Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Well this is going to be a rather short review since I'm pretty sure that everything about this book has been said already.

What I will say is that I loved the book and I'm kicking myself for not reading it sooner. Unlike most people I have never seen the TV show that is based off these books so I was not familiar with Sookie and Bill. I found them both to be three dimensional, well rounded characters that engaged my interest from the beginning. Now I feel obliged to not only read the rest of the books in the series but to pick up the first season on DVD and get myself caught up on all the action.

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of "disability." She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome-and Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. he's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting for all her life....

But Bill has a disability of his own: He's a vampire with a bad reputation. he hands with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of-big surprise-murder. And when one of Sookie's coworkers is killed, she fears she's next...

The 10 Sexiest Vampires on Film

Now before anyone starts yelling at me because I didn't include any of the vampires from Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, or True Blood; I will say calm down and take a deep breath. I didn't include them because I can't stand Twilight, The Vampire Diaries boys are too new on the scene, and I haven't watched even one episode of True Blood. Now I will admit that these characters will probably be on the lists of everyone else so I don't feel too bad by not including them on mine.

So I will separate my list between the men and women, 5 of each. With no further ado, here is my list (In no particular order).

THE MEN

Michael, as played by Jason Patric in "The Lost Boys". Michael never fully makes the change but he is well on is way before he is saved by his younger brother.

Julian Luna, as played by Mark Frankel in "Kindred: The Embraced". Julian is the Ventrue Prince of San Francisco in the TV show based of the RPG Vampire: The Masquerade.

Henry Fitzroy, as played by Kyle Schmid in "Blood Ties". "Blood Ties" was a TV show based off of a series of books by Tanya Huff.

Deacon Frost, as played by Stephen Dorff in "Blade". "Blade" was based off a Marvel comic book series where the character of Deacon Frost was much older.

Angel, as played by David Boreanz in "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" and "Angel". Angel was not supposed to be a regular character but he proved so popular with fans he was added to the cast and eventually given his own show.

THE WOMEN

Selene, as played by Kate Beckinsale in "Underworld" and "Underworld: Evolution". Selene was a Death Dealer, a warrior fighting the Lycans.

Lilith, as played by Angie Everhart in "Bordello of Blood". Lilith is the owner of a whorehouse ran by vampires.

Miriam Blaylock, as played by Catherine Deneuve in "The Hunger". The Hunger is based off a book, of the same name, by Whitley Streiber. Miriam appears in two sequels to the book as well.

Marie, as played by Anne Parillaud in "Innocent Blood". Marie is a modern day vampire who only feeds of the criminal element in society.

Akasha, as played by Aaliyah in "Queen of the Damned". Akasha is the mother of all vampires in the series of books written by Anne Rice.

Favorite Fictional Characters --- The Headless Horseman

Well since we are now in October I decided to feature over the next 4 weeks some of my favorite Halloween related fictional characters. I figured I would start with least scary and work my way up from there. So for this week I decided to go with The Headless Horseman from the Disney movie, The Legend of Sleepy Hallow.

I thought I would maybe include the versions from the Johnny Depp movie, Sleepy Hallow or even from the story The Legend of Sleepy Hallow by Washington Irving, but I decided to just stick with this one for now. This is the version that comes into my home every Halloween and captures mine and my son's imaginations.

For those who are not familiar with the basic story I will try to briefly catch you up. A gangly school teacher name Ichabod Crane moves to a small rural village in New York and soon falls in love with a local girl, Katrina Van Tassel. Ichabod has a rival for Katrina's attentions in Brom Bones who is a jealous man.

One night at a Halloween party, Brom notices that Ichabod is rather superstitious. So he tells the story of The Headless Horseman and rattles Ichabod so badly that he is shaking in the saddle on his way home. It is a journey that he never completes and no one is ever sure of what happens to him.

Now whether, in the movie at least, you believe the Horseman is a figment of Ichabod's imagination, Brom in a costume, or is in fact a monster on the lookout for a head, it doesn't matter. He scares you anyway. He is only on screen for a short time but he steals the show and you will never look behind you again on a cold Fall evening and not think you are being followed.

10 of the Strangest Horror Movie Monsters

For the last two days I have not been able to get some of the odder horror movie monsters our of my head. These are all characters that for one reason or another have stuck in my head over the years and whether or not I like the movie they appear in or not these 10 "monsters" refuse to leave my brain. So I figured why not do a blog post on them, since this is after all the time for such creatures to wander around and slaughter to their hearts content.

Now Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors may not be the typical movie monster and to some may even seem like able, make no mistake though, this plant is blood thirsty and evil down to it's roots.

The stars of the 4 Critters movies, the Krites, are a viscous alien race of carnivores that turn into rolling balls of teeth and fur. This was never my favorite movie series, but the image of a young teenager being eaten through his abdomen has never left my mind since I had the "pleasure" of watching the first movie.

