Author Name: Ellen Schreiber
By Staff Member Sophie

List of Books:

Vampire Kisses series:

• Vampire Kisses (2003)
• Vampire Kisses II: Kissing Coffins (2005)
• Vampire Kisses III: Vampireville (2006)
• Vampire Kisses IV: Dance with a Vampire (2007)
• Vampire Kisses V: The Coffin Club (2008)
• Vampire Kisses VI: Royal Blood (2009)
• Vampire Kisses VII: Love Bites (May 2010)

Manga adaption of Vampire Kisses

• Volume I, Blood Relatives
• Volume II, Blood Relatives
• Volume III, Blood Relatives

Other Teen Fiction

• Johnny Lightning
• Teenage Mermaid (2003)
• Comedy Girl (2004)
• Once In A Full Moon (2011)

Links:

http://www.ellenschreiber.com (Author/books website)
http://twitter.com/ellenschreiber (Ellen’s Twitter page)

Short Bio:

Ellen Schreiber started out as an Actress and studied at attended a local university majoring in theatre and spent a summer in London at the Royal Academy. Ellen then relocated to Chicago where she lived for five years performing comedies and drama. Ellen than wrote her first published story about a rock star as a young adult novel and called it Jonny Lighting and her career as an author kicked off!

Upcoming Events:

July 31st 2010 at 2:00 PM in Ohio, Barnes & Nobles
October 8 2010 at Long Island Sachem Public Library, New York.

Are you a fan of Ellen Schreiber, which is your favorite book? What about her writing style do you like best?

True Blood Author Charlaine Harris on the Current Vampire Epidemic

by Maria Ricapito at Vanity Fair

Dead in the Family is the latest bestselling vampire fantasy novel from Charlaine Harris, and the 10th book in the series that inspired the hit HBO show True Blood (now in its third season), starring Anna Pacquin as telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse.

“I didn’t want to write about being a vampire,” she continues. “I wanted to write about people who were interacting with vampires. I thought it would be fun to write about a woman dating a vampire, so I imagined what kind of woman would do such a stupid thing. It’d have to be a woman who couldn’t date humans for another reason.”

Harris wanted to bring the vamps in her fictional world down to earth. “They’re just like everyone else,” Harris says. “Some of them are good; some are bad.” She adds, “I wanted to kind of anchor them in reality and make them unromantic, since I just thought that would be funny.”

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Why Robert Heinlein is one of the best science fiction writers

via Fiction Books

[Robert A. Heinlein] wrote all his books of fiction classic science decades ago and died in 1988 at the age of 80 Grand. He lived a good life, and has written over 32 books of fiction full of his writing career.

And if you read his books, meet some of his ideas. Robert is very eloquent and passionate conflict that comes with powerful governments. Like the book, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. “Without ruining the story for you, I just set it up. This is a people living in the moon. Most of them were from the land of [banish] one reason or another. And the Earth is an economic force dominant and have been handled successfully by the work and efforts of people living on the moon.

Did They know that science fiction writers are really a better government to predict the future, when all the thinkers think tank? Well, that’s certainly true in my faith.

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Vampire, Werewolf, Ghost, or Soulless?

Alex Lencicki at Orbit

Gail Carriger has a delightful little quiz up to help you figure out where you would fit in the world the Parasol Protectorate.

Here at Orbit NY we seem to have a preponderance of Vampires and Ghosts — seems about right.

Sample Question:

4. The character I’d most like to be friends with is:

-Ivy Hisselpenny: It’s all about the gossip, she also makes me laugh, and could anyone ask for a better shopping companion?
-Madame Lefoux: She’s easy to talk to and always comes up with nifty solutions, plus I can borrow her glassicals for the opera.
-Professor Lyall: I’d find his air of quiet competence wonderfully relaxing, and he gives great advice on waistcoats.
-Alexia Tarabotti: I’d find her practical approach to life invaluable, she’d help keep me grounded, and help clean out my closet.

