New Release: The Complete Smoke Trilogy by Tanya Huff and A Look at Vampire TV Series

I discovered Tanya Huff several years ago when the show Blood Ties premiered on Lifetime. I quickly fell in love with Henry Fitzroy, 470 year old vampire and bastard son of Henry the 8th.

The show premiered on Lifetime in March 2007. It lasted for 2 seasons and 22 episodes. In May 2008 Lifetime declined to renew the series...which I think was a huge mistake on their part. Perhaps the show was a little darker and more paranormal than their normal shows but in November 2008 the vampire craze launched thanks to the Twilight movie being released. Vampires were hot and in demand. The show could have flourished.

But it premiered about a year too early. 

Just like Moonlight which also premiered in 2007 and was axed in May 2008. I wonder if those TV execs kicked themselves for cancelling those shows after the vampire craze amped up and all things vamp were hot sellers. 

Other series of vampire books turned into TV shows at just the right time were wildly popular. 

The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris were turned into True Blood on HBO which launched in September 2008 and lasted through August 2014.

The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith were turned into a TV series for The CW. The show premiered in September 2009 and lasted through March 2017 and produced 2 spin off series, The Originals and Legacies.

But thanks to Blood Ties being cancelled I went in search of more Henry through the Blood Books, which the show was based on. I loved them and really wish there were more.

I never got around to reading The Smoke Trilogy. A side character from the Blood Books, Tony, is the main character. 

Henry appears in the smoke books as a side character but it's just not the same. I loved the chemistry between Vicki and Henry and Vicki and Mike. The books were more intense than the TV series.

I have just started The Smoke Trilogy though, so I'm giving it more time. It's different, and that doesn't mean bad. I just need to connect to Tony and his story.

In the meantime when I'm not reading the trilogy, I think I'll pull out my DVDs of Blood Ties, try to remember how the DVD player works (it's been awhile since I used it) and re-watch the series.

About The Complete Smoke Trilogy

Now in an omnibus edition, the Lambda Award-nominated supernatural Smoke series presents contemporary fantasy with a gothic twist.

Book 1-

When Tony Foster relocated to Vancouver with his vampire Henry Fitzroy, he knew it was his chance to get his act together. In an example of art echoing life, Tony landed a job as production assistant for the syndicated TV show, Darkest Night, a series about a vampire detective. And except for his unrequited crush on the show's handsome co-star, Lee Nicholas, Tony was pretty content.

Until everything started to fall apart on the set.

It began with shadows­­--shadows where they didn't belong, that almost had an existence of their own. Tony tried to ignore it--until he found Nikki Waugh's body, and felt the shadow's touch, and a stunt crash went wrong for no discernible reason--and Tony knew that he had to find out what was threatening everyone on the set.

Book 2-

Tony Foster, a former street kid, is given a second chance by vampire Henry Fitzroy, when they both relocate to Vancouver. Tony lands a job as a production assistant for a TV show, Darkest Night, about the adventures of a vampire detective.

Everything is going fine until shadowy forces from another dimension attack the crew, and Tony discovers he’s a fledgling wizard. 

Things have been quiet on the set since the defeat of the shadows. Then Chester Bane, head of the company, rents Caulfield House, a long-deserted, turn-of-the-century mansion, to shoot an episode about a haunted house. It should be an easy week, with a perfect setting, but there’s one little hitch—Caulfield House is really haunted

Book 3-

Fledgling wizard Tony is now an assistant director on "Darkest Night," the syndicated TV series about a vampire detective. But it's hard to concentrate on the latest episode when a Demonic Convergence is allowing lesser demons entry to our world, and the sexy stuntwoman, Leah, is also an immortal Demongate whose death would open the way to unimaginable peril. Can Tony halt the Convergence, keep Leah alive, and still have a career? Or will his artistic ambitions-not to mention the rest of the world-go up in smoke?

