Do you like vampires? No, do you REALLY like vampires? This is a collection of 24 short stories, all dealing with vampires and how they have changed in modern fiction. Editor Nancy Kilpatrick is a little obsessed with vampires, and her prologue is worth reading.The vampires in this novel run the gamut from bluesy Faustian demons (Soulfinger) to not-quite-altruistic medical personnel (How Magnificent is the Universal Donor). A few of them are even smouldering-hot Byronic heroes (though none of th...

Great book. I haven't read short stories in years and usually don't have an affinity for them, but I was happy to read some vampire short stories, especially since they're about evolved vampires. There's a story type for every vampire fan. There's first person, third person, and even second person. There are men and women authors. There are male, female, senior citizen, and teen protagonists. Each story offers a new take on vampires, and I love it. My favorite is "Red Blues" by Micheal Skeet. It...

It's been awhile since I read a complete short story anthology and Evolve was a good way to get back in the saddle. The stories in this volume are definitely one-bite stories so we don't always get to know a whole lot about characters, settings, or any other story elements. Instead, you get stories that are a lot like doing shots out of unknown glasses. Some of them are fruity and fluffy and go down like candy. Others make you get your whiskey face on.These are no tired reworkings of tired old v...

The short story anthology “Evolve” was released by Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing on March 1st and is a collection of works (23 stories and 1 poem) by Canadian authors.I was anxious to read it. Anyone who knows me will be surprised by that comment because I normally avoid anything that is labelled “horror”. I have an exceptionally vivid imagination and I prefer sleep that is uninterrupted by nightmares. Hence, I approached this collection with both interest and trepidation...You can...

Some stories I enjoyed, some I didn't. There's a few clever twists on the vampire myth, but overall many of the stories are too dreary for me.

A number of good stories in here by Canadian authors.

This collection of short stories was excellent! Some that made me actually squirm and look away, (then look back because I NEEDED to know what happened), some that gave me a little bit of a giggle, some that played with traditional good guy/bad guy roles, and some that just sort of resonated like poetry. I highly recommend this collection, there was not a bad story in the bunch. And I must throw a shout out to my friend Heather, whose story "Come to Me" was both creepy and beautiful all at the s...

Vampires fans, this is a must read. Not quite what I would call an anthology, this is more like tid bits, but enough to tempt your pallet. Evolve is stuffed full of shorts that all have one thing in common, good writing about the fabulously fanged. This is great book to keep on your nightstand to grab, read a story...and then tuck in. Quick and to the point. Sometimes I would wish they were longer...so I'll probably go out and grab more books by that particular author. I was also introduced to a...

Learning Curve - Zoe is weird.

Disgusting and weird. I don't care if the vampire craze is over, I still like them, and I got excited when I found this book at a writing conference. Especially when there's stories by a few people I know in it. But this was a strange collection of stories. One was downright disgusting, most didn't make sense, and only a few were actually interesting.I don't want to give anything away, but the stories that stood out to me were:Mamma's Boy by Sandra Wickham--short and creepy, I liked it.A Murder

Anthology of what’s supposed to be 25 new generation (though a lot of the stories are about older vampires and quite a few are depressing) vampire short stories written by Canadian authors. There’s also a very comprehensive history of the vampires on TV and the movies for the introduction.I got this for the Kelley Armstrong Otherworld story 9.4 Learning Curve, but scanned a few pages of each and read what interested me. Here’s what I thought. About each. There are a few good stories.1) Let the N...

I just read Learning Curve by Kelley Armstrong so far.Learning Curve (WotO 9.4) - Kelley ArmstrongAnother Zoe Takano short story!This time Zoe Takano, Toronto's only vampire, is being followed. And she's loving it, making it into a big game and testing how smart her stalker is. 4 stars

This wasn’t my favourite collection of short stories. Maybe I’m not all that much into vampire stories, maybe because these are just the type of vampire stories that I really love. The only two tales I really loved in this were by Kelley Armstrong and Tanya Huff. They weren’t necessarily bad tales, just not ones that I was completely enthralled by.If you like the more traditional and darker aspect of vampires, I think that this is for you. Some of the stories were a little contemporary, but they...

We’ve all heard enough about vampires recently.Everyone knows they look like frumpy old ladies, overjoyed that an aging population means they fit in nowadays. Or that they keep humans penned up as food, and having sex with a human is tantamount to bestiality. Or that when a vampire slayer starts killing them off, they go right to the police.Wait, this isn’t sounding too much like Twilight or True Blood — but they’re some of the ideas introduced in the new Canadian anthology Evolve, edited by Nan...

(Originally appeared at http://sleeplessereader.blogspot.com/...)There was a time I liked vampires. Incubus, Succubus, Spike. Then it came. You know what I’m talking about. At times, I feared that I would go stark raving mad if I had to hear about or read another story with either “sparkles” or “Sookie” in it.I bought Evolve several months ago at a vendor’s table here in town. The cover art is what struck me to pick it up. The cover is stunning, capturing the “demon inside” part of the vampire m...

I read this back in college. Overall, I'd say it was ok. Being an anthology, it's no surprise I'd say it was a mixed bag. There are some really good short stories in here, but some really dreadful ones. I've critiqued many amateur short stories in college that are far superior to 1/3 of these stories.However, the overall unique style of this anthology bumps it up from a 2/5 to 3/5.

As a whole, EVOLVE delivers what it promised. Editor Nancy Kilpatrick has managed to cater to all tastes. From action to introspective monologues, from laugher to tears, from violence to love EVOLVE covers all grounds with some of the most memorable interpretations of the vampire lore and mythology that I have ever read. Yes, there are some weak links in the armor, but as a whole EVOLVE is one finely tuned mechanism, perfectly balanced between prose, plot, characters and concept. A must-read for...

I've not been able to post a proper review of Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead as I have not yet been able to finish reading it. Through this experience, I've found that shorts/essays of this type are just not enough to keep my attention. I keep "looking" for the rest of the story and/or finish each essay with a sense of disappointment that that there wasn't more.While I will attempt to complete this reading experience, I've elected to set this particular project aside for a while. I ho...

Read only Kelley Armstrong's "Learning Curve" about a non-confrontational lezzie vampire Zoe Takano (first introduced in Broken). Very short - 5 pages or so. Someone is stalking Zoe and she has to teach the stalker a lesson. I would like to know more about this stalker. Very mysterious.

This is an anthology of new stories from Canada all about vampires, that mainstay of horror literature.In the 21st century, Vampires are people, too (so to speak). They go on Oprah, they have teenage daughters (with a unique set of problems in school) and they run for public office. They are jazz and blues musicians, and they have to deal with the fathers of some of the women they have killed. Their bodies can filter out a major blood disease that is ravaging mankind. They breed humans for their...