Vampires Today: Smartphones

Tags

books, digital technology, eBooks, evil vampires, filming, indie authors, Indie books, inspiration, Internet, self-published authors, self-published books, smartphones, technology, traditional vampires, vampire fiction, vampire trilogy, vampires

One of the inspirations behind the trilogy that I’m working on, The End of Eternity, was this question: how would vampires exist in secret with smartphones being in nearly everyone’s hands? It is hard for anything to be secret these days since someone could easily film anything shocking, funny or controversial by whipping out their smartphones (be it an iPhone, Android…) and start filming.

Image by Waldemar Merger via Flickr via Creative Commons

So let’s say you are someone who is aware that vampires might be real. You think so because you work in a city morgue, you are a crime scene investigator, or you’ve had personal experience with someone dying under mysterious circumstances, or you’ve seen enough evidence online to convince you. So you start to look for vampires, trying to find proof that they exist so you can share it with the world, thus exposing these hidden creatures of the night.

You are suspicious of some people because other hunters have pointed them out as possible vampires on social media sites or blogs or vampire hunter forums. You’ve seen their photos and now you see them in real life. They do look unusually pale, like they are very ill. So you follow them and see where they are headed. You are very careful not to be noticed, since you’ve heard the legends that these creatures have very strong senses.

And then it happens. Your possible vampire has found its prey. It has attacked the victim on a quiet, dark street with no one around (and assuming, no surveillance video cameras…more about that later) – except you. As the vampire stabs its fangs into the victim’s neck, you creep closer and start filming. There you go – all the proof in the world that vampires do exist and are killing people to feed on for their nourishment.

Sounds logical to some degree. Hopefully you get away in time or else the vampire would get you!

I think such a scenario is possible, and it makes me wonder how would vampires maintain their secrecy during these times of great technological advances? They could try to “come out” of the coffin as they did on True Blood, but that won’t be as easy as the TV series or the Sookie Stackhouse books portrayed it, in my opinion.

That was a question I had as I started this series, and it comes to light, so to speak, more so as I write the second book “Between Light and Dark”. Technology is working against vampires, so how would they cope? Their once great powers – heightened senses, mind reading and clearing, moving at super-fast speed, etc. – are now up against human technology which just keeps evolving. For the first time, it seems, humans are no longer at vampires’ mercy. Now it seems, the vampires and the humans are on equal level.

I would think the older the vampire is – as in, centuries or even millennia old – the more they struggle to cope. They had spent so many years confident in their powers that it is hard to believe that their prey is starting to outdo them. They might even be a bit clueless about the latest technology since they live separately from humans. They might even be in denial.

So, I explore this issue in “Between Light and Dark” as Claire copes with her new existence as a vampire. The title says it all – will Claire side with the vampires trying to cope with modern technology, or will she side with the human world she so longs for?

These blog entries would be like a series. I’ll be writing up about modern technology and how it inspired me to write about vampires. What kind of world would it be for them? Would they survive? How would they cope?

You’ll see…

Advertisements

Are Vampires Passe?

Tags

Anne Rice, entertainment, paranormal, popular culture, trends, True Blood, Twilight, Twilight books, Twilight movies, Twilight series, vampire books, vampire fiction, vampires

We all remember the vampire craze was not too long ago. With “Twilight” being all the rave, vampires were surely in style. Vampire books, movies and TV shows – particularly HBO’s True Blood – were very popular, and there was a wonder when the bubble would burst.

Eventually, the bubble did burst, or rather, the craze died down. It’s been several years since the last Twilight installment, “Breaking Dawn Part 2” was released in movie theaters, and since then, vampires have been off the radar in popular culture.

Or are they?

Image via Pixabay via Creative Commons

While there are no mainstream vampire movies and TV shows out right now, and vampire books are not as popular as they used to be, there still is an audience for vampire lovers. That is my belief. I believe that there would always be readers of vampire books because some people simply adore the genre. For example, I just did a blog book tour specifically meant for paranormal book readers. That includes vampires. Even though these blood-suckers are not the trend at the moment, there are still those willing to read vampire stories.

That being said, though, it will be tougher for vampire books to sell these days. That is because they are not in style right now. That is discouraging, especially since I am almost done with the sequel to my vampire book.  I dread the fact that when I self-publish the sequel, it will not sell very well mainly because vampires might just be passe.

