Monday, October 20, 2008

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

18 comments:

Terry Spear said...

oh absolutely! They are mostly human after all! And very, very sexy. Hmm-hmm. :)

Kathy Ivan said...

I agree with you, I absolutely LOVE the Southern Vampire series. I need to catch up on the episodes that I have missed of True Blood, but I have then recorded on the DVR to watch when I've got a few minutes.

Vampire rights, yep, if they aren't "undead" and are living the have some rights, too. Defining those rights, whoo boy, that's a whole different ball game.

Great blog. I love blending and bending the genres, writing paranormal plus romance, suspense and romance, to deliver stories that make you think as well as make you fall in love with the charcters. (Especially vamps, there just something so extra sexy about those special hunks.)

Reece Herring said...

Hey Alisha

I have SOO been wanting to watch this show and read these books. Was just talking about them yesterday. I have no idea how I would feel about real vamps roaming the streets but I personally would rather they be WELL fed on True Blood LOL.

Reece

Skhye said...

Heck, yeah! They don't exist in a vacuum. Don't even get me started on culture here. And, btw, I have your book. Please don't put me in your drawing, m'dear. I'm not greedy.

Michele Hart said...

Now, I want to read it!

It does sound like a great story! Thank you for bringing it to us, Alisha.

Alisha said...

Terry~
I agree, vamps need rights too and they are very sexy....yum!

Kathy~
Defining the vampire rights and Ms. Harris's special blend of eroticism and paranormal make her books fascinating! I love bending genres too, using all the elements available to us as writers to tickle the imagination AND make our readers think!

Reecie~
I first heard about these books at a book signing only a couple of weeks ago. Another author was talking about them and told me an HBO series was coming. She told me the concept was WONDERFUL! The series had started already but my husband and I quickly caught up with On Demand TV. He tried to pretend it sucked...no pun intended...and quickly he was SUCKED into Ms. Harris's world. Ha ha...I didn't think he wanted to watch it. He said he was done. It was too weird. Then one night he came home late and I ate without him. He walked into the living room and saw me with my tv tray, eating while staring at the screen. The kids were in bed and I was sipping the red wine. He looked hurt and said, "You aren't going to wait for me? I thought this was our new show." Cackle! I had to rewind it and told him to get a bowl of chili and join me. Now it's our wicked little treat late at night. It has everything....makes you think, makes us authors drool at her concepts and all the little things she came up with to make this series so cool, it has romance, very graphic, hot sex, danger, violence (normally, too much for me but it's a dark drama so it fits and it keeps my honey in the room)and serious chemistry! You must check this out, sis! I highly recommend it! But again...IT IS VERY VIOLENT!!!! AND HAS VERY GRAPHIC SEX!!! So if either of those turn you off, fast forward through those parts. The plot is so good that even leaving those parts out will not dilute the messages.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone!

Alisha said...

Waving at Skhye and Michele...my other two sisters! Thanks for stopping by and YESSSSSSSS.....read the books and watch the show....FASCINATING!!!!

Hugs to you both!

Diana Cosby said...

Alisha,
Vamps have rights - love the premise. The V drug, wow. And your hero sounds totally yummy. My sincere best to you!

Diana Cosby
www.dianacosby.com
Zebra/His Captive/Alexander MacGruder
Zebra/His Woman/December 08/Duncan MacGruder

Diana Cosby said...

Alisha,
Love your premise. The story sounds hot! My sincere best to you!

Diana Cosby
www.dianacosby.com
Zebra/His Captive/Alexander MacGruder
Zebra/His Woman/December 08/Duncan MacGruder

Regina Carlysle said...

OMG!!!! I am SOOOO hooked on this series. LAST Sunday night, I was glued...the best one ever. I can't wait for this to come out on DVD because I'm BUYING IT. Sooo hot.

The Charlaine Harris books are at Fictionwise too for quite a bit cheaper than you can get them in the bookstores. I haven't read them yet but I plan to.

Regina Carlysle said...

Oh. Ha. I have ZERO problem with the graphic SEX. SNICKER. Isn't that Jason a HORN DOG????

Alisha said...

Thank you, Diana! I'm a big fan of yours! Thanks for stopping by!

Alisha said...

Hi Reg!!! Thanks for stopping by!! It's never the same without you! Oh heck yeah! I'm totally hooked too and Nooooooooooppppppeeeeeee....no problem with the graphic sex for me either..snicker! Especially when I get to watch Jason.....omg....hottie..Stackhouse...he's a Swede in real life, right? Such a babe! Yum! He reminds me way too much of an ex-boyfriend...the good and the bad..ugh!

Now the violence got to me on some parts. I was cringing while Michael was saying..."Cool!" LOL...now I can totally get into the biting scenes...when Bill sucks Sookie's blood but the licking the forehead scene..ewwwww....not hot. We were both roaring with laughter. She also had a blood moustache in that scene. We rewound it a few times so we could laugh hysterically!

xxoo!

orelukjp0 said...

I think if they existed in our world, they would deserve rights just like any other citizen. I know that there would have to be special services for them also and special police to enforce laws. I just think that if they were here, they would pay taxes, run businesses and should be entitled to similar rights that we enjoy.

Asylumgirl said...

Definitely, as long as they don't feed without asking.

Deidre

Alisha said...

And the winner of the drawing is KATHY SULLIVAN! Congrats! Email me at alishapaigewilson@yahoo.com so I can email my latest release, Nocturnally Vexed!

Thanks to everyone for commenting about Vampire Rights!

~Alisha

Oh and Orelukjp0, I still haven't heard from you. You won the last drawing for a download of your choice. Email me so I can send you your prize!

felinewyvern said...

An unequivocal yes. Everyone (human or vamp) deserves rights :D And if Aliens visited us then they should have rights too. *I'm an equal rights activist LOL*

Nightingale said...

If vampires existed, I think they would want to stay beneath the radar (as Chelsea Quinn Yarbro says). Rights? They're at the top of the food chain.