It’s my huge pleasure to introduce debut Avon historical romance author Miranda Neville. Miranda’s first book NEVER RESIST TEMPTATION sounds absolutely delicious, not just because it’s a luscious love story but also because the heroine is a skilled chef. It’s currently available in all good bookstores. You can find out more about Miranda and her wickedly tempting books at her website: www.mirandaneville.com
Miranda very kindly agreed to be my victim…uh, guest on the blog today. So here are five questions with Miranda Neville:
ANNA: Miranda, congratulations on the release of your debut historical romance NEVER RESIST TEMPTATION which is out at the end of February. Can you tell us something about this story?
MIRANDA: Jacobin, my heroine, runs away from her uncle when he loses her in a game of cards. She’s learned to be an expert pastry chef and she gets a job in the Prince Regent’s kitchen, disguised as a young man. That’s all fine until her uncle – one of the Prince’s friends — is poisoned by a dessert she made. Someone’s setting her up to take the fall so she escapes again and ends up working for – the man who won her in the card game! Anthony, the Earl of Storrington wants to use her as an instrument of revenge but he’s soon torn between his attraction to her and his other goal.
ANNA: I know food plays a major part in this story. What made your mouth water? Apart from Lord Storrington, obviously!
MIRANDA: Jacobin is a pastry and dessert cook so NEVER RESIST TEMPTATION gives some of the recipes she makes for her employer. Ironically Anthony, Lord Storrington doesn’t really have a sweet tooth. However, he learns to appreciate her confections in certain contexts. Ahem. Whipped cream anyone? While I was writing the book I was on a diet and lost 50 pounds so my appreciation of her pastries was entirely vicarious.
ANNA: What was your favorite book when you were 12?
MIRANDA: That’s easy. I must have been about 12 when I first read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and it’s been my favorite book ever since. LITTLE WOMEN came a close second. Around that time I also started scarfing up everything by Georgette Heyer and Jean Plaidy.
ANNA: Describe your ideal holiday location.
MIRANDA: Anywhere but England! If that sounds odd, you have to understand that I grew up there and all my family live there, so that’s pretty much where I spend my vacations. Sometimes I long for sun, beaches and drinks with umbrellas. I love museums and art galleries and had a marvelous five days in Rome two years ago. And I have a friend who moved to Hawaii and keeps asking me to visit. If I get really stuck with a deadline I’m going to take my laptop to her veranda for a working holiday.
ANNA: Do you cast your novels? If so, who would you cast as Jacobin and Lord Storrington in NEVER RESIST TEMPTATION?
MIRANDA: I mostly use period portraits and my own imagination for inspiration but the hero of my WIP does bear an uncanny resemblance to Daniel Craig. And one of my earlier efforts definitely featured a Brad Pitt look-alike. I could see Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet as Anthony and Jacobin.
ANNA: Thanks, Miranda! Great answers! And it sounds like a great book!
Miranda is a brave woman. She’s blogging with the Romance Bandits on Tuesday, 10th March. Pop by to find out more about this sparkling new addition to Avonlandia and to win a signed copy of her debut book NEVER RESIST TEMPTATION!
Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Samantha James, enjoy afternoon tea, and discuss her newest release, Bride of a Wicked Scotsman which arrives in bookstores Feb. 24. I love Samantha’s books and neither dust, dogs, nor deadline will keep me from reading one of her books when it comes out. So pull up a chair, help yourself to some tea, and let’s enjoy our chat.
LH: What makes this Scotsman so wicked?
SJ: Thus far in the trilogy, we’ve see Alec in his role as the Duke of Gleneden, head of the family. But in Alec’s book, the sexy, rakish, wicked side of him is revealed. Alec is charmingly audacious, very, very much a ladies’ man. And of course, there’s the fact — unbeknownst to all – that he’s the descendant of a pirate!
LH: What can you tell us about the curse?
SJ: I’ll do one better. I’ll let it speak for itself!
