As I said in my previous post about adding some more non-fiction books to the book store, the bibliography of The Science of Vampires had so many interesting books listed that I’ve started searching for them at Amazon and uploading them according to category. I’ve just added a whole bunch to the “fiction: miscellaneous vampires” section. I can’t vouch for all of these, because I haven’t read most of them, and they are quite varied in premise, voice and style.

Carmilla, written by Sheridan Le Fanu even before Dracula, is also the first lesbian vampire story I’m aware of.  It’s a very good read, and a must for someone interested in the classics and origins of the genre.

Children of the Night I didn’t like so much.  It deals with post Ceauescu Romanian orphanages, AIDs, and is altogether too depressingly modern.

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King is one of my favorites.  I know some people find it a little silly, but I avoided Stephen King for years and finally started reading him because of this book.  It helps that I’m from New England so I like the flavor of the stories he sets there.

I saw the movie based on The Hunger but didn’t read the book.  I didn’t care much for the movie, but books are almost always better than the movies based on them.  I found the movie too bloody, the vampires too different from the archetype I was used to, and I was looking forward to seeing David Bowie in it, only to have him age and disappear from the movie about 20 minutes in!  So I’m prejudiced.  This book and its sequel, The Last Vampire, are considered classics of the genre however, and the author, Whitley Strieber, also wrote Wolfen.

I found out from Ramsland’s book that the TV series Nightstalker was based on the book The Kolchak Papers.  I hadn’t realized there was a book behind that show, but I loved the show, so I’m curious to read the book.

Of the remaining books I am most interested in reading Varney the Vampire; I have been reading about this story for years.  It was originally published in the Victorian era in the penny dreadfuls, and comes up in just about every non-fiction book about vampires and vampire literature ever written.

I would love to hear from anyone who has read some of the others on this list, and get your opinions. I would be happy to post any reviews you might want to write. You can leave comments on this post, or send me an email and I can upload a file.

There are still several novels from this bibliography that I need to add, but because they each belong to a series, I want to add each series or author as it’s own category.  I’ll post here when I get some of those up.

Happy reading!

BB,

Vivienne

P.S.: If you enjoyed this post, please share it by clicking on the “share” button below. Thank you!

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I’m working on a new article for Article Base, on whether it’s possible to be Turned into a vampire.  That’s the topic for our next vampire meet up, the first Friday in February.  I’ll post the meeting notice and the Talk Shoe conference call information in my next post.

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Nephilim United is in the process of finishing our first video in our educational how-to craft series, carving realistic foam tombstones.  The video is in the editing process right now, but as soon as it is up and available for sale I will post here and let you know.

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I’m probably going to be replenishing my stock of tarot decks and maybe buying some new books for my eBay store; in the meantime I need to get some more of Carla’s belly dance costumes up, and the t-shirts and spaghetti-strap tanks similar to the tote bags with her art work.  I’ve got lots of my used books to get up, too.  Too much to do, too little time!  But I’ll get things up here and there.  If there is a particular deck or book you are interested in, please let me know.  You can post a comment here or email me.

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I’m going to be receiving my Warriors soon (in Lucumi).  Then I’m going to receive Ayao sometime later this year.  Don’t forget to check out my godfather’s books in the a-store (my Padrino is Ocha’ni Lele).

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I’ve been on a crazy puzzle phase lately.  I’ve loved crosswords and other puzzles since I was a kid, but the last few months I’ve been voraciously consuming puzzle books!  That seems to be petering out a bit now, as I get more into some new craft projects.

I just finished crocheting a queen-size afghan for my parents and gave it to them for their Christmas wedding anniversary.  The last few years I have been on an afghan kick, each one a year-long project.  Now I’m interested in doing smaller, more challenging knit and crochet projects again, so I’ve gotten lots of patterns for various kinds of bags, and have been making pouches, iPod sleeves, and so forth for carrying all my different accessories.  I want to do a laptop bag next.  I’ve also started latching a rug, and at the same time I bought that from Herrschners, I also bought a needlepoint pillow kit that will go very nicely with the finished rug.

Maybe once I get my own necessities made, I will make some bags in goth colors to put up for sale at eBay.  If there is any particular kind of bag or item that you think would be popular or particularly useful, please let me know.  I won’t be able to mass produce anything, but I figure I can put up the occasional one-of-a-kind hand-made item for sale.

Okay, enough of the general update stuff.  I’ll get the vampire meet up notice up next and go from there, giving more details on my research and what I’ve been reading.

Happy 2009!  Happy Obama Presidency!

BB,

Vivienne

Fits dress size 8-10 M, bras vary from 34-36, C-D; belt sizes vary.

Recently Persephone’s Haven has started selling one-of-a-kind dance ensembles — 32 professional belly dance costumes that belonged to the daughter of my friend, an Orlando area artist by the name of Carla.  Carla’s daughter, Alexia, started her dance career by taking one of my gypsy dance workshops, went on to study belly dance with my dance teacher, Hozuhni (of Enlightenment Dance), and danced professionally for many years at Cedar’s Tavern in Orlando.  She is an extremely gifted and skilled performer, but she recently moved to Miami and has drifted away from dance.  Her mother Carla has therefore asked me to offer these beautiful and exotic belly dance costumes on eBay, so that some other dancer may put them to their intended purpose.  These hand-beaded, one-of-a-kind professional costumes create a beautiful vision for any audience, and will help any dancer feel like a goddess!

Most of these costumes originally cost Alexia $350-400 for the bra and belt sets alone!  These ensembles are great bargains!  Currently I have 3 costumes in auction, and two in store inventory (a third has already sold, and I have offers on the other two, so hurry!):

“Queen of Sheba”: set includes: red satin harem pants; red and gold sequined and beaded bra and belt set, hand beaded; red velvet “gold” coined and beaded hip scarf; coined crown; and jewelry set including necklace, forehead dangle and earrings with red “stones” in beautiful “gold” filigree settings.

“Scarlet Seductress”: set includes: red skirt; red sequined and beaded black bra, hand beaded; red and “gold” coined hip scarf; two black beaded bracelets; two “gold” colored bangle bracelets, red and “silver” beaded anklet.

“Rubies and Diamonds”: set includes: red “coined” panel skirt; ruby velvet choli top; multi-colored hand-beaded belt on deep red background; red “coined” veil; jewelry set includes necklace, earrings and forehead dangle, all red “stones” in “gold” filigreed setting.

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“Victorian Rose”: set includes: burgundy harem pants and wrap around skirt with matching burgundy veil; burgundy, green and tan flowered and tassled bra and belt; burgundy and “gold” coined hip scarf [SOLD]

“California Sun Rise”: set includes: dusky orange polyester skirt (Size M); matching dusky orange veil; gold sequined, pearl beaded bra and belt; and reddish-orange beaded bracelets

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I also have one copy left in stock of my dance teacher, Hozuhni’s, wonderful book: “Enlightenment Dance.” Order with a costume, and shipping for the book is free!

Please take a look at all of these items in Persephone’s Haven’s eBay store for details. .

Please also consider signing up for the store newsletter to stay up-to-date on sales and receive coupons for repeat customers.

BB,
Vivienne D’Avalon