Bianca de Moss

No one has reviewed this yet, so here I go. This is an anthology of eighteen lesbian-themed vampire stories by sixteen authors. Fourteen are women, one is a man who writes like a woman (E.C.Myers "The Serpent Tattoo"), and the last story "Master Of The Hunt" is by a woman (Rakelle Valencia) who writes, badly, like a man.

The collection ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous. The sublime would be one of the longer stories in the book, Jewelle Gomez's literary and imaginative "Hope On The Mississippi" in which a vampire journeys across a ruined near-future America to meet the grandaughter of her true love. The ridiculous would be M.J.Williams' sophomoric and mercifully short "Jackson Square", which is nothing but a teenage boy's stroke story. For no reason that i can understand, she is featured here twice, though her "A Vampire In Vegas" is not quite as goshawful, though it still has that same juvenile air.

Maria Helena Dolan's story "Blood Tells" gets my vote as the most original and nearly the best story here. A vampire finds a female artist using her menstrual blood to create art. Sounds a little hard to take, but it is written so well that it I ended up loving it. I also really liked "The Night Crew" by Betty Blue, in which co-workers are not what they seem. This story is also the only vampire story in which I have ever heard one vamp call another "Pooky"!

Christa Nordlum's "Rune", Kam-Lin Hooper's "Girl Eats Girl" and Leslie Ann Leasure's "Transubstantiation" were all above average tales with surprising twists, while I found Jen Cross's "Feast" simply disturbing.

If you're a romantic at heart, as I am, all the blood and bad intent can get a little hard to take, as can the few badly done stories. But on the whole, I recommend this for anyone with an interest in Blood Sisters who prowl the night!… (meer)