But are the passe for ever? Of course not. Trends come and do, and pop culture goes around in circles. Right now, vampires may not be as popular as they used to be, but eventually they will make a comeback and be popular, though to some degree. After all, there is talk of making Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles into a TV series. Now, if that happens, vampire will have a surge in popularity. Anne Rice is synonymous with vampires and just hearing her name again with these creatures will create high ratings for the TV series. I predict it may not be as popular as the Twilight series, but there will be an excitement for them.

I remember when I was in junior high, there was a strong popularity towards vampires. That was when Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire came out as a movie, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula was also released into a movie with Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder. Vampire books were popular at this time, particularly “The Last Vampire” by Christopher Pike, which served as an inspiration for me. There was a craze then, but that also died down, so to speak. And then came the Twilight books and movies, and we all know what happened next.

Trends come and go, but there will always be people doing their own thing. Vampires may not be as popular as they once were, but there are still people reading vampire books, watching the movies, and re-runs of the TV shows. Some people love these creatures of the night all on their own, and don’t need a trend to follow them. That gives me hope, and makes me realize vampires will always have a following, no matter what.

 

Being a Vampire Would Probably Suck

Tags

death, hedonism, immortal, immortality, life, meaning of life, philosophy, vampire books, vampire fiction, vampire novels, vampire trilogy, vampires

Before I begin, I want to give a huge thank you to The Indie Book Butler for featuring The Dark Proposal on its website and social media, as well as interviewing me for its site. Thanks Paul!!!

OK, here goes…

Vampires seem to be the envy of many humans. They get to be immortal, have superpowers, be beautiful and sexy, and have access to endless wealth and glamour. Being a vampire sounds fun, although it some cases you miss out on the sunlight.

But what if being a vampire is not what it is cracked up to be?

A couple of years ago, I came across an article on how death makes life more meaningful. Without it, life is pointless. In other words, immortality brings on aimlessness, boredom and humility. After all, if you were to live forever, what would you live for? Most people hope to achieve certain things before they die, and spend their lives working on their legacy. If you were always going to be around, then what’s the point of leaving behind a legacy? Instead of being concerning about how you’d be remembered, probably all that will concern you would be your reputation. And that will depend on the politics and social norms of the vampire world.

Photo by
Rikard Elofsson
via Flickr

I found this PDF from the Journal of Philosophy of Life, which most likely discusses the article I found two years ago. In it, the belief that death gives meaning to life are discussed. Although it is pointed out that many people spend their lives running away from death and live like they’ll always be around, the idea that death haunts us into making our lives purposeful is seriously pondered. Such suggestions as death being a motivator for us to do something with our lives, or to do good towards others, or to be less bored with living in itself, are talked about here. Give it a read, I highly recommend it.

Anyway, finding and reading that article two years ago motivated me to work on the sequel to The Dark Proposal. Because it got me thinking on what would it be like if you were immortal. I had always thought if I were to be immortal, I would have endless fun and live a hedonistic, laidback life. I would have nothing to fear because death will never come to me.

Now, I portray my vampires living that way. They’re very hedonistic and don’t have much goals except for defending their kind, becoming as rich as possible, drinking blood every night, having sex in so many styles, and so on. Yes, some have jobs or live artsy lives, but that is seemingly to pass the time, to blend in with humans, and to make money legitimately. But they have no goals to work their way up the workplace ladder or anything. If any of my vampires had such goals, it would be to work their way up the hierarchy to become Defenders of the Blood (more about that another time).

But that’s about it, though. When it comes to love and relationships, there is no “till death do us part” because death just isn’t thought of for vampires, even though it is a possibility. Therefore, there probably wouldn’t be a lot of relationship goals, so to speak, since these beings have eternity. There is also no children to bear and raise, so nix that idea. And since there’s no pregnancy or threats of STIs, then there’s hedonistic sex galore in this world!

With that in mind, it sounds like a vampire would be coasting along in life, doing a few things here and there just to pass the time and to secure the existence of vampires. Their world is completely separate from humans, and they don’t think much of the humans they are feeding on. Humans are the source of consumption; no need to get involved in their world unless it benefits the vampire’s.

