Scott's Take: Batman – Santa Claus: Silent Knight by Jeff Parker Illustrator Michele Bandini

Batman – Santa Claus: Silent Knight by Jeff Parker, illustrated by Michele Bandini, is a very fast read that I did through the DC Infinite app. It has Batman, Santa, Superman, Zatanna, Green Arrow, Robin and more facing off against Nordic vampires during the holiday season.

 

This is a fast paced four issue read designed to be fun and light hearted. Full of cameos by various heroes, the action moves fast. The art is pleasant and works for this story.

 

There is a sequel which is still in the process of coming out this holiday season called Batman- Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns by Jeff Parker and a new artist Lukas Ketner which features Robin teaming up with Santa to rescue their fellow heroes from a new villain.

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3DjQmEY

 

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2024

Scott's Take: Blood Hunt by Jed MacKay, Illustrators Pepe Larraz and Sara Pichelli

Blood Hunt by Jed MacKay, illustrated by Pepe Larraz and Sara Pichelli is the latest big crossover featuring marvel heroes facing off against vampires. I read this through the Marvel Unlimited app and I read the regular edition. There is a red band edition that is supposed to be extra gory, but it is harder to get.

 

The Earth is plunged into eternal darkness as hordes of vampires are unleashed upon the marvel universe. So. it is up to the Avengers, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man (Miles) and others ore to face off against the new threat. To deal with this threat they need the help of unlikely ally--Dracula.

 

This is a pretty self-contained book with a limited cast. The tie ins expand the cast as other heroes are featured there. The art is pretty in spots while being horrific in others. There is action, drama, and high stakes as this event sets up the next major event in the marvel universe and has bigger ramifications for some characters. Even the regular edition is pretty horror focused. Characters are killed, some major heroes are infected, some heroes are tortured. It is not your typical Marvel read.

 

I highly enjoyed this dark tale even if I am not a fan of event ending designed to setup another event. I am kind of tired of how everything must setup a sequel now adays.

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/413bcSu

 

My reading copy came by way of the Hoopla App through the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2024

Dark Dispatch: Review: The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland

 Dark Dispatch: Review: The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland

FFB Review: A Vampire Named Fred by Bill Crider

 
A seasonally appropriate reminder of a great book from the massively magnificent archive…

 

The very run down house next door had been on the market for about 15 years when it finally sold. Al, who is 12, loved exploring the old place, but his mom worried about rotted out floors, broken stairs, snakes in the basement, and the bugs and dirt. While his parents would not buy the old place like he wanted them to, at least his Mom never forbade him from going over there.  He had loved going over there and poking around as long as he could remember and often his buddy Hermie went over there with him.

So, Al wasn’t exactly thrilled when the house suddenly sold. Hermie was convinced nothing good for them would happen with the new owners. Hermie was sure the new owners had to be a 100 or something to want to live in that old place and he was sure they would not have grandkids or anything. They probably even hate kids, according to Hermie. Neither one of the boys counted on A Vampire Named Fred who needs their help and friendship.

Originally published in print on 1990 and released in electronic format in 2011, this book aimed at the middle school aged crowd is a very fun read. Not only does it play a bit with the vampire legend which Hollywood movies got very wrong according to Fred, the book also mixes in cultural references that will appeal to the adult reader. For example, Elvis (or somebody doing one heck of an impersonation) works down at the local Tastee Daree Freezee where they sell soft ice cream, burgers, and more. He still sings a bit and dances in his blue suede shoes while filling orders. While small things like that may fly by the kids, adults will get a chuckle or two over that and quite a number of other items in this fun story that reminds all readers that being a little different is okay.

A Vampire Named Fred is a fun read for all ages by legendary author Bill Crider. It has a sequel titled A Werewolf Named Wayne.

Material was picked up during a recent author promotion for my use in an objective review. 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014, 2022

Scott's Take: DC vs Vampires vol 1 by James Tynion

DC vs Vampires vol 1 by James Tynion collects the first six issues of the new elseworld’s series. In this series, the vampires are being led by a new leader and have decided to break the peace between humanity and vampires. The vampires are planning on wiping out most of humanity and leaving the rest as cattle for their hunger. They have infiltrated the supervillain and hero communities. The supervillain community has suffered tremendous losses already. It is up to Batman and Green Arrow to uncover the truth. They both are operating separate investigations in which they attempting to uncover who has been turned while also gathering their closest allies for war.

