Love In Vein II

by Poppy Z. Brite (Editor)

Be warned. If you found Love in Vein too disturbingly dark, too exquisitely explicit, too deliciously erotic in the secrets it revealed -- you're going to adore Love in Vein II . Poppy Z. Brite has done it again with a provocative new collection even more dangerously seductive, more boldly erotic than her first. It is not for everyone. But it may be what you need.

Genres: Horror, Vampires, Erotica, Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Anthologies

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Poppy Z. Brite (born Melissa Ann Brite, now going by Billy Martin) is an American author born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Born a biological female, Brite has written and talked much about his gender dysphoria/gender identity issues. He self-identifies almost completely as a homosexual male rather than female, and as of 2011 has started taking testosterone injections. His male name is Billy Martin.

He lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Athens, Georgia prior to returning to New Orleans in 1993. He loves UNC basketball and is a sometime season ticket holder for the NBA, but he saves his greatest affection for his hometown football team, the New Orleans Saints.

Brite and husband Chris DeBarr, a chef, run a de facto cat rescue and have, at any given time, between fifteen and twenty cats. Photos of the various felines are available on the "Cats" page of Brite's website. They have been known to have a few dogs and perhaps a snake as well in the menagerie. They are no longer together.

During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Brite at first opted to stay at home, but he eventually abandoned New Orleans and his cats and relocated 80 miles away to his mother's home in Mississippi. He used his blog to update his fans regarding the situation, including the unknown status of his house and many of his pets, and in October 2005 became one of the first 70,000 New Orleanians to begin repopulating the city.

In the following months, Brite has been an outspoken and sometimes harsh critic of those who are leaving New Orleans for good. He was quoted in the New York Times and elsewhere as saying, in reference to those considering leaving, "If you’re ever lucky enough to belong somewhere, if a place takes you in and you take it into yourself, you don't desert it just because it can kill you. There are things more valuable than life."

Reviews

[ax · Rating 1 out of 5]

just awful… i almost gave up so many times. there are exciting moments here and there but this shit is so unbearably long and poorly written that it ruins all of them. half of the stories were neither vampiric nor erotic. even the competently written stories are just mid because they’re so boring and actively unarousing that all you really can trudge forward with is the fact that they are readable. the cute cover and the poppy z brite endorsement certainly fooled me but this is my written contract that i will never again devote this much time to reading the compendium of ways a splatterpunk dude chooses to describe lactating nipples

[Wren · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is so bad omg. Most of these stories are not actually "erotica" at all, they're just horror stories w/ sex in them, so I spent the first few wishing for more of that and then when I got it I remembered that "oh yeah, cis men write things" and it was this horrible reminder to be careful what you wish for.

The only redeeming element of this so far is the Caitlín Kiernan story, which is incredible, but even then it's near the beginning of the book so it makes the rest of it feel like a huge let-down. I've decided not to force myself to finish it.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't buy it, definitely not worth the money. Out of 18 stories, maybe 3 were ok. The rest were pretty bad. This collection was more horror than erotica and only half the stories were about traditional vampires. Far less than should have been in a collection of "vampiric erotica".


Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books...

1 star... This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end. I will avoid this author like the plague in the future.

2 stars... This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author.

3 stars... This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.

4 stars... I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.

5 stars... I loved this book! It had earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.

[Yvensong · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of these stories were far more disturbing than erotic. A couple of them I didn't bother finishing.

One thing I like about short stories is that they don't usually require much commitment. Even if they're not really good, you haven't lost that much time reading them.

There were a few stories that I did find enjoyable, Gaiman's "Snow, Glass, Apples" (a twist on fairy tales), Kiernan's "Bela's Plot" (dark), Califa's "I'm Not Well, But I'm Better" (one of the very few vampire stories in the collection), and Laymon's "First Date" (one of the other vampire stories).

[S.A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected more from this anthology. The first Love in Vein was uneven but ultimately fine as a snack.

