In an effort to spread the word about awesome books, movies, and TV shows I am currently enjoying, I started the “Current Picks” section of my blog. In the upper right corner of every page (just under the green stripe), you can find at least two works I think everyone should check out.
Despite my earlier argument that Zombies Rule and Vampires Drool, I think fans of either subgenre will be able to find something to love in these two high-concept horror texts. Who says that zombies and vampires can’t peacefully coexist?
Feed by Mira Grant – I found out about Feed by reading John Scalzi’s The Big Idea column. I’m not terribly far in, but I can definitely see the promise in the novel. It’s not your typical zombie apocalypse fare, either. Like World War Z by Max Brooks, Feed delves into the aftermath of the horror, but examines how blogging and social media affect the viral spread of information like the zombies spread their own infection. I may be teaching a horror course in the coming semesters, and I think that Feed might find its way onto my syllabus as a nice companion to World War Z, the original Night of the Living Dead, and Lovecraft’s Herbert West: Reanimator.
True Blood, Season 1 – I thought I would hate it. I avoided it. I made fun of it. But when I sat down with True Blood, I loved it. Season 2 turned out to be more of the same awesomeness and even better characters (heart Eric and Godric). With Season 3 on the horizon (June 13th!), I figured this would be an excellent time to put up a link and try and drum up some interest from those who might not have seen it. Even if you don’t typically like vampire fiction, you’ll like True Blood. I hate vampires, but I love this show. The vampires take a backseat to storytelling and character development, which is a trait missing from most mainstream TV anyway, vampires or not. Ain’t that right, CSI: Miami?
Have you read or watched Feed or True Blood? What did you think?
The wife and I are huge fans of True Blood. The fact that they are willing to have more than just “Vampires” was a start. The acting is top notch, and a little naughtiness here and there is not hurting the wife and mines…uh, after time…hehe
Later!
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I thought the naughtiness would be a huge turn-off for me, actually, after seeing Deadwood and just stopping. But it enhances the show and makes some characters–Jason, in particular–more developed because of it.
True Blood season 2 still isn’t out in the UK yet but I’ll probably buy it on DVD when it is. The first season was just soft core porn and annoyed the heck out of me… but did I mention the soft core porn element? 🙂
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Parts of it did feel that way, I admit, but I think for the most part it was handled well and wasn’t overdone. I can justify saying that because there was a very complex narrative woven that season and the sex never took from that. I can’t say it enhanced it, either, except maybe in the case of Jason.
True Blood is one of those shows that I watch without really knowing why I do it. I quite liked the first season. After the second season, I kind of lost interest. I do really like parts of the show, and some of the characters are great, but I can’t help but think it would be better if Sookie and Bill were killed off. I realise that killing off your main characters isn’t generally the way to move a story forward, but I find them quite insipid.
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That’s kind of how I started, too. I heard so much about it that I went and bought the DVDs without really knowing why I wanted to see it so badly.
*spoilers past this point*
I’m not the biggest fan of Vampire Bill, either, but I’ve heard spoilers that somewhere down the line in the novels he’s not as major a player as he is now. He and Sookie break up from what I’ve heard, so that means that we get freed of his monotone delivery hopefully in the series, too. 😉