Author Profile: Tanya Huff

Writing since the early 1980s, Canadian author Tanya Huff experienced a new burst of popularity when Lifetime (the television channel) turned her "Blood Books" into a series for two seasons. She writes for a living, mostly science fiction and urban fantasy, as well as short stories that sometimes aren’t connected to any of her major works. If you like Jim Butcher, who we profiled last month, give Tanya Huff a try!

Blood Price (The Blood Books)
This is the first in the Victory Nelson/Blood Books series (five books total, now released in three two-book omnibus format), which also includes a number of short stories. Vicki “Victory” Nelson is a private detective who used to be a cop; she had to quit the force because of her deteriorating eyesight, and now makes a living trying not to step on the force (or her former partner, Mike Celluci)’s toes. The first time we meet Victory, she’s stumbling upon what appears to be a mass murder case – but she later finds, with the help of 500-year-old vampire Henry Fitzroy, that it’s not just any murderer who’s come calling.
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Smoke and Ashes (The Smoke Trilogy)
If after the Blood Books, you want more Henry Fitzroy, try The Smoke Trilogy. Here, Henry has left Toronto for Vancouver, taking with him Victory Nelson’s one-time informant Tony. Tony, who is discovering he’s more than a vampire’s sometimes-boyfriend, works for the most popular television show in North America, Darkest Night, and happens across all manner of supernatural bad guys while looking like any other lowly production assistant.
(This is the second book in the trilogy. Smoke and Shadows is the first.)
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Summon the Keeper (The Keeper’s Chronicles)
All of Huff’s modern books take place in various places across her home country of Canada, and although many of them are ten and twenty years old, none of the stories seem dated. Here, in the Keeper’s Chronicles, we meet Claire the Keeper, destined to protect the Earth when necessary. In this, the first book, Claire must seal a portal to Hell (which happens to be in the basement of a bed and breakfast) with the help of a talking cat, a very dead ghost, and a cook.
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Heart of Valor (The Confederation)
After Valor’s Choice, and The Better Part of Valor, this third book revisits heroine Torin Kerr, who’s been promoted to Marine Gunnery Sergeant. The Confederation novels explore how many species might live together out on the rims of space, and on space stations.
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Finding Magic (Short Stories)
From a few stories set in the Confederation world (like the really hilarious “I Knew a Guy Once”) to a thrashing retelling of the classic faerie tale “Tam Lin” – here called “He Said, Sidhe Said,” Huff visits new worlds, and tells stories from old favorites. A latest story about Tony is found here, too. There are three other short story collections by Tanya Huff, as well, all with ‘Magic’ somewhere in the title.
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Get Vamped for this book!

Today’s Book: Vamped, by David Sosnowski


The plot: Humans are nearly extinct and vampires are the ruling species in this alternate-reality book from local Michigan author Sosnowski. The main character is vampire Marty, who’s been dead for eighty years, drinks blood manufactured from stem cells out of juice boxes, and collects human food like Count Chocula bought at auctions on eBay.
While planning to end his boredom by killing himself, he runs into little blond Isuzu Trooper Cassidy, a child who was being raised on an illegal human-hunting farm. His immediate plans include making a snack of the six-year-old, but after she busts into his antique breakfast cereals, she wins him over. Vamped is the comical tale of how a vampire raises an illegal human in an all-vampire world.

Why You’ll Love It: Told with humor and warmth, Vamped is a vampire novel for people who aren’t fans of the typical vampire novel. It features great characterizations (like the “Screamers” – children turned into vampires, who usually become quite disturbed) and reads fast and funny.

Who Will/Should Read It: Fans of the Sookie Stackhouse series will find similar wit in Sosnowski’s warped story. If you’re a fan of vampires, any vampires, then pick this one up, too!

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"When you can live forever, what do you live for?"

Fans across the world will be rushing into movie theaters next weekend for the opening of the movie "Twilight," based on the wildly-successful Young Adult book of the same name. The original four books (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn) are hard to get your hands on - the holds lists are almost 200 people strong! If you loved Twilight, how about some other supernatural books to keep you reading while you're waiting?


Blood and Chocolate, Annette Curtis Klause
Vivian is a hereditary loup-garou (that is, werewolf), in a pack that's been run out of at least one town before. She lives like any other teenage outcast - willingly keeping company only with her age-mates in the pack. Until she reads a poem by another student, and becomes convinced that this one boy will understand what it's like to be a wolf, beautiful and wild and free. Meanwhile, people in the community are showing up dead - did Vivian do it? If not, who did?
(This was made into a movie, too, but the movie is completely different from the book.)
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Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Carrie Vaughn
Kitty Norville is just your average radio DJ, who hosts a late-night call-in show called The Midnight Hour. Oh, and not all of her callers are average. Or human. Of course, neither is Kitty. She's a werewolf, and in this first book in the ongoing series, the head of the vampire crime family (an undead mafia!) wants her show canceled, and Kitty dead.
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Vamped, David Sosnowski
One question that always gets asked in vampire novels is, if they're the more powerful predators, why haven't they killed all the humans and taken over yet? Sosnowski answers this question in Vamped, where vampires are the dominant species, and hilarity abounds.
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Sweep: Book of Shadows, Cate Tiernan
First in a series that now has 13 novels and a super edition, Sweep is a great set of novels about Morgan, a high school junior who finds out that she's a witch. Tiernan fills the novels with great prose, and accurate information about Wicca. Once you finish these, there's also the quadrilogy "Balefire" available.
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Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle, Jim Butcher
We've recommended the Dresden Files before on this blog, but if you've never picked up "Storm Front," or if you just prefer something a little easier on the eyes, try this new graphic novel, written by Butcher, and illustrated by Ardian Syaf, who is relatively new in the comics world. This is a stand alone story of Harry Dresden, and is as funny as the rest of the series. The art is well-done, and it's a great placeholder book while fans eagerly await "Turn Coat," due out in April of 2009.
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And of course, who can forget the classics:

Dracula, Bram Stoker
At the heart of all vampire novels is a vampire who wants to love a human. Here, the very first written story.
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The Wolf Man: The Legacy Collection [DVD]
'When a man is attacked by a werewolf, he finds to his horror that he now becomes one himself under a full moon.'
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The Witches, Roald Dahl
A boy who's been warned about witches ends up at the yearly convention as a target. He finds that witches, REAL WITCHES, dress normally, live normally, and act normally, so it's terribly hard to catch them. Will he catch the witches, or will they catch him - and turn him into a mouse?
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Do you have a favorite supernatural book?

Breaking Dawn is hard to do!

Today’s Book: Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer

The plot: The fourth in Meyer’s astoundingly popular YA series, Breaking Dawn brings to a close the stories of Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, three characters in a truly supernatural love triangle.

Beginning with a wedding (fans know which one!) and ending with an encounter with the all-too-frightening Volturi, Breaking Dawn is a massive 756 pages – easy to get through for veterans of the forerunner of YA phenomenons, Harry Potter.

I won’t spoil those still on the 200-plus waiting list, but lots of surprising things happen – things even devoted Meyer fans won’t expect! – and the ending is good and satisfying.

Why You’ll Love It: The Twilight books have become a worldwide marvel with sales that almost rival J.K. Rowling’s successful series. If you’ve just gotten into the series, or if you were a fan from day one, read this to find out how it all ends. Also great for fans of supernatural romance and urban fantasy.

Who Will/Should Read It: Teens who have been caught up in the “You’ve gotta read this!” craze, affectionately calling themselves “Twilighters,” adults who like a good freeform modern fantasy, and any parent who wants to know what the big deal is.