"Dark Thirst": Six Wickedly Sinful Tales of Sex, Blood And Seduction
Written: Nov 19 '05 (Updated Feb 15 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Six very erotic stories of vampires doing what they do best.
Cons: It leaves you wanting more ...
The Bottom Line: Who knew that the afterlife was so sexually fulfilling.
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| Freak369's Full Review: Angela Allen et al - Dark Thirst Books |
To most people erotica is nothing more than cleverly worded smut. Someone takes a fantasy, writes it out then uses a thesaurus to replace words like “sex” and “passion” with words like “carnality” and “vehemence”. That might be what you get in magazines like Penthouse Letters or Penthouse Forum but when it comes to books like “Dark Thirst”, you are getting a lot more than just the money shot. I do have to say this, if you are going to pick this up with the intention of having something around to ‘get you off’ then chances are you are going to be disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, there is a hell of a lot of sex in this book but it’s not the straightforward stuff that pushes you over the edge. If you want the hard core stuff, stick with the skin mags, online porn and pay-to-chat lines. The book showcases six very talented writers, two male, four female. The interesting thing here is that the women are writing racier stuff than the men, usually it’s the other way around.
Another interesting thing about this book is that all the stories revolve around African Americans characters. This wasn’t something that I was aware of when I started reading it but by time I started the fourth story I started scratching my head thinking, “Is it just a coincidence?”, That’s when I started putting two and two together - the title [Dark Thirst], comments from critics like “Vampire mythology has crossed the color line for good” and the most obvious giveaway on the back cover ...”Featuring stories from the most popular African American writers”. Needless to say, I felt like a complete moron. All the signs where there, I just wasn’t picking up on them. If you are into vampire erotica then this is definately a book for you to check out ... it’s well written, has just the right blend of action, intrigue and passion to keep you hooked the whole way through and exposes you to writers that you may otherwise never come across.
Dark Thirst
Spanning three hundred pages, Dark Thirst is an impressive collection of six short stories that revolve around the passion, desire, carnality, death and finality of vampire lust. Each story has some type of sexual tone to it but it is done tastefully. There is a fine line between smut and erotica and the writers that were chosen for this book kept things in balance - you get exceptional and engrossing stories with just the right amount of spice to heat things up. One of the most redeeming qualities of this book is that it doesn’t straight out romanticize it; it shows the downside of immortality, the price of tasting virgin blood and how fate can be hell. Sure it embraces the darker side of life and death but it isn’t some candy coated, sugary sweet book that only shows the up side of being a blood sucking creature of the night.
The Ultimate Diet
Monica Jackson
When I started reading the first story I wasn’t sure to make of it. You have to remember, it wasn’t until the fourth one that I realized that these were written by African Americans. The story is a little on the harsh side and follows the lives of two very well endowed black women; one that is willing to give up everything to be skinny and the other that is content with the way she is. With lines like, “You ain’t Buffy ... you’re not waking up bony and blonde” and one that had me peeing my pants. Keeshia summons a demon to force a vampire to ‘sire’ her, when he arrives in a rage, everything in her apartment is trashed ... “I knew he wasn’t going to stick around and clean up any of the mess”. There are some very interesting points presented like the possibility of an astral realm that coexists with the human world but wasn’t readily visible to mortals. This is one of the more modern tales in the book and is filled with all types of sexual innuendoes and encounters. I was a little taken back by some of the slang that was used in the story but you have to remember - I wasn’t aware that this was a collection of works from African American writers.
Vamp Noir
Angela C. Allen
If there’s one thing I like reading more than vampire epics it has to be mafia related material. This one combines them both and when the story ended I was more than a little ticked. I wanted more damn it. Sheila Seven is one of the newest associates of Don Micelli, the biggest crime boss in the city. Her job is to make the weekly pick ups, deliver them to him and handle any problems that may arise. When other couriers are getting picked off, everyone starts to question whether the family has control of the business. In the end the truth is uncovered but not before Shelia makes a startling realization about one of the men she was convinced hated her. There are a lot of plot twists, double crossings and back stabbing going on in the story but it gets a little hard to follow when new characters are added. With names like Salvatore Marzanzini, Tommy Celona, Marco Micelli and others you get confused with who is who, who is related to who and who is doing the side deals to try and bring Micelli down. One passage that really stood out and got me thinking was this one ...
