Submissions

All submissions in these formats please: .pdf , Kindle, or print copy. If in print copy, I would appreciate it if the book was autographed by the author. I am not doing books that have a deadline at this time, unless the author wants to use my review to appear on the book itself. Please send all requests to: norachipleybarteau@att.net . If sending through snail mail, email me for my home address. Thank you!

RHA Presents Lure of the Vampire by Bertena Varney

 What is the Lure of the Vampire?



Lure of the Vampire is a pop culture reference book that begins with history and mythology and ends with modern living vampires. The author has provided "fun" lists like the "Powers of Dracula, Real Live Vampire Murders, Television Shows and African Americans who have Played Vampires. There are also websites in each section that show the most popular vampire books and even children shows and books. But, there is a personal twist when it comes to Lure of the Vampire. The author has provided personal essays from national and international vampire authors as well as her own. They range from a personal look at vampires in mythology to the romantic lust filled vampire.

Essays are from the following authors:
- Denise Verrico - David MacDowell Blue - Charles E. Butler - C.J. Ellisson - BittenTwice
Interviews from
- Vampiric Council of New England - Vlad the Gothic Vampire Magician - Audrey A'Cladh, Vampire Priestess - Hugo Pecos, creator of The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency

Lure of the Vampire is great for a any writer who would like to find fun facts to give their vampires in their story. For example, what powers have vampires in mythology possessed? Well, there is a section for that.
What if you are a vampire fan who is looking for new YA or adult authors, well there is section with titles, authors and their websites. What about games? There is a section there too.
Lure of the Vampire is so fun to have that you will spend hours researching the links as well as the contributors of the various authors.
Sections include the following: Mythology, History, Literature, Movies, Television, Recreation, Children’s Vampires, On the Web, Education, and Real Life Vampires. There are lists, websites, essays, and interviews included in the book.
Lure of the Vampire: A Pop Culture Reference Book of Lists, Websites, and "Very Telling" Personal Essays is a perfect quick to grab reference book for the vampire fan or author. It's concise enough to assist you in finding links to what you are looking for without our being too cumbersome and confusing




 My Review of Lure of the Vampire


The Lure of the Vampire
by
Bertena Varney


I remember my first introduction to the vampire. It was when I was a kid and a series came out called Dark Shadows. Oh, I didn't know what to make of it, I just knew it was scary yet I could not take my eyes away from the television and I could by no means miss a episode. As I grew up, and lived my life I drew away from the vampire until I met an author named Maggie Shayne and her "the original" Twilight series as she puts it, for grown-ups. After the first book, I was totally hooked and I could not read enough, it was like having a box of chocolate in front of me and I could not stop after one.  I found myself getting my hands on every new vampire novel that came out no matter the author. I was hooked and mesmerized!


Of course over the years I have my own version of what I want 'my' vampire to look like and what qualities I want 'my' vampire to have. Because you see, I truly want them to be real! My vampire I want to have long dark hair, be tall and tanned with some abs. He must have piercing blue eyes, and a essence about him that makes a woman want to have wet dreams during the daylight hours! But I digress. I have read The Lure of the Vampire by Bertena Varney and I must applaud all of the hard work and research she has done about the type of creature that enters my dreams at night. She has gone to the very beginning when the vampire first 'was'. 


I found a lot of variations in the vampire from different writers, artists, and creators over the years from different countries and I found it totally fascinating and she has done a great justice here. I didn't realize the different ways 'my' vampire was depicted over the centuries, even down to the 'lesbian' vampire Camilla. I found myself smiling in comparison to the way the vampire was portrayed way before I was born, the different powers they had, the different ways they could be killed and turned. I thought I knew everything there was to know about my nighttime creature, but I found I in reality knew very little. 


This book,  Lure of the Vampire is a must read for ALL vampire lovers, admirers, or if you are just curious. Even for those of you who practice vampirism, this is a book you need on your shelf. Bertena covers everything there is to know out there by using tons of resources, to let us vampire lovers know just how it alll began. How the lure of the vampire has become so powerful to those of us who can only dream and wish that one night when we would leave our window open, we'd awaken to those piercing blue eyes looking at us with lust in the dark.


