[ H O M E ]

It would be oversimplistic, perhaps, to call this season's crop of femme-oriented dark fantasy novels "the daughters of Anne Rice." After all, the four listed below vary significantly in concept, tone, and likely reader age. And yet all of them are written at least in part with one common goal in mind: to excite readers with the thought of otherworldly lovers awaiting in the shadows.

Kitty and the Midnight Hour, by Carrie Vaughn (Warner Books, $6.99, paperback) -- It seems to be official: The open-ended chick-lit series has replaced the epic trilogy as fantastic fiction's preferred form of serial. So Frodo, Garion, Raistlin and all their majestically questing pals can just step aside and make room for Kitty Norville, a werewolf from Denver who finds herself pissing off her packmates big-time when they discover that she's hosting an overnight talk-radio show about the trials and tribulations of lycanthropy. Werewolves and vampires prefer to keep their existence secret, see, but Kitty wants to provide a sympathetic human voice to comfort all those lonely, self-loathing shape-changers out there in the urban night. Along the way, she gets tangled up in a murder investigation, comes out to her parents (and, wow, you haven't been in a closet until you've been in a werewolf closet), and gets hot and bothered over a sexy monster-hunter named Cormac. Goofy? Maybe, but don't even bother rolling your eyes, because if you read page one, you won't stop till the back cover hits you on the way out. | STACIA JUDE

Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer (Little Brown, $14, paperback)
Fledgling, by Octavia E. Butler (Seven Stories, $23.95, hardcover) -- As vampire fiction continues evolving as a full-fledged genre all its own, two new neck-biting novels eschew the trappings of horror -- one in favor of pure romance, the other, science fiction. In Stephanie Meyer's high-school tale Twilight, teenage Bella falls in love with Edward, the handsome "bad boy" who turns out to be badder than anyone suspected. He returns the affection, but it's not that simple, as Edward comes from a family of pacifist vampires, and he'll need to protect Bella from the evil ones if she's really determined to hang. More compelling than the bloodsucking shtick is the spot-on psychology of it all: Bella yearns for Edward because he's clearly too dangerous for her, the perfectly unattainable boy-man whose sexuality could ruin her life. A more complicated conflict drives Octavia E. Butler's Fledgling, which follows the dark-skinned vampire Shori as she awakens from the confusion of total amnesia. As in much of Butler's work, the issue of race is central: Shori discovers that she owes her melanin-rich complexion to a genetic experiment that sought to create vampires able to survive in the daylight, and she owes her memory loss to a hate-crime attack by a gang of "pure-blooded" vampires. The reader is introduced to vampire society (they call themselves "Ina") as the amnesiac Shori is, learning that every Ina keeps a personal flock of willing human blood-slaves, who are addicted to the vampire's venom and devoted to their master's happiness. This dominance relationship isn't the only sexual taboo Butler tackles, either: Shori is 50-odd years old, but her physical appearance is that of an 11-year-old girl, and this fact doesn't get in the way of wanton intimacy with her human lovers. Though the end of the book gets somewhat dragged down in an extended courtroom drama, Fledgling is a thought-provoking story from a novelist who has more to offer the vampire genre than just the same old gothic tropes. | WAYNE WISE

The Hunter's Moon, by O. R. Melling (Abrams, $23.95, hardcover) -- Above all else, O. R. Melling's kid-friendly faerie story is a powerful enticement for readers to visit Ireland; her description of its geography, hidden wonders, and folklore is enchanting and authoritative. She takes special care to pay respects to its people as well -- it seems every redhead in the country is eager to help the protagonist, 16-year-old Gwen, who embarks on a bold rescue mission when her cousin is kidnapped by faeries. Along the way, she grows out of her weight insecurity, scrutinizes her childhood dreams, and gets a cute boyfriend. It's unfortunate that both Gwen and cousin are drawn as simple teen-heroine stereotypes, but real delights come in the form of the supporting cast: a sweet-hearted businessman who still believes in faeries, a practical farm girl with wild dreams, a teenage boy who honors his grandmother's every word. Melling's take on the fantastic is classical: Faeries, like Tinkerbell or the deities who inhabit Neil Gaiman's American Gods, need people's belief to survive, and as technology and skepticism grow, their world shrinks. The Hunter's Moon is as much a lament for the creeping modernization of Ireland as it is for the disappearance of fantasy from the minds of adults; in one particularly memorable scene, Gwen finds herself in a monastery that's physically transferring itself piecemeal back into the 14th century. While Gwen herself may not be a unique character, Ireland is, and anyone who dreams should listen to its story. | NIVAIR GABRIEL

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4 Comments:

A chara,
Greetings from Ireland! And thanks a mill for your terrific review. I'm also delighted that my webmaster found your site and told me about it. Just one small item. My publisher is Abrams NY, not the one you have listed (which is probably why they didn't spot the review and ask me to respond!)Thanks again. All the best, OR

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