So, with all this mind, what would be the meaning of life for a vampire? What would be the point? Endless fun may get boring after a while, especially with nothing being taboo. Defending the existence of vampires may prove worthy, but then comes the question of what is the point of being a vampire? The way I wrote my vampires, it is to escape death and be godlike. Basically, vampires live in fear of death and being weak. That is what motivated the Five Brothers to bring forth vampirism, though they didn’t realize what they were getting themselves into; they just thought they were going to be blessed by their ancient tribal gods to be just like them. Instead, they were cursed with not being in the daylight for many centuries, and to spend eternity warding, and fighting, off humans. All for what?

Furthermore, it also must be lonely to be a vampire. Being surrounded by the same group of people for centuries must get irritating, though I could also imagine, it would be heartwarming since you’d have a long history with all these beings. As Daniel told Claire, they are a tribe.

So, living in harmony, side by side, for centuries, living in complete hedonism and on guard to defend their kind. And once it is safe to venture into the sunlight more and more, a vampire would discover humans are evolving in a way to fight them off more and more. Technology and knowledge keeps developing, and soon, a vampire finds they are unable to fight off humans, and the true death awaits.

That’s basically the crux of my vampire trilogy. I cannot imagine life being a charm for a vampire. It could be on the surface, and on a shallow scale. But deep down, at its core, a vampire’s life has little meaning.

In that way, the vampire is cursed. Cursed to live a life without life.

 

Influences: “The Last Vampire” by Christopher Pike

Tags

book series, books, Christopher Pike, series, The Last Vampire, vampire books, vampire fiction, vampires, YA, YA books, Young Adult

When I was in junior high, I read a lot of vampire stories. I read books by R.L. Stine and Anne Rice. I even attempted to read Bram Stoker’s classic novel, but could not get into it. But one book that stands out during my vampire book days was “The Last Vampire” by Christopher Pike.

Here’s an overlook of the book, and the other five that followed it in a series. The books are about Sita, a 5,000 year old vampire who is, seemingly, the one and only vampire left on earth. Although she is tiny, she is incredibly beautiful, extremely strong and quick, and falls in love quite easily. The latter means she falls in love with the son of a detective, mainly because she believes the son, Ray, is the reincarnation of her husband from 5,000 years earlier, Rama.

But Sita is not the last vampire around; her maker, the world’s first vampire, Yaksha, is still out there and is looking to kill her to rid the world of vampires. Yet, Sita survives Yaksha’s attempt and turns a dying Ray into a vampire, to save his life. This breaks a promise she made to Krishna that she won’t create any vampires, and thus will always have Krishna’s grace.

Click here to find on Goodreads

So begins the adventures of Sita, Ray and Yaksha. The adventures involve a trip to Las Vegas, flashbacks to Renaissance Italy, massive explosions, the death of Ray and Yaksha, Sita meeting a non-vampire who managed to live hundreds of years through alchemy (I forget the character’s name), and being changed back into human form. She also winds up pregnant, Ray comes to back to life as some sort of ghost, the baby grows at an abnormally quick pace and later turns out to be some sort of demon that Sita has to destroy. In the end, Sita meets with space aliens – or something like that – and is able to go back in time to kill Yaksha when he is born, and thus, never becomes a vampire and returns to life as though she never lived for 5,000 years.

At the very end, readers learn that Sita’s human nerdy friend, whom she cures of AIDS, had created the story of Sita in order to cope with having full-blown AIDS, and readers are to believe that the story of the last vampire was a product of his imagination.

Hmm. Sounds like a bad movie, right?

Now that I think of it…

Anyway…

I am aware that the series is being continued, years after the sixth and final book was written. I am not sure if I will ever take a peek at any of these books, especially now that I am aware that The Last Vampire series doesn’t sound very plausible. I mean, it certainly isn’t akin to the Harry Potter series in terms of storytelling.

But I do remember a few years ago, during the Twilight craze, walking through a bookstore, and seeing The Last Vampire being marketed as a new series called Thirst. I was thrilled to see that book cover, and thrilled to have memories of my early-teen days come back to me.

Those memories included chatting with friends about Sita and her adventures, and what will happen to her next. It seemed Christopher Pike’s vampire series was widely read in the mid-90s. Also included was my introduction to Hindu mythology, which these books are heavily based on. It showed me a new world, which back then was largely influenced by Catholicism.

