DYLAN DOG, PRIEST, & Other Upcoming Vampire Movies

I'll be taking a blogging break for the rest of the week so I can finish writing the rough draft of my newest manuscript. However, there are two new vampire movies coming to theaters in the next few weeks, and I want to spread the word about them and share their trailers before I hide away.

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night
Coming to Theaters April 29, 2011
Stars: Brandon Routh, Sam Huntington, Anita Briem,Taye Diggs
The Plot in a Nutshell: The adventures of supernatural private eye Dylan Dog, who seeks out the monsters of the Louisiana bayou in his signature red shirt, black jacket, and blue jeans.



Priest
Coming to Theaters May 13, 2011
Stars: Paul Bettany, Maggie Q, Cam Gigandet
The Plot in a Nutshell: A post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller set in an alternate world—one ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires.



I've also added approximately ten more movies to my Upcoming Vampire Movies/Series Page, including The Last Voyage of Demeter (the story of the ill-fated ship that carried Dracula's coffin, starring Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, and Ben Kingsley), the romantic British thriller Hello Darkness, and a Near Dark remake. The list is located at http://suburbanvampire.blogspot.com/p/upcoming-vampire-movies.html.

A Lovely Colin Farrell Photo Still from FRIGHT NIGHT

Thanks to novelist Nicole Hadaway, I discovered DreamWorks Pictures has released a delightful new photo of Colin Farrell (playing the vampire Jerry Dandrige) embracing a victim in the upcoming reboot of Fright Night.

That's not going to curb our attraction to vampires anytime soon, is it?

Winner of Margie Church's LOVE BITES

The winner of a copy of Margie Church's Love Bites is

LadyVampire2u

Congratulations! I'll forward your email address to the author.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and thanks so much to Margie Church for joining me at Suburban Vampire and offering the giveaway! If you missed her interview last week, check it out here.

Music Monday: I'M A VAMPIRE by Future Bible Heroes

Today's featured song, "I'm a Vampire," is from Future Bible Heroes's 2002 album, Eternal Youth, but the electronica spirit sounds like it's straight from the eighties. Stephin Merritt from The Magnetic Fields leads the band, Chris Ewen provides the music, and Claudia Gonson sings "I'm a Vampire's" lyrics, which include lines such as "I am what I am/And I am impossibly glam."

Blood & Bone China, Episode 5: There's No Such Thing As Vampires

If you've been following along with Chris Stone's online Victorian vampire series, Blood and Bone China, you'll know the last episode closed with the discovery of a freaky little vampire girl. Here's Episode 5, "There's No Such Thing As Vampires."



To watch all episodes, head to www.bloodandbonechina.com. The next episode will air, Sunday May 1.

While you're here at Suburban Vampire, don't forget to enter Margie Church's Love Bites contest.  Deadline: Tuesday, April 19, 8:00 AM PDT.

Scott M. Baker's THE VAMPIRE HUNTERS: VAMPYRNOMICON

Novelist Scott M. Baker stopped by Suburban Vampire last November to chat about The Vampire Hunters, the first book in his vampire trilogy set in Washington, D.C. The second book, The Vampire Hunters: Vampyrnomicon, just came out as a trade paperback from Pill Hill Press. Scott stopped by to share a link to an excerpt of his latest release.

The Vampire Hunters: Vampyrnomicon Synopsis:

Within the vaults of the Smithsonian Institute lies the key to finding the Vampyrnomicon, the Book of the Undead, that contains the history and secrets of the vampires. According to legend, whoever possesses the book can establish a vampire nation on earth – or destroy the undead once and for all. With an opportunity to end the war against the undead so close, Drake Matthews is determined to find the book.

But the vampires also want the Vampyrnomicon. When Master Chiang Shih and her coven of the most powerful and dangerous vampires arrive in Washington to claim the book as their own, the hunters find themselves facing their most dangerous enemy yet. With the stakes so high, so is the ferocity of the struggle.

Read an Excerpt
Scott M. Baker's Blog
Purchase from Amazon

Interview & Contest: Margie Church, Author of LOVE BITES

“...a paranormal read that dares to be a bit different. . . equal parts action, dark intrigue, and sizzling sex.”
             —Half Past Midnight
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Joining me today is Margie Church, author of Love Bites and Love Bites II: Dangerous Love, available from Noble Romance. Be sure to check out Margie's giveaway at the end of the interview.

Love Bites Synopsis:

An accidental encounter turns into high stakes love when Jui Fabrice meets Wade Kairos in Germany. She has no idea he’s a vampire, and Wade has every intention of keeping his secret.