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“PS Showcase 8 – The Library of Forgotten Books” by Rjurik Davidson

by Liviu Suciu at Fantasy Book Review

INTRODUCTION: Once in a while a book comes out of nowhere and impresses me so much that I either have to review it on the spot if it is relatively current, or write a “pre-review” post… The Library of Forgotten Books is a collection published under the PS Showcase imprint from which I thoroughly enjoyed Impossibilia (Showcase #5) by Douglas Smith.

The Library of Forgotten Books starts with two alt-history tales, one set in France of the 60′s and one in an Australia with an inland sea that made it a superpower in the late 40′s and early 50′s and then come the pieces of resistance, four stories set in the Caeli-Amur milieu of rival houses that have magicians and geneticists – including the title story set in Varenis a totalitarian rival of Caeli-Amur.

ANALYSIS: The themes of the collection are the star-crossed lovers against a harsh and unforgiving world, deception and survival, intrigue and murder, all against a noirisih city background, whether in France, Australia or in Caeli-Amur’s universe. And now the stories with their first several lines and my take on each.

Read More here

What did you think of the Parasol Protectorate quiz? Do you love the Sookie Stackhouse books, or do you prefer True Blood?

Why Robin Sloan is the future of publishing (and science fiction)

By Eric Rosenfield at io9

Science fiction writer Robin Sloan tried to raise $3,500 from people wanting to read his novelette, but instead he wound up raising $13,500. It’s just one of the ways he’s successfully breaking all the rules of publishing.

[Annabel Scheme is ] just under 28,000 words long or a hundred pages or so (depending on the font). Conventionally, there’s just no market for a work of that length. Generally, it’s too long for magazines and fiction websites (which usually top out at 10,000-15,000 words) and too short for books (which start at 50,000 words). It’s not that someone might not want to read a 100-page work of fiction-why not?-but the infrastructure just doesn’t exist to get it into people’s hands. So Robin turned to the Internet, specifically Kickstarter, a website full of people trying to raise money for art projects, independent film, theatre, magazines and so on. He created PBS-style pledge levels, offering, for different levels of “membership”, PDF copies, print copies, surprise gifts, your name in the acknowledgements even behind-the-scenes peaks at his work on the novella (as he wrote it!). He said if he raised his goal of $3,500 for the work, he would release a PDF of the book free for everyone. Shockingly, he raised $13,942 dollars by almost 600 donors, more than most novelists get as an advance on a first novel. Not bad for a self-published, unpublishable novella.

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I AM LEGEND: THE DARKEST POST-APOCALYPTIC BOOK EVER WRITTEN?

by Terry DeHart for Orbit

What is it about early postwar sci-fi that makes its worlds seem so dark and realistically shabby? Proximity to nuclear annihilation? The poorly forgotten horrors of World War Two? The rote mediocrity of peace after the time of global death and flame ended, the famished beginning of the age of mass consumption? Or is it only that we’ve been conditioned by the black-and-white movies of that time?

Whatever it is, Richard Matheson’s I AM LEGEND is shot through with it. This book is wonderfully dark. Neville drinks. He sweats and laughs and cooks and eats and cries and, in between bouts of near-insanity, he kills people. It seems as if killing is the most rational thing left to do. And Matheson puts the reader right there with him.

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The Chronicles of Amber: Nine Princes in Amber

By Rajan Khanna at Tor

Welcome to a look at the first book in Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber. Be aware that beyond the jump there are spoilers, lots of them. If you’re interested in reading the book, please do so first. This will be here when you’re done.

I’ve always admired Zelazny for the way he opens Nine Princes in Amber. We start off with an unnamed protagonist waking up in a hospital, with no memory of who he is and how he got there. We are carried along by the sheer charisma of the narrator’s voice and because of his lack of memory, we’re starting out on similar footing. As he figures things out, so do we, and this carries us through the majority of the novel.

Read More here

I love seeing the way the internet is changing the way we read books. It’s nice to have the option of getting books instantly, and allowing authors to gain readership who never would have seen the light of day before.

Have you read I Am Legend? Do you like post-apocalyptic books? What do you think the internet will do to reading in the future?

Christopher Farnsworth: Blood Oath

Written by OBS Staff Member Rose

Move over James Bond, this secret agent’s cocktail is blood, warm, whether shaken or stirred.

