Vampires for Valentines Giveaway!

Pitt as Anne Rice's Louis, 90's Hot
Awhile back, I posted my thoughts about the vampire exhaustion we seem to be facing.  Are we over the vampire?  Well, you can read about my thoughts on that here, Vampires are Dead-Again, but I don't think we've yet reached the end of the vampire's story.  After all, vampires have been around since the ancient period.  The first references we have to vampire-like creatures come from ancient Sumerian culture and that would be about 4000BCE.  It was not until Byron and Polidori played with the idea of vampires as literary devices that we began to see this ancient fiend as a refined gentleman who might devour us--in a lot of ways.

Please don't suck my blood.  Seriously.
From the start, vampires depicted the society they were from.  When Byron wrote his "Fragment of a Novel" at Villa Diodati, he saw the vampire as a gentleman on a grand tour, snacking on virgins and leading young men into temptation.  Polidori, Byron fan-boy, plagiarized the great poet's plot in his story "The Vampyre."  Following Byron and Polidori, we have the vampire classic "Carmilla" which depicted a female vampire with homosexual lust for her vicitim--read Victorian era fear of female sexuality--and, of course, Stoker's "Dracula" which reinvents Vlad Tepes' history while playing with writing style: inclusion of journal entries, newspaper reports, notes, etc. to tell the tale of Dracula.  Have you ever tried to read Stoker's masterpiece?  I find it very cumbersome, though I love the plot buried within.

Sparkles = Lust?
Vampires represent the issues of the society for which they are written.  But vampires, while dangerous, are very often lust-worthy, and they have been since the birth of the vampire in literature.  Like him or not, Edward Cullen--nay, all the Cullens--are hot.  Young Dracula: hot.  Lord Rutheven: hot.  Carmilla: hot.  More often are vampires hot than not.  Why?  Well, the answer, of course, is painfully obvious--pun intended.  It is the symbolic exchange of fluid between the fiend and the victim that is so, well, open to Freudian interpretation.  Giant fangs.  Penetration.  Exchange of fluids.  It is symbolic sex.  By nature, the way the vampire feeds evokes sexual connotations.  What would make being bit by a vampire even better?  Having sex with him/her too.  It is because of this exchange of life-giving fluids that we will often see the vampire as hot. 

Granted, 30 Days of Night vampires are very unappealing, but with a film like that, the vampire represents something else.  When a vampire is not sexual, it often becomes a thinking, calculating killer.  Unlike a mindless eating zombie, that kind of vampire speaks to other things in our society that are dark, dangerous, and definitely--as Paris Hilton might have said--not hot.  The vampires we often love represent ideals that are both physical and emotional.  Immortal love with a really good looking person.  Sounds good.

To celebrate our lusty vampires, I am offering a little give-away that will run from February 12th-February 19th.  If you would like to be considered to win my Vampire Prize Pack, you need to do two things:

 

1) Sign in so we know your name, and in the comments section below this post, comment with one or the other: Sparkles! or No Sparkles!

 

2) Sign up to "Follow" this blog.

 

It's that simple!  On 11:59pm of the 19th, I will randomly choose a winner of the Vampire Prize Pack which will include all of the nifty items listed below:


Bram Stoker's Dracula (Collector's Edition)
1 DVD Collector's Edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula

 
1 Tarot of the Vampyres Kit by Ian Daniels

The Harvesting (Volume 1)
1 autographed copy of "The Harvesting" by Melanie Karsak! (yes, vampires!)


Be sure to visit all the blogs participating in the hop on the linky list to the right.  And special thanks to paranormal romance authors Felicity Heaton, Caris Roane and H. D. Thomson for organizing this hop!

64 comments

  1. Can I have both? If I have to choose I guess no sparkles.

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  2. No sparkles.
    (Alpha males vampires are the best!) xD

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    Replies
    1. Any favorites, Kaya? I was always partial to Gary Oldman as young Dracula. :)

      Delete
  3. No sparkles.
    I'm a new follower via GFC.

    pippirose59 at gmail dot com

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  4. NO sparkles

    gfc susanmplatt

    susanmplatt AT hotmail DOT com

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  5. Yep, No sparkles!
    Great Hop!
    Thanks so much!!!
    Also followed under GFC - Carey
    careysabala(at)cox(dot)net
    Carey Sabala

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks so much, everyone. Good luck! My my, it is a sparkle-free event so far!

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  7. No sparkles!
    GFC: Csilla Kerekes

    Thanks for the chance!

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  8. Definitely sparkle free.

    Thanks for the giveaway!

    GFC: Jillyn

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  9. No Sparkles
    GFC Tia
    videoclimber(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  10. Bah, the sparkles aren't cool, but I thought they were a nice touch. I'll say SPARKLES just to be different.