From out of the mists and magic steeped in time came a myth — a myth that was born on the lands of the people who came to be called the clan McDonough. It was here, on the very tip of the peninsula, in this place where the wind meets sea and sky, and the sky the earth, where Druids reigned and pagans came to worship their Celtic gods in a temple ringed with standing stones. It is here, said the tale, that the Circle of Light first came to be, beget by the Druid priests. Conjured from sea and sky and water and earth, a symbol of the eternal cycle of life. Of purest silver it was made, a simple pattern, weaved together, a circle that had no end and no beginning.
The Circle of Light resided high upon an altar of stone — floating, suspended with a power of its own, slowly rotating, ever turning, shimmering with myriad color and warmth. The Druids proclaimed that all people of the clan McDonough who worshiped — all who believed in its powers of endurance, would be blessed.
So wondrous was the Circle of Light that St. Patrick himself came to see it. He, too, blessed the Circle, and all of the McDonough and their lands. He decreed that it should remain forever in this place of ancient worship; the clan was charged with its guardianship. In thanks for this blessing, the clan McDonough built their church in honor of St. Patrick, bringing fortune and favor to their lands and people.
As time and tide went by, the McDonough came to believe that to lose the Circle of Light — this enduring cycle of life — would be to lose their good fortune. Such was their belief. Such was their faith. Night after night throughout the centuries, high above the statue of St. Patrick, the Circle of Light was seen through the window to the north, casting out its glow. Shifting and shimmering through mist and moonlight and the darkest night, bringing forth luck and prosperity to the lands of the McDonough as promised. Like a crown of warmth and hope, its light could not be dimmed.
Until the night the Black Scotsman came plundering across the seas, to the land of the McDonough where he seized the Circle for his own . . .
And the truth of the legend came to be.
LH: Reading the excerpt posted on your website, www.samanthajames.com, I loved how you brought one of F.J. Sparrow’s characters to the costume ball. Loved the entire excerpt actually. Alec seems to be quite a bit of fun, and I can already tell that the heroine is a great match for him. I read in another interview that you’d saved his story for last because he needed a special heroine. How did you finally find her and how is it that she’s his match?
SJ: You noticed the F.J. Sparrow character! I wondered (read: hoped) if that would happen. That costume ball was so much fun . . . Back to Alec, though. Somehow I couldn’t see Alec falling for a white-gloved, fashionable London debutante. He’d be bored silly. He needed to be paired with someone who didn’t conform to Society’s ways. Someone who was more unconventional, more adventurous. And rather than see Scottish vs. English yet again, I thought it would be more fun to pit Irish vs. Scottish.
LH: If Bride of a Wicked Scotsman were to be made into a movie, who would play the hero?
SJ: Do I have to have just one? Because it could be Pierce Brosnan. Or Hugh Jackman. Or Gerard Butler. But if I have to choose, well, I’ll go with Pierce Brosnan. He’s first in the alphabet.
LH: Tell us five things about Samantha James that we might not know.
SJ: My favorite food is
peppermint ice cream.
My least favorite food is berries—any kind of berry. And mushrooms. And fish. Oh, that makes three. The strange thing is, my husband detests those same foods.
I’m a back-seat driver. Does t
hat make me a control freak?
My favorite vacation spot is Scotland. Anywhere in Scotland.
I stayed in a haunted castl
e – really. Yes, in Scotland, of course. Alas, I must have been sleeping when the resident ghost appeared.
LH: Oh, I’ve always wanted to visit haunted castle! How fun! Although I don’t know if I would have slept a wink.
Samantha, I want to thank you for joining us today. It’s been a delight as always. To those joining us today, what questions do you have for Samantha?
- Bride of a Wicked Scotsman – March 2009
 Sophia, let me begin by saying what fun it is having the chance to interview one of my fellow Avon authors, especially since we’re both from the Washington DC area and coincidentally share the same literary agent. But enough preamble, since I know what readers are really dying to hear about is Love with a Perfect Scoundrel, the third installment in your enthralling Widows’ Club series.
