Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.Demosthenes
When you put your hands on a book like Blood Junky by Stavros you can have a moment of doubt ... in a good way.
I've never been a fan of stories with or about vampires. Vampires are not among my favorite fantasy creatures. And the books and movies from recent decades, where these characters were rifled and debunk from everything that they represent, strengthened my beliefs. I’m referring here to the good and bad as well. In the rush for profit and gain more readers, in some authors’ creations the vampires have become increasingly softer, more weak-willed, more "human" to be easier to love and to cry on their shoulder. They are no more those mystical and romantic characters, but became pathetic clichés in the worst possible sense of the word (I don’t want to give names of movies or books, but I think you all know what I have in mind). Or there is also that stupid and idiotic pattern which has nothing to do with the ancestral myth of the vampire.
Long introduction, but...
Blood Junky represents the returning to the roots of the genre. I don’t use big words, I have no interest to do it, but this is what I felt when reading this book: a renewal of the true romantic concept, of the creature bursting with passion and sexuality, of the predator. A story that entwines in a fine way the contemporary and the baroque. A story full of mystery and sensuality with exotic descriptions and complex characters. A book in which the characters are constructed in an interesting way throughout the story and where, like in a jigsaw, you’ll have the complete picture only at the end. And what a picture! I guarantee that the fans of this genre will not be disappointed.
I hope you did not misunderstand me. Blood Junky doesn’t live on memories told by the fireside. It is a book full of action, where the brake and throttle are used at maximum. A novel full of unpredictability, where suspense and drama occur when you least expect it. An adventure that will take you through frames of present days and recollections of events that occurred a long time ago which have the purpose to help you shaping the characters. The main characters (and not only them) you will adore them, you will hate them, love them, despise them ... The author will play with your feelings and he’ll make it outright. Anyway, what do you expect? Vampires are like cats: beautiful but predators. Beauty and cruelty sometimes go hand in hand.
Now a warning to our younger readers: this is not a book for them (yet), be patient! Even if you saw in the rows above the word sexuality, and some of you might be curious to read because of it, you will be disappointed. There are no explicit scenes, all is well dosed and gently said, nothing is shocking from that point of view.
I warmly recommend you the book!
It's worth reading, and fans of vampire stories will have a pleasant surprise!
I've never been a fan of stories with or about vampires. Vampires are not among my favorite fantasy creatures. And the books and movies from recent decades, where these characters were rifled and debunk from everything that they represent, strengthened my beliefs. I’m referring here to the good and bad as well. In the rush for profit and gain more readers, in some authors’ creations the vampires have become increasingly softer, more weak-willed, more "human" to be easier to love and to cry on their shoulder. They are no more those mystical and romantic characters, but became pathetic clichés in the worst possible sense of the word (I don’t want to give names of movies or books, but I think you all know what I have in mind). Or there is also that stupid and idiotic pattern which has nothing to do with the ancestral myth of the vampire.
Long introduction, but...
Blood Junky represents the returning to the roots of the genre. I don’t use big words, I have no interest to do it, but this is what I felt when reading this book: a renewal of the true romantic concept, of the creature bursting with passion and sexuality, of the predator. A story that entwines in a fine way the contemporary and the baroque. A story full of mystery and sensuality with exotic descriptions and complex characters. A book in which the characters are constructed in an interesting way throughout the story and where, like in a jigsaw, you’ll have the complete picture only at the end. And what a picture! I guarantee that the fans of this genre will not be disappointed.
I hope you did not misunderstand me. Blood Junky doesn’t live on memories told by the fireside. It is a book full of action, where the brake and throttle are used at maximum. A novel full of unpredictability, where suspense and drama occur when you least expect it. An adventure that will take you through frames of present days and recollections of events that occurred a long time ago which have the purpose to help you shaping the characters. The main characters (and not only them) you will adore them, you will hate them, love them, despise them ... The author will play with your feelings and he’ll make it outright. Anyway, what do you expect? Vampires are like cats: beautiful but predators. Beauty and cruelty sometimes go hand in hand.
Now a warning to our younger readers: this is not a book for them (yet), be patient! Even if you saw in the rows above the word sexuality, and some of you might be curious to read because of it, you will be disappointed. There are no explicit scenes, all is well dosed and gently said, nothing is shocking from that point of view.
I warmly recommend you the book!
It's worth reading, and fans of vampire stories will have a pleasant surprise!
I received the book for review as part of Book Tour - Thank you!
ROMANIAN:
Nimic nu este mai usor decat autoamagirea.Caci fiecare crede ceea ce doreste.
Demostene
Când îți pică în mână o carte precum Blood Junky de Stavros poți avea un moment de îndoială... în sensul bun al cuvântului.