I also grew fascinated with vampires, and wrote little short stories about myself becoming a vampire and what sort of adventures I would have as one.

Clearly, The Last Vampire series influenced me, as imperfect as they are. They also influenced the way I created my vampires. For example, I made my vampires walk around in the sunlight, depending on how old they were. This is all thanks to Sita, who could also walk freely in the sun, although she would be exhausted later on. In addition, my vampires, like Sita, do not sleep in coffins.

Even though The Last Vampire series is not the best one out there, it still has a special place with me. It made me fall in love with vampires, let my imagination run wild, and influenced me as a writer and storyteller. Creating stories are like building blocks, and sometimes there’s just that one book that leads to the foundation stone being placed. For me, it is Christopher Pike’s The Last Vampire series.

Movie Review: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

Tags

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, artsy movies, Farsi, female vampires, feminism, feminist, film reviews, films, indie films, indie flicks, Iran, Iranian, movie review, movie reviews, movies, vampire movies, vampires

In recent weeks, I viewed the art house film, “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”. In case you haven’t heard of it, this Ana Lily Amirpour directed movie received a lot of buzz for being a Farsi-language (which is the main tongue of Iran) art house flick about a vampire in a Western-style city. In fact, the movie’s tagline is “The first Iranian Vampire Western”.

Click here to learn more at IMDB.com

Even though the film is done in Farsi, it was not shot in Iran. Instead, it was made here in the United States by a cast and crew of Iranian heritage. That is quite obvious when you see the sex scenes and female nudity. I mean, this is not a movie that the Ayatollah would approve of!

“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” is about a fictional place called Bad City. And bad is the best word to describe it. Drug dealing, spousal abuse, prostitution, and just general unhappiness and misery all around. Having the film shot in black and white seems to add to the sadness of Bad City, along with the artsy intentions of the director.

But while the residents of Bad City are dealing with their unhappiness, they seem unaware of a particular young woman who is by herself at night. They might notice her, because this is supposed to be Iran, and in that country, a young woman being by herself at that hour is taboo. She may be up to no good. And this girl is. She’s a vampire.

But she’s no evil vampire. Instead, the young woman seems to use her thirst for blood as a way to punish those in Bad City who hurt others. She kills and drinks from the drug dealers, the pimps and all others who abuse women. Come to think of it, this characterization of a female vampire seems to be a trend with the genre. The film, Byzantium, had something similar. And one of my author buddies, Francis Franklin, wrote a book that had the same idea. It’s like female vampires are the new female warriors against male oppression, and other injustices from patriarchal societies.

At the center of “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” is Arash, a young man who’s father shoots up heroin, owes money and abuses his girlfriend. The vampire watches this very closely, and it is while she’s watching that Arash meets her and falls in love. She becomes a beacon of light for him in his unhappy existence in an unhappy place. This is rather unusual yet touching vampire romance, although the love story is a secondary storyline here. Arash is basically a rebel in Bad City in a sense that he yearns to escape its misery and live a better life.

Overall, the film is about how rough Bad City is and how this vampire (who has no name) uses her vampire ways to bring justice. It’s an artsy, indie flick that brings together Iranian social issues, vampire fascination, and classic American flicks about teenage rebellion. It doesn’t have a driving storyline, but it is interesting to watch. The real catch is the Iranian aspect of the film, which why it received such a buzz among indie flicks recently. For one thing, I liked how the vampire’s chador seems to represent both Iran’s strict clothing laws for women, and the capes traditional vampires wear. It’s actually a cool combination when you think about it.

I recommend this film if you like foreign language flicks, indie art-house style films, and a feminist take on female vampires. If you love cinematography, you’d love this film. But if you are looking for a driving storyline with intense climaxes and drama, you won’t see too much of that here. But it is something different from many vampire and Iranian films out there, so this may be a movie worth watching for you!

 

 

Dracula: Season 1 Review

Tags

Dracula, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, NBC, TV reviews, TV Shows

So NBC’s Dracula completed its first season this past Friday. That was quick. Doesn’t it seem like the show only debuted yesterday?

Click for the show’s page on IMDB

Well yeah, it only had 10 episodes for its first season. It is still not known if the show will be renewed for a second season as NBC is reportedly still thinking it over. Supposedly, there were some issues with the ratings, but those picked up during the last couple of episodes, so there may be hope.