Not so here. Neil Gaiman and Brian Hodge's stories are great but too many others limped along to weak conclusions. A few stories felt like their authors gave up on them. The anthology makes me wonder about Brite’s story-collecting skills. I’d rather read her own books that what she collects.

[Jen3n · Rating 1 out of 5]

An unimpressive collection of vampire porn masquerading as art. Comes with its own cult following who will take personal offense at any negative remarks made about the joyless, unsexy, trite, cliché vamp lovin' contained herein.

Not recommended.

[vampiresarego · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spoiler alert!!! This book is neither vampiric nor erotic!

[mars]

Starting this collection of “erotic” stories with a story about a 6 and then 12 year old girl was a choice. And not the right one

[Isaiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.

This book is also known as Twice Bitten, but the copy I had snagged from The Book Barn was Love in Vein II. I grabbed this due to my love of vampire erotica/romance and my love of Poppy Z. Brite.

So let’s start with my biggest issue about this book: What is erotica? Erotica is “literature or art intended to arouse sexual desire” (according to Google). That is the basic definition I went into when I grabbed this book. This anthology did have some erotica in it, however a great chunk of the book wasn’t even close to erotica. There were multiple stories where sex was not even mentioned, some where some hint of sexuality started (but then the man was castrated and both people were viciously killed for no good reason), and just really blah stories. I honestly expected more from Brite. All of the novels, anthologies, and chapbooks I have read that have Brite anywhere near them have been overwhelmingly amazing and have had a sexuality weaved into them so perfectly. This is the only exception.

Half of the stories were also extremely boring. That’s really all there is to that complaint. There were some that were probably supposed to be beautifully written, but they were just so slow and boring.

Another definition is needed: Vampire. What is a vampire? A vampire is “a corpse supposed, in European folklore, to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks with long pointed canine teeth” (again, thank you Google). For the sake of argument, I will include succubi in this as long as their victim is drained in a similar fashion as a vampire would drain their victims (this only adds one more story that actually has a vampire in it, but I did not want this one to be left out as it is one of the few examples of erotica in the anthology). Vampires then are not human killers who are bored, they are not goth kids, and they are not ghosts. Somehow this was also lost in this anthology is many of the stories. This surprises me more than anything else considering Brite’s work with vampires (Lost Souls anyone?).

Overall, this book was boring and disappointing. I am sorry to say that and give anything Brite has touched a low rating considering how high I regard him (yes, him. If you do not know why I am using male pronouns, then you must go check out his blog).

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of razor blades to get to the blood... Anthology purchased in VT 2018

1-Snow, Glass, Apples - Neil Gaiman
Snow White?
2-Bela's Plot - Caitlin R. Kiernan
Grisly want to see Legosi's cape
3-Armies of the Heart - Christopher Fowler
Three trapped inside a gay bar under attack
4-Whispers in Walled Tombs - O'Neil De Noux
Cops and Serial Killers
5-Ceilings and Sky - Lucy Taylor
Nigel's mother takes revenge
6-The Fly Room - TH. Metzger
College studies gone wrong
7-The Subtle Ties That Bind - David Niall Wilson
A performer, like a puppet with a master's strings
8-When Memory Fails - Roberta Lannes
Anton finds a mate after all these years, then their children?
9-The I of the Eye of the Worm - Janet Berliner and George Guthridge
SOWETO setting
10-Stigmata - Jean-Daniel Breque
Kelly is nothing without Richard
11-The Dripping of Sundered Wineskins - Brian Hodge
Three Celtic Women
12-I'm Not Well, But I'm Better - Pat Califia
Therapist gone wrong
13-Kingyo no fun - Nicholas Royle
Amsterdam
14-First Date - Richard Laymon
Movie then cemetery
15-To Have You with Me - Randy Fox
Lisa the foster child
16-Dusting the Flowers - David J Schow
Louisiana bayou will swallow it all
17-Bloodlight - Stephen Mark Raimey
Numbness
18-The Privilege of the Dead - Thomas S Roche
The Sound of Broken Glass

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. Just dont.

