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Vampire Morgue
I should never have made friends with an eternal being trying to kill himself in the freezer. It wasn’t as if he could do it, he was only trying to make time go faster. My second mistake was playing vampire slayer on the beach with him. That’s when I was doomed. He is keeping me alive in his vampire morgue, waiting for the rest of him to arrive and save me.
I woke up on the gurney inside Julie’s house. The great room was lit with glowing sticks. Zavier and his friends wore glowing necklaces. Julie, unadorned, stood on a chair next to me to pack ice over my steaming, glowing torso, to stop the alien bits searing my undead body. My dying light reflected on her skin, turning her silver and gold.
My mother threw a female vampire through Julie’s glass doors, out to the deck covering the rocks. The vampire landed lightly on her feet. Shards of tempered glass spun over her head like a peacock’s tail, stained blue and green with light from her glowing necklaces.
Zavier laughed and his sycophantic friends laughed with him, even the ones who had not seen and did not care. He led the shouting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
My mother disappeared under a hail of vampire bodies. They groped her more than they fought her, but she couldn’t rise from the floor, not while they mobbed her.
Quinn appeared next to me, faded, nearly out of energy. He brushed the ice off me to straighten the pink sheet covering my body.
Zavier gave a cry of triumph at the sight of him. “Dear Calista, why does no one save you?” He snarled a threat at Quinn. “Let me bite her for you.” He held my arm outstretched for his teeth to slip easily into a vein.
“Don’t be an idiot!” Julie smacked him on the chest. “Calista has enough venom in her to change half the world to vampires.” She decorated me with his glowing necklaces, as if a glowing stomach wasn’t enough. “Don’t waste time! Go ask him, Zavier, please go,” she begged. She ran to the doors to tear them off their hinges to clear the way for the gurney.
What Julie wanted to ask the time pilot would have to wait. He had not landed. Earth still existed. I was still waiting to die.
Zavier pushed the gurney out over the broken glass. The dock jutted along a rocky point, almost to the deep. A moonless night made the stars brighter. Up on the roof glowing necklaces twinkled in ever changing clusters.
Each wooden post on the dock glowed with a circle of light. Far in the distance, an eager Julie led the way. If she wanted to trade me for something useful, I didn’t mind. The only thing she’d ever wanted was to grow and have an adult body. My dying bits rejected the idea as impossible, but hope was sometimes all anyone had to live on.
A ghostly Quinn walked beside me to guard my useless body. His tuxedo held its shape only at his shoulders. It wafted with every breeze from the bay. His weakness persuaded some of Zavier’s friends to follow us. Their dark clad figures melted into the night as they climbed the rocks alongside the dock. Only their faces and teeth reflected their glowing necklaces, like beings without bodies.
A streak of light sizzled into the dark sky with a series of sonic booms. It aimed for us, getting bigger as it neared us. The entire sky lost all its stars as the time pilot neared. Night became day, so bright it hurt my undead eyes. Everyone hid their faces from it. Only Quinn turned to stare. I had no choice but to watch, while I prayed for the safety of my planet.
I woke up on the gurney inside Julie’s house. The great room was lit with glowing sticks. Zavier and his friends wore glowing necklaces. Julie, unadorned, stood on a chair next to me to pack ice over my steaming, glowing torso, to stop the alien bits searing my undead body. My dying light reflected on her skin, turning her silver and gold.
My mother threw a female vampire through Julie’s glass doors, out to the deck covering the rocks. The vampire landed lightly on her feet. Shards of tempered glass spun over her head like a peacock’s tail, stained blue and green with light from her glowing necklaces.
Zavier laughed and his sycophantic friends laughed with him, even the ones who had not seen and did not care. He led the shouting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
My mother disappeared under a hail of vampire bodies. They groped her more than they fought her, but she couldn’t rise from the floor, not while they mobbed her.
Quinn appeared next to me, faded, nearly out of energy. He brushed the ice off me to straighten the pink sheet covering my body.