But until then, I’m going to give my thoughts on this season and whether I’ll be tuning in for Season 2, if there will be one.

Overall, I felt Dracula was all right. I thought the acting was pretty much good overall, the costumes and set design was amazing, and the storyline was OK. I was uneasy when the show premiered because I was concerned that Dracula was going to be a soapbox to preach against Big Oil. Fortunately, that did not happen and the Big Oil topic became secondary. Instead, what we got was Dracula trying to walk in the sunlight so he could get revenge on the Order of the Dragon with Van Helsing, whom he was surprisingly in cahoots with.

I grew to like this new take on the Dracula-Van Helsing rivalry. Obviously they despised each other, but both needed each other in order to fight the Order of the Dragon, which had ruined them in two very different ways. I liked how this tale had Dracula as a member of the Order, only to be cursed to be a vampire by them. However, I wished we had seen more of Dracula’s life from before he was turned into the vampire. We kept seeing the same images over and over of Van Helsing’s family ruthlessly being killed by the Order, yet not enough of Dracula suffering from them. I get it that the angle was mostly on Van Helsing as he aimed for revenge, but it got tiresome and painful to see the scene where his son is forced from him and into the burning house. I wished we had seen more of Dracula with his wife, Ilona, who was killed by the Order, because that was what he was focused on, second to getting revenge from the Order.

I found Mina to be likable in this version, though maybe a little naive. Harker had good reasons to be suspicious of what was going on between her and Alexander Grayson. Lucy here reminded me a lot of the one in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1994 film, particularly when she, ahem, measured Harker’s pants. I wonder if having her being in love with Mina was a nod to the hinted lesbianism between the two in Coppola’s movie.

Harker is someone to like and cheer on. Yes, he was a douche for downplaying Mina’s interest in medicine, but given he’s the good guy in this story, there’s a reason to cheer for him. I was so mad at him when he joined the Order, but luckily, he realized that was a bad idea during the final episode. I’m glad he and Van Helsing are going to team up to destroy Grayson. Harker knows he has been causing chaos in his life and wants to ruin him, and Van Helsing is done with Dracula. It will be interesting to see what this duo does to ruin Grayson.

Before the show aired, Jonathan Rhys Meyers warned that Dracula was not a good guy here, and that is true. His Dracula is the unlikable villain that you strangely want to see succeed. Really, him making Lucy a monster because she hurt his reincarnated wife was him being a tool. Yeah, Dracula made Lucy a vampire in Bram Stoker’s classic, but ugh! Oh yeah, his creepy obsession with Mina was not romantic at all. I’d like to see what will happen when Mina realizes Grayson is a vampire. It won’t be easy for her to cope, now since the two of them have finally had sex. It’s like her attraction to him has been sealed. And will Grayson want to make her a vampire, even though he thinks it will be an abomination? Or will Mina ask to be one?

So yeah, overall I thought it was good. Not stellar, but not bad either. There were some episodes that dragged a little. I felt some of the sex was put in for the gratuity rather than to tell a story. The costumes are mostly good, but the makeup on the women was so not Victorian, especially Lucy’s eyebrows and Mina’s lipstick. The acting is fine, though I’m not impressed with Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Yes, the guy is sex personified, but based on The Tudors and The Mortal Instruments, I can’t help but think that he does the same acting over and over. Sigh!

If the shows is renewed for a second season, I’ll tune in. I’m not too worried about this show jumping the shark because if it does, it won’t be as painful because I wouldn’t call this show great. It’s good, just not great. But it is entertaining, pure and simple, and that’s enough.

Why My Vampires Are The Way They Are

Tags

fictional characters, paranormal, scientific explanation, traditional vampires, urban fantasy, vampire books, vampire novels

No two vampires are the same. What I mean by that is, it seems like vampires in each book, movie or TV show have their own appearances, powers, and blood drinking requirements. Sometimes these characteristics are based on folklore (the Eastern European of the vampire has had a big influence on how we see vampires these days) or at times, the author creates their own version (I never heard of vampires sparkling before “Twilight”).

Click here for original Flickr image

So I say it is safe to say writers of vampire stories got their ideas from various sources – as did I. In this post, I will discuss where the characteristics of my vampires in my book, “The Dark Proposal”, came from.

