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sandygx260's review
2.0
I expected more from this anthology. The first Love in Vein was uneven but ultimately fine as a snack.
Not so here. Neil Gaiman and Brian Hodge's stories are great but too many others limped along to weak conclusions. A few stories felt like their authors gave up on them. The anthology makes me wonder about Brite’s story-collecting skills. I’d rather read her own books that what she collects.
Not so here. Neil Gaiman and Brian Hodge's stories are great but too many others limped along to weak conclusions. A few stories felt like their authors gave up on them. The anthology makes me wonder about Brite’s story-collecting skills. I’d rather read her own books that what she collects.
readbyashleyd's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
I figured what better time to read vampire erotica than in the month of love but sadly these stories didn’t leave me feeling much love. A few were really great but the majority just left me feeling meh.
jugglingpup's review
2.0
To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.
This book is also known as Twice Bitten, but the copy I had snagged from The Book Barn was Love in Vein II. I grabbed this due to my love of vampire erotica/romance and my love of Poppy Z. Brite.
So let’s start with my biggest issue about this book: What is erotica? Erotica is “literature or art intended to arouse sexual desire” (according to Google). That is the basic definition I went into when I grabbed this book. This anthology did have some erotica in it, however a great chunk of the book wasn’t even close to erotica. There were multiple stories where sex was not even mentioned, some where some hint of sexuality started (but then the man was castrated and both people were viciously killed for no good reason), and just really blah stories. I honestly expected more from Brite. All of the novels, anthologies, and chapbooks I have read that have Brite anywhere near them have been overwhelmingly amazing and have had a sexuality weaved into them so perfectly. This is the only exception.
Half of the stories were also extremely boring. That’s really all there is to that complaint. There were some that were probably supposed to be beautifully written, but they were just so slow and boring.
Another definition is needed: Vampire. What is a vampire? A vampire is “a corpse supposed, in European folklore, to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks with long pointed canine teeth” (again, thank you Google). For the sake of argument, I will include succubi in this as long as their victim is drained in a similar fashion as a vampire would drain their victims (this only adds one more story that actually has a vampire in it, but I did not want this one to be left out as it is one of the few examples of erotica in the anthology). Vampires then are not human killers who are bored, they are not goth kids, and they are not ghosts. Somehow this was also lost in this anthology is many of the stories. This surprises me more than anything else considering Brite’s work with vampires (Lost Souls anyone?).
Overall, this book was boring and disappointing. I am sorry to say that and give anything Brite has touched a low rating considering how high I regard him (yes, him. If you do not know why I am using male pronouns, then you must go check out his blog).
This book is also known as Twice Bitten, but the copy I had snagged from The Book Barn was Love in Vein II. I grabbed this due to my love of vampire erotica/romance and my love of Poppy Z. Brite.
So let’s start with my biggest issue about this book: What is erotica? Erotica is “literature or art intended to arouse sexual desire” (according to Google). That is the basic definition I went into when I grabbed this book. This anthology did have some erotica in it, however a great chunk of the book wasn’t even close to erotica. There were multiple stories where sex was not even mentioned, some where some hint of sexuality started (but then the man was castrated and both people were viciously killed for no good reason), and just really blah stories. I honestly expected more from Brite. All of the novels, anthologies, and chapbooks I have read that have Brite anywhere near them have been overwhelmingly amazing and have had a sexuality weaved into them so perfectly. This is the only exception.
Half of the stories were also extremely boring. That’s really all there is to that complaint. There were some that were probably supposed to be beautifully written, but they were just so slow and boring.
Another definition is needed: Vampire. What is a vampire? A vampire is “a corpse supposed, in European folklore, to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks with long pointed canine teeth” (again, thank you Google). For the sake of argument, I will include succubi in this as long as their victim is drained in a similar fashion as a vampire would drain their victims (this only adds one more story that actually has a vampire in it, but I did not want this one to be left out as it is one of the few examples of erotica in the anthology). Vampires then are not human killers who are bored, they are not goth kids, and they are not ghosts. Somehow this was also lost in this anthology is many of the stories. This surprises me more than anything else considering Brite’s work with vampires (Lost Souls anyone?).
Overall, this book was boring and disappointing. I am sorry to say that and give anything Brite has touched a low rating considering how high I regard him (yes, him. If you do not know why I am using male pronouns, then you must go check out his blog).
biblio_lore's review
3.0
Bumping it up from a 2.5 because I did think that some of these stories were pretty good and a number of them were pretty entertaining. That said, as tends to happen with any anthology, there's a lot of stories that are middling to less than great (I hesitate to say bad). One of the central issues I had with it is that it was often creative in the vampire aspect but the erotica part was sometimes lacking, if not missing entirely. There were also stories that were barely developed beyond the erotica part, which might be fine in other contexts but in this case, because it's supposed to be about vampires, I felt like it was a bit of a let down in that regard. Certainly not bad and some of the stories really do deliver on the promises on the tin but, sadly, enough don't stand up to make it something that I would revisit.
innae's review
3.0
Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman 2020-07-24 - I liked this twist on the Snow White tale. It is told from the "evil" queen's view.
Bela's Plot by Caitlin R. Kiernan 2020-07-25 - this was okay. I thought it had too many characters to try and follow (and two sets of people described as twins, or could be twins). I got lost on who was who and why they were in the story. Overall, it reminded me of a morale, buyer beware kind of story.
Armies of the Heart by Christopher Fowler - more a story about mob mentality than anything vampiric or erotic.
Whispers in Walled Tombs by O'Neil De Noux -It must be hard to live an immortal life, especially if you need to kill to survive. A bit of a sad story.