I give Lure of the Vampire by Bertena Varney five stars all the way!
*****

Reviewed by
Nora Barteau
http://norachipleybarteau.blogspot.com/


About the author

Hi! My name is Bertena and I am a jack of all trades and a master at none. I recently found a love for writing after graduate school and continued to write about things that interest me.
This website is broken down into different writing samples as follows:
  • First, the book tab holds information about a recently completed non fiction reference book on vampires in pop culture called Lure of the Vampire.
  • Second, the entertainment articles tabs has links to entertainment articles on Examiner.com and Yahoo! Associated Content. They range from pop culture topic son vampires, television series, books, and events.  All of these articles may be found daily under the Twitter newspapers tab.
  • Third, the Outside Blog tab has links for both my blogs and Mystical Book Blog Tours. The blogs and blog tours were a great way for me to network and meet a lot of authors with similar interests. I also arrange blog tours for authors.
  • Fourth, Guest Blogging Tab holds my writing on other's blogs.
  • Fifth, the Business Writing Tab holds information about business papers such as resumes, cover letters, and inquiry letters as well as my job search and assistance company, A Step Up.
So, if you like what you see please go to the Social Media Tab and contact me there or even go to the events tab and see where I am going to be at each month.
Sign up for my newsletter here- If you would like all my news, events, and articles in one weekly newsletter please sign up here... http://eepurl.com/exZYQ
Hope to see you or hear from you soon!
She can be found on Face book here
Her writing website is here 
Her vampire research website is here
Twitter @tenavarney
Goodreads

****** 
My Interview with Bertena Varney

RHA: Where are you from?
BV: Well I was born in the most eastern Appalachian part of Kentucky. During the summer before, I moved to Winchester, KY where I completed high school. After high school, I moved to Morehead where I went to Morehead State University. After that I moved to Mt Sterling, then Lexington and now I am in Bowling Green, KY. Yeah, I moved from one end of Kentucky to the other end. So, the simplest answer would be Kentucky, but as you know there are no simple answers with me.lol
RHA: Tell us your latest news?
BV: I recently released my new nonfiction book- Lure of the Vampire. It’s a pop culture reference book with lists, websites, essays, and interviews of real life vampires.
The book is a great reference book for authors or fans who want a quick grab for a vampire related question. For example there are lists and websites dealing with history, mythology, movies, recreation, and even a section for those of us who study vampires academically.
It is available for print on Amazon.com and will be available via Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords soon.

RHA: Tell us your latest news?