1. Can you give us a little taste of what we can expect in Grace’s story, due to hit bookstore shelves on February 24th?
A Taste? How about: A rugged, wildly attractive mysterious stranger tempts twice-jilted countess to unleash her hidden reserves of desire while snowbound in the wilds of Yorkshire …
Michael Ranier is definitely my very favorite hero to date. He gives Luc St. Aubyn (from A Dangerous Beauty) a run for his money in more ways than one. Aside from the intense chemistry between the hero and heroine, I really enjoyed writing the interactions between the three male characters in this book. They reminded me of all my handsome, cocky male cousins trying to outdo one another on every level. And the ladies in the club grow even closer as more bits of pieces of their pasts were revealed.
This is a stand alone book (just like the other books in the series) which means you don’t have to read them in order. In fact many people have written to say they prefer to read them out of order!
2. Each of your books in this series feature widows and the club formed by the outrageous Dowager Duchess of Helston. What attracted you to the idea of writing stories about widows? And why do your widowed heroines keep changing the name of their club? Can’t these ladies make up their minds <g>?
The idea for the series came during a luncheon with a group of my friends when someone asked how all our lives would change if our husbands suddenly were taken from us. The responses were startling. Some said they would never recover. Others said they would survive and make a new life. And most shocking was one who admitted she would be relieved. I was intrigued that one question revealed so many different answers—and a series was born.
Soon an image formed in my mind of a mysterious dowager duchess who comforts a bevy of women left alone in the world and the gentlemen whose fates intertwine with the ladies’ own. I set the first two books in Cornwall, England — truly one of the loveliest places I’ve seen in the world. But with the third book, I moved the location to London and Derbyshire.
And no, just like me, these ladies can not arrive on a suitable name for their club. The Widows Club sounds just like a bunch of old crows. Merry Widows is a bit overused. They tried Barely Bereaving Beauties, and now The Wicked Ways of Willful Widows. Who knows what it will be by the end of the series…
3. I know I’ll be savoring every page-turning moment of Love with a Perfect Scoundrel and be left wanting more when it’s over. To tide us avid readers over, can you share a few hints about the next book and how long we’re going to have to wait until we can read it?
There is a novella (see below) to break up the lull between books. But I can give this hint: The working title for the fourth book is “Four Weddings & a Scandal.” This will probably not stick given the title of the anthology! But it does give you a feel for the content… A huge secretwill be revealed in the last book (and one of the weddings might surprise you!)
4. You have a novella coming out this summer in the Four Dukes and a Devil anthology. Will the story feature another willful widow or an entirely new set of characters?
Tracy, I am so excited to be in this anthology with you, Jeaniene Frost, Elaine Fox, and Cathy Maxwell. I have always wanted to savor the challenge of a short story. It was so much fun that I am hoping we get to do it again! And yes, the novella, “Catch of the Century” is a spin-off story from the series. It is completely stand alone but readers will also catch glimpses of the Duke of Helston and the outrageous Dowager Duchess as well as two other characters (including the heroine) from the series.
5. And lastly–because enquiring minds want to know–what is your favorite movie? Favorite book? Favorite food? And if you could go anywhere in the world all-expenses paid, where would you go and why?
Ack, I LOVE movies…and have so many favorites. I just finished watching “Intolerable Cruelty” again yesterday, which I love. The plotting and repartee is priceless. Favorite book? Now, I know you’re joking. There are too many to list. But the book I reach for the most? The DICTIONARY! Favorite food? Sushi and French desserts. Fave dream trip? Lately, I’ve had a hard-to-ignore hankering to go to Australia. I keep waiting for Anna Campbell to step up to the plate and invite me, but alas, I think she is secretly afraid I will eat all her Tim Tams and never leave. Scotland and Ireland are a close second and third.
 Hi everyone! Tracy and I belong to the same local writer’s community and since we’ve both got books coming out on Tuesday, we thought it would be fun to interview each other…
Hope you enjoy!