By far this is the best vampire book I have read in a long time, and I’ve read my fair share.

Blood Oath, Christopher Farnsworth’s debut novel, takes the idea of the vampire and rests it on the opposite end of the well-known romantic and light bloodsucking tale on the vampire spectrum. Blood Oath is gritty, suspenseful and leaves vampires where they should be; as thirsty creatures that only live for blood. Unless of course, you bind them to an oath to serve the United States and turn them into a hero instead.

This novel is an intricately woven fast-paced story of terrorism, political espionage and living dead horror all packed into one solid novel. It is apparent why Blood Oath was optioned for a movie, for it reads as one, fleshing out characters brilliantly and sucking you in immediately with non-stop action and breathes new life into the vampire genre.

Nathaniel Cade became a secret agent for the President of the United States by way of a blood oath after he was captured in 1867 after killing two crewmates. He was sworn in by a Voodoo Priestess to help President Andrew Johnson and each President thereafter for as long as he lived. But one would wonder how does Cade keep his hunger subdued? Ironically, he wears a cross around his neck.

Now working for the current President, he is joined by Zach Barrows, a young and ambitious White House staffer, who is the newly appointed aide to the President’s Vampire, to stop an mad scientist who has created the ultimate monster, unstoppable zombie soldiers.

Dr. Johann Konrad, a present day Nazi-esque Dr. Frankenstein, has learned the key to resurrecting and manipulating dead tissue. Cade and a very wet behind the ears Zach, go on a top-secret mission to stop him and this takes them on a very deadly adventure. Deadly even for a vampire.

Farnsworth injects real world politics into Blood Oath and pairs zombie warfare with a plot by Arab terrorists and their American inductee, but not so much that this is the main threat or focus in the book. It is just a weft in the grand fabric of the story.

A lengthy flashback on how Cade became a vampire flips the current day setting to the 1800’s, allowing the reader to connect with his character and actually feel sorry for him. To add to this are insights about his history that starts each chapter in the form of excerpts from a classified briefing manual. It is a brilliant way to give more information to the reader without breaking up the fast paced action.

When finding out this story was optioned for the big screen, I could not help trying to cast actors for the major players involved, for each are very strong characters in their own right who rattle off extremely witty dialogue. There are certain horrific scenes in this book that I simply cannot wait to see depicted on screen. Such as the epic scene in the White House that should make Night of the Living Dead look like third grade recess in a school playground, and the sickening depravity of Dr. Konrad who injects a bio-mutating serum that turns an unsuspected victim into a tree-like mass.

There is news that Lucas Foster, producer of “Jumper” and “Law Abiding Citizen”, who optioned Blood Oath, has also claimed the rights to Christopher Farnsworth’s follow-up, “Black Site”. So those who wish for the return of Cade will be very happy. I personally cannot wait.

For those of you who’d rather read lighter angst ridden vampire fair, I assure you…you WILL be missing out. This book was exceptionally written and has made me a die-hard Christopher Farnsworth fan. Go get a copy of Blood Oath now.

Discuss this book (and more) on the forum

Top 5 Eclipse Rosalie quotes-by Caro

* “Please don’t think I’m horrible interfering. I’m sure I’ve hurt your feelings enough in the past, and I don’t want to do that again.”

* “Would you like to hear my story, Bella? It doesn’t have a happy ending – but which of ours does? If we had happy endings, we’d be all under gravestones now.”

* “I was impatient for death to come, to end the pain. It was taking so long…”

* “You know, my record is almost as clean as Carlisle’s. Better than Esme. A thousand times better than Edward. I’ve never tasted human blood.”

* “I love him as a brother, but he’s irritated me from the first moment I heard him speak.”

Top 5 Eclipse ‘humans’ quotes- by Caro

* “Daydreaming’s better than facing two more hours of school.” –Ben.

* “Edward’s only human, Bella. He’s going to react like any other boy.” –Angela.

* “Besides, if that other kid messed Edward up, you know those big brothers of his would get involved.” –Tyler.

* “You want to do something tonight?” -Mike asks Bella still hoping for a chance.

