Book Description
"If tomorrow morning the sky
falls...have clouds for breakfast.
If you have butterflies in
your stomach...ask them into your heart."
...such are the unconventional solutions offered to life’s problems in If You’re Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow. The original edition, published in 1979, won numerous awards, including honors from the Museum of Modern Art and the American Bookseller’s Association, and sold over a million copies. Edens’s magical words and pictures illustrate the universal emotions of fear, doubt, joy, and loss, and reveal the unexpected silver linings to be found in any cloud. This whimsical little book proves that it’s possible to face obstacles with a positive attitude; all you need is the willingness to throw aside logic and open yourself up to the power of playful imagination.
Customer Reviews:
a book to keep with you a lifetime.......2005-08-06
I received this book when I was quite young and it became an instant favorite with me. I think, at the time, my father gave it to me because I was actually afraid of the dark. Not only was it a reassuring friend in that respect, but the prevailing message of hope and ease in the book helped me immensely in my attempts to cope with the dark confusion that was childhood. Today, as an adult, I still keep it by my bedside. There is something in the surreal and beautiful illustrations, simple and absurd message that can still bring a certain level of peace to my disquieted self in these dark days that are adulthood. I would recommend this book to any person, great or small, who may need a touch of reassurance and hope.
Great for adults or kids.......2005-02-21
This is a beautiful book. I first came across it in a store called Serendipity in Rockport MA about 25 years ago. I still have my copy but bought a copy this year for my cousin who is 16 and getting ready to go off to college. The artwork and the messages are so enduring. The thoughts in here stayed with me through many ups and downs of life and growing up and living in general. Such wonderful messages that just whisper in your ear when you need them most.....if it's the last dance, dance backwards. This is one of my all-time favorite books, right up there with The Little Prince.
A World of Imagination........2005-01-21
This book is written for children with the purpose of making them feel better in times of stress by using their imaginations and looking at the world in a different way. The illustrations are very colorful and bring to life each one of the creatve verses contained within. The book is meant to inspire and encourage children and each one of the small proverbs carries meaning that people of all ages could possibly learn from. Nevertheless, despite the fact that it's intended for children, some sensitive children might be afraid of some of the illustrations inside. But, overall this is a wonderful and charming book that can inspire and encourage most who read it.
beautiful.......2004-11-06
This was one of my absolute favorite books as a child, and I still love it. It inspires such creativity.
The pictures are quite "freaky".......2003-01-03
I got this book because the reviews were so good.
I should have known by the cover that the artwork would be more artistic than child-oriented. I never read it to my child because he scares very easily and I feared the pictures would give him bad dreams. The whole thing was just kind of "spooky".
Book Description
"If you're at the end of your rope...
untie the knot in your heart."
Such are the delightfully unconventional solutions offered in this long-awaited follow-up to the perennial If You re Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow, which has sold over a million copies. Cooper Edens's brand-new illustrations, in his bright and inimitable style, are paired with an equally new collection of phrases full of sparkling wisdom to soothe the fear and doubt lurking inside all of us. For those moments when the world - or at least the afternoon - looks a little bleak, this inspiring work offers whimsy, hope, and joy for every age.
Customer Reviews:
A terrific sequel.......2005-02-21
I absolutely loved and still treasure "If You're Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow," so when I saw this one I had to add it to the collection. Its terrific too - really like a continuation of the first book which is neat - it has the same type of drawings and phrases that on the surface seem so simple but in fact are such wonderful truths/messages. I gave this to my cousin along with the first book as she goes on her journey to college....."if one day you must leave home...draw stars on the bottom of your shoes to light your way back." Just such a wonderful book. Hard to describe the depth in the simplicity.
Hope on every page.......2003-12-06
I grew up with a copy of "If You're Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow" on my bookshelf, and love it. I came to appreciate it in different ways as I got older, and have given it as gifts on many occasions. This morning, I failed a major exam, and was in my local bookstore doing Christmas shopping as a grief-management attempt. There, I picked up this book, and read through it. It made me cry, but it was exactly what I needed. In the last three hours, I have read this book over and over again.
