Tag: vampires

Glowing Review from Marguerite Labbe

On By Michel McDonaldIn Autobiography, BooksLeave a comment

I woke up this morning and immediately turned on my computer so I could check my email while I ate my breakfast and I came across an email from my favorite author Marguerite Labbe.  She posted a review of my book on her blog and I was so beyond excited because I wasn’t sure how people would feel about reading my book, but apparently it’s good.

Marguerite Labbe is an award-winning M/M author.  She wrote those gay vampire books that I love so much starting with  “My Heart Is Within You.”  I really love to read supernatural fiction, especially when they have vampires, ESPECIALLY when they are gay vampires lol.  She really knows how to capture the raw sexuality of two hot gay men better than I have ever even experienced.  Let’s just say that I had to take several bathroom breaks when I read her book.

MargueriteLabbe.com: Diary of a Gay Nerd by Michel McDonald

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Diary of a Gay Nerd by Michel McDonald

“I’ve had a hard time putting into words how I felt when I read Michel’s memoir.  Many parts struck a chord in me from my own childhood, though I was far luckier than Michel was and I didn’t have the added alienation of being gay.  I’ve known Michel for several years now, ever since he picked up my vampire trilogy and we started talking.  In that time, I’ve found him to be a very kind, passionate and determined man.  After reading his memoir I have to add brave to that as well and not just for what he endured and overcame.  To be able to write something like this, with such unflinching honesty, takes a rare kind of person.  Michel doesn’t gloss over his own mistakes, but puts them out there just as baldly as the abuse he went through.

“I am honored to know such a man and call him my friend.”

How awesome is that?  When I first read her book after buying it from Rainbow eBooks, I knew I had to find her on Twitter and tweet her telling her how awesome her book was.  I was surprised that she responded, but equally surprised that she continued talking to me through Twitter.  We have been talking ever since.  I think Twitter is one of the most amazing online services ever invented.

Thank you Marguerite Labbe for writing this review.  I have added it to the Barnes & Noble website btw.

Noisy Neighbors

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

UGH! My neighbor has been cutting all the branches off of his tree right outside my bedroom window which makes it 100% impossible for me to concentrate on anything today. He’s been at it for the last 2 hours and he’s only maybe halfway done, he has 2 trees and one of them so far is just a stub now lol. It only has a few branches on it and it looks so funny. Darrin says that your supposed to do that to that type of tree this time of year. So far 1 down 1 to go.

So since I can’t read I thought maybe I might watch a movie, I rented Cirque du Freak from the Red Box at the grocery store so I’ll be enjoying that for now. I wanted to wait until I’ve readall the books first but since I can’t read right now and I kind of want my fix, I’m going to watch it.

I think watching it will help me put a voice to all the names in the book because when I first started reading the first book yesterday, when it came to the vampire, I had a typical Transylvanian Dracula voice in my head complete with accent. As if all vampires talk like him. I remembered who played that role so then I pictured him as the vampire but I kind of forgot his voice so I made one up to what I think I remember how he sounds.

Anyway, he’s starting his machine up again so I’m going to start mine… my DVD machine that is.  Volume cranked all the way up to drown out his noise.

Our Sacred Balance (eBook)

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Gay, Kindle, NookLeave a comment

I am sad to say that I finished reading Our Sacred Balance. I’m sad because it is the final book in the Triquetra Trilogy. I guess all good things have to come to an end, this being my first gay e-book series I was hoping it would last longer. It did take me 3 months to read since I read 1 book each month so that’s something I suppose.

I wouldn’t want to give anything away but here is the synopsis according to the Rainbow eBooks website:

“Lovers Kristair and Jacob believe they’re done with the supernatural and on the road to a new life. But the supernatural isn’t done with them. A stalker is targeting vampires, tearing them from their sanctuaries and leaving them to burn in the sun, and when the vampires of Pittsburgh call upon the ancient Kristair, he cannot refuse them aid despite Jacob’s objections.

While their quest becomes more dangerous, tempers flare when Jacob tries to make Kristair understand the limitations of being human again. As they struggle to reach a balance between them, the other vampires become restless, eager to find the person responsible for the deaths of their own so they can vent their rage.