This collection of short stories took me 4 months to finish it. Not, as the blurb would tell you, because its disturbing dark. More so because its really quite terrible.

There was exactly one story in this collection I was interested in reading. Which was Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman and it was good, maybe not great. But good. A retelling and even darker version of Snow White from the brothers Grimm with Snow herself as a vampire and antagonist.

And then, because im a damned fool I kept reading the rest of them. And I hated almost every moment of it. At best most of the stories were 'Murder with an oral fixation' but usually it was an excuse to write something that doesnt deserve being posted outside of some extremely crappy fiction forum where you are just trying to shock the reader with poorly written body horror in the guise of a fetish. When these short stories were bad, they were really bad.

Credit where its due where most of the stories range from 'Bad' to 'Mediocre at Best' there are a few that were all three Vampire, Erotica, and Actually Really Good. But they are few. And no diamond in the rough is worth digging through the rest of this bile inducing drek.

Congratulations Love in Vein II, you have set a bar so low that I have a new benchmark for how bad something can be.

[Shaitarn · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars rounded up.

I'm guessing this book is a hangover from my younger days when I would buy UF and its near relatives, horror and PNR, pretty indiscriminately. I must have read it years ago, but didn't remember anything about it. And reading it again, I realised why: because the stories are so bland and unmemorable. And despite the title there's almost nothing erotic or vampiric in this book. 'A Collection of Horror Stories without Any Real Linking Thread or Much Quality' would've been a better title, but probably wouldn't have sold as well.

The collection opened reasonably well with a re-telling of Snow White by Neil Gaiman but then the quality didn't so much go downhill as dive off a cliff - I spent the last three days reading this anthology and already the stories are beginning to fade in my mind, which should give you an idea of how I found it. Most of these stories weren't even bad enough to dislike they were just 'meh.'

I've no idea if there's a 'Love in Vein I' - it may be I'll find it on my shelves in the near future - but I urge you not to read this book. It isn't vampiric, it isn't erotic, it isn't even particularly good. There are far better vampire anthologies out there. As for this one, it should be staked and left out for daylight.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman 2020-07-24 - I liked this twist on the Snow White tale. It is told from the "evil" queen's view.

Bela's Plot by Caitlin R. Kiernan 2020-07-25 - this was okay. I thought it had too many characters to try and follow (and two sets of people described as twins, or could be twins). I got lost on who was who and why they were in the story. Overall, it reminded me of a morale, buyer beware kind of story.

Armies of the Heart by Christopher Fowler - more a story about mob mentality than anything vampiric or erotic.

Whispers in Walled Tombs by O'Neil De Noux -It must be hard to live an immortal life, especially if you need to kill to survive. A bit of a sad story.

Ceilings and Sky by Lucy Taylor 07-30-20 this was my favorite of the stories so far. It was a little bit predictable, but I enjoyed the story of revenge.

The Fly Room by Th. Metzger 7-30-20 - disturbing on many levels, much more a true horror novel than one that involved anything erotic, unless you like licking eye balls.

The Subtle Ties that Bind by David Niall Wilson - a tale from fantasyland, and it was okay. about a stripper and a vampire - i think.

When Memory Fails by Roberta Lannes - scrapbooking for your children, before you even have children. This is a disturbing/horror tale, with a different kind of vampire.

The I of the Eye of the worm by Janet Berliner and George Guthridge - eww. I have issues with eye things anyway, and this is worms in the eye? loa loa - ick.

Stigmata by Jean-Daniel Breque - not Christian stigmata, and a cult following, and a girl who loses her boyfriend.