Best wishes,
Sophia Nash
1. Tracy, I’m so excited a fellow Washingtonian has joined the Avon family! And I know readers are clamoring to hear all about your new series. Can you tell us a little about the Byrons of Braebourne and the first book, Tempted By His Kiss, which will be available on Feb. 24th?
Sophia, thank you so much for the warm welcome! It’s great to have an opportunity to chat with you and all my readers here at AvonAuthors.com. I’m tremendously excited to be writing for Avon Books and about the release of my new Byrons of Braebourne series.
The series is set in Regency-era England and will follow the Byron siblings––a daring bunch known for their scandalous ways and rakish exploits. Just like Lord Byron, the poet, my Byrons are every bit as ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know,’ as their poetic non-relation. There are eight of them––so lots of romance and excitement lies ahead!
In Tempted By His Kiss, soldier and spy, Lord Cade Byron, returns home to England after being tortured by the French. Wounded in both body and soul, he buries himself in his remote Northumberland estate wanting only to be left alone. But fate intervenes when a snow storm lands orphaned Admiral’s daughter, Meg Amberley, on Cade’s doorstep. Stranded together, Meg’s reputation is soon compromised. A false engagement and a London Season seem like the perfect solution . . . until they find themselves tempted by a kiss that just may lead to forever.
2. In the past you’ve had back to back-to-back releases (i.e. three books in three consecutive months): the Trap Trilogy and the Mistress Trilogy. Can you tell readers and writers what are the pros and cons of writing/releasing books in this fashion?
You’re precisely right, Sophia, that both my Trap Trilogy and my Mistress Trilogy were originally released on a back-to-back schedule. That kind of quick release schedule is one that many readers really love, since it allows them to get deeply involved in a fictional world, knowing they’ll only have to wait a few weeks at most to read the next book in the series. The downside, however, is that once those three months are up, there are no new books until the author has time to write more. This lag between books is one of the biggest drawbacks for both readers and authors alike. There’s a definite element of instant gratification with back-to-backs, but then there’s the “withdrawal” of having no new novels from a favorite author for as long as a year or more.
In addition to the lag time between releases, writing back-to-backs is a very intensive process that can be draining for an author in terms of energy and creativity. This is one of the reasons I’ve decided to transition to a more traditional release schedule for my new Byrons of Braebourne series. I want to keep writing great stories that readers love, and being on a schedule that allows me to produce one book every few months, instead of three right in a row, will help me stay creatively fresh and full of new ideas!
Plus, the upside for readers is that while they’ll only be able to read two full-length Tracy Anne Warren novels in 2009, they’ll get two more in 2010. So actually, over a two year period, they’ll be one book further ahead in the series than they would be with a three book back-to-back release! A win for author and reader alike.
3. A week from now, after I devour Tempted by His Kiss, I know I will be dying to know the story behind book two, Seduced by His Touch. Can you drop a few hints now? Please?
Since you asked so nicely, Sophia, how can I possibly resist? Seduced By His Touch is about rakehell brother Jack, and I can safely assure you that he is a very bad boy! When a game of cards goes horribly awry, Jack finds himself deeply in debt to a rich shipping merchant. But the merchant doesn’t want his money. Instead, he wants Jack to woo and wed his spinster daughter. But there’s a catch . . . Jack has to convince her it’s a love-match!
4. Ahem, a little bird told me you’ve also got a novella coming out this summer. Is it part of the Byrons of Braebourne series?
It sure is! My novella is part of the Four Dukes and a Devil Anthology (which curiously enough features a novella by you as well, Sophia!), and is scheduled for release on June 30th! The story features a Byron cousin, India Byron, who finds herself in need of rescue from an unwanted suitor. To create the illusion that she’s being courted by another man, she demands a kiss from the devilish Duke of Weybridge. Little does she know what she’s started when she finds him only too happy to oblige.
