My Favorite Vampire Books.

     It's October and as always I celebrate Halloween the whole month. Scary movies and books are all on tap during this month. With the third season of  "The Walking Dead" back on TV, I'm as giddy as a school girl on spring break.
     To help celebrate this month I thought I'd share my favorite vampire novels in no particular order. Although I'll try to avoid spoilers, if you have not read any of these books and plan to you may not want to continue.

     "Abraham Lincoln-Vampire Hunter." by Seth Grahame-Smith is not really hard to explain. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, discovers that vampires are not only real, but are planning to take over the country. The Civil War was really a plot of the vampires to take over and slavery was established to provide a food source for them. This novel is written as a biography of Lincoln based on his secret diaries he kept during his life long battle against the vampires.
      I enjoyed this book. It was fun to read. As I walked around with it, I was asked questions about it. I know I had three or four people interested in reading it after seeing my copy. There was a movie made from the novel. Some have told me it was not very good, but as of this writing I have not seen it.

      "Salem's Lot," by Stephen King is his second published novel in 1975. In the story a writer, Ben Mears, returns to his home town to write a story about a spooky house only to discover the new owner, Kurt Barlow, is a vampire. Barlow begins feeding and turning others into vampires. Pretty soon most of the town has become vampires.
     The only reason I even bothered to read this book was because the character, Father Callahan is featured in the last three Dark Tower novels. So I wanted some back ground on the story. To my surprised, I really enjoyed it and it is one of my favorites. Unlike other horror novels, this book actually gave me the creeps. While reading at night I made sure all the windows and doors were locked. I did not invite anyone in my house after dark.
     I think this book is one of King's finest. Unfortunately, the two made for TV movies failed to capture the novel in my opinion. Not that I thought they were bad.

     "Dracula," by Bram Stoker is an 1897 horror novel that introduced the classic character Count Dracula. The story is about Dracula's attempt to relocate from his home in Transylvania to England. Dracula battles a small group led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing. The novel is written in a series of documents, such as letters, diary entries, ships log entries, etc, etc.
     I've read this book twice already and I added it to my reading list for this October to read for a third time. I really enjoyed the way it was written though letters and other documents.
     "Dracula," has made many appearances in movies and television. In my opinion, non of those appearances even come close to capturing the novel. Even the 1992 film fails to even come close to being as good as the novel and I actually really like that movie.
     The film based on the novel I really enjoyed, and still do, was  Nosferatu made in 1922. Even though it was a silent film, it was scary. See picture at the top to see the vampire from that film.

 
      If I were to rank all these vampire books I think the first three of the Danilov Quintet by Jasper Kent would be number one. I'm including all three since it's all part of the same story. Kent story is historical fiction mixed with horror and vampires.
     "Twelve," is set in Russia during the year 1812. Napoleon is about to invade Russia. Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov and his comrades ask twelve mercenaries to help. Danilov discovers he and his friends released something far worse than the invading French.  He learns the twelve are voordalak or vampires. There are some of plot twist which kept the story interesting. When I started to read the second book I really thought, no way will this be as good as the first, but I was wrong.
 

 "Thirteen Years Later," is about the events surrounding the mysterious death of the tsar Alekzandr I and the Decembrist uprising.

  "The Third Section," takes place in 1855. Russia is once again at war. Danilov's son Dmitry, and his daughter Tamara face the threat to Russia their father had face in the previous novels. 

     If you read any of the books I have mentioned, I recommend you start with Twelve. I enjoyed all three and I'm eagerly waiting for the next two.

     That's it for now. Thank you for reading.

     Have you read any of the books I've mentioned? What did you think of them? What is your favorite vampire story?

   

Creepy Halloween Baby Pumpkin Head...Thing?

   
     My sister was visiting with my aunt and took the above photo and posted it on Facebook. As you can see it is kinda creepy. The fact that it looks like an actual baby head turned into a pumpkin is bad enough, but the two tears on the cheek is really that makes it disturbing. In the picture she took the pumpkin baby is crying and the regular Halloween pumpkin in the back is smiling as if it is for some reason enjoying the baby's tears. Very creepy and very disturbing!

     We asked our aunt where she got it and she said she bought it at a garage sale. She and my mother believe that it is "cute."  I took several pictures of it. No matter how I took the picture, it was still freaking me out.

     From below the baby looks distressed. A little less disturbing, but not by much. I kept holding it up and pretend that it was talking. "Hey! I going to eat your soul," it said, and "I'll be watching you sleep tonight."

     From above it looks like a little old man. A very creepy old man. I really got to wonder how one can sleep knowing this thing is in the house. Even when it's pact up the rest of the year, you'd still know it's there...waiting.

      Putting a hat on didn't help. Now it kinda looks like a gang member with prison tear tattoos signifying how many people it's killed.

     A profile picture makes it look worse than little old man baby demon Satan carried around in the movie "Passion of the Christ."

From the movie "Passion of the Christ."

See what I mean?    

      Turning it on it's side just makes it look like a severed head. Imagine rolling over and seeing this thing staring back at you on the next pillow.

     Thanks for taking the time to read this and remember, baby pumpkin demon head thing will be watching you sleep tonight!

Fall/October Reading List-2012

                                                       

     As October arrives I like to prepare a list of books to read during the month till Halloween, maybe though the first week of November. Of course, these books are usually horror and this year is no different. All but one is horror. Below is a list of books I hope to have read at the end of October.

   First book I've actually already finished. "Karna the Kathorian" (The Kathorian Chronicles) by David Graves. It's a Kindle book and is the first e-book I've read. I still prefer an actual book, but I think I'll begin enjoying more e-books. Below is a link if you wish to learn more about "Karna the Kathorian." (The Kathorian Chronicles) I wrote a review for the book on Amazon.

Karna the Kathorian-The Kathorian Chronicles

The book I am currently reading is "Rot and Ruin," by Jonathan Maberry. It's a post zombie apocalypse story. I saw Jonathan Maberry being interviewed on the History Channels, "Zombies, A Living History" last year. So far I am enjoying this book. I actually wasn't planning to read this, however I was at the book store and had to buy it. Due to this impulse buy I've had to rearrange my list a bit.

     October 16th is the release date for my next book I want to read. 'The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury, by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga. This is the second novel based on the comic series created by Robert Kirkman. I enjoyed the first novel,"The Rise of The Governor," by the same authors, so I'm looking forward to this one. Wish I could tell you more about this book but I have not done any research other than the release date.


                                                                                                                               

    After two zombie books I'll break it up by reading "Dracula," by Bram Stroker. I've read this classic novel before and enjoy it again every couple of years. I have a copy and downloaded a free copy on to my phone. Not sure which one I'll read. I'll probably choose the e-book version just to switch it up.
 














   I've also downloaded "Frankenstein," by Mary Shelly and "War of the Worlds," by H.G. Wells. I doubt I'd have time to get to them by November.
 
   Usually, I also have a list of horror movies I plan to watch, however now that I have Netflix, I'll just pick a new movie every other night.

   So am I the only one who put this much planning in reading? Do you plan this far in advance or do you just read one, then decide what to read next?