Zavier gave a cry of triumph at the sight of him. “Dear Calista, why does no one save you?” He snarled a threat at Quinn. “Let me bite her for you.” He held my arm outstretched for his teeth to slip easily into a vein.
“Don’t be an idiot!” Julie smacked him on the chest. “Calista has enough venom in her to change half the world to vampires.” She decorated me with his glowing necklaces, as if a glowing stomach wasn’t enough. “Don’t waste time! Go ask him, Zavier, please go,” she begged. She ran to the doors to tear them off their hinges to clear the way for the gurney.
What Julie wanted to ask the time pilot would have to wait. He had not landed. Earth still existed. I was still waiting to die.
Zavier pushed the gurney out over the broken glass. The dock jutted along a rocky point, almost to the deep. A moonless night made the stars brighter. Up on the roof glowing necklaces twinkled in ever changing clusters.
Each wooden post on the dock glowed with a circle of light. Far in the distance, an eager Julie led the way. If she wanted to trade me for something useful, I didn’t mind. The only thing she’d ever wanted was to grow and have an adult body. My dying bits rejected the idea as impossible, but hope was sometimes all anyone had to live on.
A ghostly Quinn walked beside me to guard my useless body. His tuxedo held its shape only at his shoulders. It wafted with every breeze from the bay. His weakness persuaded some of Zavier’s friends to follow us. Their dark clad figures melted into the night as they climbed the rocks alongside the dock. Only their faces and teeth reflected their glowing necklaces, like beings without bodies.
A streak of light sizzled into the dark sky with a series of sonic booms. It aimed for us, getting bigger as it neared us. The entire sky lost all its stars as the time pilot neared. Night became day, so bright it hurt my undead eyes. Everyone hid their faces from it. Only Quinn turned to stare. I had no choice but to watch, while I prayed for the safety of my planet.
Nook
First published May 9, 2011
About the author
Maggie Jagger
9 books9 followersMaggie Jagger was born in Yorkshire near Haworth, home of the Brontë sisters whose books inspired her with a love of historical romance. Although she’s been living in Canada for years now she can’t seem to lose her accent. She loves to surprise the reader and thinks a plot should have flashes of humor as it entwines the hero and heroine in love.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 31, 2012
**NOTE: If anyone thinks this review should be hidden for spoilers, please let me know! I don't think there are any here, but I know opinions can differ. Thanks!**
So...I was thrown for a loop. I started this book expecting a slightly dark/Gothic vampire romance. Instead I found aliens, space travel, light communication, and a cast of characters who took everything in stride.
The thing is, I had no idea how I felt about the book for about a week after I finished it. So much unexpected information took a while to absorb. But now...I think I'm kind of enamored.
Yes, the title is kind of misleading, since the "traditional" vampires are really side characters here, and I suspect more convenient than anything. They do add flavor though, and lend credibility to the main character's ready acceptance of all things "alien" ;)
The story focuses on Calista, a girl who has basically grown up with a human father, a vampire mother, and a forever-child vampire neighbor. They live in the house of her great-aunt and have inherited along with it Quinn, the beacon of an alien time pilot.
Yeah, kind of a sharp left. But bear with it :)
Calista just accepts Quinn's presence without delving too deeply into who/what he is. The same goes for her mom and neighbor. The thing that a lot of reviewers have taken issue with is the very straightforward, action-only telling of the story. But it's being told by a little girl. As a child, Calista doesn't need reasons for these strange things, and that matter-of-fact storytelling continues throughout the book. She does question more as she gets older, but her complete acceptance of the things that make up the book's premise stands firm.
Once I thought that through, I was able to really appreciate the author's idea and its execution.
Honestly, I'm not sure what you'd call this kind of story. I found it billed as a romance, but with very little detail. And now I see why :)
Descriptions of the time pilot and his interactions with other characters are fantastical, to be sure. Sensory descriptions are mixed and stirred with precise exuberance to bring to mind an extra-terrestrial being that barely fits within human understanding.