5. OK–cramming all the things I’m dying to know in one long question: Chocolate or Vanilla? Tea or
Coffee? Alpha Male or Beta Male? Tiger Red or Bridal Blush? Angelina or Jen? And cats or dogs? (OK, I know the answer to the last one ; }…
Chocolate––hands down.
Tea—I adore tea, and not just because I write Regency historicals.
Alpha or Beta Male—Alpha. Although I like Beta’s sometimes too!
Bridal Blush—I adore soft pastels.
Jen—but only because Brad should have broken it off with her before he hooked up with Angelina.
Cats—Yes, you do know the last one. To see pictures of my three adorable cats and learn more about my books, please visit my website at www.tracyannewarren.com!
Sophia, it’s been wonderful chatting with you. Thank you so much and happy reading everyone!
Hi, all!
I’m celebrating the first book in my psychic romantic suspense series, A PERFECT DARKNESS (Avon), with my Kick Butt First Line contest. Shocking, suspenseful…make us want more! Cash prizes! Contest runs from through March 1, 2009. For aspiring authors, it’s a chance to get your name out there and add a “win” to your bio. For readers, it’s a chance to play at being a writer. Even if you’re not inclined to write a line, check out the entries—they’re a lot of fun! For details, go to www.JaimeRush.com and click on the Contest link.
Jaime Rush (aka Tina Wainscott)
Check out the Offspring series,
where X-Files meets Friends!
www.jaimerush.com
Imagine the horror of going to your teenager’s bedroom one morning only to find her missing. Her bed hadn’t been slept in and her clothes are gone.
In 2000, that’s what one mother in Florida faced. Her only child had conspired against her and ran away. And worse, she later discovered that her daughter had left the country—without having a passport. From the moment I read this news story, I was hooked and had to know more about how such an atrocity could happen. The teen’s trail might have gone ice cold, but her mother pushed authorities in a direction.
She knew where to start looking.
Only six months earlier, the girl had received a computer for a gift—a thoughtful present from a mother who wanted the best for her child. But this gift soon brought a virtual menace into their home. A charming and anonymous stranger lured the 14-year old girl to Greece—a man she’d met in a teen chat room. We’ve all heard stories like this. But after researching the facts behind this case, I was amazed at the audacity of this Internet predator.
And I wanted to shed light on the shrewd tactics of online predators in my upcoming book—Evil Without A Face (Feb 2009, Avon, $7.99)—the first book in my Sweet Justice series.
The online predator not only manipulated the teenager in Florida, but he also convinced law-abiding adults to cooperate with his schemes. These people thought they were helping an abused kid, but they didn’t know the facts, check with her family or contact local law enforcement. This stranger duped an employee of the local phone company into arranging for a private cell phone to talk to the girl directly. His slick manipulation scored him a purchased airline ticket (without a direct connection to him) and a clandestine ride for the girl to the airport. But after he bribed a child pornographer to acquire an illegal passport for her to leave the United States, the girl was out of the country before her mother knew she was gone.
And the chase to save the girl was on—a mother’s worst fear.
Now I know what some of you are thinking. This happened in 2000, before the added airport security measures were implemented after 9/11 in 2001. The girl would never have been allowed on a plane without proper ID. But after contacting a source in the airline industry, I was shocked to learn how many children travel unaccompanied and without a valid ID on domestic flights these days. So this extraordinary Florida case became the framework for my novel, Evil Without A Face. And I chose to set part of the story in the unique venue of Alaska where I had lived for ten years.
My novels have the feel of being ripped from today’s headlines because real crime inspires me. Who says crime doesn’t pay? Violence is like the ripple effect on the surface of still water. The wake radiates out from the victim and touches many people. In my books, I give a voice to the many victims of crime.