Firstly, let me lay out what those characteristics are:

• very pale skin that turns into a healthier tone after feeding,
• the ability to read minds and erase thoughts,
• move at a very quick speed (think True Blood),
• turn into mist,
• no need to sleep in coffins,
• being able to walk around in daylight or even overcasts after many centuries,
• superhuman physical strength,
• heightened hearing and seeing,

Some of my vampires also have difficulty stopping themselves from consuming blood from a person, which leads to suspicious deaths among humans.

So how did I come up with these traits? Allow me to explain:

Very pale skin that turns into healthier tone after feeding: Almost white skin I think is one of the hallmarks of a vampire. Having one without pale skin is like not giving a vampire fangs. It also comes from Slavic folklore that a vampire was spotted by its pale skin that turned ruddy after feeding. Plus, for my trilogy, there needs to be something suspicious about their appearance. Without the skin issue, there’s no hint that something is off someone.

The ability to read minds and erase thoughts: Many vampires have done this and I think it can come from the heightened senses these undead creatures have. If they can hear and see things humans cannot see, why not human thoughts? And since I have my vampires inherit supernatural abilities, why not also erase human thoughts if necessary? If you are wondering why my vampires do not hypnotize people, like Dracula did or the vampires on True Blood, well, I did think about that. But it wouldn’t have worked for my book. If Daniel was able to make Claire say and do things through hypnosis, then my story had no point, would be boring, be done in 50 pages, with the whole idea down the drain. Plus, I didn’t want my vampires to be too much like their True Blood counterparts.

Speaking of True Blood…

Move at a very quick speed: Honestly, I gave my vampires this skill because I think it is so cool to see them zip around a room in a blink of an eye. Also, when I wrote the scene where Daniel proved to Claire that he’s a vampire, I just had to have him to do that. It worked so perfectly.

Turn into mist: Comes in handy, basically. I loved the 1992 flick, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” by Francis Ford Coppola, and the way it showed Dracula turning into green mist. While the mist in stories aren’t green, it is still a fascinating ability to have. It adds to the mystery and fear of the vampire.

Click here for original image

No need to sleep in coffins: I really didn’t like the idea of a vampire sleeping in a coffin, even if it is basically a dead creature. It was just too archaic for me. I was also inspired by one of my favorite vampire books as a young teen, Christopher Pike’s “The Last Vampire” series. His vampire heroine, Sita, didn’t use a coffin and slept in a bed like anyone else.

Which leads to the next trait inspired by Mr. Pike’s books…

Being able to walk around in daylight or even overcasts after many centuries: This was something Sita was able to do, although not every single day since the sun would exhaust her after a while. I also had always wondered if a vampire could walk around during a cloudy, rainy day. After all, there is no sun to fry him, right? But I do think being able to deal with some sunlight is best for more mature vampires because age does make them stronger. At least for mine.

Superhuman physical strength: Because my vampires got their traits from ancient tribal gods, why wouldn’t they have the power and strength of those deities? Same goes for heightened hearing and seeing. Vampires are supposed to be, to me at least, creatures that we fear. We fear them not simply because they can kill or torment us, but because they have the supernatural ability to hunt us down easily, get us to do things other humans aren’t able to, and go mostly unnoticeable in everyday life. It’s hard to fear something or someone who isn’t two notches stronger or skilled than you.

How Will a Vampire View God?

Tags

Anne Rice, Bill Compton, Diety, Dracula, God, Lilith, Supreme Being, Theology, True Blood, vampire fiction, writing

With the premiere of the sixth season of HBO’s True Blood coming up this Sunday, I figured this would be a good time to discuss vampires and their relationship – on any level – with God.

DISCLAIMER: This is not an invitation to debate the existence of God or any sort of theology. That is for another topic on another blog, in which there are many. Since vampires and God have gone hand-in-hand for centuries, this is an interesting topic to explore.

Click here for a good article and the Season 6 promo

Now if you watch True Blood, you may recall last season where Bill Compton and Eric Northman got caught up with the Authority and their worship of their vampire god, Lilith. Eventually, the idea of that Lilith wanted all vampires to conquer humans made Bill spiral into madness and at the end of the season, he drank Lilith’s blood and became a vampire god himself (Sounds strange, right? I was baffled over the direction the show went and vowed to never watch it again. Of course, I have since changed my mind).

