Guest Post & Review: The Real Twilight by Arlene Russo

Today’s guest post & review are by Susan Mann, a blogger from the UK who blogs about paranormal, panormal romance, urban fantasy and vampire books.  Today  Susan is posting about a subject she holds dear to her heart, vampires!  But first, here is a bit about Susan:

I work as a software developer and service manager for an IT Company which I enjoy. I am a wife to the wonderful Robert and mother to two gorgeous boys. First aged three and second aged one. In my free time or when I can grab some time in between working, being the best mum I can, housework, being a wife I read but my passion is for writing. I hope to have a novel published one day.

I have loved vampires from a very young age my first ever books Gruesome and Bloodsocks by Jane Holiday and Vlad the Drac series by Anne Jugman had me hooked. These weren’t your blood sucking monsters, I was only six, but one drank cola and the other ate soap. Still they never left me; the passion for these creatures was there. I moved onto Bram Stoker’s Dracula and LJ Smith’s Nightworld books as an early teen. Not forgetting the creative mind of Christopher Pike. Last Vampire Series, is a book that will always stick out in my mind from my teenage years.

I feel in love with the unusual, the different and the supernatural. Who wants ordinary and plain, when you can live in an exciting, dark, fantasyland? Not to mention if you go with the vampires depicted in shows such as True Blood and Vampire Diaries, the male vampires are always gorgeous.

Who wouldn’t want to be a vampire; they are dangerous, sexy, they can compel you, they are powerful, mysterious, they never put on any weight blood it would appear has very little calories, they aren’t morning people, so you can have as many long lies as you want, they are immortal and normally rich. So, they need to drink some blood now and again, I’m sure it’s not that bad! Where do I sign up?

Book Review – The Real Twilight by Arlene Russo

Details: Ever since the publication of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, vampires have been a part of the popular consciousness. Now, with the release of the phenomenally popular Twilight novel and the subsequent films, it seems that we can’t get enough of these blood-sucking creatres of the night. But we might not sleep quite so soundly if we knew that vampires aren’t confirmed to the page and the screen. There is a thriving UK vampire scene that has its roots deep in our history. Their shadowy secrets – which include drinking actual blood – have remained hidden from public gaze…until now.
Review: I loved this book. Arlene Russo is the most qualified person to talk about vampires in Britain. She has successfully produced, edited and ran the Glasgow based Bite Me magazine for many many years. The book covers vampires both fiction to the vampire killers of our time. She goes into detail about What a real vampire is, to blood lust and about the Vampire Society which was active in the UK up until a few years ago.

The pictures contained in the book are fascinating, from twilight to the models from her magazine with their outrageous costumes.

If you are into vampires like myself this book is a must.

Thank you, Susan, for your post & review.  Everyone, be sure to check out Susan’s blog! She not only blogs about vampires, but also about being a mom! 

Be sure to check back later this week when I review a new favorite vampire book of mine, Draculas by J.A. Konrath, Blake Crouch, F. Paul Wilson, Jeff Strand