epic

Sergei Lukyanenko--an awesome science fiction and fantasy author out of Russia, Lukyanenko's books have been made into films that equally as mind-meldingly awesome

Garth Nix--a favorite from my childhood, Garth Nix created the Old Kingdom series about a completely awesome teenage female necromancer.

Tanith Lee--a prolific horror and fantasy author, I don't have enough space here to list all her awesome novels and short-stories

L.A. Banks--written so many vampire/werewolf novels I've lost track. Also one of the first African American paranormal authors.

Kelley Armstrong--prolific werewolf author whose novels are the guilty pleasure of many a geeky teenager.

Jane Yolen--a fabulous award-winning author for young adults, Jane Yolen's novels have graced my bookshelves since I first learned to read.

David Wellington--fabulous author of the extremely interesting and addictive Zombie Trilogy--also wrote for the Marvel Zombies series.

O.M.G.

This is a list of some of the most hardcore, award-winning, genre changing, mind-bending authors.

These are vampire stories written by people who genuinely love the genre. Which is what makes this anthology what it is:awesome. This is not some cheesy, lame, Twilight-inspired, overly emotional  romp about almost-grown-ups falling in love with PG vampires. Whoever collected this list knew what he was doing, because these authors are all serious vampire FANS. And anyone who knows anything knows that FANS who have TALENT are much better than FANS who are UNTALENTED or NONFANS who are TALENTED when it comes to tackling anything of importance.  It'd be like George Romero making a stoner flick and Judd Apatow making a Zombie movie--both talented but in the wrong film genre.

Still worried about the stories being lame?

Allow me illuminate you with some examples:

Neil Gaiman's story involves a vampire, slightly necrophiliac version of Snow White.

David Wellington's is about pioneer vampires in the Roanoke Colony in Virginia (history buffs will know where that story may end up).

Joe Hill's story is about Van Helsing--which is totally badass.

I mean these aren't stupid stories. Even the stories written by lesser known authors are completely three-dimensional and fulfilling without being top-heavy with suspense and symbolism. These are grown up, scary and real vampire stories that actually have STORIES. They're not lovey-dovey twilight wannabes. They're not about high school and stupid teenager drama. Conversely, when I say they're grown-up I don't mean they're pornographic either. They're not the usual "I'm secretly smut" plot lines. Overall the entire collection is completely worth reading and makes me want to check out more the series.

ENJOY!

.