It’s taken me a bit over a month, but I’ve finally finished the last of the books I brought home from the Easter weekend convention. There were twenty-one of them, heavy on anthologies, so it’s taken a bit of time. Plus April was very, very busy for me, to the point that I’m only now able to start really planning future things.
The last convention book, the last anthology, the last off the three dollar table is Erotica Vampirica, edited by Cecilia Tan. It is exactly what it sounds like. And, to top it off, it’s from the mid-nineties. Nineties vampire fiction is a mood.
The book opens with “Mist Kisses” by Renée Charles. A dhampir muses on his life and existence while on the hunt for vampires. He doesn’t hate them. But he will kill any vampire he finds carelessly killing humans. You can tell it’s from the nineties because the message boards are physical.
I think Cypress Quinn means their title sarcastically. “A Most Nonsensical Night” introduces us to a centuries-old vampire who isn’t much fond of the modern era and his kind being known and recognized for what they are. But, it’s finally time to bring a daughter into his little family, his little coven and he and his sons are very excited.
“When Michael Comes” by Whitt Pond is a little different. Vampires like Michael seem to operate solely on instinct for much of the time, without any conscious awareness. But when he comes home to the narrator, gets a drink of blood, his memory returns. Not of where he’s been or what he’s done, but of who he is.
R. Boyczuk follows that with “Doing Time”. This narrator is, as the title implies, in a cell. They reflect on how they got there, revealing that vampirism is subject to interpretation. It’s nice to see a less traditional vampire.
“Prey” is Raven Kaldera showing us another world where vampires are public knowledge. In fact, they’re being hunted down and persecuted, which is why this nest fled to Northwest Territory, Canada. Complete with humans. The protagonist is a human, wearing a slave collar, although she’s only inclined to submit to her vampire lover and is otherwise in charge of the nest’s defenses. There’s even kids, because one of the vampires was a single mother before she died.
Steve Eller explores the trappings of darkness without substance in “Desolate Dance”. The narrator here is the vampire, and he’s found one of those Goth girls who has convinced herself she wants a vampire…but doesn’t actually. After all, it’s not like she believes. This is just some awesome roleplay.
“Vox Vampirica” by Alan Smale is the sort of story that is incredibly of its era. Like the previous tale, there’s some roleplay elements. But in this case, the leads are having phone sex. It’s kind of silly in the end, but also fun.
I think Kimberlyn Toliver-Reed got a bit caught up when writing “The Razor’s Edge”. There’s a bit of backstory and setting that is largely irrelevant to a story about a couple meeting and having some BDSM sex. If you cut out the entire introductory section the story would be stronger.
“Dark Freedoms” by Jim Lee goes in a bit of a different direction. Here, the vampire is Black. It’s also set during the U.S. Civil War, in the South. So the vampire is, on paper, owned by her young(er) lover. But the vampire is very clearly the power in this relationship. We also get a bit of her history which is vast and varied. Apparently her first white lover was a Roman soldier, and she wasn’t young then either.
Finally the book ends with Lela Buis and “Shadows”. A woman is widowed tragically young and decides to fix up the old family house her husband inherited. The first night she stays there, she meets a mysterious cousin of her husband’s. Also, rumor has it the house is haunted. Gee, I wonder why?
These stories are good, and they’re exactly what you’d expect of a nineties book called Erotica Vampirica. There’s a lot of sex, a lot of vampirism, etc. It’s well-written porn. And while it was fun to read, it’s not something I need to keep. A number of the stories have little or no plot outside of how and why the leads are having sex. Which is fine for porn, not so much for things I might want to reread in the future. Still, it could’ve been worse.
But I have other things to read, and I am most excited about them.
mouse Reads Books 