BV: I recently released my new nonfiction book- Lure of the Vampire. It’s a pop culture reference book with lists, websites, essays, and interviews of real life vampires.
The book is a great reference book for authors or fans who want a quick grab for a vampire related question. For example there are lists and websites dealing with history, mythology, movies, recreation, and even a section for those of us who study vampires academically.
It is available for print on Amazon.com and will be available via Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords soon.
RHA: When and why did you begin writing?
BV: Well other than going to graduate school a couple of times and being made to write I didn’t start writing for fun until my final master’s thesis. It’s called Search for the Lure of the Vampire. I got to choose my own class topic so I chose vampires. I turned parts of that paper into this book. I also began writing for Examiner.com two years ago. It was the first time that any of my writing had been read by anyone else. I received the Vampire Examiner title and loved writing about all things vampire
So, I began writing for school and ended up writing for fun. As a result my book came to be
RHA: When did you first consider yourself a writer?
BV: I still don’t consider myself a writer. I know how to research and organize facts but really I haven’t really accepted that title yet. Maybe when I sell a few more books and get a few more good reviews.
I just love to share my favorite topic- vampires with everyone.
RHA: What inspired you to write your first book?
BV: After finishing my master’s paper I realized that so many of the resources that I used I could do something like that so I began researching more. When I lost my job a year and a half ago I decided dedicate 100% of my time to doing it. I love vampires- all types.
RHA: Do you have a specific writing style?
BV: Well I write academically. I use an outline and if you notice my book is kind of laid out like a text book. I am not creative so the basic 3.5 essay format is best for me.
I am very old fashioned- I write notes on an index card, label the back and throw them into a pile then when I come to the sections I write the titles on a card and shuffle them around. The add all of it to my computer.
RHA: How did you come up with the title?
BV: Well the master’s thesis was titled, Search for the Lure of the Vampire because my thesis looked at the sociological reasons as to why we are lured to vampires. When I began writing the book I had the answer thus the Lure of the Vampire came to be.
RHA: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
BV: Yes. That there is a type of vampire for everyone... you just have to let me help you find that one perfect for you
RHA: Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
BV: There are interviews with three people who are vampires and live the vampire lifestyle. Audrey Koogler is a vampire priestess and counselor. Vlad is a gothic magician and uses his life as a vampire to create his theater of magic. He uses Vlad Tepes and Elizabeth Bathory. And there is also a very intimate interview with the Vampiric Council of New England.
So, yes the real life vampires section of the book tells the personal stories of my friends and their life as vampires.
RHA: What books have most influenced your life most?
BV: I have read books since I was three years old and it have always been what I do for fun. I would carry books with me everywhere I would go. Mom would make me go outside to play and I would sneak a book out with me. So I can say all books have influenced my life. But, my first child vampire book was Bunnicula. In the Vampires and children section of the book, you can read how he and the Count on Sesame Street is what have influenced my generation and their image of vampires.
RHA: What book are you reading now?
BV: I started The Hunt, the second part of The Vampire Vacation Inn Series by C.J. Ellisson. I am also rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to get ready for the last movie. I am also trying to catch up on all the books that I have collected over the last two years. I am also rereading the Sookie Stackhouse series. I also love the Blue Blood Series by Melissa de la Cruz
RHA: Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
BV: Yes, the ones that I featured in my book. C.J.Ellisson, Elizabeth Loraine, Denise Verrico, BittenTwice, Charles Butler and David MacDowell Blue are all new authors that I have met along the way. I either began reviewing their work or promoting their books through book blogs. I really enjoyed their writing and asked if each would contribute an essay for my book that would showcase each of the interests. For example, Elizabeth Loraine is a young adult writer and she wrote an essay on vampires in young adult literature.
I greatly appreciate their support and love their writing. So, I thought that this was a way that I could have my book broken up by essays by other authors and share a few of my favorites with my readers.
RHA: What are your current projects?
BV: Currently, I am promoting my book and getting caught up on my Examiner.com articles. I start teaching college classes again in August and I need to prepare for that.
After that, I am looking at doing a short book on “How to Plan Vampire Events” and possible a “How to on Vampire Book Clubs”. I don’t know something short but fun!
I have been asked by many people how to be a vampirologist like me. As I discussed earlier I used my graduate classes to study the culture, history, and educational aspects of the vampire and love it when other people ask me how to study vampire, etc. So, I am taking some ideas from my friend Patti Starr who is nationally known for her ghost hunting certification classes. I am thinking of starting a class dealing with vampires and how to study them. I have a few people interested but that will be a little later on. I guess the professor in me comes out in me and I can’t help it.
RHA: Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.
BV: My boyfriend Sam has supported me throughout all this. Every time I started to quit he kept encouraging me and wouldn’t let me quit. I started to quit so many times but he is the first person who has had enough faith in me to keep pushing me to prove to myself that I can do something that I set my mind to.
My son just thinks I am a cool mom!
RHA: Do you see writing as a career?
BV: Well yes and no. I have a business license, do all the business things but I don’t really think of it as a career because I don’t make enough money to live off of it. But, in saying that I do treat it like a career, I set aside so many hours per day for writing, so much for promoting, and then what’s left I do research.
Before losing my job I worked 14 hours a day at two different collegiate jobs. I was a workaholic but had a steady paycheck. Without the steady paycheck it makes it hard to see it as my forever career. I plan on continuing to write articles and will update this book in a few years but I don’t see it as what I will do forever. I see it as a supplement to my teaching.
RHA: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
BV: I don’t think I would change anything but I can always use the new ideas for the second edition.
RHA: Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
BV: Well, I always hated writing. I avoided it all through school and even undergraduate school but when I got in graduate school I wrote a paper and the professor looked at it and threw it in the trash. She said I was the worse writer that she had ever met. It turned me against writing and all the negative critiques and attitudes that came with it. I swore off writing until about 15 years later when I was finishing my master’s degree in social science and education. I got to choose my own topic and I really enjoyed it.
I love sharing my interests and ideas but really it is a recent interest.
RHA: Can you share a little of your current work with us?
BV: This is from the Vampires in Literature section and is an excerpt from the essay, “The Lure of the Dead Boyfriend”
In the beginning was a bald monster with a long face, pointed ears and chin, elongated fingers and sharp talon claws that lost its humanity and control over its monstrous side. It was lured to a young maiden’s window. All of a sudden, with a sudden rush that could not be foreseen and with a strange howling cry that was enough to awaken the terror in any beast, the figure seized the long tresses of hair. He held her to the bed…she screams…shrieks...and he seizes her neck in his fang like teeth… a gush of blood and a hideous sucking noise follow.
This picture of rape and torture is the bedroom scene of the 1847 penny dreadful, Varney the Vampire: Feast of Blood. The author Thomas Prest painted pictures of the vampire being a sexual monster wanting to devour women, women who were portrayed as being very passive and weak. In these stories the vampire bite was a metaphor for rape and the monster wanted his victim aware of every agonizing violation. This is the vampire that was created when men ruled the horror world: a creature cursed to walk the earth for eternity searching not for love but for food.
Now today, the story reads more like this, “He met my eyes with his penetrating gaze. Suddenly it was hard to breathe. ..My heart pounded in my chest… my knees threatened to buckle. I had never seen such a gorgeous man…something about him felt dark and dangerous and desirable. I lifted my chin to give him better access to my neck. He smiled, showing a hint of fangs.” This excerpt is from Lynda Hilburn’s The Vampire Shrink.  Lynda discussed on her blog that since women have taken over the horror genre the vampire has evolved into a gorgeous, sensuous, sexual, romantic, bad boy of the night.
RHA: Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?
BV: I have always loved to travel so I have always put my interest of vampires into my travel. I hate beaches and sun so most people would find me on night tours, in cemeteries, etc. I loved England but hated Paris and ironically I love New England and don’t care much for New England. I try to research vampires where ever I am.
I have also lectured or presented my papers on both vampires and Harry Potter at several conferences including the Harry Potter Conference in Salem and The Sirens Conference in Vail, Colorado.  I am currently scheduling college and conference tours for the next few years. As of right now, I have book signings at conventions in Nashville, Louisville, Lexington, and Salem, Mass.
I do want to more research with people who live the vampire lifestyle. I am thinking of going to New York and a few other places that are home to the vampire culture.
RHA: Do you have any advice for other writers?
BV: The advice that I have for other writers is to write what interests you not what other people tell you to. Yes I know you have to have people like your books in order for them to buy them but you have to like them first in order to write them and be happy.
Don’t worry about the negative comments or even the positive comments from others. If you can say you are happy then keep on writing.
RHA: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
BV: Remember the Lure of the Vampire brings to the vampire fan a vampire for each person. We discuss the mythological creature, the historical monster, the romantic vampires and even real life vampires.
If you like vampires then there is a vampire in the book for you. Let the Lure of the Vampire lure you in and help you find the vampire that is your perfect match!

