| Booktalk
#1
This could sell as horror,
but it's compassionate horror. Zoe's Mom is dying of cancer. Even getting
picked up by a handsome vampire seems tolerable in comparison. Can she
trust him not to drain all her blood? Can she do something to stop the
brutal killings happening in her town? Can she let go of Simon and her
Mom?
Booktalk #2
Have you ever been attracted to someone strange…unusual…maybe even dangerous?
Zoë was, but she's not thinking clearly. Everyone is leaving her.
Zoë’s mother is dying of cancer, her father is so concerned about
his wife that he’s forgotten his daughter, and Lorraine, her best friend,
is moving to Oregon. So Zoë sits on the park bench by herself in the
darkness, thinking of how she would be all alone soon. That’s when she
first saw Simon…a vampire…one of the undead.
“He was young, more boy than man, slight and pale, made elfin by the moon.
He noticed her and froze like a deer before the gun. They were trapped
in each other’s gaze. His eyes were dark, full of wilderness and stars.
But his face was ashen. Almost as pale as his silver hair. With a sudden
ache she realized he was beautiful. The tears that prickled her eyes broke
his bonds, and he fled, while she sat and cried for all things lost.”
Simon couldn't stop thinking about the girl and how lovely she was…dark
like the night, pale and thin. He was surprised to find himself thinking
about her, he usually didn't give food a second thought. Simon had to keep
his mind clear so his quarry wouldn’t escape…an evil fiend, disguised in
a surprising form, that killed his mother three hundred years ago and continues
to kill today. But Simon couldn't stop thinking about Zoë, and when
he sees her again she stirs feelings that he thought were long dead. Simon
wants to be with Zoë, talk to her, maybe even kiss her with the Silver
Kiss, the one that will make her his forever.
Zoë is wary when the beautiful, yet frightening Simon comes to her
house in the dead of night. But he seems to understand the pain of loneliness
and death, and Zoë’s aching thoughts of her dying mother.
So on Halloween night, after the trick-or-treaters had gone home, Zoë
opened her front door and invited the real monster to come inside.
(Patricia R. Jansen, prjusc@yahoo.com,
Graduate Student at University of South Carolina School of Library and
Information Science) |
