The eternal kiss. Vampire tales of blood and desire. Ed. by Trisha Telep
Random House, 2009. ISBN 9781864719413.
(Age 14+) Thirteen vampire
stories by some of the leading authors in this genre are sure to be a
crowd
pleaser with those who enjoy their stories with blood and fangs.
Certainly not of the girl falls
in love with a vampire variety, this
collection of short stories contains some very well written and quite
compulsive stories by authors like Cassandra Clare, Kelley Armstrong,
Holly
Black, Cecil Castellucci and Rachel Caine. One tale that stood out for
me was
Cassandra Clare's Other boys, which has a terrifying twist when
Jennifer
decides that she will go out the boy who says he is a vampire. Wet
teeth, the
short story by Cecil Castellucci, leaves a very nasty aftertaste as
does All
Hallows by Rachel Caine.
For readers who are looking for
more authors in the vampire genre, these short stories will introduce
them to
many more authors that they may like to try. An author biography
section at the
back of the book contains a brief introduction to each of the authors
and a
description of some of their books. I was already a fan of Holly Black
and
Cassandra Clare but I have decided to try other books by Melissa de la
Cruz whose
story Shelter Island about Dylan Ward inspired me to get one of
her
Blue Blood
series. The thirteenth step by Libba Bray will thrill readers
and
totally
surprise them with an unexpected ending.
Her book, A great and terrible beauty, has been on my list to
find for
some time and I will certainly read it now after such a compelling
short story.
Pat Pledger