Vampires

Issaquah, Washington, USA 1951

My name is Norma Mae Rollins. I’m fourteen and an illegal vampire. I miss my mom, but new ghoulish appetites force me to remain with my creator.

Bill didn’t mean to transform me. At least, that’s what he claims. His frightening temper, relentless lies, and morbid scientific experiments makes it hard to know what to believe. However, someone snitched about Bill’s experiments to a nearby Coven. Now both of our corpses will burn.

Bill won’t run. He is curious what happens to a vampire after final death. I don’t want to die again. It hurt so much the first time. Bill thinks his vampire boyfriend might shelter me. I must brave an eternal existence with elder vampires and other monsters who don’t think I ought to exist. Oh and figure out who I am allowed to eat. A vampire’s reality is nothing like the movies.

Author Elizabeth Guizzetti

Guizzetti is an illustrator and author best known for her demon-poodle based comedy, Out for Souls & Cookies. She is also the creator of Faminelands and Lure and collaborated with authors on several projects including A is for Apex and The Prince of Artemis V.

To explore a different aspect of her creativity, she writes science fiction and fantasy. Her debut novel, Other Systems, was a 2015 Finalist for the Canopus Award for excellence in Interstellar Fiction. Her short work has appeared in anthologies such as Wee Folk and The Wise and Beyond the Hedge. She loves vampires and after writing Immortal House, she has written several other vampire stories in the same universe. Guizzetti lives in Seattle with her husband and two dogs. When not writing or illustrating, she loves hiking and birdwatching.

5 STARS

I love the Paper Flower Consortium Universe. The stories are rich with its coven’s backstories. This one tells the tale of fourteen-year-old Norma Mae Rollins. Guizzetti does a fabulous job growing the relationship between Norma and her bloodline progenitor Derrik. A tender, funny struggle between a teen and her “grandfather”. Trusting someone after a trauma—whether human or a vampire—can be difficult and yet rewarding. I enjoyed the smooth transitions between Norma’s diary entries and the coven’s dictations and memoires. Well done.

Accidents Among Vampires Or What Would Dracula Do?

I’m on a reading binge while I let my story simmer before starting another round of edits. I downloaded Immortal House by Elizabeth Guizzetti a while ago. Yesterday, the cover jumped out at me as I scrolled through my Kindle books.

BLURB

Laurence Roch might be the worst vampire in Seattle. He adores peppermint mochas. He follows the Seahawks and Mariners religiously. He never wears black or sleeps in a coffin. However, coffin or not, a vampire needs a safe place to rest their head, or they will go insane.

After his mortal love dies, Laurence finds himself alone and without a home. With a booming tech industry, the city’s population keeps growing. The hunting is good, but affordable real estate is hard to find.

REVIEW

5 STARS

I enjoyed this amusing tale of a vampire searching for his forever home. I thought Laurence Roch was an interesting likable character with a rich backstory. This was a fast read that I set aside just long enough to refill my coffee mug. I liked the secondary characters a well and wanted to know more about them. Their stories by Elizabeth Guizzetti are also set in the Paper Flower Consortium Universe. I look forward to reading those too.