I love those colorful, sometimes confusing, but always joyful passages about his light merging and speaking and sounding. I think part of the beauty is in the chaos--this guy is meant to be god-like to us. He's made of light! He himself has a difficult time explaining what he is to Calista. We readers get as much insight as we do because we're seeing him from her point of view. And she has the distinct advantage of having some of his alien "self" inside her! So I'm definitely a champion of the daring it took to pen this kind of idea in a way that is understandable but still conveys the magnitude of the situation.
Now about Quinn: I mentioned that the time pilot is made of light, right? So he has no real corporeal form. And being a pilot, he travels. Around the universe. Big place. He leaves beacons, corporeal pieces of himself, on planets he wants to revisit. Quinn is a beacon.
The thing is (and this is part of that wonderful magnitude discussed above), while Quinn is part of the time pilot, he's also his own being. He has his own thoughts and feelings. He doesn't like being stuck on Earth, for example. But to paraphrase the time pilot, Quinn is him. He is Quinn. This isn't much of an issue until the end of the book when Quinn and the time pilot merge back to one being. But by that point I had all the information, and the only challenge was paying attention to see when it actually happened. Because remember, this is strictly the action Calista sees and is involved in. We have no insight into the other characters except for what she infers, and we only see the action immediately surrounding her. So it takes a little while for pieces of the story to come together.
And the terrestrial vampires, who are as close to traditional as you'll get here, really only come into play near the end of the book, when they swarm out of the woodwork. I won't spoil by telling their exact role, but I will say they are not modern "sexy" vampires. They're scary and animalistic. But it works in this world.
With so much going on in this book, writing the review took some time and organization. I hope it gives a clear picture of what you'll find, and tempts you to try Vampire Morgue! Now that I've finished and digested it, I have to say it's a favorite. As a somewhat experimental writer, it's so neat to see another author's take on fantastical subject matter and descriptions of the abstract. In this case, my five stars reflect my very personal feelings, and shouldn't be taken as an indication of flawless technique or universal readability. But again, that's kind of the beauty of this kind of fiction. It's really hard to rate it within traditional parameters, but it can hit you hard in the best way.
So...I was thrown for a loop. I started this book expecting a slightly dark/Gothic vampire romance. Instead I found aliens, space travel, light communication, and a cast of characters who took everything in stride.
The thing is, I had no idea how I felt about the book for about a week after I finished it. So much unexpected information took a while to absorb. But now...I think I'm kind of enamored.
Yes, the title is kind of misleading, since the "traditional" vampires are really side characters here, and I suspect more convenient than anything. They do add flavor though, and lend credibility to the main character's ready acceptance of all things "alien" ;)
The story focuses on Calista, a girl who has basically grown up with a human father, a vampire mother, and a forever-child vampire neighbor. They live in the house of her great-aunt and have inherited along with it Quinn, the beacon of an alien time pilot.
Yeah, kind of a sharp left. But bear with it :)
Calista just accepts Quinn's presence without delving too deeply into who/what he is. The same goes for her mom and neighbor. The thing that a lot of reviewers have taken issue with is the very straightforward, action-only telling of the story. But it's being told by a little girl. As a child, Calista doesn't need reasons for these strange things, and that matter-of-fact storytelling continues throughout the book. She does question more as she gets older, but her complete acceptance of the things that make up the book's premise stands firm.
Once I thought that through, I was able to really appreciate the author's idea and its execution.
Honestly, I'm not sure what you'd call this kind of story. I found it billed as a romance, but with very little detail. And now I see why :)
Descriptions of the time pilot and his interactions with other characters are fantastical, to be sure. Sensory descriptions are mixed and stirred with precise exuberance to bring to mind an extra-terrestrial being that barely fits within human understanding.
I love those colorful, sometimes confusing, but always joyful passages about his light merging and speaking and sounding. I think part of the beauty is in the chaos--this guy is meant to be god-like to us. He's made of light! He himself has a difficult time explaining what he is to Calista. We readers get as much insight as we do because we're seeing him from her point of view. And she has the distinct advantage of having some of his alien "self" inside her! So I'm definitely a champion of the daring it took to pen this kind of idea in a way that is understandable but still conveys the magnitude of the situation.
