Bending Genres.....Civil Rights for Vamps and Addicted to V...for starters!

Every so often, an author comes up with a spectacular idea. A new premise, concept or twist on the old. In my chosen genre, this is hard to do. So much of it has been done over and over, bent, melted, molded into a new story, a new tale. Each attempt is an attempt to lure readers and fans alike into a new world. With so many writers out there competing for the attention, this is extremely difficult to do, but Charlaine Harris has struck gold with her Southern Vampire Books. HBO's new series, True Blood is based on her genius. That's Sookie and Bill (a very hot vamp) in the photo above.

Set in Bon Temps, Louisiana, her books deal with racism, civil rights and humanity or er...vampanity. Race is no longer an issue or not as big of an issue as say the traditional race wars of the past...black vs. white. No, in Charlaine Harris's world, we're dealing with the difference of species...human vs. vampire and the acceptance of these creatures into our society. Ever heard of the Vampire Rights Amendment? Brilliant, Ms. Harris! Not only did she demonstrate a new twist on racism but she gave the vamps a synthetic blood called True Blood. Yep, that's right, you can stroll into Merlotte's (the local "human" bar) and order a bottle of O negative or a bottle of A if you prefer. Served warm...98.6 degrees to be exact. Ewww! Or for the writers like me out there salivating over her magnificent mind, I'm saying......Whoa! Awesome! Kick ass!

And that's just the tip of the iceberg in Ms. Harris's books. The new drug is called V. You guessed it, vamp blood, sold in vials for $600 bucks. A drop will do ya too! Don't drink to much or you could find yourself in serious...er.....trouble with your...uh.....I don't want to spoil it. Just ask hottie, Jason Stackhouse. He vows never to down a whole vial again but now he's hooked on the stuff. One drop on a tiny square of paper, taken like LSD will give him hallucinations that would raise Jimi Hendrix from the dead. Talk about a purple haze. Chemistry between two individuals is seen and magnified. Ultra sensory overload galore. And if you get a hold of really old V, you better cut it with an aspirin, so it won't coagulate. It will then turn into a red powder which is sniffed like cocaine. And when you run out, you can run to Fangtasia to score some more V from the local vamps. But is it worth your life? Maybe. One look at Eric, the Viking Vampire might change your mind. Maybe not....you decide. I for one....am hooked on this blood lust with it's delicious mix of eroticism, romance, unpredictable plot twists with just enough violence (not for the queasy)to keep my husband interested. Check it out on HBO Sunday nights!

Do you think Vampires deserve rights? If they truly existed in our society, how would you feel? Leave me a comment and I'll enter you into a drawing for my latest release, Nocturnally Vexed, the first book in my hybrid shifter-rapt/blood sucker series about King of the Orgulocks.

~Happy Reading and Writing!
Alisha Paige