Niciodată nu am fost un fan al povestirilor cu și despre vampiri. Vampirii nu se numără printre creaturile mele fantastice preferate. Iar cărțile și filmele din ultimele decenii, unde aceste personaje au fost spoliate și demitizate de tot ceea ce reprezintă ele, mi-au întărit convingerile. Mă refer aici și la bune și rele. Din goana pentru profit și pentru a câștiga o plajă mai mare de cititori, în creațiile unor autori vampirii au devenit din ce în ce mai soft, mai nevolnici, mai „umani” pentru a fi mai ușor de iubit și de plâns pe umărul lor. Nu mai sunt personaje mistice și romantice, ci au devenit niște clișee patetice în cel mai rău sens cu putință al cuvântului (nu vreau să dau nume de filme sau cărți, dar cred că știți cu toții la ce mă refer). Ori mai există și acel tipar abrutizat și idiot care nu are nici el de-a face cu mitul ancestral al vampirului.
Lungă introducerea, dar...
Blood Junky reprezintă întoarcerea la origini a genului. Nu folosesc deloc cuvinte mari, nu am niciun interes, dar asta am simțit citind cartea: o reinventare a conceptului romantic adevărat, a creaturii ce debordează de pasiune și sexualitate, a animalului de pradă. O poveste ce îmbină armonios și plăcut contemporanul cu barocul. O poveste plină de mister și senzualitate cu descrieri exotice și personaje complexe. O carte în care personajele sunt construite într-un mod interesant de-a lungul întregii povestiri și unde, la fel ca într-un puzzle, abia la sfârșit vei avea imaginea completă. Și ce imagine! Le garantez fanilor genului că nu vor fi dezamăgiți.
Sper că nu m-ați înțeles greșit. Blood Junky nu trăiește din amintiri spuse la gura sobei. Nu, este o carte plină de acțiune, unde frâna și accelerația sunt folosite din plin. Un roman plin de imprevizibil, unde suspansul și dramatismul apar în momentul în care te aștepți mai puțin. O aventură ce vă va purta în secvențe de actualitate și rememorări ale unor evenimente petrecute cu mult timp în urmă ce au scopul de a vă ajuta în conturarea personajelor. Personajele principale (și nu numai pe ele) o să le adorați, o să le detestați, o să le iubiți, o să le urâți... Autorul se va juca cu sentimentele voastre și o va face într-un mod categoric. Oricum, la ce vă așteptați? Vampirii sunt precum pisicile: frumoase, dar animale de pradă. Frumusețea și cruzimea merg câteodată mână în mână.
Acum un avertisment pentru cititorii noștri mai tineri: nu este o carte (încă) pentru ei, aveți răbdare! Chiar dacă ați văzut în rândurile de mai sus cuvântul sexualitate, iar unii dintre voi ați putea fi curioși din cauza lui să o citiți, o să fiți dezamăgiți. Nu sunt scene explicite, totul este bine dozat și delicat spus, nimic nu este șocant din acest punct de vedere.
Vă recomand cartea cu căldură!
Merită să o citiți, iar fanii poveștilor cu vampiri vor avea o surpriză plăcută!
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Description:
In 1999, he won an Official Selection into the Writer’s on the Edge Festival for his play, The Redline. In 2001, he created the Poetry Television Project for public cable access in Albuquerque, NM. He helped to launch Unpublished Magazine and BioGamer Girl, sponsored the monthly poetry series, The Word Café, and produced a political compilation called Poetic Democracy. In 2007, he released the award-winning documentary film, Committing Poetry in Times of War for Ubuntuworks.
When one’s life is long, the opportunity for sin is great. How great, then, are the sins of a vampire strung to the wheel of fate?
This is the driving question that consumes the continuing saga from the critically-acclaimed novel, Blood Junky. Beginning just mere hours after the last page of the first book has turned it explodes with its own journey into darkness. Love in Vein is a tale of crime and consequence, of love and sacrifice, intricately woven with real historic events. Set amidst gorgeous southwestern landscapes, a seemingly innocuous journey unravels a tapestry of events that threatens to crush the lives of all who are stitched into fate’s delicate skein.
Linnet Pevensey is a two hundred and fifty-six-year-old Child of Evensong. Plagued by the memories of a horrific sandstorm in 1934 and the brutal murder of an entire farming village, she has been locked into returning to the scene of the crime every decade looking for redemption. With the wild, violent, and unpredictable century-old vampire Z joining Lin on her ritual, the two lost souls have wreaked havoc in their own right, killing and burning their feed sites, to cover their tracks, when Lin feels the pull to return to that northeastern corner of New Mexico.