Now about Quinn: I mentioned that the time pilot is made of light, right? So he has no real corporeal form. And being a pilot, he travels. Around the universe. Big place. He leaves beacons, corporeal pieces of himself, on planets he wants to revisit. Quinn is a beacon.
The thing is (and this is part of that wonderful magnitude discussed above), while Quinn is part of the time pilot, he's also his own being. He has his own thoughts and feelings. He doesn't like being stuck on Earth, for example. But to paraphrase the time pilot, Quinn is him. He is Quinn. This isn't much of an issue until the end of the book when Quinn and the time pilot merge back to one being. But by that point I had all the information, and the only challenge was paying attention to see when it actually happened. Because remember, this is strictly the action Calista sees and is involved in. We have no insight into the other characters except for what she infers, and we only see the action immediately surrounding her. So it takes a little while for pieces of the story to come together.
And the terrestrial vampires, who are as close to traditional as you'll get here, really only come into play near the end of the book, when they swarm out of the woodwork. I won't spoil by telling their exact role, but I will say they are not modern "sexy" vampires. They're scary and animalistic. But it works in this world.
With so much going on in this book, writing the review took some time and organization. I hope it gives a clear picture of what you'll find, and tempts you to try Vampire Morgue! Now that I've finished and digested it, I have to say it's a favorite. As a somewhat experimental writer, it's so neat to see another author's take on fantastical subject matter and descriptions of the abstract. In this case, my five stars reflect my very personal feelings, and shouldn't be taken as an indication of flawless technique or universal readability. But again, that's kind of the beauty of this kind of fiction. It's really hard to rate it within traditional parameters, but it can hit you hard in the best way.
September 27, 2011
I think that this author was on LSD or some kind of mind altering drug to write something so useless. And, I so hate to write bad reviews, but this book was pure rubbish and should have never been published in the first place. Needless to say, it is not the author’s fault that I am inclined to finish a book when I start it; will be my down fall. But this book made my head hurt and literally had me wanting to pull my hair out.
Ok, so the book started off really odd; this girl name Chalista was dead. But, she can see thru her eyelids. Then the next thing you know the she is small (a school aged child) and her parents kind of leave her to fend for herself on the 1st day of school. Next thing you know, she tells the story of her family inheriting a house and a person named Quinn. Really weird, right? Next thing you know she want to play pretend "Bluffy the Vampire Slayer" with Quinn, but before they start to play; she must get her daddy's stake (yep and real wooden stake) from beside his bed. She accidentally kills Quinn (he burst into dust looking particles), well so she thought until she runs home to find him standing in the door behind her weirdo mom (who only comes out at night). Come to find out her mom is a terrestrial vampire and the dust particles from Quinn are the particles from this exterrestrial vampire time plot. What the hell is all that? I mean that is what I was f#%@* and I just became so confused. I could not find in this book the origin of the time plot and the real difference of the 2 types of vampires. O and let's not forget the space/mind sex....WTH!!!
I was as confused-Did I already say that? I just couldn’t follow the author’s train of thought and keep having to stop to see if I had missed something. She probably should have written a book about aliens and then one about vampires. Because the whole story made no sense and I can't even tell you what the plot is. So, this book is beyond my comprehension and if it was in my hands now; I would burn it!!!
Ok, so the book started off really odd; this girl name Chalista was dead. But, she can see thru her eyelids. Then the next thing you know the she is small (a school aged child) and her parents kind of leave her to fend for herself on the 1st day of school. Next thing you know, she tells the story of her family inheriting a house and a person named Quinn. Really weird, right? Next thing you know she want to play pretend "Bluffy the Vampire Slayer" with Quinn, but before they start to play; she must get her daddy's stake (yep and real wooden stake) from beside his bed. She accidentally kills Quinn (he burst into dust looking particles), well so she thought until she runs home to find him standing in the door behind her weirdo mom (who only comes out at night). Come to find out her mom is a terrestrial vampire and the dust particles from Quinn are the particles from this exterrestrial vampire time plot. What the hell is all that? I mean that is what I was f#%@* and I just became so confused. I could not find in this book the origin of the time plot and the real difference of the 2 types of vampires. O and let's not forget the space/mind sex....WTH!!!