Upcoming Events:
This is where you can find Bertena's print, video, and radio interviews about her work or interests in vampires as well as appearances to discuss books and events. Workshops are listed as well.Also at local Fairs, Conventions, and more- check out the Body, Mind, and Spirit Directory located here.

Dance on the Darkside, Louisville, Ky October 29, 2011

I will be there to sign and sell my new book, Lure of the Vampire
Here is the website.

A Day of Mystical Blood Lust- Lexington, KY October 22, 2011

I will be there participating in a panel discussion on Vampire Literature. I will also be selling my book, The Lure of the Vampire as well as other vampire goodies. http://adayofmysticalbloodlust.webs.com

Museum Place Mall, Salem Mass October 6th and 7th

I will be signing my book, Lure of the Vampire at a local store there. More details to come.

Horror Con Fandom Fest, Nashville October 1st and 2nd

I will be signing and selling my new book Lure of the Vampire
www.fandomfest.com

ScareFest Horror and Paranormal Convention,           Lexington, KY September 23-26, 2011

I will be there doing workshops, readings, and selling my book and other vampire merchandise. For more information please visit http://scarefestcon.com/

Fright Night Film Festival Louisville, KY  July 22nd- July 24th

Will be signing her book Lure of the Vampire here www.fandomfest.com

Mystical Paranormal Fair, Lexington, KY July 16th and 17th

Leads workshops each month on the Lure of the Vampire.Check website for schedule- http://mpfair.com/

The Awakening Psychics Radio Show, July 14, 2011

I will be returning to Kelly, James, and Serena's show on July 12, 2011. I will be discussing vampire tarot as well as other vampire stories. Learn more and listen here- http://www.theawakeningpsychics.com/


3 comments:

  1. ok this is bertena.. i have tried logging in through google, and name and url and it won't go. It will only let me log in as anonymous.

    But I wanted to tell you thank you and glad that you loved my book.
    I will check back here is a few minutes

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Bertena, I have checked all options and you should be able to log under any and all options.

    ReplyDelete