So with season six getting started, it is clear Bill is not going to be just another vampire, but a sort of deity. How that turns out remains to be seen, but it does give a nod to the centuries old correlation between the bloodsucking undead and deities.

I wonder, though, that if vampires exist, and if there’s a God, how will the vampire see God as it lives it’s supernatural existence? (NOTE: I believe there is a God, but again, we’re not discussing theism here)

I would think that a vampire would look at God with a wary eye. Not wary in how will the Almighty strike him or her down, but wary as in preparing for a fight. A vampire would probably like to know what a supernatural being who rules the world would do another supernatural being who also rules the earth, but in a very different way. I would imagine that God might see a vampire as an agent of it’s archnemesis, the devil, whom poisoned the body and mind of a human being who was forced to become a vampire, or didn’t really know what he or she was in for. This leads to this discussion of whether vampires could be seen with pity. But I already touched on that before, so let’s move on.

The characters in my book mention their attitude towards God, or any deity, several times. The main character, Claire McCormick, is apathetic to the existence of God, Daniel Bertrand, her boyfriend who revealed to be a vampire, tells her that is what made him think she would be a choice to be his eternal companion. He explained that she had a love of life, so why not have that love for as long as whenever? She had no one to answer to.

Daniel then goes on to say this: “When you are made like us, you’ll see the power we have and how we will always reign over humanity. Striking fear into mortals, exercising a power and strength they can only wish to have. Basically,” he leaned forward. “We are the Gods, and it’s a thrilling feeling.”

It should be noted that Daniel was born illegitimate back in Medieval France, at a time where the Church had complete control over society. Being a bastard weighed heavily on him, and becoming a vampire set him free from his misery, hence him saying how thrilled he is to be God-like.

I would think a vampire would see itself equal to God like that. Immortal, supernatural strength and abilities, powerful over humans. If that vampire has accepted it’s new existence and has no real issue draining humans of their blood, then I would say that vampire is flipping the finger at God and the world, and not caring about it’s evilness. Sounds like an agent of the devil to me!

I also wonder if a vampire would ever think about the possibility of an afterlife. They have found the key to immortality and eternal youth. Why bother thinking about Heaven, hell, reincarnation or nothing at all? They got the longevity going and they’re laughing at humans for their short, fragile lives. Basically, I would think by becoming a vampire, a person knows it is superior to it’s former fellow humans in many ways. It will see itself as blessed with a rare gift and it can dance happily in the night forever. There is no one to answer to or to stop them.

But no one lives forever (yes, I know that is the tagline for True Blood this season) and vampires have been known to finally being defeated and killed. What then? Are they doomed for hell since they embraced the dark gift? More than likely that will be what karma would give them. I personally believe how we live our lives affects the way the universe reacts to us. Once we are released from our mortal bodies, we are in the hands of the universe. What we gave to God – which I believe is an energy force – will come back at us very strongly. And vampires will be in for some major retribution.

I will explore how the vampires of my The End of Eternity trilogy think about God and the afterlife a little more in my two next books. Not much though, because that really is Anne Rice’s territory and I don’t want to mirror what she did, which was done very well. I originally had a few scenes where Claire considers God’s existence and even prays for help. But I removed them because they would’ve affected my plans for my characters. But since the relationship between humans and deities played a role in my book, I won’t totally ignore it next time.

So, True Blood returns this Sunday, and Bill Compton is a vampire God now. Even the promos show Sookie asking in fright, “you think you’re God now?” and Bill seems to have fully embraced his status as a supreme being. I don’t know what to expect this season, because the last one was not very good, in my opinion. New writers were brought in for this season, so maybe they had cleaned up the mess left behind from last year. We shall see…

NBC’s Dracula – What Does the Promo Hint?

Tags

Downton Abbey, Dracula, Fall TV shows, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, NBC, NBC Dracula, NBC shows, television, The Tudors, TV Shows, vampires

Earlier this month, the promo to the NBC drama “Dracula” was released, and I finally got around to viewing it. In case you may not know, NBC – which is gaining a reputation for some great shows – has produced a show based on Bram Stoker’s classic, though it is a bit different from the actual storyline.

