Monday, March 01, 2010

Vampires and Twisting The Hook

I'm so excited about Don't Kill The Messenger and why I'm excited about it is incredibly well-summed up by Eloisa James' blog/review of the book. If you haven't read it - you need to.

Eileen is doing what all of us should strive to do, taking all those hooks we love from across so many genres and she's cleverly twisting them into something new. Something fresh and different. Part romance, part detective novel, part urban fantasy - loads o' Vampires. Honestly, no wonder the accolades are raining down.

This vampire thing, the fascination and appeal...it's powerful. Oddly enough, I think part of it is about feeding someone you love - the intimacy of it. The instinct. I love cooking for and feeding men. It's very 1950's of me, but it's something buried deep in my psyche. Weird. I know.

But, largely I think at it's essence - it's purest form - the Vampire fantasy is about losing all control. And maybe to a less PC extent - about having control taken away from you. And it's about being desired by and protected by, a seriously handsome and powerful slightly scary creature that is barely in control of his/her humanity. That's been the script anyway since Dracula first made his way into our culture.

But this kind of crap leads to unbearable alpha males and lap dog heroines. Often it leads to poorly written near rape scenes and...well, it leads to Twilight and we've talked about that. We've got to take this fantasy and update it.

Knowing why Vampires are a source of excitement and interest to millions of readers and then figuring out a way to give them what they want in a way that's new and totally different and that's smart and strong - that's quite a task.

And Eileen is totally the writer to do it. Congrats Eileen!

11 comments:

Eileen said...

Molly, that's freaking brilliant. We joke all the time at my house about how food is love. How much more intimate can it be when you're feeding someone with your actual life blood.

Maureen McGowan said...

Interesting about the feeding thing. A lot of symbolism there, along with the sexual symbolism.

I've often thought the reason paranormals got so hot again was because they give the traditional, almost obsolete, alpha male hero an excuse to behave badly. Behave in ways we'd never allow our human men to behave. ;)

I hope my copy of Don't Kill the Messenger arrives today!!! (not that I have time to read this week... but I can stroke it a bit. ;)

Nina Pierce said...

I've always thought feeding a man was very elemental. But I never made the leap to feeding a vampire lover.

I've just always found them incredibly powerful and sensual, male or female. I do like a human who can give them a run for their money though.

Molly O'Keefe said...

Mine should be arriving this week too - I have to finsh my Rita books and then pretend to be sick so I can have some time alone with it!! Can't wait.

Karen W said...

That does it. I'm ordering it on Kindle.

Anonymous said...

Nice link between food and love and vampirism, Molly. I am going to the bookstore to buy my copy. There is nothing more satisfying than standing in line, a new book in your hands.
It's a wierd fetish of mine, just adds to the anticipation of reading it.

Kari Lee Townsend said...

Congrats Eileen! The book really does sound fabulous. I am so happy for you, and I'm sure it will be a huge success. You rock :-)

Molly Evans said...

If food is about sex, I support masturbation. Men must learn to feed themselves.

Maureen McGowan said...

Ha! (to Molly Evans)

I like how in JR Ward's world, the males feeding the females (food) is such a big deal. Of course they fed each other blood, too... Usually while having sex... But the "I need to feed my female" thing was kind of hot. Reverses the fantasy.

Molly O'Keefe said...

Molly - I just snorted coffee out my nose.

Molly Evans said...

Molly O--sorry about that. Hope you're better now.
Molly E

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