In Evil Without A Face, an illusive web of imposters on the Internet lures a deluded teen from her Alaskan home and launches a chain reaction collision course with an unlikely tangle of heroes. A new kind of criminal organization becomes the faceless enemy behind an insidious global conspiracy. And the life of one young girl and countless others hang in the balance. This is the initial driver to my new series. With an international setting, these thrillers will focus on the lives and loves of three women—a bounty hunter operating outside the law, an ambitious vice cop, and a former international operative with a mysterious past. These women give Lady Justice a whole new reason to wear blinders.
And their brand of justice is anything but sweet.
After researching the case in Florida, I became more concerned for naïve kids socializing in cyberspace—young people like my nieces and nephews. Savvy online criminals lurk in anonymity and carry on without fear of repercussion. I’m an active member of MySpace and Facebook and know how they operate. But these social networks aren’t the problem—the criminals are. And as you’ve seen in the headlines and on TV, the online community has become a real hunting ground for predators.
Why not? It’s easy pickings.
For the most part, the Internet is an invaluable tool. And it breaks down the barriers between countries, allowing many of us to have international friends. But the anonymity of cyberspace attracts all sorts of users with criminal intent. Terrorists have found new high-tech ways to recruit online and they have duped some Internet users into funding their activities or have resorted to outright stealing through subterfuge. And since crimes that cross over jurisdictions and international borders are harder to prosecute, offenders often get away with their schemes. That’s why I wanted to write Evil Without A Face and dole out my brand justice. After all, who couldn’t use a liberal dose of ‘Sweet Justice’ when reality becomes stranger than fiction?
How has your use of the Internet changed over the years? Have you become more suspicious of certain behaviors from online strangers? And if you have children who use online resources, can you share some tips on how you keep them safer?
Yes, I am a debutante, in the sense that my first book appears later this month. But there’s the more common sense of the phrase: admitting to your friends and family who you are. Not that it came as news to most of them that I’ve written a novel. I didn’t exactly keep quiet about it when I got “the call.” More like mass emails and telephone calls to everyone I know within about five minutes. If I knew how, I’d have rented one of those planes with a banner streaming behind it just in case anyone missed the news. And I don’t have one of those jobs where it might be embarrassing (not that it appears to have hurt Eloisa James’ career in either romance or academe).
But there is that little question of SEX. I read on a writers’ loop recently of a woman whose family had rejected her for writing what my daughter charmingly refers to as Mom’s Smutty Books. My family are totally supportive but I was the teensiest bit trepidacious about my father who is in his 80s and a very proper man, a good Catholic at that. Long ago he read the first three chapters of NEVER RESIST TEMPTATION and commented that “it’s a bit racy, isn’t it?” Oh Papa (yes, we call him that), you ain’t seen nothing yet.
So when he was visiting me from England this summer and offered to read my page proofs, I was nervous. As he read further my sister and I whispered to each other. Should we warn him what was coming?
In the event we needn’t have worried. He enjoyed the book (his daughter wrote it but he was, of course, judging it completely without bias) and we engaged in a discussion of coitus interruptus as a method of birth control. (Catholics are always very interested in contraception, I find, since they aren’t supposed to use it, My mother had a friend who swore she got pregnant during her period.) When I expressed surprise at his relaxed attitude he said “after all, I have been around a long time.”
I’m not worried about my siblings and their children who have all loyally waited to read the book until they can buy their own copies. I do feel constrained to warn friends and acquaintances who tell me they are going to read it that the book is “somewhat R-Rated.”
Many of them reply “Oh good, I love an R-Rated book.
 Let’s forget that it’s Friday the 13th and instead concentrate on the fact that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day!
There was more than one Saint Valentine. According to Wikkipedia, the Catholic church recognized 11 V-Days up until 1969. The one we celebrate is in honor of Valentine of Rome, who was martyred in AD 269. Not a lot is known about him but there are 2 theories as to how he supposedly met his end. One says that he was executed after refusing to convert to Roman paganism and trying to convert Emperor Claudius II to Christianity. The second says that Claudius insisted all army men remain single, in the belief that married men did not make good soldiers (ed. — must have been that pesky reason to live and all that!). Valentine was a priest at the time and he secretly performed marriage ceremonies. For this he was arrested and subsequently put to death. Legend has it that before his execution he penned the first ‘valentine’ to his beloved, reportedly a jailor’s daughter.