Now this little Good Guy needs no introduction. The star killer of way too many movies should be recognizable to all. Chucky, the star of Child's Play and it's sequels, is a vicious, possessed doll that loves nothing more than killing as many people as he can on his quest to become human once again.

Carrying the toy theme even further I present to you Mr. Static, Baby Oopsy Daisy, Jack Attack, and Grizzly. They are evil toys who delight in killing throughout 3 movies, and one coming out sometime this year. They have faced off against Dollman and Toulon's puppets from the Puppet Master movies (featured later on in the list).

Forget Frosty the Snowman because Jack Frost would eat him up in 10 seconds flat. The star of two movies, Jack Frost, a serial killer mutated into a snowman loves to kill and does it in such funny ways.

Now as some as you may know I've been terrified of clowns for as long as I can remember so when this movie came out, it sort of made things worse. The clowns from Killer Klowns From Outer Space are actually sort of cartoonish but once they wrap you up in cotton candy in order to eat you, it's not so funny anymore. Just remember if you ever see one, pop it's nose, it's the only way to kill one of these colorful aliens.

One of the most annoying series of movies has to be the Lephercaun movies. Whether he is in the city, the hood or outer space, this evil lephercaun is just annoying and I hope they are done making them. I mean isn't 6 enough?

What more needs to be said than Giant Meat-Eating Rabbits. You can't get any better than this, so go watch Night of the Lepus, before they come and mistake you for a carrot.

Now of all the movie monsters on this list, I think Toulon's puppets from the Puppet Master series have to be my favorite. The stars of over 8 movies these little guys are so much fun. They are the hosts for souls brought back from the other side Whether it's killing Nazi's and psychics or working on the side of good there is no stopping them. The picture I used is of Blade, but we can't forget Leech Woman, Pinhead, Jester, Tunneler, Torch, and Six Shooter

I saved the oddest for last. A white gooey substance the comes from the ground, sort of like The Blob, is sold as a junk food. Little does anyone know that The Stuff is in fact a living organism that eats the brain and takes over the bodies of those who eat it.

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
Here is how it works.

Grab the book you are currently reading(anything at all)

Open the book to any random page.

Share 2 "teaser" sentences from anywhere on the page.

Please Make Sure They Are Not Spoilers!

(Don't Give Too Much Away) Just enough to pique our interest.

List the book and author so other participants can get their hand on it

if they choose to read it as well.

For This Week: (Sorry 4 sentences this time, I won't do it again)

Francine Parker awoke suddenly. She was shocked motionless; she felt something crawling between her legs. Too late did she realize that she should have moved. The ropes tightened, she was tied to her bed.

From The Hunger by Whitley Strieber

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

I have been a big fan of Kelley Armstrong's writing since I first read Bitten over 5 years ago. She was pretty much the first Urban Fantasy/Paranormal author I read and I have been hooked every since. So when I discovered her first YA book I always meant to grab it but for some reason never did.

I finally picked it up a a few weeks ago, started reading it two days ago, and finished it last night. I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it. While it's not as strong as her adult Women of the Otherworld books this YA series is a nice addition to the universe and I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

The main character is a teenage girl named Chloe and while I don't connect with her the way I do with Elena or Paige, I still found her a strong, independent young lady dealing with changes in her life she never dreamed of. How can anyone be expected to deal with seeing ghosts, raising the dead, finding new "supernatural" friends, and being betrayed by those closest to you? Somehow she manages to do it with strength that is admirable. I can't wait to read the 2nd and 3rd books to see what happens next.

Synopsis From Back Cover:

She sees dead people--and they see her.

Chloe Saunders used to have a pretty normal life. But that changed on the day she met her first ghost. Locked up in Lyle House, a group home for troubled teens, she finds our that there's more to the home's teen residents than meets the eye. Will Chloe be able to uncover the dangerous secrets of Lyle House...or will it's skeletons come back to haunt her?

2 Movie Posters for 1 Movie

One of my favorite movies to watch during the month of October is the 1963 version of "The Haunting", based off of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. I find this version to be scarier than the remake with Catherine Zeta Jones. I'm not sure if it's because it's in black and white, the fact the acting is better, or the brilliant way in which it's filmed (slightly off and at odd angles).

So here is the question I have. Which movie poster do you like better?

This is one of the original movie posters from 1963. It's stark and has that feeling of horror about it but I'm distracted by the words on the top.

This is a new poster, for the same version of the movie, from 2009 that TCM had commissioned for their Summer Under the Stars series. I love this one. I has that sense of terror to it but it's simple in design without being boring. I also love the contrast in color.

So what do you think? Which poster connects with you more?