 

This is a gory violent tale that operates on b-movie horror logic and is quite enjoyable as long as you can turn off your brain a bit. The art is nice and especially horrifying in several scenes. Of course, there is mass death. A decent knowledge of the DC universe is needed for this tale for maximum effect since some characters only get a few pages before dying horribly. I am looking forward to the second volume in the series as well as the collection of tie ins and comics that take place during Volume 1 and Volume 2.

 

 

My read came via the Hoopla app through the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott Tipple ©2022

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness:   Reviewed by Jeanne Historian Diana Bishop is researching a collection of manuscripts in the Bodleian Library in Oxford when one of the...

Scott's Take: Empire Of The Vampire: Book One by Jay Kristoff

Empire Of The Vampire: Book One by Jay Kristoff is a complicated read. It is told from the perspective of a vampire hunter named Gabriel who has been captured by vampires and is telling his life story to them. The tale is told interrogation style and out of sequence. For example, one chapter may be set in his childhood while the next chapter is two years prior to the current interrogation. The vampire who is interrogating him is attempting to find the Holy Grail and the person who was last known to be in possession of it is Gabriel. The vampire claims to be a historian and just trying to write down the tale of their greatest enemy.

 

Set in a medieval fantasy world that has a quasi-Christian ordination that is a pseudo-Europe, their sun faded out so the vampires were able to overrun the world. Because of the faded sun that means there are periods of night and days that are not as dark as night, plants have died, the world is getting colder, and vampires can walk around during the non-night hours. Basically, what we have under a full moon overhead on a cloudless night.

 

The tale is about how Gabriel went from a devoted and respected member of a religious order named the Silversaints, who fight vampires, to an outcast former member. Due his circumstances beyond his control, he is forced to once again hunt vampires though he does so without backup or support.

 

This is a book for adult readers as the read is full of multiple and graphic sex scenes, graphic violent deaths, and several graphic scenes of child abuse. This read is for mature readers only and could be intense for some readers. There is frequent cussing and numerous sex jokes. If you like dark or graphic jokes you should get a kick out of some of the jokes here as they are very funny.

 

The story the author tells in this dark book is not a happy one despite the humor. While utilizing many clichés, there are original elements as well as work in this complicated read. This is a long book that poses a bit of challenge to keep straight as the tales moves around in time and is not laid out anything close to chronologically. There are also some illustrated scenes that depict key moments in this 700 page plus book. While the book is advertised in the blurb as illustrated, there are fewer than twenty black and while illustrations.

 

Empire Of The Vampire: Book One by Jay Kristoff is the first book of a planned trilogy. It came out earlier this year and I eagerly await the second book in this series which is currently untitled. I highly recommend this read to fans of dark fantasy who are okay with some horror elements as well as graphic elements as noted above in the review.  

 

Empire Of The Vampire: Book One

Jay Kristoff

https://jaykristoff.com/books/empire-of-the-vampire/empire-of-the-vampire/

St. Martin’s Press

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250245298/empire-of-the-vampire

September 2021

ISBN: 978-1250245281

Hardback (also available in audio, eBook, and paperback formats)

752 Pages

 

 

My reading copy came from the Polk Wisdom Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2021

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Hunger by Whitley Strieber

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Hunger by Whitley Strieber: Reviewed by Christy             John is dying. His long time love Miriam expected it but not so soon because, after all, John ...

Guest Post: Jeanne on "A Legend is Born"

Jeanne of the Bookblog of the Bristol Public Library is back today with another interesting guest post…

A Legend is Born

Back around 1999, I had a young man come up and ask for information about South Holston Dam.  I figured it was for a school report, so we went back to the Genealogy/Local History room and I pulled books on TVA.  He gave them barely a glance.  He wanted, he said, the real books about South

Holston.  Puzzled, I asked him to be more specific.  “You know,“ he said, “the ancient legends.” I must have continued to look blank, because he finally clarified in a whisper.  “About the vampires.”

Comprehension dawned.  As you’ll see momentarily, that is a pun.