"If your world has come undone... fasten it securely to the horizon."
"If you're at the end of your rope... untie the knot in your heart."
"If you become lost... make wherever you are look like home."
I would recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with major life changes as an inspirational book, as well as to parents who wish to give their children a book which they can appreciate now, grow into later, and cherish forever.
Book Description
All around the globe, people are being reported dead or missing.
In Berlin, a woman vanishes from the city streets. In Paris, a man plunges from the Eiffel Tower. In Denver, a small plane crashes into the mountains. In Manhattan, a body washes ashore from the East River. At first these seem to be random incidents, but the police soon discover that all four of the victims are connected to Kingsley International Group (KIG), the largest think tank in the world.
Kelly Harris and Diane Stevens -- young widows of two of the victims -- encounter each other in New York, where Tanner Kingsley, the head of KIG, assures them that he is using every resource to solve the mysterious deaths of their husbands. But he may be too late. Someone is intent on murdering both women, and they suffer a harrowing series of close escapes. Who is trying to kill them and why?
Forced together for protection, and suspicious of each other and everyone around them, the two widows embark on a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse against the unknown forces out to destroy them.
Taut with suspense and vivid characterization, full of shocking twists, and with an unnervingly realistic premise, the long-awaited
Are You Afraid of the Dark? is Sidney Sheldon at the top of his game.
Performed by Performed by Marsha Mason
Customer Reviews:
Plain and Simple.......2006-08-02
Surprised at the poor quality of Sheldon's writing in this one! Single dimension characters, ridiculous situations - from which they somehow escape over and over again. Shallow story line. No real plot.
Are You Afraid of The Dark.......2005-09-30
An excellent story, and a very good read, from one of our literary masters.
Average customer rating:
- Actually 3-1/2 Stars
- Readable if implausible tale
- Laugh out loud bad, but quaintly entertaining
- Bad writing and unbelievable story
- Should Mr Sheldon Retire???
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Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Sidney Sheldon
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 Contemporary
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Sheldon, Sidney
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Tell Me Your Dreams
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The Best Laid Plans
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The Other Side of Me
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Accessories:
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philosophy hope in a jar daily moisturizer
ASIN: 0446613657 |
Book Description
All around the globe, people are being reported dead or missing. In Berlin, a woman vanishes from the city streets. In Paris, a man plunges from the Eiffel Tower. In Denver, a small plane crashes into the mountains. In Manhattan, a body washes ashore along the East River. At first these seem to be random incidents, but the police soon discover that all four of the victims are connected to Kingsley International Group (KIG), the largest think tank in the world. Kelly Harris and Diane Stevens-young widows of two of the victims-encounter each other in New York, where they have been asked to meet with Tanner Kingsley, the head of KIG. He assures them that he is using all available resources to find out who is behind the mysterious deaths of their husbands. But he may be too late. Someone is intent on murdering both women, and they suffer a harrowing series of near escapes. Who is trying to kill them and why? Forced together for protection, suspicious of each other and everyone around them, and trying to find answers for themselves, the two widows embark on a terrifying game of cat and mouse against the unknown forces out to destroy them. Taut with suspense and vivid characterization, full of shocking twists, and with an unnervingly realistic premise that could alter all of our lives, the long-awaited Are You Afraid of the Dark? is Sidney Sheldon at the top of his game.
Download Description
In New York, Denver, Paris and Berlin, four people have died separately in apparent accidents.
An important link between the victims rises up from their ashes: each was employed by Kingsley International Group (KIG), the world's largest think tank, involved with major military strategy, worldwide communications, and environmental issues. Soon, two of the murdered men's wives, Diane Stevens and Kelly Harris, find their own lives threatened. Terrified, suspicious of each other, and armed only with their wits and guile, the beautiful, terrified women become reluctant allies in a life and death game of cat-and-mouse.