Get Bitten During Tanya Erzen's Fanpire Blog Tour

The first thing to know about Twilight vampires is that they don’t have any bite.  Well, there is some biting, but they lack fangs, one of the mainstays of most vampires.   They also sparkle in the sun rather than risk obliteration from it.    Some of them refuse to feed off on humans out of a sense of morality.

One could argue that there’s no sexual bite in Twilight either.  Bella and Edward, the Romeo and Juliet lovers, moon at each other and exchange passionate kisses, but they are abstinent until marriage at age eighteen.   There is the constant fear that Edward, tempted by the beguiling and unusual scent of her blood, will devour Bella if he allows himself to unleash his lust.  

As if to make up for the lack of explicit sex, the vast universe of Twilight fan fiction is teeming with smut stories, a genre that envisions the relationships in Twilight as sexually explicit. In the lively world of smut or fade to black fan fiction, the authors, primarily women, pen erotic scenes between Bella and Edward. Instead of meadows and innocent kisses, there is promiscuity, sexual abuse, incest, bondage, sex addiction, and, of course, some romance.  However, in many of the smut scenarios, the authors eliminate the paranormal elements and supernatural characters altogether because to try to adhere to the Twilight canon of chivalrous vampires and burly wolves by inserting explicit sex is an oxymoron. 

Twilight emerged in the middle of a boom in paranormal romance and the proliferation of young-adult vampire literature: the number of these books published in the United States doubled between 2002 and 2004. Young-adult paranormals now dominate entire sections at Barnes and Nobles.  A large proportion of Twilight fans read other paranormal romance books such as The Vampire Diaries, Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mysteries, the Anita Blake series by Laurel Hamilton, and The Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. However, many find some of this work, particularly JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood and others, too risqué for their tastes.

In many ways, Twilight seems far removed from the tough female protagonists, vampires, kick-ass demon hunters, witches, werewolves, and shape-shifters of adult paranormal romance.  So, aside from sexy vampires and testosterone-fueled werewolves, what does Twilight share with other paranormal romance?

1. Emo Vampires:  Despite Twilight author, Stephenie Meyer’s contention never to have read paranormal romance, Edward bears a strong resemblance to the genre’s archetypical heroes.  He is supernaturally strong and emotionally vulnerable.  Unlike the pure evil of Dracula or Nosferatu, in Edward and the vampire heroes of True Blood or The Vampire Diaries, we have the twenty-first-century, therapeutic vampire boyfriend. Desperate to retain their humanity and angst-ridden about their bloodthirsty natures, these tantalizing vamps personify both danger and safety. He may be a vampire, but he’s really in essence a bad boy with a soul who is crippled by his past.  The more tortured, tormented, and damaged the hero, the more appealing he is, and the more fans sympathize with his occasional bouts of violence and possessiveness.  As Bella tells Edward in Twilight, “You’re dangerous? … But not bad. … No, I don’t believe that you’re bad.”  

2. Romeo and Juliet with a Happy Ending:  Whether vampire, troll, or demon hunter, most paranormal romances end with a perfect pairing for eternity.  In Twilight, Bella and Edward are soul mates, destined to be together forever despite the fact that he is tempted by the beguiling and unusual scent of her blood, and wrestles with his moral values and desire to attack and suck her dry.  Their interspecies romance is plagued by other obstacles as well, like Bella’s insecurities (she can never believe someone like Edward could love her) and her predilection for nearly dying on a regular basis, whether at the hands of rival vampires, a motorcycle accident, or a gang of would-be rapists.  As Edward tells Bella in New Moon, “The odds are always stacked against us. Mistake after mistake. I’ll never criticize Romeo again.”  Despite seemingly insurmountable barriers sexual attraction builds; and undying love triumphs. 

