Bite

January 3, 2005
Those looking to take a brief taster's tour through five sexually charged paranormal worlds may enjoy the stories and novellas served up in this anthology, but readers with an appetite for something a little more meaty likely won't be sated. Although Hamilton's name dominates the cover, her contribution is a meager 30 pages, which amounts to little more than a teaser for her next Anita Blake novel. Harris's offering is similarly slim and static, though it shows off the cleverness of Sookie Stackhouse, the psychic heroine of her Southern Vampire series (Dead to the World
, etc.). By far, the collection's best offerings are Knight's "Galahad" and Taylor's "Blood Lust." In the former, a fledgling Majae (i.e., witch) teams up with the famed knight Sir Galahad, who's really a benevolent vampire, to destroy a nest of deadly cultist vampires. And in the latter, Taylor imagines a much more traditional world, wherein vampires can't touch anything sacrosanct and are organized hierarchically, a system the protagonists, a junior vampiress and a microbiologist-turned-vampire, are about to dismantle. The action moves swiftly in both stories, as does the romance, but like the other entries in this anthology, they lack depth and development. Nevertheless, this is a suitable introduction to the various worlds these authors have popularized.

January 1, 2005
Here is a collection of five romantic vampire tales by some of the genre's most popular authors. In Hamilton's "The Girl Who Was Infatuated With Death," a desperate mother begs vampire hunter Anita Blake to save her teenage daughter. Anita takes the case but needs the help of the seductive vampire Jean-Claude. Sookie Stackhouse, heroine of Charlaine Harris's "One Word Answer," finds herself in a jam. Fortunately Sookie's undead former lover Bill steps in to help. Easily the most charming tale in the collection is MaryJanice Davidson's "Biting in Plain Sight," in which Sophie, a beautiful vampire, finds true love with Liam, an unpretentious good ol' boy from northern Minnesota. In Angela Knight's imaginative and erotic romance, "Galahad," brand new witch Caroline combines her magical powers with those of the handsome vampire warrior Galahad as they fight the forces of evil. Vickie Taylor's "Blood Lust" is the one disappointment: its boring plot, silly characters, and awful writing are often cause for unintentional humor. Read the first four stories and skip the last. Recommended for general fiction and romance collections.-Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Columbia, MD

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