The vamps have hit the streets... and rumor has it they're ready to party.

In other words, By Blood We Live is finally out! You remember, right? The John Joseph Adams-edited vampire anthology I gave you a sneak preview of back in March, the one featuring a quarter-million words of the best of the last thirty years of vampire short fiction? The one with stories by John Langan, Robert J. Sawyer, Elizabeth Bear, and Lilith Saintcrow (not to mention Neil Gaiman, Anne Rice, Harry Turtledove, Stephen King, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Sergei Lukyanenko, Tanith Lee, Joe Hill, Kevin J. Anderson, L. A. Banks, and Catherynne M. Valente, among others)? The one that includes a definitive vampire fiction bibliography for further reading. The one vampire anthology you absolutely need on your bookshelf.

It's out! And in-stock* at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and other e-tailers, and very likely on the shelves at a better bookstore near you (and if it isn't, make 'em order you one).

So what are you waiting for? Go get it!


And don't forget to click on the cover above and check out the official website, with free samples, author interviews, and much, much more.


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* However, we are still waiting for stock to show up at the 'Shade.

"Now this—this is beautiful. St. Peter’s. The church, the square, marble everywhere, sunlight blinding you like the flashlight of God."
— from "Hit" by Bruce McAllister, appearing in By Blood We Live, coming this fall from Night Shade Books.

I know there are at least a couple of vampire fans out there. So here's sneak peek at our cover mockup for By Blood We Live, John Joseph Adams's vampire anthology, coming in August from Night Shade Books:



Sure, some elements of the cover will likely be changing before August, but this should give you a good idea of the lineup, not to mention a chance to gawk at David Palumbo's amazing cover art (look familiar? First one to name the reference gets a prize). If you enjoyed John's previous Night Shade anthologies, Wastelands and The Living Dead, then you should have a pretty good idea just how good this collection promises to be. If not, then you've got a couple of months to catch up... get cracking.

Book Review: The Second Book of Lankhmar, by Fritz Leiber



This omnibus, collecting the last three of Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser books (THE SWORDS OF LANKHMAR, SWORDS AND ICE MAGIC, and THE KNIGHT AND KNAVE OF SWORDS), finds its author approaching, in the time-honored tradition of aging SF authors, full-blown dirty-old-man-mode (at least Heinlein was able to attribute his latter-years satyriasis on a brain tumor). True, Leiber's duo of heroes, unlike, say, those of Tolkien, exhibited active libidos from the start, but here one can chart a sort of crescendo of kink, starting with the relatively chaste, but nudity- and sex-filled nonetheless, THE SWORDS OF LANKHMAR (1968), but escalating rapidly in the last two books, as Leiber explicitly indulges the Mouser's ephebophilia and sadism ("The Mer She", from THE KNIGHT AND KNAVE OF SWORDS, for example finds the Gray One repeatedly binding an adolescent stowaway to his shipboard bunk), and both heroes develop a Tourrette's-like tendency to drop c-bombs (and other misogynistic interjections) in casual conversation.

But even a priapic Leiber could write rings around most authors (indeed, the penis mightier than the sword), and this collection is filled to overflowing with the wild romance, strange adventure, perilous plotting, memorable characters (Kreeshkra, the ghoul-girl from THE SWORDS OF LANKHMAR, being particularly fun), and clever banter that have been hallmarks of Leiber's Lankhmar tales since 1939's "Two Sought Adventure."

"But one certainly cannot fault the little darlings for their occasional itch for each other, since their taste is so exactly like my own." -Mouser

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Books Received:



Irish author Derek Gunn was kind enough to send me copies of his two Vampire Apocalypse novels, Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder and Vampire Apocalypse: Descent into Chaos. Long story short, he's hoping for a mention in the Recommended Reading section I'm compiling for By Blood We Live, the vampire anthology coming in August 2009 from Night Shade Books, and I'm looking forward to reading 'em.

Have you written a vampire novel I should know about? If so, feel free to send a review copy to:

Ross E. Lockhart, Associate Editor
Night Shade Books
1423 33rd Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122

"Hello..."


"Hello..."


"Hellooooooooo...."

"What are you doing Maddie?"

"Just saying 'Hello.' But check it out, my voice sounds all stretchy and echoey in here. Hellooooooooooo...."

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I scored a rare Monday off yesterday, thanks to a late Sunday night text message from jlassen telling me that, since the next day was a holiday, I may as well stay home. Of course, today is the real holiday, parades and all, but who am I to argue with a chance to hang out at home? So stay home I did, working (of course) on a comprehensive "recommended reading" list of vampire novels that I've been putting together for By Blood We Live, the vampire anthology Night Shade Books is putting out next August.

Have you got a favorite vampire novel that I absolutely shouldn't forget? Have you written the great American vampire novel? If so, say something in the comments, and if it isn't there already, I'll add it to the list. And yeah, you can recommend short stories, too (or you can suggest them directly to the editor, John Joseph Adams, right here).

And I'm nine days away from forty. And counting. Ugh.