Anyway, here it is:

Wow! The producers of “Downton Abbey” and the directors of “The Tudors” are behind this! This could definitely be a very lavish show. I’m a sucker for costume dramas because I adore the lovely gowns the women wear.

And I must say, Jonathan Rhys-Myers seems quite seductive here. It was hard for me to find him hot on “The Tudors” because I kept thinking how he looked nothing like Henry VIII. But here, he’ll pull off playing Dracula more easily.

It seems like the show doesn’t have Dracula as the historic Vlad Tepes, the Wallachian prince in present-day Romania who inspired Bram Stoker’s novel. By historical accounts, Vlad Dracula’s wife died by throwing herself off his castle, not from being burned at the stake. Hey, I’m not expecting this program to be true to Stoker’s book. I am just curious how the writers and directors will re-tell the story.

Also, this show looks like it will be very sexy, which is a big departure from “The Tudors”, which some viewers have called historical porn, LOL! But I admit it will be nice to have a show with some sexiness without the gratuity (nudge, nudge Game of Thrones! 🙂 ).

So, NBC’s “Dracula” looks promising. I will be tuning in when it premieres this fall.

Here’s more info: http://www.nbc.com/dracula/

The Ambiguous Sexuality of Vampires

Tags

bisexuality, bisexuals, fluid sexuality, good and evil, LGBT, morals, Sexuality, writers, writing

I was browsing WordPress blogs this morning when I came across one that had a link to an article on AfterElton.com that discussed how vampires are often depicted as bisexual, and that is not a good thing.

The article, written by Brent Hartinger, pointed out that when vampires are bisexual, particularly on TV and in movies, is usually represents how evil the creature is. In other words, the vampire is so amoral and deprived, it also has sexual perversions, if one considers bisexuality or even homosexuality to be so.

Click here for article on vampire sex by TrueBlood.net

For example, the Cullen clan in the Twilight saga are morally good and heroic, and they are also all heterosexual. But look at True Blood. The villain Russell Edgington is gay and has a boyfriend in season 3 – until Eric kills him. Eric is seen as morally ambiguous throughout the whole series, and becomes sexually ambiguous when he needs to do evil, such as killing Talbot to avenge his Viking family’s murders. Also, Bill was the good vampire for most of the series, and was depicted as heterosexual – with the exception of a scene with shape shifter Sam Merlotte, which disappointingly turned out to be a dream.

Here’s a quote from Hartinger’s op-ed to sum it all up:

Suddenly vampires have stopped being bisexual. The more “good” they are, the less morally dubious, the straighter they’ve become. It’s an almost perfect correlation!

Reading this article shook me. In my book, The Dark Proposal, I have my vampires as bisexual, living in a free-love existence. I never once thought that by giving them fluid sexuality, I was showing how depraved they were. Yes, my vampires are the evil kind, and not the sweet and sensitive ones. But I never once thought that by allowing to be more sexually ambiguous, they were representing their moral sense.

Honestly, I was influenced Anne Rice, who’s vampires are bisexual. But I also didn’t do that just because Anne Rice herself did. My justification of creating bisexual vampires came from how I would think it would be for a vampire, once it realizes it is no longer human and is living apart from humanity. I would think by living in a different world, human rules no longer apply, especially when you realize you have supernatural skills and have found your own key to immortality. Vampires don’t answer to humans, so why should they follow their rules?

In that situation, I would really believe fluid sexuality would be the norm. The reluctance or fear to want to kiss and touch someone of the same gender would be gone. There will be no judgment if one decides to have a same-sex encounter or even experiences homosexual love. After all, they are superior to humans – that is the attitude my vampires have.

I never looked at vampire sexuality as representative of their morals. I always looked it at as part of the sexy side of being a vampire – that no one, male or female, can resist you, and you are open to anyone who interests you, gender be damned. You have no sexual hang-ups, you are true to yourself and don’t care what others think – mainly because you are separate from humans and you look down at them anyway.

But this article has me thinking, especially how I write my two follow-ups to The Dark Proposal. The ideas I had won’t change drastically now, but I will be more aware that some people are not pleased with vampires having fluid sexuality. The LGBT community has been demonized enough, and I certainly don’t want to give readers the impression that I am part of the demonizing crowd. I stand by my reasons for making my vampires bisexual, but I see there are other angles to examine.