But the enemy is closer than they ever imagined and carries a personal grudge against them. Their mental link gone and spiritual strength halved, Jacob and Kristair must conquer Kristair’s newfound helplessness and learn to communicate with each other before their enemy destroys everything they’ve fought so hard to win.”

There is so much more to the story that I don’t want to give away but let me just say that it is very dramatic and interesting. That’s what I love about books, they have so many twists and turns and you never know what’s going to happen next. And this one had some twists that you will not expect.

Marguerite Labbe is my favorite author of gay ebooks forever. Not just because her books were the first gay books that I read but also because she really knows how to excite a person with her writing and I’m not just talking about the drama in the book.

If you like gay vampire novels then this trilogy is for you. Start with My Heart is Within You over at the Rainbow eBooks website. I looked and it’s not available in the Nook store. If you have a Kindle you can get it in Kindle format from the Kindle store. Amazon also has it in paperback format so if you don’t have an e-book reader then you can still buy it.

The Gates 2 Hour Season Finale

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

Tonight was the 2 hour season finale of The Gates on ABC.

Wow, all I can say is what a shocker. They gave us a huge plot twist right at the very end with a gigantic cliff hanger until next June when hopefully it returns.

You know it’s too bad it was a summer only show because I can certainly see this being a fall to end of spring show with 24 episodes. It was that good of a show.

Let’s see, what all did The Gates have? Vampires, werewolves, sucubus, witch, and whatever that woman at the police station was without a heart. I thought she was a vampire all this time when she admitted to being “special”. I had no idea that her heart was in that box. And now what is the son? Is he a zombie now? Why does he all of a sudden have power and glowing eyes?

You know when Devan said she had to kill him to bring him back, I had a strange feeling that he would not come back right. I kept thinking that he’s gotta come back as a zombie or something. You can’t just bring a dead person back to life and not have a consequence. If I learned anything from Charmed is that every spell comes with a price.

And they were going to move, HA! Now they can’t because they have to keep their “special” son in the Gates to protect him and everyone else in the world. Now they’re stuck forever in the Gates.

You know I’ve been watching this show all summer and I still have trouble with their names. I know these names. Devan the witch, Dylan and Claire the vampires. That’s it lol. I had to go to IMDB to verify that those are those people’s names and it is.

If this were a fall to end of spring show instead of a summer only show I would have all the names memorized by the end of the season instead of only knowing 3 names lol.

Anyway, it was a very good show and I can’t wait for its return, if it does return. I hope it returns, they can’t leave me with this huge cliffhanger and not return next year.

Haunted By Your Soul by Marguerite Labbe

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Gay, NookLeave a comment

I just finished the book Haunted by Your Soul today which is the sequel to My Heart is Within You by Marguerite Labbe.

The first book is about this ancient vampire named Kristair who is looking for a vessel. He finds Jacob at a football game and stalks him for months before getting the courage to meet him. Although Jacob knew what game was being played and he played along wanting Kristair just as much.

At the end of My Heart is Within You, Kristair dies. In this sequel he has ascended but that doesn’t stop him from wanting to be with Jacob. He finds a way to be with him even though he is a ghost.

These 2 novels have been my very first gay novels that I have ever read and I just loved them. They were heavy on the sex scenes in both books (yes, a spirit and a human found a way lol) and I was just fine with it.

What’s funny is that the author is a married woman with a son. You would never think that a straight married woman would have those gay sexual thoughts in her head but there you have it.  I was aroused by a straight woman.  Be lucky because that is the first and last time you will ever hear me say that.

What drew me to these books out of the hundreds or thousands of gay e-books out there was one word.  Vampire.  My main search was Vampire because I’ve always wanted to read a gay vampire story and this was perfect.

The way Mrs. Labbe writes her version of vampires was perfect for me.  I love vampires and what makes me love them is that every writer adds something new to the vampire mythology which keeps me on my toes because I never know what new rule will apply.  In her vision, ancient vampires have some special powers like walking through walls and mental telepathy despite the distance, magic heart, memory and soul transplants.  You name it, this vampire can do it.  It also gives younglings the ability to do their own tricks like disappear completely from view.

