Saturday Smack Down: Damon vs. Angelus

In honor of Twilight: New Moon opening this weekend, our Saturday Smackdown is vampire on vampire, bad boy on bad boy, angst on angst. It’s 20th century versus 21st with a whole new generation of teens to angst and swoon over the silken wickedness of these boys.

The Vampires in Question

Damon Salvatore is the creation of L.J. Smith in her trilogy of novels that began in 1991. Damon made the leap from novel to television this year with the debut of the CW’s The Vampire Diaries. He arrived in Mystic Falls with more than one fang to grind. Angelus, on the other hand, is a vindictive, cold hearted villain who debuted in Sunnyvale following a night of passion with Buffy.

Damon Salvatore

For the purposes of the smackdown, we’re going to focus on the Damon from the television series rather than the Damon from the novels. Damon and his brother Stefan loved a vampire named Katherine, They vied for her affections and they were, one after the other, turned into vampires by her. During the Civil War, Katherine and many other vampires were trapped and died. Since then Stefan and Damon have mourned in their own ways, but Damon’s usually involved cutting a bloody swath through anyone and everything that means something to Stefan.

His arrival in Mystic Falls began with the deaths of a couple driving home and including attacks on Caroline, Vicki (subsequently turning Vicki), Logan Fell and more. He attempted to enthrall Elena, but the vervain seems to be capable of blocking a vampire’s mesmerizing abilities. He killed Zach, a Salvatore descendent to escape his prison, set up Stefan’s friend Lexi to take the fall for his crimes, staking her in front of the sheriff and even attacked Bonnie after the ghost of Emily destroyed his key to freeing Katherine from the tomb.

Damon’s not quite into Elena as much as Stefan is, but he did help her brother Jeremy when she wanted to save him from his personal pain. He’s still vengeful, though, vindictive and quick to anger. Through manipulation, Damon’s earned the trust of the town’s council and their gratitude for killing a vampire. The irony is definitely not lost on him. His list of victims is long, colorful and growing by the day.

Angelus

Angelus is another product of the love of a woman – or in this case-the lust. A drunkard and a lout in life, he stumbled into an alley with for the promise of warm lips and found cold death instead. Young, feckless Liam became the bloodthirsty, violent Angelus who cut a bloody swath across Europe. He tortured a young dedicant by systematically murdering her family and on the night she was to take her vows, he killed her and turned her into vampire.

He made one critical error the night he killed a Romany girl and suffered a curse to return his soul, effectively neutering the demon for nearly a century. In Sunnydale, he became involved with Buffy and after a night of passion and true happiness, Angel’s soul was released and Angelus freed. His hatred for Buffy knew no bounds, particularly because he felt love for her. His bloody rampage resulted in the mental torture of Buffy, the death of Jenny Calendar, the vicious physical torture of Giles and by extension, the death of Kendra at Dru’s hands.

Loyalty to the Cause

Damon’s expressed very little loyalty, although he did kill Logan Fell to save Stefan – because he didn’t want anyone to kill Stefan that wasn’t him, He also be spelled Jeremy, although he may done it a little too well as Jeremy’s personal pain seems to have completely vanished. Angelus pretends no such loyalty, outside of a dark and twisted sense of devotion he gives to his victims.

Both vampires obsess on their passions. Damon’s devotion to Katherine stretches across the empty decades while Angelus’ feels no such ties, despite long years spent with Darla and Drusilla. Both are dark, handsome and vicious. But who is the most vicious? Who would you fear most in a dark alley? Who is the most dangerous?

You decide who wins this smack down for you. Comment to win a vampire book fo your own, Winner announced next Saturday. Please be sure to note if you have a preference for a future smack down!

Last week’s winner: Charles Cornick stole the lead from Clayton Danvers and is the first of our smackdown champions!

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A lifelong writer turned author, Heather Long's first book Remembering Ashby is available for purchase at Sapphire Blue Publishing. Coming soon is the urban fantasy: Prime Evil. The Daily Dose explores books, television, writing and more -- all topics that Heather enjoys.