In his classic page-turning style that has become the standard, Sidney Sheldon combines smart, engaging characters and an intricate plot in a powerfully compelling and suspenseful novel sure to hit bestseller lists from coast to coast.
Customer Reviews:
Actually 3-1/2 Stars.......2007-07-06
This novel effectively held my attention by following our heroines and their ability to outthink the think tank! Kingsley International Group (KIG) is a worldwide think tank on the brink of a mind breaking project - PRIMA. Andrew and Tanner Kingsley are genius brothers and head of KIG. Andrew's aspiration of helping others through his corporation and ability to solve problems irritates his brother, Tanner, who aspires to rule the world using and abusing his knowledge of environmental control. As despicable death befalls the top people of KIG, two women, Diane Stevens and Kelly Harris, widows of two of the victims, brought together in grief and a very strong desire to avenge their husband's deaths, begin a dangerous journey which brings them head-to-head with tremendously evil and conniving forces. The story interests to the point of the spectacular as two ordinary women, an artist and a model, go up against high-level evil machines and find their way out of some pretty tight spots by mere luck! If you are looking for a more intense and believable murder mystery such as "The Other Side of Midnight," you won't find it in this story. "Are You Afraid of the Dark" is more of a Shrek adventure - entertaining, but not seriously taken as a high crime action drama.
Readable if implausible tale.......2007-04-16
The book begins with a series of deaths around the globe -a woman is killed in Berlin and the event made to look like suicide ,as is the death of a man who was flung from the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris .Add a death in what appears to be aplane crash and an apparent drugs related mob killing and you have the evnts that set the plot in train .All the deceased were employees of KIG ,a prestigious and profitable think tank run by the charismatic -and it transpires -utterly unprincipled Tanner Kingsly .Tanner has ordered the deaths as the individuals were about to blow thw whistle on an illegal project set up by KIG ,a project code named Prima .
two women ,widows of two of the murdered men ,get wind that all is not kosher and go on the run from Kingsley and his hired killers.One is Kelly ,a well known fashion model who late husband was the Paris victim ,the other is Diane ,a successful New York based artist .The relationship between them is at firststrained but a friendshipo develops as the are pursued across the States and Europe narrowly escaping Kingsley's hirelings at every turn
The pace is crisp but tension is vitiated by frequent flashbacks to the lives of the two women and to Kingsley's usurping of the think tank from his idealistic brother .These background stories add little to the novel but overall if you can forgive the clunking prose and implausible narrative this will while away a reasonably pleasurable few hours of your time
Laugh out loud bad, but quaintly entertaining.......2007-03-03
In the 70's and 80's Sidney Sheldon wrote a number of entertaining potboilers full of beguiling plot twists and action. He was never a great writer, but in books such as If Tomorrow Comes, Master of the Game, Other Side of Midnight, and Rage of Angels, he manage to write stories with attention to detail, make the reader care for the characters and provide a sheen of plausibility to the events of the story.
In the 90's Sheldon really began to fall off. He was obviously getting older and not keeping up with what was going on. He still retained his ability to keep the story moving and the reader engaged to find out what happened next, but whatever attention he paid to character development, relationships and writing halfway decent dialogue seem to disappear book by book until quite frankly he became a purveyor of ludricous tales.
Are You Afraid of the Dark is Sheldon's final novel. It's a far fetched tale of an evil think tank President who conjures up a plan to control the world's weather. Why? Because he's pure evil. That's all. A bunch of people are killed. Two of the dead men's widows team up to try to find out what's going on and spend most of the book escaping assasination attempts. The whole book is really silly with stilted dialogue and implausible action and a blithe disregard to reality. I was laughing at much of the action in the book, particularily the flashback scene where one of the woman's husbands rhapsodizes about his wife's snoring.
