I just posted about these books to my ile mailing list (an ile is a household in Lucumi (Santeria). The one I belong to meets at my padrino’s (godfather’s) house). They are new additions to the bookstore at Persephone’s Haven.

I just finished the first one, Working for the Devil. The main character, Dante Valentine, is a necromancer who works with Anubis and the Egyptian pantheon. During the course of the novel she travels to Nuevo Rio, where there are many shamans practicing Santeria and Voudon. In one scene, she sees a woman has a drawn a veve (a voudon symbol) in the street. She describes how the chicken that the woman sacrifices keeps twitching after its dead, and as the blood pours onto the veve, Dante feels the rush of power flowing in. A few moments later, she sees someone resembling Baron Samedi (one of the voudon loa (spirits)) coming through the crowd, but she leaves the area after that.

I haven’t yet read the other books in the series, so I don’t know how much these traditions come into her story lines, but I was quite interested with her treatment of them in this book. If anyone else here has read any of them, please let me know what you think.

BB,

Vivienne

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The bibliography of The Science of Vampires had so many fascinating books listed that I’ve started searching for them at Amazon and uploading them according to category. I’ve just added a whole bunch to the “non-fiction: vampires” section.

I can’t vouch for all of these, because I haven’t read most of them, and they look like they come from many different view points. I have read Skal’s Monster Show, and absolutely loved it, so I’m looking forward to reading his treatments of the vampire archetype, Hollywood Gothic and Encounters with the Undead.

I found Liquid Dreams of Vampires quite interesting, and while Vampires Among Us is definitely one to be taken with a grain of salt, when it was first published I don’t think there was anything else like it, and I was happy to get it, and found it fascinating reading.

I would love to hear from anyone who has read some of the others on this list, and get your opinions. I would be happy to post any reviews you might want to write. You can leave comments on this post, or send me an email and I can upload a file.

There are several other non-fiction books from Ramsland’s list that I want to add to the AStore, but they will probably be scattered across categories, so next I will get up some of the fiction; I had more that I’ve been reading recently that I need to add, as well, so I’ll post here when I get some more of those up.

Happy reading!

BB,

Vivienne

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Through my other company, Persephone’s Haven, I have recently been able to set up my On the Care and Feeding of Spirits book as an ebook through Click Bank, and the account was just approved yesterday! Check out the home page at www.careandfeedingofspirits.com - it’s got a brief excerpt and some personal accounts that might interest everyone.

I especially wanted to make sure everyone was aware of certain offers I’m making that click bank would not allow me to include because of their policy regarding event tickets. Everyone who buys the book is eligible to participate in a FREE 2 hour teleconference on the subject; I’m limiting the conference to 20 people, but if I fill one up fast I will set up another one for the overflow. I can record these through Talk Shoe, so I will also be able to make the podcast available for free for anyone who couldn’t attend by phone, but the podcast archive will only be available to people who have purchased the book.

The second offer they wouldn’t let me post was that at the end of the teleconference I will be holding a drawing from the names of the attendees. First prize will be a FREE 10 minute tarot reading over the phone, and second prize will be a FREE On the Care and Feeding of Spirits magnet.

Buying the book will take you a download page where the book and the free bonus material (a limited time offer only available through 10/31 and 11/4) can be downloaded instantly, and there is a form there to fill out to sign up for the free enewsletter that will be used to send out the schedule for the teleconference (or to mail out the bound copies of the book for the people who want one). I also hope to use the enewsletter to post some of the stories and questions that come up during the teleconference to create an additional resource.

So, lots of new free topical stuff for Halloween/Samhain, everyone. Have a Happy Halloween, and a Blessed Samhain!

BB,

Vivienne