Daily Dose | Getting Fresh with Vampires

Saturday, I attend the Fresh Fiction sponsored panel at our local Barnes and Noble. The topic discussed: getting fresh with vampires. No, not that fresh (although Robert Pattinson’s name did come up more than once). Instead, the panel explored the sensuality of the vampire, the appeal of the bad boy and the evolution of the trope that began with vampires as the villains.

Fresh Looks, Fresh Thoughts

Some of the questions asked included why do vampires appeal? Particularly as romantic leads? Does your first experience with vampires color the rest? For example, if you watched the Lugosi vampire films or Langella, would you have a different perspective from the person who may have read Anne Rice’s angst ridden gothic vampires?

Potentially, the answer is yes. In the 80s, vampires were still very much powerful, creatures of the night. It was rare to trust one and rarer still that the vampire would be worthy of the trust. No matter how good their intentions, their blood lust was a biological imperative – they had to have blood. Grief could send them into a tailspin or make them go dormant. Many vampires went to ground or to the sun when they could no longer bear their existence. Yet the bane in those days was not the drinking of blood or taking of lives – the bane was their longevity.

It was the endless nights without the kiss of the sun to mark time and watching civilizations decay while they remained ever the same. It was living as observers in a world where ever-mercurial humans changed in fashion, music, the arts and even religion on whims. Time was the bane of the vampire’s existence. This angst ate away at his or her sanity, driving them to connect with other vampires to assuage the loneliness within and finding that even that was not enough.

Read the rest of the Daily Dose...

Amanda Grange |The Vampire Myth

Hi, it’s good to be here on the Fresh Fiction blog, thanks for inviting me along to chat about vampires, it’s a great time of year to be doing it! There are many kinds of vampires, and in Mr. Darcy, Vampyre I add to the myths whilst retaining some of the traditional aspects.

The vampires of folk legends are usually described as ugly and bloated. They wear shrouds and return to their home neighbourhoods where they cause trouble as restless spirits. They are created by animals jumping over their corpse, or by evil spirits taking over their corpse as well as by being bitten by a vampire. Typically, they wore shrouds and were usually described as bloated with a ruddy complexion. So they were very different to the kinds of vampires portrayed in modern fiction, which have been altered and adapted continuously over the last two centuries.

The idea of a vampire being a wealthy, charismatic, mysterious but troubled entity started with Byron’s "Fragment of a Novel," where the vampire is "a man of considerable fortune and ancient family . . . It was evident that he was a prey to some cureless disquiet; but whether it arose from ambition, love, remorse, grief, from one or all of these, or merely from a morbid temperament akin to disease, I could not discover."

To read more from Amanda please click here.

Gerry Bartlett | Forget those resolutions! How about a revolution?

Gerry Bartlett here, author of the REAL VAMPIRES series from Berkley. Like my vampire Glory St. Clair, I have an antique business. Too bad it was on the historic Strand in Galveston. Hurricane Ike swooped in and dumped eight feet of water in the shop. Of course, as a writer, I love books and had to watch a mini-bulldozer shove hundreds of my precious volumes to the curb. Sigh. Can you blame me if I’m more than ready to kiss 2008 good-bye?

Enough of looking back. Time to look ahead. To a new year. And I vowed a long time ago to never start another year with resolutions. They last just long enough to give me a serious case of the guilts. You know those resolutions. One: Lose weight. Yeah, right. I stick to that diet just until temptation crosses my path. Writer, know thyself. And when a chocolate chip cookie calls my name? Gerry answers.

Second same old, same old: Get organized. Sure. Just as soon as I find that box of color coordinated folders I bought in 1998. Oh, and the label maker. Love the label maker. But I lost the directions in 2002. Yup, I’m an organizational nightmare.