I was as confused-Did I already say that? I just couldn’t follow the author’s train of thought and keep having to stop to see if I had missed something. She probably should have written a book about aliens and then one about vampires. Because the whole story made no sense and I can't even tell you what the plot is. So, this book is beyond my comprehension and if it was in my hands now; I would burn it!!!
February 28, 2022
Lots of Fun
I thought this book was lots of fun and easy to read! I found myself really invested in all the characters and wanting to know how their lives, or “unlives,” were going to work out.
I’m thinking the next book will be about Julie, and her search for a way to “grow up” and be an adult after 100 years of being a vampire in a child’s body! I’m definitely going to buy it!!
I thought this book was lots of fun and easy to read! I found myself really invested in all the characters and wanting to know how their lives, or “unlives,” were going to work out.
I’m thinking the next book will be about Julie, and her search for a way to “grow up” and be an adult after 100 years of being a vampire in a child’s body! I’m definitely going to buy it!!
September 23, 2019
Vampire Morgue
This was an ok book how ever I do wish the author had done more to make it more interesting.I look forward to reading more of this author's work.
This was an ok book how ever I do wish the author had done more to make it more interesting.I look forward to reading more of this author's work.
December 27, 2012
Vampire Morgue by Maggie Jagger
Calista's life changed when they moved to a new house. Her mom became quite different and they inherited Quinn. He actually had a different name but Calista renamed him. He was a rather depressed soul who lived in the freezer or the Vampire Morgue as she called it. When Calista befriends Quinn, her life changes once again. And the day she plays Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Quinn there is no turning back. Ever.
Calista also has a unique friend next door. Julie looks like a small child as she had stopped growing quite a long time ago. She has a freaky brother who is also a rock star, Calista does her best to stay away from him. Not to mention the being who is somewhere in the sky.
This is a unique and unusual story. There are vampires but not your normal everyday kind, you know the kind you usually run into while out on the town. It is paranormal with a touch of sci-fi and of course a touch of romance. The story is told completely through Calista’s eyes. It’s a fairly quick read but a complete story.
http://justjudysjumbles.blogspot.com/...
Calista's life changed when they moved to a new house. Her mom became quite different and they inherited Quinn. He actually had a different name but Calista renamed him. He was a rather depressed soul who lived in the freezer or the Vampire Morgue as she called it. When Calista befriends Quinn, her life changes once again. And the day she plays Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Quinn there is no turning back. Ever.
Calista also has a unique friend next door. Julie looks like a small child as she had stopped growing quite a long time ago. She has a freaky brother who is also a rock star, Calista does her best to stay away from him. Not to mention the being who is somewhere in the sky.
This is a unique and unusual story. There are vampires but not your normal everyday kind, you know the kind you usually run into while out on the town. It is paranormal with a touch of sci-fi and of course a touch of romance. The story is told completely through Calista’s eyes. It’s a fairly quick read but a complete story.
http://justjudysjumbles.blogspot.com/...
October 12, 2011
Honestly, I don't think it's that bad so far and I'm about halfway through. Based on the reviews, I figured it would be horrendous from the get go, but it's really not that bad. The story is a little choppy but I'm following it just fine. It's like an episode of Lost: all over the place but still making sense...kinda...
October 1, 2011
Very bizarre and confusing.
October 9, 2011
This was just too weird for me. I could not get into it.
October 16, 2011
Pretty weird. Made worse by the lack of good description and writing.
August 16, 2012
HORRIBLE
Read
January 6, 2013Selected this book in error. Decided to give it a shot and found it was not of interest to me.
January 16, 2016
This is an incredibly strange book and doesn't really make much sense at all. I basically feel that I wasted my time reading it.
December 15, 2011
stupid
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews