In his chilling new supernatural novel Blood and Ice, author Robert Masello effectively uses alternating chapters spanning centuries to tell both a love story and an adventure.

Journalist Michael Wilde hopes that an assignment in the South Pole will give him a new lease in life. On a routine dive in the Antarctic Ocean, he discovers a submerged block of ice holding two captive bodies bound in chains. Beside them is a chest filled with a strange, and sinister, cargo. The block of ice begins to melt and everyone assigned to the research station must grapple with what is unleashed. As Michael unravels the mystery of the couple, his search leads from the battles of the Crimean War to the unexplained depths of the Antarctic Ocean.

This book has everything I like in a novel…romance, history, suspense, tangible characters, good pacing and an intriguing setting. I also became quite curious about Antarctica and often referred to a visually gorgeous book entitled Antarctica: Secrets of the Southern Continent "to get the facts".

Eve Olsen – Central Library

Bram Stoker really started a trend when he wrote Dracula in 1897. Who could have guessed that over the next century, vampire books would become a whole sub-genre of horror literature?  The Strain (the first book of a new trilogy) by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan is the latest entry in the field.

In recent decades, both movies and books have given us any number of new and different slants on the bloodsuckers we find so fascinating (and scary).  We’ve had comic vampires (remember Love at First Bite?) and romantic vampires (the Stephenie Meyer books). We’ve also had vampires with a yen for self-revelation (see Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice). You name it, we’ve had it. I’ve not yet run into a book about vampire space aliens, but I’m sure they’re out there somewhere.

As for The Strain, it goes back to original principles. The vampires portrayed in this book are relentlessly predatory and downright terrifying. Humans have blood and vampires drink it. Period. With the crowd of bloodsuckers in The Strain, there’s no such thing as skipping a meal.

Paradoxically though, The Strain is also a remarkably modern take on the vampire myths. The hero is a doctor who works for the Centers for Disease Control.  As a scientist, he begins with no more belief in vampires than he might have in the Tooth Fairy.  However, as a scientist, the existence of the undead becomes utterly logical to him when he discovers there’s nothing magic or supernatural involved in their creation. What is involved is a virus. Unfortunately it is a very powerful and fast acting virus. Neither Holy Water, the Cross, nor antibiotics will work against it.

The book begins with a plane full of dead passengers landing at Kennedy Airport. Only they’re not exactly dead. As this last reality becomes clear, the action spreads to the rest of the New York metropolitan area while the doctor and his associates attempt to contain what has quickly become an epidemic.

How do they deal with it? Can they deal with it? Maybe yes and maybe no. It will take two more books before the reader can know for certain.  Personally, I can’t wait for book two.

Joe McHugh – Administration Office

I must admit Robin McKinley is one my favorite authors. Most of her books can be found in the YA section and are fantastic retellings of fairy tales and other adventures. Sunshine is a dark departure for her, and a most wonderful one at that. This multi-layered, richly drawn story happens in a world that looks a lot like ours, but with some important differences. For example, people in McKinley’s setting use the Internet to search sites about demons, fairies, and vampires. Sometimes, the supernatural creatures talk back in the chat rooms.

Rae Seddons is the pastry cook at her stepdad’s diner, where she specializes in making cinnamon rolls as big as your head. Charlie, her stepdad, gave her the nickname Sunshine after watching her spend an entire winter sleeping in patches of sunlight. Narrated in her unmistakable first person voice, Sunshine is gregarious with an attitude, but definitely does not suffer fools gladly.

After a grueling, hot day at work, Sunshine decides to relax at her grandmother’s cottage beside a local lake. A nasty group of vampires kidnaps Sunshine and uses her as bait to lure a starving enemy of their own kind. Only this vampire, Constantine, seems to have a moral code and demands Sunshine tell him stories so he knows she is a rational creature. After two days of their mutual captivity, Sunshine and Con combine wits and magic to escape. Following that first, inadvertent meeting, the two main characters share a bond that leads them into strange and dangerous adventures.

One of the things I like best about Sunshine is that McKinley doesn’t sugarcoat the vampires. They are completely alien and inimical to humanity. There’s a quiet war being waged, and it’s clear that humankind does not hold many advantages. Even though Con is allied with Sunshine, he never stops being a creepy vampire. The scene where Sunshine and Con are chained together drips suspense and terror.

Unfortunately, McKinley does not write many sequels. When you get to the end of the books and want "More! Now!", you can join the rest of McKinley’s fans in their frustration. So, allow me to recommend all the rest of her novels, including two of my all-time favorites The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown.

Kristen Blount – Administration

One morning while Eric Nuzum sleepily munched his Count Chocula at breakfast, he realized he was surrounded by vampires. Not literally, of course. News stories, advertising, television shows—it seemed vampires were everywhere. Motivated by curiosity, this National Public Radio employee decided to research people’s fascination with the mythical blood sucker, resulting in The Dead Travel Fast, a very humorous research/travelogue title.

Nuzum first decided to attempt to watch every vampire movie ever made. He details how Nosferatu and Bela Lugosi’s Dracula were made, providing interesting reading for film buffs. The list also includes Samurai Vampire Bikers from Hell, Rockabilly Vampire, and Atom Age Vampire. There are a surprising number of interesting facts interspersed with the narrative, particularly about Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. Nuzum and his very skeptical wife travel to England, tracing the locations mentioned in the book. Stoker was a stickler for setting. Nuzum gives a nice background about what may have motivated Stoker to write his classic horror story, and how it’s been interpreted and reinterpreted through the years. The chapter in which he travels by tour bus through Romania to research Vlad Tepes (the “real” count Dracula, who was very pro-impalement) is the funniest travelogue I’ve read. Think you’ve had a bad family vacation? Nope. Nuzum’s travelling companions included Butch Patrick, "Eddie" from The Munsters—who spent most of his time asleep. The trip included a dog bite, an infected mosquito bite, sinking boats, an emotionally disturbed monk, and lots of vomiting. After eating a Romanian “American-style” pizza, which included fried eggs, venison and goat cheese, let’s just say things were a bit messy on the bus.

One thing missing from this book is an index. Other than reading the entire book, there’s no easy way to discover such trivia gems as the fact that Roger Daltrey (of the band The Who) acted in the 1996 celluloid stinker, Vampirella.

A caveat to potential readers: there are swear words aplenty. If reading foul language makes you uncomfortable, this book may not be your cup of tea. Or vial of AB negative…

Karen Marks – Elkridge Branch