A vineyard cottage is the perfect place for Jui and Wade to make love until he discovers her unique link to his living years. He vows to stay away from her forever, but he can’t let her go completely. Wade’s repressed human feelings continue rising. He invades Jui’s dreams and communicates telepathically with her at will. Evil jealousy consumes him when Jui becomes involved with Rob Hawthorne and she rebukes Wade for his controlling behaviors. Then Wade’s lifelong companion dies in a vamp war and his desolation is too much to handle alone. He turns to the only person who cares about him—Jui— and during one hot night, he becomes the man she wants.

The Ancient One, Ladislav Husek, learns of Wade’s risky human behavior and gives Wade a taste of how viciously he’ll die if he doesn’t bury his tracks with Jui. Husek promises to turn Jui into his personal playmate and Wade has to choose. Can love prevail over evil in a relationship that never was supposed to happen?
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SUBURBAN VAMPIRE: Welcome, Margie! Please start by telling us a little about Jui and Wade, your two central characters in Love Bites.

MARGIE CHURCH: Thank you for having me. It's always fun to visit a new blog!

Jui Fabrice is an independent, confident, American business woman. She fell for Wade the moment she laid eyes on him and has no idea he's a vampire. She can't shake him from her memories or life when she goes home to Seattle. The fact he's telepathic and teleports himself around the world to get to her could be a reason she's having these troubles, too. LOL However, the more he pushes her away, the more she digs into his life, trying to understand why he won't return her love the way he clearly wants to. The consequences for this forbidden love are unfathomable. Once she learns what Wade really is, the decision to love or leave him isn't as easy as you might think.

Wade Kairos has only been a vampire for 70 years. He was turned by his friend and mentor, Christophe, after a car wreck. Friend and mentor sound crazy, but Christophe cared enough about Wade before the accident to make Wade's transition to vampirism as easy as possible. Having said that, understand that vampires don't forget what it was like to be human. Wade was in love and engaged to be married when he became a vampire. Those emotions tormented him until his fiancée died years later. By the way, that fiancée was Jui's grandmother, Claire. Wade meets Jui accidentally in Heidelberg and battles mightily to ignore the resurgence of his human emotions. He has a fiery temper and privately takes out his aggravations in unique ways. Ultimately her allure is too much. Once his heart is snared, he faces the wrath of Ladislav Husek, the leader of the vampire nation. It's not pretty.

SV: When and how did you first become interested in vampires?

MARGIE: As a kid, I watched Dark Shadows. I never really thought the show was romantic; mostly I thought it was creepy. My mom forbade us to watch it, so we would sneak over to the neighbors to watch.

SV: You've set Love Bites in Germany. How did you decide upon that particular setting?

MARGIE: My mother is from Heidelberg and I have a number of photos on my computer of the Heidelberg castle. One day I was staring at a photo, thinking about a time when I'd been there and saw the castle and Old Heidelberg from the same perspective. The castle has witnessed so many things and held all the city's secrets. That concept became the vampire, Wade. The book then moves all over Europe, Russia, and the U.S.

SV: It's no secret vampires are everywhere in books, movies, and TV series. What do you feel most makes your own vampire tales stand out from the crowd?

MARGIE: There's plenty of romanticism attached to vampires, but Love Bites/Dangerous Love don't follow the formula. In my books, vampires live and work openly in peace among humans. Humans have no idea vampires exist and vampires want to keep it that way. Consequently, romantic relationships with humans are forbidden. The romance between Wade and Jui is deep and very hot. Wade is extremely intelligent, handsome, and a very talented lover, but he's also a creature of death. He knows his true self is not something Jui would embrace or love. He doesn't want her to become a vampire either because he's experienced the agony of leaving behind his humanity. He's watched many of his vampire brethren become twisted, vindictive beasts after being turned. His peculiarities set off alarms in Jui's head, but since vampires are unknown to humans, how could she draw the conclusion that is what he is? And her heart has his name inscribed on it. Knowing these things makes Wade despise himself even more.

SV: You write erotic paranormal romances. What are some of the pros and cons of being known as a writer of steamy fiction?

MARGIE: Recently, a full-page story was written about me in my hometown newspaper. And the next day, I was a lector in church. LOL I got the "look" from a few people, but I also had almost 400 visits to my blog and website in one day. I've never kept this work a secret any more than the fact I have a nursery rhyme on the market. Sex sells. Romance is the hottest fiction genre, and I want to sell books. For me, there's a tremendous freedom in erotic romance to write what the characters want, not what my internal censor is dictating because I'm worried someone might condemn me for writing vivid love scenes. The people who've gotten upset are only focused on the sex in the books. My response is they'd better watch their backs, because I'm going to rob, beat, kidnap, drug, torture, kill, and drain their blood when they aren't looking. My plots are as vivid and engaging as the sex. I think it takes a bit of inner strength to write erotic romance in your own name, but so far the downsides have been minimal. A few people have made inappropriate remarks and some have looked at me like I should be wearing lingerie all the time. And of course there are those who ask whether my love scenes are based on things my husband and I do. (My lips are sealed.)

