HorrorAddicts.net 097, Lucy Blue, Frank H. Woodward, Dr. Rotz

Horror Addicts Episode# 097

Horror Hostess: Emerian Rich

With Guests: Camellia Rains and Ari DaWintre

Intro Music by: Cancer Killing Gemini

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10 days till Halloween!

lucy blue, frank h. woodward, dr. rotz, versailles, translyvania 6-5000

halloween traditions, type-o negative, bloody kisses, translyvania 6-5000, jay hartlove, the chosen, the wickeds, horrible disasters, dr. rotz interview, vampire nurse candy, midnight syndicate, mimielle, goth fashion, zombie george washington, wheelman press, brian herbert, the chef’s table, best band season 8 poll, versailles, free fiction friday, bite club, hal bodner, david books, charla, alexander beresford, frank h. woodward interview, black magic, kbatz, atlantic city zombie walk, most wicked announced, wicked women writers, winner, rick kitagawa, writer’s workshop, events, dead mail, haunted place to go, lucy blue interview

Goodbye, my darklings, until next year. Please be safe and stay spooky!

Find all articles and interviews at: http://www.horroraddicts.net

Don’t miss the vampire anthology:

The Vampire Writers Support Group proudly presents FRESH BLOOD, an eclectic collection of short stories set in a dark, bloodsoaked world full of vampires.
https://www.facebook.com/FreshBloodAnthology

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h o s t e s s

Emerian Rich

s t a f f

Sapphire Neal, David Watson, Dan Shaurette, Marc Vale, KBatz, Mimielle

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m u s i c

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Daughter Cell

Randy Macklin woke up in Malaysia with no memory of the last four months of his life. His wife has died in a car wreck and his daughter is in a coma after a poisonous snake bite. Randy is currently living with his friend and business partner Young Nae, together they had been working on a way to use genetics to make people look younger, but their work has not been approved by the FDA and their project is now on hold.

To get his memory back Randy visits psychiatrist Sanantha Mauwad to fill in the missing memories of the last four months. Sanantha and Randy discover that there is more to this situation then meets the eye and not everyone is who they appear to be. There are conflicting reports on the death of Randy’s wife, she may have been murdered and Randy’s daughter’s coma may have been caused by one of Young Nae’s rivals. To make matters even more complicated someone has been spotted that looks oddly similar to Randy’s deceased wife.

Daughter Cell by Jay Hartlove is the second book in the Isis Rising Trilogy, the first book was The Chosen and both books are self -contained stories. Daughter Cell is a medical thriller that takes a look at loss and forgiveness and how far are you willing to go to be with your true love again.  This is a Frankenstein type story set in an exotic location with voodoo mythology, black magic martial arts, spirituality and  poisonous pufferfish.

What I really liked about this book was how the mystery unfolds slowly.  I also like how it was shown through their dreams that something wasn’t quite right. Daughter Cell also wrestles with the themes of ethics and morality. In the beginning both Randy and Young Nae talk about how they have no problems manipulating genetics to make people’s lives better but Sanantha has her doubts and you get to see how playing god effects all the characters.

What I enjoyed most about Daughter Cell was how both Sanantha and Randy turn to their faith in a time of crisis. Sanantha is from Haiti and gets comfort from voodoo when things are bad, while Randy listens to classic rock. I liked hearing about the character’s different belief systems and how the two main characters work together. I also liked how Young Nae tries to get more in touch with the spiritual god within him. Other scenes I enjoyed was when Randy had to choose between two people he loved even though one of the two was no longer the same and I liked when Randy knows that the person he most wants to talk to is right in front of him but he will never get to say what he wants to say.  Jay Hartlove makes his characters suffer and some of them come out stronger in the end.

The only thing I didn’t like about the book was that I wanted more time spent on the genetic creation. The scenes with the creation in it were great and I enjoyed how I wasn’t able to predict what would happen. This book is not your normal medical thriller, it has a lot of heart and makes you question a lot of things such as if you could be with a younger version of the person you love after they are gone would you take it? If you like horror that really makes you think then you will enjoy Daughter Cell.

