Influences: “The Last Vampire” by Christopher Pike

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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.

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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.

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Introducing the New Adult Book Genre

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book genres, books, E-books, eBooks, genre, genres, hashtag, NA, New Adult, Twitter, Twitter chat, YA, Young Adult

I finally know what to categorize my upcoming book as!

You’re probably raising an eyebrow right now, thinking, “how on earth can someone figure out what category their book belongs in – weeks before it comes out?”

Yeah, I know. But its not like I was completely clueless over how to classify my novel, The Dark Proposal. I already knew its genre…because it is about vampires, so yeah it’s a vampire novel.

But what kind of vampire novel?

You have vampire romance, vampire horror, vampire YA. Neither of descriptions fit my book because there’s no romance throughout, its not gory enough, and the main character is a college graduate, not a high school student.

My book is an urban fantasy, yes, but what exactly is it target audience? Like I said, teenagers cannot be the prime target, even if some may be interested in a young woman learning about life after college.

As the deadline drew nearer for me to upload my novel onto Amazon Kindle, I was getting nervous on the exact category to put my work under.

Luckily, I just happened to be on Twitter this evening for the weekly #indiechat, where indie authors gather. The topic was the newest genre for novels: NA – or New Adult.

We are all aware of YA – Young Adult. That is for books which focus on the teenage years of the main characters. It generally is geared to 12 – 17 year olds, though some grown adults do read those books. After YA, though, there’s nothing but books aimed at adults who are 25 and older. What about the 18 – 24 year olds? You know, those who are in college or just graduated, struggling to become adults, learning to be independent and the ways of the world. Seems like that time period is not represented much in the literary world, despite it being a tumultuous and exciting time for anybody.

NA is still relatively new and as far as I know, the genre has only been thought up a couple of years ago. So, it has to grow a lot more in order to be noticed by the average reader and booksellers.

But even so, the very moment I learned what NA stood for, I knew I had at last found my genre for my book. The main character of my story, Claire McCormick is 22 years old and a recent college graduate. Along with her friends/roommates – Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez – she struggles with post-college life. The three share an apartment and are trying to find work in a dismal economy (yes, The Dark Proposal takes place in the present day). Claire also is embarking on her first real adult romance with college professor Daniel Bertrand (who by the way she did not have as a student; she meets him as she works part-time at her alma mater’s English department office). Unfortunately, things do not turn out the way Claire hoped for in that relationship – which is what my book is all about.

So there you have it. A new genre not just for me, but for all writers looking for a way to classify their work. I’m excited about this because there is a lot of opportunity with NA books. As I said, anyone in their early 20s can remember those days as when they first began their adult steps. It’s a fun, awesome and scary time, and I truly believe there is an audience waiting to devour those books.

Here are some websites that promote the NA genre:

http://sarahnicolas.com/blog/2012/05/what-do-you-think-about-new-adult/

http://nalitchat.blogspot.com/