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  11. No Sparkles!
    Ummm…. Valentine's with Vampires. Sounds like the perfect combo to me. Especially if I can get a little Eric Northman (a la Alexander Skarsgard) sprinkled on top!

    Happy V-Day, Player!
    mestith (at) gmail (dot) com

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  12. Sparkles are fine. Don't care. Long as they're vampires, I'm happy. :)

    GFC: rainjeys

    rainjeys@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay, another pro-Sparkle person :) Thanks for entering!

      Delete
  13. Definitely NO sparkles!

    Adore Ian Daniels' vamps, too. YUM!

    GFC: Toni Porter
    tp DOT quixotic AT gmail DOT com

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  14. No sparkles. I follow on gfc=magic5905
    magic5905 at embarqmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  15. No sparkles! I'm kind of partial to horror-vampires.
    GFC- Kirsten!
    aircdrewood at gmail dot com

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    Replies
    1. Ohh, yes, love the dark vampires. Any favorites? Thanks for entering!

      Delete
  16. No sparkles.

    Now this is a Blog Hop I can really sink my teeth into! I LOVE Vampire’s and when you mix them in with Romance Novels the result is intoxicating! Who doesn’t love Vampires! They are usually handsome, sometimes dark and brooding, have sexy names like Sebastian - Damien - Alexander, and they have been alone so long and searching for their Bride, so they can have that one perfect woman to love! Some of my absolute favorite Vampires are :

    Lothaire Daciano from the book Lothaire. Lothaire is sexy, wicked, confidant, and has been waiting for his Bride for Eons.

    Ian MacPhie from the book All I Want For Christmas Is A Vampire. Ian is a Highland warrior and a Vampire. Sexy with an accent and a kilt.

    Sebastien Newcombe from the book Phantom Shadows. Bastien is a misunderstood and sexy badass. He just loves to push everyone’s buttons.

    Javier from the book Covet. Javier desires her above all others.

    See what I mean….I LOVE VAMPIRES!

    angelheart618@gmail.com

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  17. Sparkles! Why not?:)

    Thank you for the chance!

    spamscape [at] gmail [dot] com

    ReplyDelete
  18. NO SPARKLES!

    Thanks for your great prizes, I`m a big Dracula fan :)
    GFC follower: Dita Škarste
    Google+ follower: Dita Škarste

    dita(dot)skarste(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love vamps in all form sparkles or no but my faves are the darker ones like Dracula without sparkles .

    flanagan@mebtel.net
    gfc wanda f

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    Replies
    1. I love the darker ones as well, Wanda. Thanks for entering!

      Delete
  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  21. no sparkles! bones from night huntress series is my favorite vamp ;)

    I follow the blog

    Thanks for the chance to win!
    Froggy
    froggarita@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. No Sparkles.....occasionally Sparkles lol
    GFC Cassandra Hicks
    Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
    cassandrahicks1989@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, seems like sparkles has become a dirty secret! Thanks for entering!

      Delete
  23. No Sparkles! Please, no sparkles. :D
    las_va@hotmail DOT com
    GFC name: night1836

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  24. No Sparkles... I like my vampires real thank you.

    j.m.platt83@gmail.com
    GFC name- Jeannie Platt

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Real blood-sucking bad-ass!
      Very well, lol. Thanks, Jeanette!

      Delete
  25. No Sparkles!!!!! lol please ;)
    GFC sarah perry
    oddball2003 at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  26. I liked the first 3 books but hated the movies. so I'll go no sparkles. I'm more of a Spike or Angel girl myself.:)
    -Amber
    goodblinknpark(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
    gfc-vampedchik

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay for Buffy! Did you like the last film? Some people seemed to hate that one as well but others adored it.

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  27. NO FLIPPING SPARKLES!!! (I love Eric Northman btw!)
    GFC: Ashley Applebee
    Ashley A
    ash_app(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for entering, Ashley. We should all say "flipping" more often.

      Delete
  28. No Sparkles.
    GFC: Brittany Utley
    Brittany Utley
    BrittanyUtley(at)Gmail(dot)Com

    ReplyDelete
  29. NO SPARKLES!!! Jewelry should sparkle, not vampires ;)
    GFC: June M.
    manning_J2004 at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was thinking of sugar cookies. I have terrible eating habits. Thanks for entering, June.

      Delete
  30. No Sparkles!!!
    GFC - Sherry S.
    Google+ - Sherry Strode
    sstrode at scrtc dot com

    ReplyDelete
  31. No sparkles! Thanks for the great giveaway!
    GFC: Erika
    saltsnmore at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  32. Definitely no sparkles!
    GFC- Krysta Banco

    Morganlafey86(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love your email address! My very, very first email addy was lefai! :)Thanks for entering.

      Delete
  33. This Giveaway is now closed!

    Congrats to June M. for winning my Vampire Prize Pack! I used Random.org to help me randomly select a winner! June, I'll be in touch regaring getting those goodies to you!

    ReplyDelete