Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Stabbing Perfection

Today I welcome guest blogger, Liv Rancourt. Liv is a writer of speculative fiction and romance. She lives in Seattle with her husband, two teenagers, two cats and one wayward puppy. Writing stories that have happy endings is a good way to balance her work in the neonatal intensive care unit, and she is thrilled to be publishing her first novella with Black Opal Books. Liv can be found on-line at her website, her blog, on Facebook, or on Twitter
 

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about vampires. There are several of them in my new novella, A Vampire’s Deadly Delight, and while I didn’t do much research before I wrote it, I’ve been reading up in order to write quasi-intelligent sounding blog posts. You’ll have to let me know how I do.

I came across an article by Ananya Mukherjea in the journal Studies in Popular Culture. She argues that the reason vampires are so persistently popular right now is that it takes a paranormal figure to balance all the roles that contemporary women are supposed to assume. Women are supposed to be strong and career-minded, when they’re not wearing slut shoes and flashing their ta-tas on the internet. We’re supposed to raise kids and gardens and keep the house Martha-Stewart-worthy. While working a full-time job. And getting pedicures. Real men can’t keep up. Only a vampire with many years on earth, old-fashioned values, strength, financial stability, and a streak of nasty sexy danger can turn us on.

The article is some twenty pages long, and after reading it I could only agree with her. I’ve sure as heck never fantasized about a reasonably handsome man whose job blows hot and cold and who never remembers to put the carton of milk back in the fridge. Real men are great for some things, but when I want to get away from it all, find me someone who’s pale and fanged, someone who drives a sleek black car and who doesn’t care if I forgot to put the clothes in the dryer.

So what did I do? I wrote a book where one of the main characters stabs vampires with her demon blade, ending their undead lives. It’s a Buffy meets Spiderman kind of thing. In hindsight, I can only wonder what I was thinking. Given the perspective of the article, my character’s primary function is to repeatedly kill the perfect man. Wow. That’s enough material for a whole lot of therapy sessions.
I’m going to put a positive spin on this and say it shows how much I value the Real Man in my life. Hugging someone with a pulse is the only way to go. If he would just put the silverware away correctly, so that all the salad forks go in the same little slot, he might be perfect, too. What, me, issues?

Thanks so much, Kris, for giving me this opportunity to post on your blog. I very much appreciate it.

Peace,
Liv

18 comments:

  1. Too funny. And soooo apt! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.

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  2. Glad you liked it, Karysa! Thanks for stopping by...
    Liv

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  3. Cute post. I'd like a vampire to come do my heavy lifting.

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  4. I'd settle for a guy who knows how to put the milk back in the fridge.
    ;)
    Thanks for stopping by, Jillian.
    Liv

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  5. I love this post! Made me smile :)
    Kate

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  6. Thanks Kate. Appreciate you stopping by!
    Liv

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  7. I can definitely relate to this article. My husband is a great provider and father etc, but not a romantic bone in his body. Of course I love him dearly, but as fantasies go a hot sexy vampire who doesn't watch tv in his boxers might be the way to go lol

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  8. There's a whole lot a hot sexy vampire can do for you, Jolie. ;)
    Thanks for checking out the post.
    Liv

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  9. Liv, as you already know, I prefer the suparnaturals with a beating heart :-), but it does support the idea of the article you mentioned. Interesting thoughts.

    my character’s primary function is to repeatedly kill the perfect man.
    LOL

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Empi. Your werewolves can be almost as cool (hot?) as my vampires. ;)
      Liv

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  10. Your novella sounds great! I just Kindled it.
    Sigh. I'm afraid in our almost 36 years of marriage, my husband's the perfect one--he cleans, cooks, sews, decorates, can fix anything inside or outside the house, and is usually right about everything. And yeah, he did diapers way back then, too...I'm the mess...I'm sure _he's_ thought about staking _me_ once or twice!

    Glad I found your story!
    Debora Hosey

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    1. Thanks Deborah. I hope you like it!

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    2. Oh, and after 16 years, maybe there's still time for my Live Guy to learn a few things....
      ;)

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  11. Good post, vampyres are here to stay, we have this thing about them. But I like variations about them too. The supernatural and paranormal keep the brain juices flowing, ordinary everyday things are okay during stressful times, but when you need something different, it fits the bill.
    Patg

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  12. I totally agree. There's enough real life drama out there. No need to go looking for more.
    Thanks for checking in,
    Liv

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  13. Great writing style! It leads you through and does an excellent job at describing the book. The image of the vampire has changed so drastically over the ages. Love the concept. :)

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  14. Thanks James. I'm glad you liked the post, and I hope you check out the book!
    Peace,
    Liv

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