3. Hidden Powers:  Like Sookie Stackhouse in the Southern Vampire Mysteries or Beth in J.R Ward’s Dark Lover, Bella is a heroine who is unaware of the full extent of her powers and identity, until they are awakened by her meeting with a vampire lover.   In Twilight, Edward can’t read Bella’s impenetrable mind like he can everyone else’s.  Bella is utterly ordinary, almost a blank slate, until the love of Edward arouses some power within her.  Yet, unlike Sookie Stackhouse or Anita Blake, Bella is more of a damsel in distress than someone hunting and zapping evil vampires.  She is less concerned about ridding the world of evil than with Edward’s dazzling beauty. Instead of going to college, Bella becomes a wife and mother, albeit a supernatural one, at age eighteen.


4. Supernatural sex and virginal heroines:  Bella becomes a fully realized sexual being only after encountering Edward.  Like many of the women in paranormals and romance novels, she is either virginal or possesses almost no sexual experience.  Bella desires sex, but she’s never promiscuous or slutty. Sex with her true love is blissful, otherworldly, and an emotional and sensual delirium.  This is still true even when Bella’s first sexual experience leaves her bruised, battered, and pregnant with a vampire/human hybrid on their honeymoon. Sex gets even better once she becomes a vampire with preternatural sexual powers.  Supernatural creatures have supernatural sex, forever.  


After Twilight’s global success, mainstream media suddenly awoke to the fact that millions of women were reading paranormal romance and the insatiable demand for these books continues.  Paranormal romance stories are no longer a dirty secret to be hidden on an e-reader, and are in fact, one of the only thriving sectors of the publishing industry.  Twilight manages to serve up a PG version of paranormal romance, now duplicated by dozens of copycat YA series, with the same hearty doses of lust, romance and soul mates.  Twilight’s downside is that the reader gets all the anticipation without any sex as a reward.

An author immerses herself in the frenzied fandom of Twilight, the young-adult vampire romance series that has captivated women of all ages

 Why have the Twilight saga’s representations of romance and relationships enchanted millions of fans and generated millions in revenue, selling everything from Barbie-type dolls to blockbuster films? Tanya Erzen—herself no stranger to the allure of the series—explores the phenomenon of Twilight, books and films influenced by conservative Mormon religious ideas, by immersing herself in the vibrant and diverse subculture of “Twi-hards” to understand why so many love the series (sometimes in spite of themselves). She attends Edward-addiction groups, Twi-rock concerts, and fan conventions, and looks at the vast world of online fandom that Twilight has generated. Part journalistic investigation and part cultural analysis, Fanpire will appeal to obsessed fans and haters alike.

Check out a couple other stops on the tour:

Bitch Flicks www.btchflcks.com and 
Everyday Sociology http://www.everydaysociologyblog.com

Review of Eclipse

I think Eclipse is the best Twilight movie so far.

Some people claim that Bella was overshadowed and we didn't get to feel her emotions but really when have we? (sorry, snark)

To me even though Bella is the main character she doesn't shine as bright as the others. Of course I am distracted by the beautiful men in the movies.

In Twilight we got to see and feel a lot from Bella I suppose. In New Moon it was all about her whining about Edward being gone but to me it was all glossed over and didn't "feel" like it should. Eclipse brought a lot of emotion back into the story while still giving us action.

Could it have been more touchy feely- probably but then people might squirm. Sure emotion in the books may be OK but put all that on the screen and...well the guys might definitely run screaming from the theater :-)

I liked Eclipse because it touched deeper on the story than New Moon did and for the most part stayed true to the books.

I really loved the interaction between Edward and Jacob- it wowed me. Edward looked properly pained all the time especially when Jacob was around but he didn't try to tear Jacob apart either. Not even after Jacob tried to stake a claim on Bella or when Bella forced her hand to keep Jacob from doing something stupid.

The tent scene and what happened after...hmmm priceless.

Put me in a tent with a hot werewolf and a sexy vampire- I won't be sleeping and I sure as hell won't be cold. (I know I know shame on me :)

Back to the movie- the tent scene was awesome. I felt Edward's pain and Jacob's triumph. Then the conversation between Edward and Jacob was a little humorous but very touching. It really grabbed me.

Anyway the movie was great, I recommend it. I plan to see it again and the DVD will be a definite add on to my collection.