I am a human, as are most of my friends, and I don't really like reading about people who consider us nothing but snack machines. That's one of the hard things I have with vampire fiction in general. These vampires are often oh, so arrogant, and ladle contempt upon the human race. Some, but not all, are affected by sunlight, but even those who burn to a crisp at dawn make up for it with super-human strength, speed, and occasionally telepathy. Most of these vampires have many, many, many powers and very few (if any) weaknesses. One of the traits I noticed in this anthology-and I don't know how representative it is-was the motif of vampire as amoral superhero. A few of them are even smouldering-hot Byronic heroes (though none of them quite sparkle.) In one of the most memorable stories (An Ember Amongst the Fallen), vampires are the dominant race, and keep human-like creatures as chattel for food.
The vampires in this novel run the gamut from bluesy Faustian demons (Soulfinger) to not-quite-altruistic medical personnel (How Magnificent is the Universal Donor). Editor Nancy Kilpatrick is a little obsessed with vampires, and her prologue is worth reading. I highly recommend picking up this collection if you are a fan of vampires and want to see a new take on the supernatural beings.ĭo you like vampires? No, do you REALLY like vampires? This is a collection of 24 short stories, all dealing with vampires and how they have changed in modern fiction. It was great to see Tanya Huff contributing to the anthology as well. Still, I enjoyed plenty of the stories, with “Learning Curve” (Kelley Armstrong) and “The New Forty” (Rebecca Bradley) at the top of my list. You walk into a room), unless it’s in a choose-your-adventure novel. I’m not a fan of present tense nor second person (i.e. I enjoyed the touches of Canadiana, such as Kevin Cockle’s “Sleepless in Calgary.” No surprise since nearly all of the authors are Canadian-born. Many sported “Canadian Endings” (not happy ever after, not even happy right now just plain acceptance of life and circumstances), which I enjoyed seeing. However, most of the stories focus on the day-to-day culture of vampires in our society.
In particular, I made the mistake of reading “All You Can Eat, All The Time” by Claude Lalumiere before supper. Don’t get me wrong there are some horror stories. While the anthology is classed as “horror and dark fantasy,” it really isn’t what I’d class as horror. Evolve has added several authors to my “must read” list. I enjoy a good anthology on occasion, as it exposes me to authors that I have never heard of, and yet write things I might enjoy. The cover is stunning, capturing the “demon inside” part of the vampire myth. The cover art is what struck me to pick it up.
I bought Evolve several months ago at a vendor’s table here in town. At times, I feared that I would go stark raving mad if I had to hear about or read another story with either “sparkles” or “Sookie” in it.
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