Now, as they barrel down the road to that hallowed site, pursued by two Arizona homicide detectives, Lin finds hope for her salvation in the form of a young medical student named Sarah Somers. But Sarah is more than just a stranger that Lin has met along the way. She is the spitting image of one of the slain villagers from the massacre that haunts the vampire.
Sarah’s uncanny resemblance to the murdered woman draws Lin into a deep emotional journey of karma and lies. She abandons her long time friend for the young woman, causing unsettling repercussions that pits her very soul against her dark vampiric nature.
Will Lin risk her sanity to save the girl that destiny has re-birthed for her, or will she become the monster that she has always feared?
As with each book of the One Blood Series, it was conceived as part of an ever-widening, ever-increasing story line, but is self-contained and can be read independently. Love in Vein is a pulse-pounding horror novel fueled with an adrenaline-induced joyride on the wrong side of night.
This is the driving question that consumes the continuing saga from the critically-acclaimed novel, Blood Junky. Beginning just mere hours after the last page of the first book has turned it explodes with its own journey into darkness. Love in Vein is a tale of crime and consequence, of love and sacrifice, intricately woven with real historic events. Set amidst gorgeous southwestern landscapes, a seemingly innocuous journey unravels a tapestry of events that threatens to crush the lives of all who are stitched into fate’s delicate skein.
Linnet Pevensey is a two hundred and fifty-six-year-old Child of Evensong. Plagued by the memories of a horrific sandstorm in 1934 and the brutal murder of an entire farming village, she has been locked into returning to the scene of the crime every decade looking for redemption. With the wild, violent, and unpredictable century-old vampire Z joining Lin on her ritual, the two lost souls have wreaked havoc in their own right, killing and burning their feed sites, to cover their tracks, when Lin feels the pull to return to that northeastern corner of New Mexico.
Now, as they barrel down the road to that hallowed site, pursued by two Arizona homicide detectives, Lin finds hope for her salvation in the form of a young medical student named Sarah Somers. But Sarah is more than just a stranger that Lin has met along the way. She is the spitting image of one of the slain villagers from the massacre that haunts the vampire.
Sarah’s uncanny resemblance to the murdered woman draws Lin into a deep emotional journey of karma and lies. She abandons her long time friend for the young woman, causing unsettling repercussions that pits her very soul against her dark vampiric nature.
Will Lin risk her sanity to save the girl that destiny has re-birthed for her, or will she become the monster that she has always feared?
As with each book of the One Blood Series, it was conceived as part of an ever-widening, ever-increasing story line, but is self-contained and can be read independently. Love in Vein is a pulse-pounding horror novel fueled with an adrenaline-induced joyride on the wrong side of night.
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About the author:
Notorious Poet. Fool. Born in Washington DC. Stavros was a writer and editor for The Independent Underground Magazine. A performing poet, whose verse has been published in several online and print publications, including Central Avenue, The Sword That Cuts Through Stone, Poets Against The War, Conceptions Southwest, The Mynd, Imagine: Creative Arts Journal, and Bartleby, where he won a specialty award for his poem, Blackbird.
In 1999, he won an Official Selection into the Writer’s on the Edge Festival for his play, The Redline. In 2001, he created the Poetry Television Project for public cable access in Albuquerque, NM. He helped to launch Unpublished Magazine and BioGamer Girl, sponsored the monthly poetry series, The Word Café, and produced a political compilation called Poetic Democracy. In 2007, he released the award-winning documentary film, Committing Poetry in Times of War for Ubuntuworks.
In 2010, he launched the Organic Ghetto, LLC and Crazy Duck Press with the release his first novel, Blood Junky, which continues to receive exceptional praise and review. He soon followed his premiere novel with the release of the highly popular, but sardonic, Dead Girl: A Romantic Zombie Tale of Revenge, and Blood Junky’s sequel, Love in Vein, which Living Dead Media defined as: “This series and more directly this novel is comparable with, and at times, surpasses the ‘Vampire Chronicles’ by Anne Rice.” Most recently, he’s co-produced and co-edited the annual anthology, Vampire News, which has just released its second volume.
Stavros is also an accomplished fangsmith, and in 2012, launched Kaos Kustom Fangs. He is also a visual artist, who produces original iconic, photographic illusions, a graphic designer, and musician who has scored commercials, film shorts, documentaries, and television programs.
I always find great h=books here. thanks for the info on this one.
ReplyDeletedebby236 at gmail dot com
Yet another book to add to my TBR shelf. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThese books look great! Thank you for the giveaway!
ReplyDelete~Veronica Vasquez~
Nice books! Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteLook great, Sound even better!
ReplyDeleteAwesome.. I cannot wait.. ;))) Thanks for doing a giveaway.. ;))
ReplyDeletevals_hemi at yahoo dot com
thanks for this awesome giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the amazing oppurtunity
ReplyDelete