Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Lure of the Vampire Guest Blog with Bertena Varney

Lure of the Vampire- A Different Vampire Book

Hi Roxanne! Thank you for having me here today. I am very excited to share with your followers my new and first book, Lure of the Vampire.

Here is a little about me before I get into the book. I am a college professor who loves to read and study pop culture. My areas of study are history, sociology, and criminology. In my spare time I love to watch television and movies so you can I say I am a huge nerd! I have written on line as a journalist and completed hundreds of college papers but this is the first book that I have written.

While telling people that I have a book called Lure of the Vampire there is one question that I always get- is it a romance book. I then answer “No it’s not” and then try to explain what it is.

First, the title can be confusing for those who love the paranormal romance genre. Lure of the Vampire definitely evokes images or lust and carnal love with that sometimes beautiful of the night. But, that is not how I got the name. The name came from my master’s sociology paper, Search for the Lure of the Vampire. It was a sociological look at why people are lured to this scary and yet wondrous monster known as a vampire.

But, don’t think that Lure is a BORING academic book.. it’s not! I found while researching for my paper that there is now one total resource to get everything that you wanted in regards to websites and lists. Yes there is a wonderful 900 plus page encyclopedia but not a quick grab resource book so I decided to take the research I found plus the essays I wrote and put them into a specific order and make a book.

Here are the sections:

• Mythology – looks at where the legend of the vampire comes from

• History – discusses real life vampires or murders who were labeled as a vampire due to their bloody murder

• Literature – this section provides lists and essays on the original vampire books, ie Dracula, young adult literature, adult literature, erotica, magazines, comic books and more

• Television – lists the televisions shows that featured vampires

• Movies – focuses on the more famous and mostly American vampire moves

• Vampires for children – books, television, and movies that are safe for kids

• Vampire websites – where to go to learn more about vampires

• Real Life Vampire – very personal interviews with real life sanguine and pranic vampires

• Academic study resources- a list of those of us who have used vampires as an academic study

• Recreation – role playing games, on line games, and video games

Each section includes a mixture of essays, lists, and websites that provide more information for each section.

I did ask six author who write in specific sub genres of vampire literature such as young adult, erotica, science fiction and more.

So, if you are looking for a real life murder that was labeled as a vampire to base your new character off of.. well you can find it in LotV.

What about Transylvanian and Romanian Tours.. well they are listed too as well as different legends of mythology and a massive and unfortunately not a conclusive list of modern vampire books and websites.

What about erotic books? Would you like to know what we love the vampire and what authors provide those books? Well, you can look in LotV and find our very talented host, Roxanne there along with her website in my “Favorite Websites” in the Web section.

So, simply put Lure of the Vampire is a pop culture quick reference guide for writers, fans and pop culture enthusiasts.

I hope that you will check out my book. It is available in print at Amazon.com and via electronic forms via Kindle and Nook.

So, what is it that you want to know about the vampire? Comment below and if it isn’t LotV this time then it may make it in the second edition.

Thank you Roxanne for letting me stop by today and discuss my book. And I look forward to our blog tour next week!

~~Bertena Varney
About Bertena

Bertena Varney is from Winchester, KY and currently resides in Bowling Green, KY. She attended Morehead State University where she received the following degrees:

- B.A. in Social Science and Education - M.A. in Social Science and Education
- M.A. in Sociology and Criminology - Rank 2 Secondary Education Certification

While in college She used all of her extra essays, projects and independent study classes to study vampires in pop culture….thus the creation of Lure of the Vampire.

She has been employed as a middle and high school as well as college instructor. Here past employers include Morehead State University She has been employed Morehead State University, Eastern Kentucky University and National College and will be lecturing at Bowling Green Community College in the fall.

Currently she is planning her lecture tour schedule. In the past she has presented papers at conference such as Sirens in Vail, Colorado and The Harry Potter Witching Hour in Salem, Mass. Currently she is scheduled for ScareFest, Dance on the Dark Side and A Day of Mystical Blood Lust.

She is also planning to begin a vampirology course based upon her studies of vampires in pop culture.

Find Bertena on the web:

Facebook- http://on.fb.me/g8C0Zr

Her writing website is www.bertenavarney.com

Her vampire research website http://searchforthelure.webs.com

Twitter @tenavarney

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4837666.Bertena_Varney

To sign up for her newsletter go here. http://eepurl.com/exZYQ

Book Trailer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPMyiYjS6Y0




5 comments:

Bertena Varney said...

Thank you Roxanne.. I hope that we have a lot of questions about my book. I will be popping in and out between my classes today to say hi and answer any questions.

Welcome everyone!!!

Roxanne Rhoads said...

Thanks for joining us today and I look forward to the tour next week.

Bertena Varney said...

Thank you for having me and I am so excited for next week!

Jennifer said...

I absolutely loved this book! I'm such a Vampire-a-holic

Bertena Varney said...

Thanks Jenn.. you are my one treu fan!!

 
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