My semi-annual vampire literature fixation kicked off with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Monstrous Regiment, so I decided to just go for it and read another one of Anne Rice’s books: The Vampire Armand. I find myself incredibly torn when it comes to her writing; I like the world she’s created and the way she’s modified existing vampire mythology. But I hate Lestat. Hate him. I find, looking at my last review, that I dislike him more and more every book I read. Armand is a fascinating character, however, and I love Marius so I was excited to get some backstory there. It’s interesting just how much she focuses on Christianity in her writing though. My first thought upon reading this article that superbadfriend sent me is, huh? How can people think that she’s doing something new and different with her Christ books? She’s been completely wrapped up in Biblical interpretation for several books now and Armand was no certainly change to that pattern.
I haven’t seen any of the film adaptations but jill loaned me her copy of I am Legend and I was very excited to read it. It was incredible. And frankly, I don’t know if I can handle seeing the newest movie now! Either they’ll change the ending and I’ll be pissed or else they’ll leave it alone and I’ll bawl. It was so intense and utterly unlike any other vampire tale I’ve ever read before. It felt more like a post-apocalyptic zombie story, or something like The Day of the Triffids. Several of Richard Matheson’s short stories were included in the volume after the Legend novella ended and it was nice getting to see more of his writing style. He’s very dark, almost horror, but not gory. There’s certainly a focus on things and people not being what they seem. He did a bit of experimentation with voices but on the whole they felt very much like self-contained Twilight Zone episodes. Which is a good thing.
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Have you ever read Sunshine, by Robin McKinley? If not,you should. I think it is divine.
Oh, and on my blog you were wishing for a subscription type thing for Blogger. My brother just brought to my attention Google Reader. It might serve your purposes! :)
The movie I Am Legend has little to do with the book. In fact, it's based on a previous big-screen adaptation, The Omega Man, which hardly followed the book at all. (The first film adaptation, The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price, is pretty close to the book--no suprise, since Matheson wrote the screenplay, but had his name taken off when the producer made substantial changes to it, especially to the ending.)
That having been said, Will Smith is excellent in the film, and there are moments that will make you cry. Just don't watch it thinking that you're getting Matheson's I Am Legend, 'cause you're not.
I know these are considered somewhat 'younger' and a super fast read but the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer are really, really good vampire fiction.
If you're interested, I can email them to you to read on Microsoft Reader (or on a psp?)
Thanks for the recommendations ana and Jennifer. I'll definitely put those on my list.
I understand the difference you're describing, adore. Kinda like how the movie Starship Troopers, despite being a fun and cheesy old skool B-movie, really has very little to do with the book Starship Troopers. Sometimes I can handle that dichotomy and other times *coughLeagueofExtraordinaryGentlemencough* I just can't.
LoEG is an especially egregious case--I think the filmmakers caught a fleeting glimpse of the the cover of the first issue. There's no way they read a single word of the contents and still managed to produce that abomination.
Totally. I mean, it's not like they needed to invent new characters and that's the least of its problems!
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