Winter 2009

DEAD UNTIL DARK

Charlaine Harris

Ace Books

Dead Until Dark is the first book (2001) of Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries. These Sookie Stackhouse chronicles are the subject of HBO's new popular series True Blood. There are currently eight books in print. The next book and the complete first season of True Blood on DVD is expected to be released in May 2009. Not to be confused with Stephanie Meyer's Twilight saga that all the teeny-boppers and gay men are going gaga over, Harris' realm is an adult world of the paranormal, lust, drama, murder and most importantly; blood-thirst.

The main character, Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin), is a wholesome girl-next-door-type little blond with a quick wit. She works as a waitress in a bar in her small hometown of Bon Temps, Louisiana. She's a looker who has to fend off drunk paws at work. Despite being in her mid-twenties, she's never had a boyfriend due to her disability; she can read everyone's thoughts. Until she meets her first Vampire.

Charlaine Harris creates a reality parallel to our own. In her world, the Japanese have perfected and marketed synthetic blood which makes it safe for all for Vampires to 'come out of the coffin' and announce their existence. Now the undead are fighting for their rights to be treated as citizens, to vote, to legally marry and such. Vigilantes want the undead to actually be dead and threaten fang-bangers and those who associate with Vampires to suffer their judgements. Not only are Vampires subject to prejudice and resistance, they are also preyed upon for their blood. Vampire blood to humans is a powerful and dangerous new aphrodisiac that can easily become an expensive habit. But are these resilient creatures still perilous to humankind? If the fabled Vampire is no longer a myth, what else lurks outside of our knowledge?

Dead Until Dark is the start of a hopefully endless volume of addictive adventures in the life of Sookie Stackhouse. HBO does a superb job of bringing the Charlaine Harris world of Southern Vampires to life. True Blood has added more drama and character development to stretch out the season and encompass only Dead Until Dark. They still manage to keep the show fairly close to Harris' original stories, so far. Like any other award winning HBO series, it's funny, sexy, sorrowful, suspenseful, and for avid horror fans, gruesome in a buckets of blood kind of way. Any horror enthusiast would be impressed with the first Vampire death scene at the start of the ninth episode. It's absolutely bloodtastic.

I had to read all of the eight books in print since True Blood was such a great show. I just couldn't wait to find out what happens. Due to HBO's True Blood being based on the first book of the Southern Vampire Mysteries, I won't ruin the entire series by reviewing the whole thing for you now. I will wait to review and compare each successive novel only after HBO completes their respective corresponding seasons. If you haven't seen or read them yet and are looking forward to, I recommend not reading the rest of this review as I wouldn't want to spoil it for you.

Dead Until Dark is Sookie's intimate introduction into the Vampire culture. Beginning a relationship with Vampire Bill proves to be threatening to her own life and her family. Her mind-reading talent is not just a nuisance to her sanity, but extremely attractive to the Vampire hierarchy. Her budding relationship with a Bill makes her a target for a serial-killer that's been killing off fang-bangers in her hometown. Her gigolo brother, Jason, becomes the lead suspect after it's discovered he's had sex with almost every murder victim on each night of the murders. Sookie tries to utilize her talent to find the killer before he can get to her first.

There are a few differences between the show and the book. The final battle between Sookie and the serial killer was like night and day. I did like how HBO embellished the characters such as Lafayette Reynolds (the homosexual cook/drug dealer) and earthy Amy Berley. I grew fond of Lafayette's hilarious character and the stocky Cajun gentleman Rene Lenier and was disappointed to see them killed off. Vampire Eddie and Bill's spawn, Jessica, are both interesting additions to the story that were not in Dead Until Dark. Terry Bellefleur, the amusing Vietnam vet, has only a small part in the series. I'm hoping HBO and Harris will embellish on him next time around.

There are some points in the show that are better than the book. The exorcism of Tara Thornton was a freaky addition. Another intriguing character is the strapping, ex-Viking Vampire-sheriff Eric Northman. Eric, Bill's 'boss', is the one who kills Longshadow in Dead Until Dark but I can see why HBO had Bill kill Longshadow so he could face the consequences and introduce more characters. No matter, that scene is still one of the best vampire deaths I have ever witnessed. Staked in the heart, through the back, buy a broken bar tap and vomiting gallons of blood all over Sookie til she looks like Carrie is just... awesome.

My only complaint is the short length of the books. They have all been less than 350 pages. It's no wonder HBO has to add so much. As for the show, it started to get a little unbelievable when Werewolves and Shapeshifters came up. There's also another important character missing from the show; Bubba (I should wait to see if he shows up in season two to mention him). Both versions of the series are excellent and as is always the case, nothing beats the books. But I can't wait until season four when they bring my favorite Southern Vampire Mystery [so far] Dead to the World to the screen. And All Together Dead is going to cost some major bucks. I hope HBO doesn't pull the plug before then. This saga is a definite must-read and must-see.

Once bitten, you're hooked.

          A   (Both the book and the HBO series)           -Alesha Brunell

THE HOLLOWING

N.D. Hansen Hill

Cerridwen Press

Shawn Walsh is haunted by the past and not just his own. Kept in the dark of his hereditary talent by his unstable grandfather and a mother who couldn't seem to cope with her own life, Shawn didn't know he was vulnerable to dark impressions of past events. Unaware of his ability to time travel and plagued by a vicious stepfather, he grew up abused and disturbed. After his mother's death, he got through life with the help of his cousin Dos and his two close friends Rhys and Jack. Little do they know that being friends with Shawn could mean a very trying existence or even their own death.

The Hollowing is what Shawn named the black portal that haunted his childhood. When he starts working as a night watchman at the Majestic Mill, his latent talent resurfaces to test his adult sanity. Or should I say reality? The abandoned mill is the former site of the Majestic Theater that burned near the turn of the century and took with it over 300 lives. When the past makes itself know in his current life, Shawn and his circle of friends are dragged into the biggest brain-busting adventure of their lives. Or is it?

Time travel is always an interesting and multi-faceted subject that is usually very hard to follow. Especially when they do the taboo and physically mess with the past. Then events that just happened suddenly didn't happen. The beginning of the book was confusing and a little hard to get into because so much was taking place [and then not taking place]. I did get into the book more later when I knew what was going on. I will say I nearly lost interest when the explanation of how Shawn's family got their unique skill of time-travel came up. I thought it was just a tad cheesy to bring in radioactive material, microwaves and unusually high birth defects to the plot. The dialogue was funny and I would have liked some more character development in the mix.

I think the story was very good and there's plenty of room to make it a series. In fact it might be easier to follow as a movie. It would make for a very interesting one. I like how the history of his Shawn's family unraveled in the book. And I really liked getting creeped out early on in the story when Shawn was taking photographs of the haunted site. It's not often a book can really give me the creeps. I think The Hollowing holds limitless possibilities and alot of unexplained territory.

          B           -Alesha Brunell