“These humans are so fanciful, so ready to believe in the power of cartoons and fairy tales but unwilling to accept the reality of beings other than themselves when confronted with living evidence”
Human Heat: The Confessions of An Addicted Vampire
The Urban Griot / Omar Tyree
What happens when a vampire reflects on his past? Does he think of all the murders he’s committed? Lovers he’s known? Passionate embraces under a full moon? Martelli Daniel Sosa is a strapping young buck; New Orleans is where the story starts with Martelli recounting his younger days before Abigail made him a love slave. Reading through this story you are bombarded with so many different things - love, hate, pain, anger, greed and jealousy. The lesson that he learns from this is simple; what ever you love the most will be ripped away from you ... but it won’t be an unseen stranger that does it, no, it will happen by your own hand. There are several love interests that Martelli has to deal with; the well to do Meredith that tempts him with her wealth and ample body, Abigail who considers him her equal and life mate and the stunning but innocent and virginal Ira. There is a good bit of sex in this story but none of it is lewd or offensive; if anything it reminds me of those Harlequin romance novels with Fabio like clones on the cover. This isn’t the most violent of stories but it is one that has a lot of killing and bloodletting. Not for the faint of heart or weak of spirit.
The Family Business
Kevin S. Brockenbrough
This one deals more with werewolves than vampires but there are more than a few mentions of vamps through the story. Shelly Brown is married to a real winner; Lou is a deadbeat father in the sense that he almost beats his kid to death. He cares about no one but himself and often takes his rage out on his wife and son. Her family knows all too well about this domestic violence but they respect Shelly when she asks them to stay out of things - not an easy thing when her father is a God fearing man, her brother a cop.. “The family business” is never full disclosed in the story so you are left to fill in some blanks but that is what makes the story so interesting, just when you think you have something figured out, the author springs something else on you. The story is filled with transsexual / transvestite vampires [Ugly Nikki], a minion of Satan named Malika, a tiny dog named Mr. Big and lot of innocents that get caught up in the action. There’s a moderate amount of swearing in this story and the sex is a tad bit steamier than on others but some may have some trouble with the domestic violence that hits you like a brick and leaves a lasting impression.
My Take
There are two more stories in the book, “Whispers During Still Moments” by Linda Addison and “The Touch” by Donna Hill. Since I went into detail about the other four stories I decided to leave these as a surprise for readers. Both of them are interesting and well written and give the book a well rounded ‘presentation’ of the vampire lifestyle. I told a few of my friends about this an one of them said, “I don’t think I’d be able to get into it, I mean, I’m not black”. That statement sort of shocked me but he quickly retracted it and explained what he meant. He was under the impression that this was written by African American for African Americans. I guess you could take it that way but from my standpoint it isn’t the case - that like saying the only the elite rich can read Forbes 500 or only housewives can read Ladies Home Journal. To me a book about vampires is just that - a book about vampires. I could care less if they came from mars, had twelve noses or ate chocolate covered worms - they are still vampires. Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that you won’t get into this book because it centers around a certain group of people - they are after all, vampires at heart.
The Bottom Line
I’d suggest this book for anyone that gets into vampire erotica or stories that revolve around vampires; even more so for those who are into ethnic reads. I still have to laugh that I didn’t pick up on the fact that these were stories written by African American authors [I almost always skip the introduction], something that is mentioned on the back cover, inside cover and in the intro section. If you are thinking that this won’t appeal to you because of the ethnic aspects that are presented you are going to miss out on one hell of a hot read. Yes, this is a sultry collection of stories but that’s not all that it offers you; the stories are well written, are full of the authors passion and leave you wanting more. I never knew that there was such a classification of “ethnic vampire erotica” but now that I know it exists, it is something that I plan on checking out and reading more of.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
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”The Vampire’s Assistant”
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Buffy The Vampire Slayer: A Stake To The Heart
Castle Dracula: Romania's Vampire Home
Vampire Kisses
The Vampire Encyclopedia
The Vampire Companion: The Official Guide to Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles
Slayer Slang: A “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” Lexicon
The Vampire's Crypt
Recommended:
Yes
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