* “I don’t think you need to worry about Jake too much. Anyone who can cuss with that kind of energy is going to recover.” –Charlie.

Through the Lands of Fantasy: A Conversation with Lev Grossman, Author of The Magicians

By Christy Corp-Minaniji at Seattle Pi

When not in the hallowed space at the front of the store, The Magicians leads a dual life from one bookstore to the next – sometimes residing with fantasy, sometimes with literature. The split life of this novel relates directly to its creator’s crusade against the cultural ostracism of genre fiction from the realm of literature. Though the literary critic for a bastion of mainstream intellectual thought, Lev Grossman rails against the view of popular fiction as lowbrow or unworthy to be classed with literary fiction. “It shows how bizarrely inverted our literary culture has become that this is controversial…There’s been such a stigma with popular fiction that it wasn’t appropriate at Time, before I came to work there, to review the type of book that readers of Time actually read.” Though Grossman’s careful, modulated voice never raises, indignation laces his words. “Fiction that emphasized plot fell into disrepute… we’re finally seeing a reversal of that trend.” Grossman cites authors such as Clarke and Neil Gaiman as leading this reversal. “They write novels that confound attempts to classify them. Seeing them do that made me feel that I could and should write The Magicians.”

Read More here

Justin Cronin dissects vampire lore

By Lauren R. Harrison at The Chicago Tribune

There were vampires. Scientists. A virus. A father-daughter relationship. And endless narrative possibilities.

“I kind of want to write outside of a category because I can. … I’ve always tried to do more than one thing at the same time,” he said, adding that was true of his book “Mary and O’Neil” (2001) for which he won a PEN/Hemingway Award and Stephen Crane Prize, and of “The Summer Guest” (2004).

Taking from genres like gothic horror, Western and apocalyptic fiction, “The Passage” asks “what if all the vampire lore … actually had a scientific and historical reality in some way and what would it be like?”

Clever details about mirrors and crosses emerge as part of that answer by no mistake. “I’m not a writer who sits down and says, ‘Let’s see what the angels say today.’ I’m very much a planner,” Cronin says.

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Transworld Publishers Announce Exciting New Collaboration Between Sir Terry Pratchett And Stephen Baxter

via Book Trade Info

Sir Terry Pratchett first developed his vision of a chain of parallel worlds, The Long Earth, in an unfinished novel and two short stories in 1986, after writing Equal Rites, the third novel in what would turn into the hugely successful  Discworld series.  Now, at last, this long-gestating concept  is to see the light of day in two as-yet-untitled books written in collaboration with Stephen Baxter, author of Flood, Ark and the Time’s Tapestry  and Destiny’s Children series.

‘Our Earth is but one of a chain of parallel worlds, each differing from its neighbours by a little (or a lot) in an infinite landscape of infinite possibilities. And you can just step from one world to the next…’

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Blast from the Past: A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ

by Terry DeHart at Orbit Books

Summer is a great time for science fiction fans to indulge their inner Eeyores. After reading Mira Grant’s latest, what could be better than stretching out under all that depressing sunshine with a classic book of the post-apocalyptic genre?

A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ covers a large swath of time as the human race attempts to put itself back together after a no-hold-barred nuclear war. It begins many hundreds of years after the game of fun with fusion was played, but the setting is still deliciously scorched and barren and humankind is poor and superstitious and still a wee bit mistrustful of science.

The protagonists of each of the three sections of the book are associated with the Abbey of Leibowitz, which has been charged with the preservation and interpretation of knowledge from ancient pre-war times—the wondrous times in which we now live. Much of the book explores the primary objective of people living in times “simplified” by lack of technology—to get the lights back on.

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Canticle for Leibowitz has been on my (long) list of stuff I want to read, but after this article reminded me what it was about, I may move it to the top of the pile. The new Terry Pratchett book sounds good too, I’ve read Good Omens (a collaboration with Neil Gaiman) and I just started the Discworld series, so I know I like his style. I’m still going to wait until The Passage comes out on paperback, but I am looking forward to reading it.

What do you think of fantasy and science fiction becoming more mainstream? What are your favorite vampire myths?