Servant Of The Goddess and The Chosen

If your looking for a good vampire book that is so much more then a vampire book you should check out Servant Of The Goddess by Denise Verrico. This is the fourth book in the immortal revolution series. The story takes place in New York where Cedric, the star of book three has just escaped India where he was a slave to the elder vampires. Cedric is trying to find Kurt and Mia, the leaders of the newest house of immortals. Kurt and Mia represent the future of vampire society, they have taken in all the vampires referred to as rats that were rejected by the elder vampires and are starting to build a new vampire fellowship in the modern world.

That’s not all that Kurt and Mia are trying to accomplish, they are also trying to find a cure for their vampire blood lust but find a way to keep their immortality and walk in the sun. Cedric finds Kurt and Mia and becomes Mia’s bodyguard but he is obsessed with getting revenge against his former masters and he may ruin everything that Kurt and Mia have worked for.

Servant Of The Goddess is an excellent vampire novel and equally as good as its predecessors. This book has a little bit of everything, its a political thriller with lots of action, violence and sex. While the theme for Book three: My Fearful Symmetry seemed to be how people in power use religion to influence others; Servant Of The Goddess’s theme is how female leaders do not get the same respect as men do no matter how much smarter they are then their male counterparts.

In vampire society women can’t lead so the best that they can achieve is to lead through the males. For instance Kurt sees Mia as his equal but the vampires that they lead do not look at her the same way they look at Kurt. In order to get the men to follow her she has to bust a few heads and we also see this with the villains in the story.

For example Mia is in charge of building and running a vampire club that will give the vampires they lead a job and help to support the vampires that they lead. When Kalidasa, an immortal chief elder comes to the club he laughs and says to Kurt that its nice of him to let his concubine run Kurt’s business. No one sees Mia as an equal with the exception of Cedric who sees her as the living manifestation of an Indian goddess.

Another example of this is when one of the  immortal alphas, Raj along with his female partner Giullietta show up in New York with their band of vampires. Raj gives his crew orders but the vampires don’t move until Giullietta screams “you heard the man, do what your told.” Raj is in charge because that is the rule set down by the grand council but its obvious Giullieta is pulling the strings.

One of my favorite scenes in this book is when Mia notices one of the vampire children playing a video game and she feels sorry because he was turned into a vampire so young. She leaves the room and comes back and sees that  Cedric  has joined the boy and is also playing video games. At this point she realizes that despite Cedric’s sexuality and that he was forced to become a warrior, he is still just a boy. The vampire children in the book are the mirror image of homeless children who get shuffled from foster home to foster home because their parents couldn’t support them. I really enjoy how Denise Verrico’s vampires society is a mirror image for human society and I’m looking forward to more books in the immortal revolution series.

Another  book I want to talk about is The Chosen by Jay Hartlove. Charles Redmond is a former hit-man currently working in the import-export business. One of Charles clients is a strange man named Joseph who is buying religious relics and having them shipped all over the world. Charles tells his psychiatrist Sanantha that he believes Joeseph is a demon, Sanantha doesn’t believe him but soon gets dragged into a battle between good and evil and ancient religions.

Joseph is indeed more then he seems and he is working for Silas Alverado, an ancient Egyptian magician that is trying to bring the god Osiris back from the dead to rule the world again.  Standing in his way is Sammael, the Demon Prince of Liars. This is a battle that has been going on since the book of Exodus and Charles who believes that his voodoo religion is facing extinction may be the only one who can stop it.

Jay Hartlove’s The chosen is an excellent action packed novel which gets deep into Egyptian and voodoo mythology. In particular I really enjoyed how Sanantha tries to talk Charles out of what he thinks is happening. There is also an interrogation scene that was very good and a little disturbing. I also love the character of Charles and how he is trying to redeem himself and what he is willing to go through to save his religion. Sanantha was another great character, I liked how she slowly fell in love with Charles and what she was willing to go through to save him. The ending was also very good and I liked the reaction of Osiris and how things work out for Joseph.

Jay Hartlove did a lot of research for this occult thriller , to get a little more of the back story that went into The Chosen and to see what went into the writing of it, check out his website at jaywrites.com. This book can easily fit intio several genres, there is a lot of suspense, horror and mystery if you love reading about religion and ancient mythology you will love this book.