SV: You've also released Love Bites II: Dangerous Love. Will there be further novels in this particular series?

MARGIE: Yes, Love Bites III: Redemptive Love is planned for later this year.

SV: Where can readers learn more about you and your writing?

MARGIE:
Margie's website and blog: Romance with SASS
Twitter: www.twitter.com/MargaretRChurch
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MargieChurch
Buy Margie Church's Books at Noble Romance.
Buy Margie Church's Books at 1Place For Romance.

SV: Thanks so much for joining me at Suburban Vampire today, Margie. Best wishes for all of your books!

MARGIE: Thank you so much. I am excited to give away a copy of Love Bites. Answer this question in the comments section of this post and include your email address to win!

The market is flooded with vampire books. What draws you to read one more? What's become boring and stale to you?

YOU MUST BE 18 OR OLDER TO ENTER.

Deadline: Tuesday, April 19, 2011, 8:00 AM PDT

Winner of Marie Treanor's BLOOD SIN

The winner of Marie's Treanor's new novel, Blood Sin, is. . .

Tahlia

Congratulations!  Please send your snail mail address to suburbanvamp AT gmail DOT com by Tuesday, April 19, to claim your prize.

Thanks so much to Marie Treanor for stopping by Suburban Vampire and offering the great giveaway!  If you missed her guest post, check it out here.  For more info about Marie and her novels, head to www.marietreanor.com.

Music Monday: Fright Ranger's OH OH OH SEXY VAMPIRE and WEREWOLF BOYFRIEND

Every once in a while I'll share a vampire song that's the complete opposite of the dark, gothic, moody music one would expect for an ode to the undead. Today's selection is Fright Ranger's "Oh Oh Oh Sexy Vampire" from Disko Warp Records—"a record label and production unit creating hi-energy/eurobeat /happy hardcore /trance music, lead by Portland, Oregon-based producer Pete Ellison."  If you can handle Power Ranger's intense dance club music sound, I'm also including a sample of their follow-up song, "Werewolf Boyfriend," which features lyrics such as "I don't want the kind of guy who sparkles in the sun/I want him tall, dark, and hairy, he'll always be the one."  

The Vampire Free Style Comic Book Series

I recently received a note from comic book author/artist Jenika Ioffreda about her Vampire Free Style series.  She's generously letting me share some of her beautiful artwork, which I'm featuring alongside info about the series. 

Vampire Free Style Synopsis:

A witch boy in training is looking for his girlfriend, who vanished mysteriously. He gives a home to a stray black cat, Micia. But the cat is much more than she appears to be: she can speak with the stars and has many flashback memories about the witch boy. She also may know something about the missing girl; something connected to an ancient necklace, a powerful spell, a vampire looking for his lost memories, and a 300-year-old forbidden love.

Bio:

. . . Once upon a time there was Jenika.

She lived drawing, coloring, and inking. After various collaborations as a comic book artist and illustrator, she moved from Italy to London, where she lives now drawing her comic book series, Vampire Free Style, in a mysterious place surrounded by a magic garden, cats, squirrels, and few ghosts.
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"Jenika has a gorgeous drawing style that pops out of every page. It’s a subtle mix of American comic with its firm facial structures and Japanese manga through its comedic expressions and shimmering eyes. Not only is this style great, it actually gets better with every issue."
—animepicks.com

"Vampire Free Style is an absolutely delightful book, with much to offer to a wide range of comic and non-comic readers."
—www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog

"A beautiful trip into a dark fable, with enough story revealed and questions raised within the reader's mind to both intrigue and bring them back into the beautifully drawn world."
—http://taliesinttlg.blogspot.com

How to Purchase Vampire Free Style:
For a list of all UK and Ireland comic book shops and online stores that sell Vampire Free Style, head to www.neptunefactory.com.

Or go to
megacitycomics.co.uk
forbiddenplanet.co.uk

Winner of Mary Abshire's CLAIMING THE EVIL DEAD

The winner of a free ebook copy of Mary Abshire's Claiming the Evil Dead is...

Pommawolf

Congratulations!! Thanks so much to Noble Romance for sponsoring the contest, and thanks to Mary Abshire for stopping by Suburban Vampire and chatting with me. Be sure to check out all of her books at www.maryabshire.com.

