Vice

So, my only vice (shhhhh, in the literary sense) is that I like vampires. I own all 7 seasons of Buffy, and am contemplating using my lovely lovely employee discount to purchase the graphic novels as well. I have a complicated relationship with Twilight, which consists of me finding it terrible and hilarious most of the time, but I am also inexplicably looking forward to seeing New Moon. Sort of. Maybe?
Something I have recently discovered are the Sookie Stackhouse novels (yes, I also watched True Blood, and that was actually pretty disappointing and terrible).
BUT since Charlaine Harris isn't writing another one until May 2010 (shutupshutupshutup), I thought my addiction was on hiatus for awhile. That was when I saw A Touch of Dead (cover art pictured here by Lisa Desimini), the new collection of short stories by Harris that just came out this October. If you like the Stackhouse novels, then you may find these short stories okay, but I was sadly disappointed.
Harris seems to be going from a really great main character to being obsessed with the series' sexual politics, although since the short stories aren't really new but only collected together from other anthologies, it could reflect earlier character development and less where everyone is now. They do clear up some confusing details and bad gaps in her writing which I heartily disapproved of (a good author shouldn't leave a reader completely confused as to where several characters came from and what the hell is going on with the main action simply because she forgot to add that it's "all in the short story.") Simply put, if you want more Sookie (or Suh-keh, ala Stephen Moyer), wait until your library has it. In fact, while the stories are great, Harris herself isn't that good a writer. It's really only worth your time if you're looking to read something easy, light and fun, which I am allowing myself since I read The Revelations of Gertrude the Great at 526 pages during my senior year.
Anyway, the short stories collection wasn't worth the money even WITH my discount (even though the cover art for the different books by Lisa Desimini is FANTASTIC), but at least they were probably a step up from the giant shelf of YA vampire novels. I like to think that even in vice I have standards, or at least only make exceptions in very select cases. Eugh.
Now where were those Buffy graphic novels?