Still the book is quaintly entertaining. Sheldon grabs your attention and you can't put it down until it's over. Perhaps it was because I just wanted to know how ludricous the story would become, but Sheldon possessed a talent. And despite some of the trashy and gratuitous sex and violence scenes, there's a certain sweetness to the book. The heroines are women who want to be loved and in the flashbacks recalling their courtship, Sheldon does a decent job of capturing the emotional uncertainty of the early stages of a relationship. It's a shame he couldn't write with the same sensitivity and nuance throughout the book as it would make the reader really care about the heroines; in the end, his emphasis on moving the far fetched and ludricous plot along renders all his characters as cardboard. In the end, Sheldon may have been wise to retire in the early 90's but he kept on writing. Ultimately the fault lies with his publisher and editor who allowed him to churn out such lazy work. His sales fell off over the last 10 years of his life and it was because it appeared no one took him aside and said he could do better. For a taste of Sheldon's better work, read If Tommorow Comes or Rage of Angels. But if you are looking for a book that will make you laugh and pass the time away on a trip, Are You Afraid of the Dark will do the job.
Bad writing and unbelievable story.......2007-02-17
This was my first Sidney Sheldon and surely it will be my last. I only picked up this audio book, because I wanted some mindless entertainment on my long drive down to LA from SF...and it was one of the few audio books at my local library...anyways, the premise was interesting. But the twists and turns were just preposterous, unbelievable. I found myself laughing at the characters' predicaments. The dialogue was inauthentic and made me wonder, 'who would say such a thing in a real conversation?'. Perhaps it was the bad actress who read the book? I wonder how Sheldon became so famous with this kind of pedestrian writing. Thank goodness I didn't purchase this book. For this genre, I much prefer Dean Koontz, John Sanford, and even Mary Higgins Clark.
Should Mr Sheldon Retire???.......2007-01-11
Methinks, yes, Mr. Sheldon should retire. If I didn't know better, I would have thought I was reading a Reader's Digest Condensed version of this book. Most of the twists and turns were totally unbelievable and mostly predictable. I really used to enjoy Sidney Sheldon's earlier books, but I sure wish I had not wasted time reading this silly book.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic for ALL Ages.......2002-11-15
This little book has a great big inside.....
It is full of awe and wonder for a small child to giggle through... or an adult to be whimsically delighted.
Customer Reviews:
Are You Afraid of the Dots and Dashes?.......2005-01-24
To the real author of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"-- who are you and what did you do with Sidney?
Sidney Sheldon was to me one of my all time favorite authors...with such masterpieces as, "The Other Side of Midnight" and "Windmills of the Gods." He was a master of mystery and deception.
Then I read, "When the Stars Shine Down" which was seriously lacking. Then I read, "Tell Me Your Dreams" which was too transparent to engender interest. However, the worst was yet to come in the guise of "Are You Afraid...?" It was the worst Sidney Sheldon novel ever penned by him or his ghost writers. I would have thrown it in the trash, but I felt my trash can is too good for this literary debacle. After all, what did my trash can ever do to me?
For whatever unknown reason, the writer of this latest mishap thought that the multiple use of ... and --- would somehow mask the talentless prose. I personally counted 814 ...s and ---s from cover to cover. Thus, there were approximately 814 unfinished sentences, lines, and/or thoughts.
What in God's name were you...or perhaps you were---no, wait, I know, he wanted to...no, that can't be, it must be---.
Average customer rating:
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The TALE OF THE GHOST CRUISE ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK 17 (Are You Afraid of the Dark?)
Bobbi J.G, Weiss
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Spine-Chilling Horror
| Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror
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General
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Weiss, Bobbi J.
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ASIN: 0671014390 |
Customer Reviews:
Ghosts.......2005-11-06
A guy warns two kids that onboard they are headed for disaster. Little did these kids found about the ship they are riding about.