MY INTERVIEW WITH MARY ABSHIRE.

Grampires: WHEN HARRY MET SALLY Meets the Vampire Craze

FunnyorDie is now featuring a hilarious vampire version of a fictional When Harry Met Sally sequel.

Warning #1: The clip will be much funnier if you're familiar with the original film. Warning #2: There's some gore and language...but it's Billy Crystal and Helen Mirren involved in the gore and language, so it's both funny and classy.  Enjoy.

When Harry Met Sally 2 with Billy Crystal & Helen Mirren from Billy Crystal

Guest Post & Contest for Marie Treanor's BLOOD SIN

Blending the Vampires
by Marie Treanor

Hello again, and many thanks to Catherine for having me back at Suburban Vampire! I’ve come with a question that’s been exercising my mind over the last year:

If you were a vampire, how would you hide? Would you hide? Or would you rampage?

One of the problems I’ve found in writing vampire stories is how to make my vampires blend into the community. Where do they live, and who with? If they can’t stand the sunlight, how do they function in society? Do they have night jobs to pay for their homes, cars, clothes, etc.? Why does no one notice that people keep getting bitten or even dying around these people?

Of course, vampires don’t always need to blend in. Some books have humans already aware of vampires, who live among the rest of society, whether as friends or enemies. Others have no problems with the sun and function in daytime. At the start of my Awakened by Blood series, the vampires – who are traditional in that they burn up in the sun - live largely where no one else would: sewers, cellars, and disused buildings. Being nocturnal, they don’t bother people during the day, and during the night they tend to blend with the seamier side of life, finding victims among the denizens of nightclubs, pubs, brothels, and the criminal underworld. If too many deaths are traced too close to them, they disappear and move on.

But Saloman, my princely vampire hero, doesn’t care for such a paltry existence. He prefers to live in a palace and tries to raise the ambitions of his people to at least strive for a better life and live in comfort. If they drink from humans but don’t kill them, they won’t attract unwanted attention; and with mesmeric/suggestive powers, they have no need to steal with violence. Saloman himself has a hidden hoard of gold from his previous existence, which he converts into modern currency and invests to make more in the business world. He travels around in cars with blacked-out windows and walks under an umbrella to avoid daylight. He drinks from people who rarely remember – and if they do, they come back for more.

Of course, the irony of all Saloman’s “blending” is that he doesn’t actually want to blend at all. His goal is for vampires to live openly, with Saloman as overlord. And he stands out in any crowd by his looks, charisma, and sheer overwhelming personality. His blood of choice for drinking is Elizabeth’s, his Awakener’s – he needs it to get all his old strength back – but he hasn’t yet killed her. There is too much feeling between them that six months apart has done nothing to quash. In Blood Sin, sequel to Blood on Silk, many things will come into the open.

Anyway, back to my question! If you were a vampire, would you hide, and if so, how? Answering – or indeed commenting at all on my post! – will get you entry into my contest to win a copy of Blood Sin, second of the Awakened by Blood novels, out today, April 5th!
DEADLINE: Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 8:00 AM PDT. 
_____________________________________________________________

MARIE TREANOR lives in Scotland with her eccentric husband and three much-too-smart children. Having grown bored with city life, she resides these days in a picturesque village by the sea where she is lucky enough to enjoy herself avoiding housework and writing sensual stories of paranormal romance and fantasy.

You can find out more about Marie and her books on her website: www.MarieTreanor.com.
Connect on Facebook.
Subscribe to her Newsletter.
Join the party on her new blog: Marie Treanor's Romantic Theme Party
Read excerpts from Blood Sin: www.MarieTreanor.com
Buy Blood Sin (Awakened by Blood 2) at Amazon
Buy Blood on Silk (Awakened by Blood 1) at Amazon
Watch out for Blood Eternal (Awakened by Blood 3, coming October 2011)

Music Monday: Birthrite's GOODBYE HAPPINESS, aka the BLOOD AND BONE CHINA Theme Song

I've been sharing Chris Stone's Blood and Bone China episodes here at Suburban Vampire during the past few weeks (see Episode 4 at the end of this post).  The online vampire series takes place in late-Victorian England, but the theme song, "Goodbye Happiness," is modern and rockin', so I decided to investigate the story behind the music.

It turns out "Goodbye Happiness" already had a link to the Victorian era before becoming a part of Blood and Bone China: the song is the work of Birthrite, a steampunk band from Midlands, U.K.  If you're unfamiliar with steampunk, the genre is all about the collision of the past with the present, and it certainly doesn't balk at merging punk rock with vampires and Victorian clothing.