Hmm, which explanation is more romantic? I think I have to go with #2.
Valentine’s Day as we know it is, unsurprisingly, widely acknowleged as a Victorian custom. Chaucer might have put the idea in our heads, but things really took off around 1847. Before this many people made their own declarations of adoration and sent them to their beloved. In the US a woman named Esther Howland, of Worcester, Mass sold the first mass produced Valentines in 1847, taking inspiration from an English valentine she herself had received.
Today it’s estimated that there are approximately one billion Valentine’s Day cards sent every year, making it second only to Christmas for card sending. Also, it’s estimated that men spend (on average) twice as much as women on the holiday. Go guys!
So, how do you feel about Valentine’s Day? A time to remember a martyred saint, or a day you can eat as much chocolate as you want and not get fat (it’s been scientifically proven!)? Do you look forward to spending time with your sweetie or do you still wonder what the cute boy in your grade 7 class meant when he gave you the Mickey and Minnie Mouse card and gave everyone else Goofy and Donald? Do you mutter, ‘Bah Humbug’ under your breath when you see the aisles of pink and red in your Walmarts, pharmacies and grocery stores? Or do you smile at the boxes of cheesy paper cut-outs and fight the urge to run home and decorate a paper bag to hang in front of your desk? Do tell! Avon Authors want to know!
 Hi everyone! A bit of blatant self-promotion here. I’m guesting on the Romantic Times Ask The Author forum for the next couple of weeks. Come on by and chat about my books and ask me whatever questions you might have. One lucky poster will win the entire Brotherhood of the Blood series autographed!
Hope to see you on the boards!
 I’ve been blogging and talking a lot about vampires over the last couple of years. For the most part the blogs and conversations have been about my own vampires — The Brotherhood of the Blood. And while Temple, Reign, Saint, Bishop and Chapel certainly top the list of my favorite vamps, I thought I’d take the opportunity to share the love with a few of my other favorites.
Many of you have already heard me go on about how I saw Frank Langella play Dracula when I was 7. I’ve blathered incessantly about how he should have gotten the girl and how I hated the fact that he died, etc. For that reason, I’ve left him off this list. I knew you all would consider him a given. So here we go, in chronological order — my favorite vampires.
The first has to be this attractive purplish guy from the old abandoned mansion at the end of Seasame Street — The Count. So cool he has no name, just a title. He’s frostier than Fonzie, my friends. He had  it all, the widow’s peak, the canines and the accent. He also had the charm and a head for numbers. What woman could resist a man who could croon such favorites as “Count Up to Nine”? He may have liked to count, but with that slicked back hair and impeccible wardrobe, we know what was really on his mind. This guy made vampires, organ music and wide collars accessible to children in a fun and non-threatening way.
 Imagine my surprise when trying to find a photo of Dracula from the show Cliffhangers (1979!) and I discovered that it was the guy from Flashdance. See, I loved Michael Nouri as the iconic vampire living as a college prof in San Francisco, trying to recover his mortality and find a woman to grow old and die with, but in Flashdance — meh. Of course, I was still fairly young at this point so maybe I just didn’t get the appeal outside of the cape. Cliffhangers only ran for 10 episodes, but I used to beg my mother to let me stay up and watch the Dracula segment of the show. I remember that he had a double coffin to share with his lady love. Now that’s classy, I tell you.
There was a bit of a dry patch leading up to my teen years. George Hamilton’s Love at First Bite came out the same year as Cliffhangers, but I was too young to see it in theaters. I had to wait for video. I’m almost terrified to admit that I think I might have watched it in Beta format!! Anyway, the humorous vampire didn’t quite cut it for me in those days. But the mid to late 80s made up for that in a big way. In 1985 a little comic-horror movie called Fright Night was released. It was at this point in my vampire-appreciation that I realized I’m not a big fan of the face-changing vampire. I’ve always thought the scariest monsters were the ones that looked just like us. And I’ve never really got why a vamp’s face had to change anyway. Regardless, I was 14 and Fright Night introduced me to the concept of vampire sexuality. I still maintain that Christopher Sarandon in the Night Club scene is one of the most sexual vampires ever. And he does it in a turtleneck sweater. No cape and tux for this blood-sucker!
