#vampires

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In Central and Eastern Europe there were numerous reasons why people might become vampires, often through no fault of their own. These could include having red hair (like Cain and Judas apparently had), being born with a caul or being born with teeth. Eating a sheep that had been killed by a wolf or having an animal, especially a cat, walk on your grave could also place you among the undead. For this reason, pets were often kept indoors during funerals. Vampirism could result from being born a seventh child or being born to a mother who neglected to put salt on her food. Having blue eyes in areas where brown eyes were more common - or vice versa - also boosted your chances of becoming a bloodsucker.

Bela Lugosi in vampire costume opening his cape in front of a blond woman in a purple dress.

I got some recommendations for those who like , , and !

Fantasy:
Riyati Rebirth by Kalani Shimizu,
City of Strife by Claudie Arseneault,
Party of Fools by Cedar McCloud,
Sweetness Bled and Brindled by SL Dove Cooper,
Baker Thief by Claudie Arseneault,
Awakenings by Claudie Arseneault,

Science Fiction:
Heart of the Covenant by SL Dove Cooper,
Fourth World by Lyssa Chiavari,
The Handler's Gambit by Ingrid Moon,

Vampires:
From the Dark We Came by J. Emergy,
How to Sell Your Blood and Fall in Love by D.N. Bryn,
Stake Sauce by RoAnna Sylver

Background: gradient purple from the ace flag. Text "Ace Week Recommendations Indie Author Edition" - Fantasy: Riyati Rebirth, City of Strife, Party of Fools, Sweetness Bled and Brindled, Baker Thief, Awakenings. SciFi: Heart of the Covenant, Fourth World, The Handler's Gambit. Vampires: From the Dark We Came, How to Sell Your Blood and Fall in Love, Stake Sauce

At 55, human Ella Conlan thought her life was completely ordinary, maybe even a little dull, except for having RH-null blood. But she hadn't counted on being the center of a Blood War between two warring factions of vampires. Nor had she counted on being the mate of not one but two handsome vampires.

Now all those two have to do is - stop her from being killed, rescue her, convince her to donate her blood, and then finally get her to accept that she is destined to spend eternity with the two of them.

Easy?

A short insta-love novella.

www.evernightpublishing.com/blood-war-by-suzy-shearer
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08S47CP4G/

@bookstodon@a.gup.pe @bookstodon@fedigroups.social

Book cover - Blood War. Shows 2 men with a woman holding the face of one man about to kiss him. Quote from book: “Give me the woman, Jarek!” Slavik, voice filled with anger and malice, added, “I’ll fuckin’ kill you all!” Ella stretched her empty, shaking hand and picked up the wall telephone close to the door. “The police! I need the police.” “And what will you tell them, Ella? How do you think they’ll act when you say a man just walked through the closed door or another tore out the heart of someone who disintegrated into dust?” She looked devastated as she realized the truth of his words. “Anyway, they’re probably already on their way from all the noise Slavik’s making.” Ella stilled. They could see from the look on her face that she understood what would happen if she rang. She dropped the phone to the ground as she came to the realization no one could come to save her. .."

Some people on the internet get really pissy at me because I prefer real when it comes to over what I call Hollywood-lore. The reason it matters to me though is because Hollywood-lore, to borrow a video gaming term, nerfs vampires, making them too easy to defeat. In folklore vampires are extremely hard to kill & if you don't do it right they can still feed on you via your dreams & kill you, even if they're currently just a jar full of ashes. Folklore vampires are TOUGH.

reviewed Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

Octavia E. Butler: Fledgling (Paperback, 2007, Warner Books) 4 stars

Shori is a mystery. Found alone in the woods, she appears to be a little …

vampires, controversial relationships

4 stars

I think I would have preferred this to be part of a series. One of only two books about #vampires that I enjoyed, the other being #Echopraxia by #PeterWatts (part of the Firefall series) A young female and black #vampire (vampires grow up more slowly than humans, so she is just a child) finds herself alone and seriously injured with no memory of what happened. Fortunately vampires heal faster and more effectively than humans. When healthy but still no memory, she walks out, finds she is on a burned-out farm, and walks to a road where she flags down a car driven by a man. After she persuades him to take her home (taking blood from people makes them very persuadable), they both spend time to find other vampires to help them and to find out why so many local vampires have been killed. Along the way, she gathers more …