Here's a video of Birthrite playing "Goodbye Happiness" at the Blood and Bone China premiere party on March 2 (part of the Stoke Your Fires film festival), followed by the fourth episode of the series.



To buy Birthrite's album, If It ‘Ay Bost, Dow Fix It!, you'll need to head to www.Birthrite.eu.



To watch all Blood and Bone China episodes, go to BloodandBoneChina.com.

Winners of Jae Lynne Davies's MYTHIC Giveaways

Here are the winners of Jae Lynne Davies's Mythic contest:

The winner of an ebook copy of Mythic is...

ReneeRearden

The winner of a Mythic promo packet is...

RebeliousAngel

Renee, it looks like you already left your email address, which I'll forward to the author. RebeliousAngel: Please send your snail mail address to suburbanvamp AT gmail.com by Monday April 11 to claim your prize.

Congratulations, winners, and thanks so much to Jae Lynne Davies for chatting with me here at Suburban Vampire!

Interview & Contest: Mary Abshire, Author of the Soul Catcher Series

We're kicking off a month of Noble Romance giveaways at Suburban Vampire by chatting with novelist Mary Abshire, author of Claiming the Evil Dead and Catching an Evil Tail.

Noble Romance Publishing is a royalty-paying, full-service e-publisher of cutting-edge erotic romance, and they offer several titles for vampire fans.  If you're 18 or over, check out the contest details at the end of the interview.
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SUBURBAN VAMPIRE: Welcome, Mary! Please start by telling us a little about your first two novels, Claiming the Evil Dead and Catching an Evil Tail.

MARY ABSHIRE: In Claiming the Evil Dead, you meet Jessie, the half-demon soul catcher who doesn't trust supernatural creatures. A vampire, Drake, finds her, offers her a job to claim the soul of an evil vampire, and being the moral person that she is, she accepts it, even though she doesn't trust Drake. Over time, she wakes up and realizes she is attracted to Drake and he is to her. Then she bumps into a demon, Jeremy, and he causes trouble. When the time comes to get the bad vampire, Jessie has to decide whom she can trust.

In Catching an Evil Tail, Jessie wants to free herself from the debt she owes Jeremy. He asks for her help and she agrees. In exchange for her freedom, she has to send the soul of a werewolf to hell. Well, sending souls to hell is never easy for Jessie. Something always pops up and gets in her way. And with Drake away in Europe, she finds herself wondering if she should move on with her life. After all, the Alpha is damn hot.

SV: How did you come up with your original ideas for Jessie's character and her special ability?

MARY: I thought about it for several days. I wanted someone different, someone who thought she was bad, but she really wasn't. I'd never read a story about someone sending souls to hell, so it seemed like a good idea to me.

SV: When and how did you first become interested in vampires?

MARY: Oh, I've always loved vampires. When I was a kid, I loved watching them on TV – immortal, dark, mysterious, great set of teeth. Then, in my teens, I read Anne Rice books. Armand was my favorite. People would make fun of me for liking vampires, but it never changed me. I am what I am, a vamp lover at heart.

SV: It's no secret vampires are everywhere in books, movies, and TV series. What do you feel most makes your own vampire tales stand out from the crowd?

MARY: My vampire is noble and believes in saving lives. He's not some bloodsucker out to feed his habit. He wants to do good and he aims to prove he can.

SV: You write erotic paranormal romances. What are some of the pros and cons of being known as a writer of steamy fiction?

MARY: Pros: not sure yet. Cons: 1. People might believe the novel is too steamy when it really isn't much different from the books in the paranormal romance section at the bookstore. 2. I have to advertise on erotic sites instead of regular paranormal romance sites.

SV: Your third Soul Catcher novel, Fighting Evil, debuted March 21. Will this be the final installment in the series?

MARY: No, absolutely not. I'm almost done with book 4, and while it has a very happy ending, I leave it open for more soul catching novels. I like the characters, and I'd very much like to keep the series going.

SV: Where can readers learn more about you and your writing?

MARY: www.maryabshire.com
www.facebook.com/mary.abshire
www.goodreads.com/maryabshire

SV: Thanks so much for joining me at Suburban Vampire today, Mary. Best wishes for all of your books!

MARY: Thanks for the interview. Best wishes to you!

CONTEST RULES:

Noble Romance has generously offered a giveaway copy of Mary Abshire's Claiming the Evil Dead (pdf format).

YOU MUST BE 18 OR OVER TO ENTER.

To enter, the publisher has asked that you "Like" Noble Romance on Facebook and leave a comment on the wall that mentions Suburban Vampire.  A random winner will be pulled from the entries.
Deadline: Friday, May 8, 2011, 8:00 AM PDT.