Customer Reviews:
Cool!.......2005-10-17
Sam has a new computer.But her little sister is curuious about the computer. So one day, she enters Sam's room and does not find Sam. She realized that the computer took Sam away.
Customer Reviews:
Good!!!!!.......2005-02-09
I like this book!. Emily and Julianna go to a holiday vacation on a volcano. They found a souveneir shop to buy their treats. But they find this shop cursed. As they walk they notice the temparature change after that they were in a winter wonderland!
It's an Average Rated Book.......1997-12-19
This Is the first "ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?" book I have seen in Australia, so when I saw it , I bought It. It was okay, but I have to compare it with others but I can't find anymore... Emily and jullianne are on a holiday to a volcano and are totally bored. They find a souvenir shop and want to buy treats but find this store has a curse and as they walk into the store the temparture drops and then they find themselves In a winter wonderland.
Average customer rating:
- Cool!
- Cool!
- Colol!
- My Favorite!
- Great Story! Lots of fun!
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The TALE OF THE EGYPTIAN MUMMIES ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK 20 (Are You Afraid of the Dark?)
Mark Mitchell
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Action & Adventure
| Literature
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| Subjects
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Mysteries, Espionage, & Detectives
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ASIN: 0671021125 |
Customer Reviews:
Cool!.......2005-12-11
Rachel and her friends are locked in a museum where exhibits are said to come to life!
Cool!.......2005-12-03
When Rachel is locked in the museum, the mummies come to life and are planning Rachel and her friends to be mummies like them!
Colol!.......2005-12-03
Trouble starts when Rachel and her friends are locked inside the museum and they see are full of mummies that lives during night.
My Favorite!.......2005-03-19
I love all Egyptian books like THE TALE OF THE EGYPTIAN MUMMIES. I will also order other books like Bailey School kids, Goosebumps, Baby Sitters Club...
Great Story! Lots of fun!.......2001-03-27
I like this story a lot. It is spooky. Whenever I read it I can visualise what is happening. This story has some great events and is one of the best Are You Afraid Of The Dark series books out! You should read it sometime.
Average customer rating:
- 3rd in Jack Fleming, Vampire PI series
- The Vampire Fun Continues
- Jack Fleming finally finds out the truth about Maureen
- Jack meets another vampire with a "day job"
- Wonderful, as always
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Bloodcircle (The Vampire Files, No 3)
P. N. Elrod
Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Elrod, P. N. | ( E ) | Authors, A-Z | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Occult | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Vampires | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Elrod, P.N. | ( E ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0441067174 |
Customer Reviews:
3rd in Jack Fleming, Vampire PI series.......2007-08-01
The third story, "Bloodcircle", continues straight from where "Lifeblood" left off. Jack Fleming, vampire investigator, and his assistant/boss Charles Escott are still trying to find out what happened to Maureen Dumont, the female vampire that made Jack. She disappeared five years ago when realising her sister Gaylen was going to force her to make her a vampire. Jack and Charles have a small clue to follow about Maureen's disappearance so they set off on a trip to New York State to follow the clue.
Eventually their search takes them to a rich household of the reclusive lady Emily Francher whose mother died in strange circumstances. Jack goes to investigate and soon discovers that Emily's gigolo lover is rather more significant than he might seem. They follow more clues which culminate in Jack being seriously injured and with a very amusing scene where Charles appears to be a body snatcher. The unmasking of the villain and the explanation of what really happened five years before is no great surprise but is well written and enjoyable nonetheless.
In this episode of the Vampire PI series we learn more and more about Jack's personality, particularly with regard to his morals and his feelings. There are some really interesting little vignettes into his thoughts, for example when seeing coffins sized for children when he is in the funeral parlour. Jack's about as far from the traditional view of the evil vampire as it's possible to get and yet he also has to drink blood and carries out mind control on people. The scene where he's trying to find a meal in a farmyard is an amusing episode amongst some of the darker events of the story.