I won’t reveal to anyone how this one ends, you’ll have to see for yourself.  I will be buying the final book in the trilogy the first week of October and reading it towards the end of the first week once I’ve finished reading the 2nd Sookie Stackhouse novel.

The final book is called Our Sacred Balance which from what I understand, Kristair is now human.  No longer a vampire he has no way of defending himself since he doesn’t have the super powers he had in the first novel and all the power he had given to Jacob is all but gone.  The vampires are after these two helpless humans.  I can’t wait to find out what happens in the conclusion of that story.  For some odd reason I wish that it wasn’t the last of their story.  I wish it wasn’t a trilogy at all.

Shocking Gates Drama

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

I love this new show The Gates on ABC. It’s about a rich community that all live in the safety of “The Gates” with round the clock security. They have their own schools, their own shops, their own police station. Nobody gets into the gates unless they live there.

What’s different is that there are supernatural beings living within the gates. Vampires, Werewolves and even a Succubus.

In last nights episode, the main vampire couple Dylan and his wife Claire deal with the kidnapping of their daughter Emily. But we find out in the episode how they adopted her. Claire it turns out killed her parents but then discovered after the fact that they had a baby sleeping upstairs.

Instead of leaving the baby in the house until the parents are discovered so that she can grow up with her next of kin, they take her. They justify it by saying that they thought that the parents (who were both on drugs at the time that she killed them) were scum and nobody would care about them.

Nick the vampire who kidnapped Emily, brought her to the same house she was taken from to stay with her aunt and uncle who have been searching for her for the last 8 years and it turns out her birth name is Piper.

The moral question is, when Claire and Dylan finally figured it all out and went to the house to get her back, should they have taken her away from her true family? I mean sure, when they kidnapped her they legally adopted her, probably from vampires no doubt but should that adoption have continued? Shouldn’t they have done the right thing and say “look, we know what we did was wrong and we know that she should spend the rest of her childhood with her true family”?

With all these child abductions and child murders in the news lately, I think that the answer is they should have surrendered her to her legal family. The reality of it is, the only way they are going to continue living as docile vampires is if they keep Emily. If they lost her they would go back to their old ways of killing people. And even though it’s wrong for them to keep Emily, they need Emily more than she needs them.

I can’t condone their actions but it is however just a tv show. In real life they would’ve been expected to give her up, as they should have in the show.

I wonder what Nancy Grace thinks of all of this.

True Blood on Twitter

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Kindle, TV, TwitterLeave a comment

You know, I’ve been a fan of Vampires my entire life, anything supernatural actually. I make it a point to watch any movie or tv show that has vampires, witches, werewolves and anything else that is supernatural.

When True Blood came on HBO I was psyched that I had HBO to watch it on lol. But mainly I was just psyched because it was a new vampire show.

I’ve only recently discovered the awesomeness of even though I’ve been on Twitter for a couple of years now. Since I started following Sam Merlotte on Twitter I noticed that he was role-playing. I started following another True Blood character that he mentioned and notice that person was role-playing too.

Thanks to Sookie Stackhouse, I discovered there is a website with all the True Blood character twitter names. “You can find all of us here: http://tweepml.org/?t=460087 #TrueBlood”. Go there and follow them all.

I also created and then some. If you check out that list you can see that the characters are actually tweeting each other. It’s like watching the show but all text, no visual. It’s sort of like reading a book.

I love the role-playing, it’s the best way to get my True Blood fix during the week. Since there are only 3 more episodes it will be interesting to see if they continue to role-play after the season is over until the next season.

I have not started reading the Sookie Stackhouse books yet but I will be buying the 8 book boxed set soon. I was hoping that it would be the first book(s) I bought on a Kindle that I plan to buy in the next month or 2 but considering the Kindle version is $55 and the actual paper book version is $35, I might just buy the paper book version instead.

Well, back to the drama on Twitter.

Rainbow eBooks – My Heart is Within You

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Gay, NookLeave a comment

I said that I would buy a book from Rainbow eBooks on August 3rd and I did just that. The book that I chose was a vampire novel because I love vampires and since this website sells gay ebooks then I get the best of both worlds, a gay vampire story. “My Heart is Within You” is part 1 in a 3 part series called the Triquetra Trilogy.

