Marked, By P.C. Cast & Kristen Cast

Cast, P. & Cast. K. (2007). Marked (House of Night, Book 1) Vol. 1. (1st ed.). New York, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, A Division of Macmillan.

Zoey is marked.

In P.C. Casts new Vampire series, she pens it along with her teenage daughter Kirsten. Marked is marked by the fact that it has actual input from a teen. As a result the series sets itself in a league of its own. Vampires in this narrative are normal until puberty at which point they become selected, by chance, as a candidate for the change. If a teen is selected a group is set out to find them and mark them. The mark is a crescent moon on the forehead (which seasoned fantasy readers will recognize from The Mists of Avalon, and therefore connect the goddess references). Upon receiving their mark, soon to be, but not fully changed vampires get sent to a special school for the training of the undead. The scary part is, if you body doesn’t accept the change you die. And, a special sign has marked Zoey. One that is rare for a vampire so young.

Speckled with less then clean language and some sexual encounters, the book should be for the older teen. Four more books follow it: Chosen, Betrayed, Untamed, and Hunted (due this month, March 2009).




You simply must visit the House of Night's Website. It's Beautiful and a fan of the series will be in internet heaven:

http://www.houseofnightseries.com/

Thirsty, By M.T. ANderson

Anderson, M. (2008). Thirsty. (3rd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.

National book award finalist author of Feed, Anderson republishes his 1997 highly acclaimed vampire story, Thirsty. Set in Massachusetts, Thirsty conjures up images of the witch trails with its persecution of vampires. But, when Chris finds he is cursed with the plight he enters a deal with Chet to try and fight the forces of dark and in turn save himself from the fate of vampirism and the lynch style stake through the chest pursuits that are occurring in his town. Among the cast of characters is Lolli, a vampire siren who pulls Chris in the other direction. Boys and girls will enjoy this tale and welcome it’s republishing in a literary world flooded by the Twilight market.

The Last Days, By Scott Westerfeld

Westerfeld, S. (2006). The Last Days. New York, New York: Razorbill.

The Last Days is the sequel to the highly acclaimed and apocalyptic vampire story started in Peeps. Set against the same parasite-ridden streets in New York, Westerfeld gives a group of five teens that form a rock band whose musical triumphs escalade while the dark happenings of the peep problems do too. As a Fender Stratocaster is being thrown to its doom out of a window, Moz and Pearl, strangers until this moment, work together to save it. From here readers will rock their way through this hardcore, parasite positive end of days as the band with its vampire lead singer create a playlist for the end of days. Maybe rock and roll will save the world as it does so many teenagers everyday. Or maybe it will bring it on.
A gritty ode to rock and the way it can be a catalyst for teens to express their discomfort and rage, each chapter is named after bands. This book reads better if you have read Peeps first.

Dead Is The New Black, By Marlene Perez

Perez, M. (2008). Dead is the New Black Vol. 1. (1st ed.). New York, New York: Harcourt Paperbacks.

The cheerleader in Daisy’s high school (not to mention her ex-best friend) is setting a trend, but instead of her usual sun tanned glow, she is sporting a pale-skinned, kiss of death look, cleavage, and stiletto heals.
Although this novel’s main characters (two sisters) aren’t vampires, she does however hold a psychic power that tunes her into the other side of things. And when bodies start turning up the sisters start tuning into what could be causing it. Is it a vampire? Is it Daisy? With her mother a psychic working for the police station, the sisters find themselves trying to figure out what has their mom stumped.
Humor abounds in this modern commentary of all things trendy. From cheerleading squads to zombified-trend setting, readers will be confused (in all the right ways) by the plot until the very last page.

Queen of the Damned, By Anne Rice

Rice, A. (1988). The Queen of the Damned, The Vampire Chronicles Vol. 3. New York: Ballantine Books, A division of Random House.

Undead aficionados will find Anne Rice delivers historical accuracy, rich characters, and a greater depth of philosophical thought then other vampire tales (YA and adult combined). Anne Rice’s style appeals to the vampire fan as well as the history fan.
In Queen of the Damned, Lestat uses his mental superiority (much to the disdain of frustrated vampires everywhere) and his rock star status to face off with the Queen of the Undead herself and in the process draws out vampires all around the world. Will Lestat align himself with the Queen or destroy her? Or will he be destroyed in the process? In the third book of The Vampire Chronicles, Rice delivers a deeper look into her vampire lineage.

Advanced violence makes this a book for the more sophisticated teen.






Queen of the Damned was made into a movie in 2002 by combining both the Vampire Lestat & Queen of the Damned. Titled: Queen of the Damned. Note: It is not a complete translation given the combination of two novels.

The Vampire Lestat

Rice, A. (1985). The Vampire Lestat, The Vampire Chronicles Vol. 2. New York: Ballantine Books, A division of Random House.

Readers may be shocked to learn that Anne Rice based her follow up sequel to Interview with the Vampire on the antagonist in the aforementioned work. Now the protagonist, Rice delivers a beloved Lestat. A pagan hero of sorts, Lestat, awakened in to the sound of Rock and Roll in the 20th Century but quickly retraces the history of Lestat from mortal days as talented violin player whose immortality was forced upon him by a suicidal blood drinker to his fledgling days as a new vampire. The Vampire Lestat begins what will become a series that pushes the boundaries of the basic vampirism themes into that of a philosophical and religious nature.

No author has quite affected the vampire genre like Anne Rice since Bram Stoker. The Vampire Lestat is also available in Graphic Novel form.

I read and reread these novels so many years ago, I doubt I would have even read Twilight or any other Vampire novel had it not been for Rice's novels. She will always be one of my favorite authors.

The New Annotated Dracula, By Bram Stoker, Edited By Leslie Klinger, Introduction By Neil Gaiman

Stoker, B. (2008). The New Annotated Dracula (1st ed.). In (L. Klinger, J. Byrne, Editors and N. Gaiman, Introd.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

The Original Dracula was published in1897 after years of research, Bram, short for Abraham, Stoker wrote the infamous novel that gave birth to a truly immortal legend. Klinger annotates the classic horror novel in the historical facts that Stoker based his research on. With side-by-side annotations that are created by Klinger with the actual Stoker manuscript, readers can see the metamorphosis from Stoker to publisher. They can also understand the context of which the modern day shrouds. Beautiful and informative illustrations and scholarly additions make this version of Dracula a shelf jewel as well a special way to either re-read Dracula or experience it for the first time! This version begs for time and patience in its exploration. Neil Gaiman writes the introduction.

Love. Love. Love this edition.