Again this is a great read, like the two previous stories, and it seems like P N Elrod has settled well into her characters and is slowly revealing more and more about them. It's a most enjoyable series and a welcome change from the usual overblown and sex-obsessed vampire genre tale.
The Vampire Fun Continues.......2004-07-02
Book Review by C. Douglas Baker
If you have not read LIFEBLOOD, Book Two of the Vampire files, warning that this contains spoilers for that book.
BLOODCIRCLE, Book Three of the Vampire Files, literally picks up right where Book Two, LIFEBLOOD left off. After surviving his encounter with Gaylen, Maureen's diabolical and homicidal sister, Jack Fleming is found working his hypnotic magic on an initially recalcitrant police official to get out jail. Once on the loose, Fleming and Charles Escott go in search of Maureen, Fleming's long lost vampire lover.
Fleming and Escott's search for Maureen is the sole focus of BLOODCIRCLE. Their search leads them to the vampire Jonathan Barrett, Maureen's former lover who she turned to for help after her sister escaped from a mental institution placing Maureen in mortal danger. Little did Maureen expect that she would face danger from less likely quarters. Nor do Jack and Escott, for awhile anyway. Their encounter with Barrett leads to two murders and two attempted murders. And yes, Fleming gets his skull smashed in again (a quite unhealthy habit). Once again Escott plays the Sherlockian role as he pieces together the information he and Fleming gather along to the way to discover who wants Fleming dead (again) and why. Eventually the entire mystery, including that of Maureen, is solved.
If you liked the first two books in The Vampire Files then BLOODCIRCLE is definitely for you. Then again, if you did not like the first two books you probably will not read this review or BLOODCIRCLE.
Jack Fleming finally finds out the truth about Maureen.......2001-07-05
After cleaning up a few loose ends from their previous adventure, nice guy vampire Jack Fleming and his private agent friend Charles Escott try to uncover what happened to Maureen, Jack's former lover and vampire sire, when she disappeared five years ago. Apparently on that night she was at the estate of Miss Emily Francher, whose personal assistant Jonathan Barrett not only turns out to be a 160-year-old vampire, but also is revealed to be the one who sired Maureen. With plenty of in-jokes for those who still remember the soap opera "Dark Shadows," P. N. Elrod follows our hero and his faithful human companion as they seek to solve the mystery of Maureen's disappearance, which has been haunting Jack for years. Once again, Elrod saves the best for last, as the climatic chapters of this novel elevate the story line to a new level. What I continue to appreciate with these novels are not only how Elrod deals with the practical aspects of being a vampire, especially once they are staked, but how Jack never responds in a predictable manner. I also like the fact that "Bloodcircle," like its two predecessors in "The Vampire Files," are clearly part of a larger story, always "to be continued" and always compelling our continued interest. These books are fun reads, perfect for a day at the beach or living the commuter lifestyle.
Jack meets another vampire with a "day job".......2001-02-01
The third novel in the series about Jack Fleming, PI and vampire. In this book in the series, Jack goes searching further for Maureen, and winds up meeting Jonathan Barrett, an almost-200-year-old vampire who has landed a cushy job as a private secretary to a recluse. There are several mysteries surrounding the recluse's family and neighbors. Barrett (who appears as the star in a separate Elrod series) also wants to protect himself, and although he's not evil, his ideas about his own best self-interest conflict with Jack's drive to find out more about Maureen. When we find out some of the solution to the mysteries above, we get an interesting depiction of the fine line between sanity and insanity, expressed in terms before the word sociopath was is everyday vocabulary.