In 1991, a paperback book came out entitled Dawn of the Vampire by William Hill which caused a minor sensation in the area because it was set in this area—specifically, around South Holston.  The book used the fact that during the construction of the various dams and lakes in the system, a number of small communities were relocated.  The original sites ended up submerged.  Mr. Hill had heard about the underwater towns from some friends while visiting the area and immediately decided to change the setting of his work-in-progress vampire novel to South Holston to take advantage of that creepy history.

“Ah,” I said, “you want the novel.”

“No, it’s a true story.  I want the real legends that he based the book on.  My grandma told me about them when I was just a little boy.”

I did the math.  Yep, he would have been about nine or ten when the book came out so to him they were old legends.  That young man was just the first of many to inquire about the “old legends.”  The problem was that prior to Dawn of the Vampire, there weren’t any legends about vampires.  TVA construction on what became South Holston began in 1942 and was completed in 1950, so any legends in connection to the submerged towns would have had to have been twentieth century vintage, and we had seen none among the collections of ghost stories from the region. Even a letter from the author confirming that he just made it all up fails to convince some of our more enthusiastic vampire hunters.  They leave still firmly believing that somewhere there are ancient tomes detailing vampire activity and the library is just part of the cover-up.

But at least we don’t have the problems of Burkittsville, MD, setting of the “The Blair Witch.” After the movie came out, they had hordes of people searching for the real story behind the events of the movie.  Believe me, I felt for those folks.

Personally,  I love a good ghost story, especially local ones.  However, sometimes it isn’t a good idea to probe too deeply—not because of supernatural retribution but because of disappointment.  A few years back some enterprising students took on the legend of a ghost named Vera who was said to haunt a local college.  Vera had been an unhappy student who committed suicide there.  The investigation led to Texas, where an elderly woman was quite surprised to find out she was supposedly haunting her old school.

I’m just going to listen to the stories, believe or not, and enjoy them for what they are.

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper: Reviewed by Ambrea Jane Jameson is just an average, everyday nice girl.   She works her tail off as a children’s librarian, she l...

FFB Review--- "A Vampire Named Fred" by Bill Crider

Friday means Friday’s Forgotten Books hosted by Patti Abbott. Having just read this earlier in the week the book seemed a perfect choice for FFB this week. A Vampire Named Fred by Bill Crider is a fun read that works for all ages making it very much worth your time.

A Vampire Named Fred

The very run down house next door had been on the market for about 15 years when it finally sold. Al, who is 12, loved exploring the old place, but his mom worried about rotted out floors, broken stairs, snakes in the basement, and the bugs and dirt. While his parents would not buy the old place like he wanted them to, at least his Mom never forbade him from going over there.  He had loved going over there and poking around as long as he could remember and often his buddy Hermie went over there with him.

So, Al wasn’t exactly thrilled when the house suddenly sold. Hermie was convinced nothing good for them would happen with the new owners. Hermie was sure the new owners had to be a 100 or something to want to live in that old place and he was sure they would not have grandkids or anything. They probably even hate kids, according to Hermie. Neither one of the boys counted on “A Vampire Named Fred” who needs their help and friendship.

Originally published in print on 1990 and released in electronic format in 2011, this book aimed at the middle school aged crowd is a very fun read. Not only does it play a bit with the vampire legend which Hollywood movies got very wrong according to Fred, the book also mixes in cultural references that will appeal to the adult reader. For example, Elvis (or somebody doing one heck of an impersonation) works down at the local Tastee Daree Freezee where they sell soft ice cream, burgers, and more. He still sings a bit and dances in his blue suede shoes while filling orders. While small things like that may fly by the kids, adults will get a chuckle or two over that and quite a number of other items in this fun story that reminds all readers that being a little different is okay.

“A Vampire Named Fred” is a fun read for all ages by legendary author Bill Crider. It has a sequel titled “A Werewolf Named Wayne.”

A Vampire Named Fred

Bill Crider

http://www.billcrider.com

Delabarre Publishing

http://www.delabarrepublishing.com

2011

ASIN: B00551J10Y

E-Book

127 Pages

$1.99

Material was picked up during a recent author promotion for my use in an objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014

Via WELCOME TO HELL ~ by Glenn Walker: The Strain

My man Glenn Walker offers some thoughts on a series I absolutely knew we would not be watching halfway through the first advertisement for it....

WELCOME TO HELL ~ by Glenn Walker: The Strain: Currently airing on FX, "The Strain" is based on three novels by horror and fantasy writer/director Guillermo del Toro and crim...