Ceilings and Sky by Lucy Taylor 07-30-20 this was my favorite of the stories so far. It was a little bit predictable, but I enjoyed the story of revenge.
The Fly Room by Th. Metzger 7-30-20 - disturbing on many levels, much more a true horror novel than one that involved anything erotic, unless you like licking eye balls.
The Subtle Ties that Bind by David Niall Wilson - a tale from fantasyland, and it was okay. about a stripper and a vampire - i think.
When Memory Fails by Roberta Lannes - scrapbooking for your children, before you even have children. This is a disturbing/horror tale, with a different kind of vampire.
The I of the Eye of the worm by Janet Berliner and George Guthridge - eww. I have issues with eye things anyway, and this is worms in the eye? loa loa - ick.
Stigmata by Jean-Daniel Breque - not Christian stigmata, and a cult following, and a girl who loses her boyfriend.
The Dripping of Sundered Wineskins by Brian Hodge - nice juxtaposition by the editor, as this story involves stigmata -
I'm Not Well, But I'm Better by Pat Califia - an okay story about a vampire that hunts in a revenge fashion -
Kingyo no fun by Nicholas Royle - referring to the trail of excrement a goldfish has behind them, a little bit of a disturbing story, where there is little compassion.
First Date by Richard Laymon - I do love a Laymon story. This one was okay, a little bit different, and I am still wondering exactly what those thirteen tombs really were.
To Have Your With Me by Randy Fox -a touch of Lolita, which I did not like. so meh.
Dusting the flowers by David J. Schow - Felt like this one could have been a Criminal Minds episode. I found it disturbing, but also compelling -
Bloodlight by Stephen Mark Rainey - I kept thinking of the deadlights from It and just couldn't get into this story.
The Privilege of the Dead by Thomas S. Roche - This is another revenge story, and I kept thinking of the singer as Bonnie DeVille from the Veronica Mars movie.
Many of the reviewers here on GR have said this was a terrible anthology, much more horror than erotica - I would agree that the stories were much more focused on the horror aspect of the vampire rather than the erotic side, but I did like a lot of the stories. I always like the idea of a short story collection, and usually feel disappointed, this one I am about half way between delighted and disappointed.
Bela's Plot by Caitlin R. Kiernan 2020-07-25 - this was okay. I thought it had too many characters to try and follow (and two sets of people described as twins, or could be twins). I got lost on who was who and why they were in the story. Overall, it reminded me of a morale, buyer beware kind of story.
Armies of the Heart by Christopher Fowler - more a story about mob mentality than anything vampiric or erotic.
Whispers in Walled Tombs by O'Neil De Noux -It must be hard to live an immortal life, especially if you need to kill to survive. A bit of a sad story.
Ceilings and Sky by Lucy Taylor 07-30-20 this was my favorite of the stories so far. It was a little bit predictable, but I enjoyed the story of revenge.
The Fly Room by Th. Metzger 7-30-20 - disturbing on many levels, much more a true horror novel than one that involved anything erotic, unless you like licking eye balls.
The Subtle Ties that Bind by David Niall Wilson - a tale from fantasyland, and it was okay. about a stripper and a vampire - i think.
When Memory Fails by Roberta Lannes - scrapbooking for your children, before you even have children. This is a disturbing/horror tale, with a different kind of vampire.
The I of the Eye of the worm by Janet Berliner and George Guthridge - eww. I have issues with eye things anyway, and this is worms in the eye? loa loa - ick.
Stigmata by Jean-Daniel Breque - not Christian stigmata, and a cult following, and a girl who loses her boyfriend.
The Dripping of Sundered Wineskins by Brian Hodge - nice juxtaposition by the editor, as this story involves stigmata -
I'm Not Well, But I'm Better by Pat Califia - an okay story about a vampire that hunts in a revenge fashion -
Kingyo no fun by Nicholas Royle - referring to the trail of excrement a goldfish has behind them, a little bit of a disturbing story, where there is little compassion.
First Date by Richard Laymon - I do love a Laymon story. This one was okay, a little bit different, and I am still wondering exactly what those thirteen tombs really were.
To Have Your With Me by Randy Fox -a touch of Lolita, which I did not like. so meh.
Dusting the flowers by David J. Schow - Felt like this one could have been a Criminal Minds episode. I found it disturbing, but also compelling -
Bloodlight by Stephen Mark Rainey - I kept thinking of the deadlights from It and just couldn't get into this story.
The Privilege of the Dead by Thomas S. Roche - This is another revenge story, and I kept thinking of the singer as Bonnie DeVille from the Veronica Mars movie.
Many of the reviewers here on GR have said this was a terrible anthology, much more horror than erotica - I would agree that the stories were much more focused on the horror aspect of the vampire rather than the erotic side, but I did like a lot of the stories. I always like the idea of a short story collection, and usually feel disappointed, this one I am about half way between delighted and disappointed.
robberbaroness's review against another edition
2.0
A few gems (the first story especially, a loving tribute to the character of Quincey Morris from Dracula) are sandwiched between nausea-inducing "Oh god, why would anyone find this sexy?" stories. And I thought I was so jaded!
maggie_the_reader's review against another edition
3.0
A few good stories and a lot of just okay stories.
moonlit_shelves's review against another edition
2.0
I am a long-time fan of vampire literature and was really looking forward to reading this book, but I am disappointed with it and would not classify it as erotica. I didn't like many of the stories included (some of them were annoying and pretty gross). I have a copy of Love in Vein II, so hopefully it is better than this collection.