Those who already know that they like vampire novels, anything at all that features a vampire, can skip this review, and likewise, those who hate the whole idea of vampires can skip it. But for those trying to decide whether or not to read more of this genre, or whether the one vampire novel you've already read was a fluke, it may help to have some ways to categorize these novels. Thus: BunRab's Standard Vampire Classification Guide. First, most authors of vampire novels approach from one of the main genres of genre fiction; thus their background may be primarily in romance, or in science fiction/fantasy, or in murder mysteries, or in horror. Second, many vampire novels come in series; knowing whether this is one of a series, and where in the series it falls, may be helpful. Then we have some particular characteristics: - Is the vampire character (or characters) a "good guy" or a "bad guy"? Or are there some of each? - Are there continuing characters besides the vampire, through the series? - Are there other types of supernatural beings besides vampires? - Can the vampire stand daylight under some circumstances, or not stand daylight at all? - Does the vampire have a few other supernatural characteristics, many other supernatural characteristics, or none other than just being a vampire? (E.g., super strength, change into an animal, turn invisible) - Does the vampire have a regular job and place in society, or is being a vampire his or her entire raison d'etre? - Does the vampire literally drink blood, or is there some other (perhaps metaphorical) method of feeding? - Is sex a major plot element, a minor plot element, or nonexistent? - Is the entire vampire feeding act a metaphor for sex, part of a standard sex act, or unrelated to sex? - Is the story set in one historical period, more than one historical period, or entirely in the present day? - Does the story have elements of humor, or is it strictly serious? - Is the writing style good, or is the writing just there to manage to hold together the plot and characters?
P.N. Elrod's series about Jack Fleming is in the hard-boiled detective genre. Fleming is a good guy (although with worries about his own ethics). Fleming is a former journalist (before he died), now working as a sidekick to a private investigator. The series takes place in the Chicago of the '30s, after Al Capone is locked up, but before the Depression ends. Criminal gangs are still a big force in Chicago. Besides Jack and his boss, various criminal mobs, and police both honest and corrupt, are recurring characters in the series. So is Jack's girlfriend, Bobbi, a nightclub singer. Jack drinks blood, but it doesn't have to be human- he uses cows at the Stockyards usually, and likes horses as a treat. He does, however, also drink a little from his girlfriend during sex. Sex is discreet and not too frequent in the series- no explicit details; this is a detective series, not a romance. Jack has a few supernatural powers associated with being a vampire: the usual ones of being stronger and faster than humans, and he also can turn invisible and float through walls. He must sleep during the day, on his native earth - but garlic and crosses don't bother him. There aren't any other kinds of supernatural characters in the series. As befits the detective genre, there is a certain amount of wisecracking in the dialogue; Jack can be a smart-ass sometimes, and the criminals can be inadvertently funny. Overall, the series is a well-done version of the genre, each book being easy to read and most of the characters being well-described and thought out.
Wonderful, as always.......1999-07-11
Bloodcircle has proven to be as satisfying as the two before it. The conversation is sparkling, the plot gripping, and the world of the vampire, as always, totally engrossing.
Books:
- Imperfect Strangers
- Just One Look
- Killshot
- Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian art
- Manhattan Is My Beat
- Married to the Mop (Charlotte Larue Mysteries)
- Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620 (Vol. 18, Pt. 1: Richard Warren--4 Generations)
- Milk and Honey (Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus Novels)
- Mistletoe And Murder (Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries)
- Morson and Dawson's Gastrointestinal Pathology
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- In This Mountain
- Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed
- The Mosquito Coast
- The Truth: A Novel of Discworld
- Wildflowers: Designs for Applique & Quilting
- Chemistry of Hazardous Materials
- A People's Army: Massachusetts Soldiers and Society in the Seven Years' War
- Cartoon Animation: Introduction to a Career
- The Ghost Map
- The Stilwell Letters: A Georgian in Longstreet's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia
If You're Afraid of the Dark Add One More Star to the Night
The Starcleaner Reunion
Sweet Dreams: 36 Bedtime Wishes
Caretakers of Wonder
A Guide for Grown-ups: Essential Wisdom from the Collected Works of Antoine de Saint-Exup¿ry