It took me a week to read it because I could only read a few chapters every day. The reason is that I had to read the e-book on my computer via Mobi pocket Reader. If I had an e-book reader then I probably would’ve finished a lot sooner but my eyes can only take staring at the computer for so long.

I loved this book. It was a bit strange at first because every chapter was through the eyes (or mind) of a different person. Well, the 2 main characters anyway. The first chapter was Kristair (the vampire) and the second chapter was Jacob. When I started reading chapter 2 I was very confused because I wasn’t expecting the book to be on Jacob. After the 3rd chapter when I was back on Kristair I knew that it was going to be this way throughout the rest of the novel and I learned to adapt.

It is listed under gay, fiction, romance, fantasy and horror. I would have to say that if you are a gay man who loves Vampires, this book is for you.

Every vampire story ever told seems to be different and this is no exception. In Twilight the vampires skin sparkles in the sunlight and they don’t burst into flame for some odd reason. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and Angel) the vampires burst into ash when they get killed. Just as any vampire novel, they need blood and this was no different.

The main character, Kristair, who is an ancient vampire can do things that not a lot of vampires can do such as being able to walk through walls and communicating with their vessels (Jacob) with their minds. He also passed along a lot of abilities to Jacob when he gave him his heart (hence the title) such as being able to heal right away after being bitten and evidently his blood must regenerate too because he doesn’t die from lack of blood. Jacob also has a lot more strength than most humans do because of these new abilities.

Unfortunately the end of this novel came to a grave ending with the death of Kristair. This isn’t the end of the story though, it’s just the beginning. There are 2 more books, Haunted By Your Soul is the 2nd book and Our Sacred Balance is the 3rd and final book.

I won’t be able to get the 2nd book right away because I have some other books in line but I will buy it in September. I’m doing that to give my eyes a rest from the LCD screen. I would much rather read natural paper or an e-ink screen.

True Blood

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

Wow, this show is a roller coaster ride.  Every time I watch it I’m like whoa.

In season 1 when grams died I was in shock.  I just wasn’t expecting them to kill her off and so soon in the show too.  Then it just seemed like every episode I was left with whoa, that happened didn’t it?

Season 2 is the same.  It’s like they have this formula that just works and you can’t escape it.  It’s as though the creators of this show have glamoured me just like a vampire can glamor people.

Now Sookie has a new power with her hands but it has only worked on Mary Ann so far.  She didn’t even know she had this and perhaps it’s because she didn’t need to know she had it because it only works on 1 person which is the demon Mary Ann.  Actually she needs to know how to control it so it would’ve been good for her to know she had it so she could figure out how to use it.  Although if it only works on Mary Ann then she wouldn’t be able to practice but when she does need it I’m sure she will be able to figure it out on the spot.  Trial and error I guess.

Boy has Sookie missed some shit up in her crib while she was gone in Texas.  If she stayed she would’ve probably been killed because Mary Ann probably wouldn’t have been able to glamor her.

I would like to know where all the Bon Temps vampires are and why they didn’t contact their sheriff Eric to tell him that some shit’s goin’ down lol.  I know Bill isn’t the only one in Bon Temps.

Well, I love the show and I hate that they only have 12 episodes.  Too bad they don’t have a regular season at the same time as all the network channels do from September/October to May.  24 episodes per season would be awesome lol.  I think it would be neat to have a Halloween and Christmas episode don’t you?

True Blood on HBO

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

True Blood was a nice addition to the vampire world.  However, I’m not sure I like the direction they are going.  Last week at the end of the episode I was just pissed off that they killed Sookie’s grandmother.  Her character gave the show real southern charm.  I thought she was a great character because even though she was an older woman she wasn’t prejudice against the vampires like all the other people her or near her age.  And her curiosity for vampires is what got her killed.

I still like the show, I’m just a little upset right now.  Every time I see something bad happen to a main character I think it’s a dream or a prediction but then they don’t wake up and it’s real.  I hope they don’t kill too many more main characters cause the cast is dwindling down very fast lol.