So forget the resolutions. It’s on to the revolution. I’m revolting against all the “shoulds.” Gerry “should” get up and go to that 6:30 (in the morning?) boot camp exercise class at the Y. Gerry “should” write for eight hours a day—not go out to lunch or hit the mall for that third pair of boots. Gerry “should” eat sensibly—eat the sacks of salad instead of letting them go mushy and brown and then tossing them. Gerry “should” break up the dust bunny orgy going on under her couch.

Buy Your Copy today

You get the picture. Some of those “shoulds” are more important than others. But there’s no need to torture yourself. I do need to exercise. But that 6 p.m. circuit training is a heck of a workout and one I might actually get to. If it’s a matter of my livelihood (that writing thing), maybe it’s time to examine my priorities. Lucky dust bunnies, you’re off the hook. Party on. The bottom line is that 2009 has got to be better for me and for you. Are there areas in your life that need your attention? Take care of yourself first. Sometimes we forget that we’ve got to be our own number one priority or we can’t be there for the others who might need us.

Gee, now I’m sounding serious, not like the funny girl who gets vampire Glory St. Clair into trouble in REAL VAMPIRES DON’T DIET. Not to worry. If you need a chuckle to take your mind off the winter blues, there are plenty of them with Glory and her friends. That was one book Hurricane Ike couldn’t soak with salt water. It wasn’t in print yet.

Have a safe and prosperous new year and, if you want to start off 2009 with a new book, leave me a comment below or click here for a chance to win a Barnes and Noble gift card.

Gerry Bartlett

Delilah Devlin | Today's the day!

All right it's in big letters on MY calendar, but likely you're scratching your head wondering if you've missed a national holiday or if I'm excited about watching the next round of American Idol.

Well, it's not a national holiday, but I'm embarrassed to say I am TIVOing Idol so I don't miss a thing. But that's still not why I'm so excited. SEDUCED BY DARKNESS will be shipping to readers and bookstores today!

So, now that my book will be arriving at bookstores and in the mail to my more modest readers, I can start the next round of "Will they like it?" Writers are notoriously insecure. We live and die by reviews and readers letters, because the actual measure of our success - SALES - won't be available for months and sometimes years.

For those of you who don't know me, it might be because my books are shelved with the "naughty" romances--sometimes with the romance books, but in a restrictive shelf high out of reach and sight of little ones; sometimes in the erotica section with the tantric sex and Kama Sutra books; and sometimes, strangely, in the zoology section. Which makes it tough for readers who would like to browse on their own rather than approach the help desk with red cheeks to ask where it's shelved.

I'm hoping they are already hooked on the series and dying for the second book. Yes, it's another vampire book--BUT, it's not the same-O, same-O--it's hotter, scarier, and full of twists and turns. Yes, it's set in New Orleans--BUT in the aftermath of a “great storm,” which will remain unnamed.

My Dark Realm series began in my mind long before Hurricane Katrina hit. I'd read a newspaper article about some minor flooding around New Orleans that lifted coffins in graveyards and left them and their occupants strewn along river banks. A very creepy concept, but so tantalizing to my devious mind, I filed it away.

When I decided to write the series, I pulled out that article, and a stack of books covering subjects like demonology, Sumerian mythology, and Templar Knight lore and constructed a history for my otherworld that is still unfolding in book #2, Seduced by Darkness. I'm really not very methodical about how I plot or write, but I let my research spark ideas, then pluck what I want from the source material, and twist it up a bit. I started submitting the book to agents, but oddly didn't get any bites until Katrina. I guess it really is all in the timing.

The second Dark Realm book is tightly interconnected with the first, INTO THE DARKNESS. I've written several series and don't know any other way to write in my other worlds without having the characters interact and work together toward a common goal. Writing series gives me chance to flesh out those intriguing secondary characters, uncover new layers in events that unfold, and give another perspective on “the battle.” That's not saying, you couldn't read one of the books on its own and be fully satisfied. I'm very careful to plant previous plot threads throughout. Of course, again, not in a methodical way. It just happens.

Delilah Devlin




http://www.delilahdevlin.com/