Fright Night was followed by Near Dark. Before he could fly on Heroes, Adrian Pasdar played a very cute farm boy named Caleb who fell into the hands of a vicious group of vampires all because of a girl. Bill Paxton was notably fabulous as a vampire. And Adrian was so fresh scrubbed and morally upright he couldn’t bring himself to feed. Ohh, a tormented vampire! Here was something even more appealing than the sexy and villainous vamp. My interest grew.
But quite probably, the most influential vampire flick of my teen-age years was Lost Boys. I even got the literary reference! I was  sixteen and very much into hair bands, and then I was handed this glossy, gorgeous movie filled with pretty boys and girls, all of whom had amazing hair and acted around a fabulous soundtrack. I loved it so much I didn’t care that the ‘Coreys’ were in it. Jason Patrick was huge at the time, as was my home boy Keifer Sutherland. But it was one of the vampires in the background who caught my eye. Billy Wirth had the best hair hands down, and he was the quintessential sexy vampire in my 16 year-old mind. For those of you who don’t recognize Billy but saw the movie, he was the ‘death by stereo’ vampire. I’ve never forgiven Corey Haim for that moment. (As an aside, this also ties in with my Gilmore Girls post, as Edward Herrmann, who played Lorelei’s father in the show, also played ‘father’ to the Lost Boys, trying to bring Michael into the fold so his mother would have to follow.)
 I’m sure there were other vampires throughout the 90’s, but the winner in my books has to be Angel. He was tortured to the point of needing a slap. A real reluctant vamp, my favorite moments were when he was forced into action, or when ‘Angelus’ came out and he did something really campy and nasty. Some of my favorite moments:
1. when Angel is possessed by a female ghost during the Sadie Hawkins dance on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Buffy takes on the ghost of the male counterpart.
2. When Angel comes back from Hell (having been sent there by Buffy) and he’s all feral.
3. When he mentions having a ‘thing’ for nuns and convents on Angel and we later find out nuns were his equivilant to a Happy Meal.
4. Puppet Angel.
Angel was pretty close to the perfect vampire — big, sexy and scary. But he also could be very funny when he had to be, and the character had a wonderful old world naivete at times. I loved the line he said at a restaurant with his cohorts, “I’m not cheap, I’m just old!”
Since Buffy and Angel both went off air, I haven’t found much in the way of vampire love. I had high hopes for Moonlight, as Mick St. John was one of the more interesting vamps I’d seen in a long time. Still fairly young he retained much of his humanity — a trait that was sometimes as maddening as it was heartbreaking. This show had a lot of promise, particularly because it didn’t fall back on drama as conflict. In the final episode, instead of walking away from his lady love as he was being pushed to do, Mick turned around and came back. I loved that, and I really wish the network had given us a chance to see what came next.
Thankfully HBO has brought the Sookie Stackhouse books to the small screen. And while Erik is very big and alpha, it’s Stephen  Moyer as Bill who had my attention through Season 1 of True Blood. Bill has just the right amount of tortured sensitivity and humanity left inside to make lovely conflict with the part of him that is unapologetic monster. I’m sure some of this love is because I’ve always been a sucker for dark hair, blue eyes and an impressive set of side-burns and I don’t care. True Blood has given me the vampire fix I’ve been waiting for and I can’t wait to sink my teeth (pun so very much intended) into Season 2!
So, if you’ve stuck around for the entirety of this post, you must have a liking for vampires too. Feel free to share your thoughts on the vampires I’ve listed, or better yet share some of your favorites!
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