The Dripping of Sundered Wineskins by Brian Hodge - nice juxtaposition by the editor, as this story involves stigmata -

I'm Not Well, But I'm Better by Pat Califia - an okay story about a vampire that hunts in a revenge fashion -

Kingyo no fun by Nicholas Royle - referring to the trail of excrement a goldfish has behind them, a little bit of a disturbing story, where there is little compassion.

First Date by Richard Laymon - I do love a Laymon story. This one was okay, a little bit different, and I am still wondering exactly what those thirteen tombs really were.

To Have Your With Me by Randy Fox -a touch of Lolita, which I did not like. so meh.

Dusting the flowers by David J. Schow - Felt like this one could have been a Criminal Minds episode. I found it disturbing, but also compelling -

Bloodlight by Stephen Mark Rainey - I kept thinking of the deadlights from It and just couldn't get into this story.

The Privilege of the Dead by Thomas S. Roche - This is another revenge story, and I kept thinking of the singer as Bonnie DeVille from the Veronica Mars movie.

Many of the reviewers here on GR have said this was a terrible anthology, much more horror than erotica - I would agree that the stories were much more focused on the horror aspect of the vampire rather than the erotic side, but I did like a lot of the stories. I always like the idea of a short story collection, and usually feel disappointed, this one I am about half way between delighted and disappointed.

[Danielle Klassen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bumping it up from a 2.5 because I did think that some of these stories were pretty good and a number of them were pretty entertaining. That said, as tends to happen with any anthology, there's a lot of stories that are middling to less than great (I hesitate to say bad). One of the central issues I had with it is that it was often creative in the vampire aspect but the erotica part was sometimes lacking, if not missing entirely. There were also stories that were barely developed beyond the erotica part, which might be fine in other contexts but in this case, because it's supposed to be about vampires, I felt like it was a bit of a let down in that regard. Certainly not bad and some of the stories really do deliver on the promises on the tin but, sadly, enough don't stand up to make it something that I would revisit.

[Stephanie E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this at a used bookstore. I was expecting every story to be vampire erotica. While it is, it’s not vampiric in the typical sense; rather, every story conveys the symbolism of the vampire. There might only be a couple of stories in here that feature ACTUAL vampires.

As with all anthologies, I didn’t like every story, which is why I only gave this three stars. but the ones that were good were absolutely breathtaking and will stick with me for life.

I’ll see if I can find the first Love in Rein.

[Adam Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple of the stories were really good. The majority ranged from okay to bad. Most of the stories were neither erotic or had vampires. Honestly I suggest skipping this one. I do recommend tracking down a copy of the story “Dripping of Sundered Wineskins” by Brian Hodge, far and away my favorite story in the collection.

[Phoenix Mendoza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finally marking this as DNF because it fills me with dread every time I imagine picking it up again and there’s no reason to put myself through that misery. There are a few good ones in here but most of them are the worst male gaze drivel, nearly unreadable. I dont care that the definition of “ vampire” is interpreted loosely in most of the stories —I care that they suck.

[Kassie · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took me more than a month to finish this book. I regret every minute of it.

[Brandy Lochen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Edited by a woman, clumsily written stories by men. Unsexy linguistically, despite vampires being inherently sexy. Geraldine is my fave story, but the words the male writer uses are awful.

[Nini · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF this book, what the fuck was this fever dream. A blend of horror and an attempt at erotica. Also incest vibes.

[S.E. Martens · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't love every story in this collection. However, there were a few stand-outs for me.

My favourite stories were:

Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman - an excellent dark retelling of “Snow White.” I have read it before in other anthologies, but I didn’t mind reading it again. A wonderful point of view on the “wicked” step-mother that casts Snow White and her Prince Charming in a demonic light that fits disturbingly well with the original tale.

Ceilings and Sky by Lucy Taylor - begins with a woman riding a bus through the desert, journeying towards the mansion of a cult leader claiming to be a vampire. She is reading the diary left behind by her twenty-two year old estranged son, Nigel, who committed suicide after becoming involved with the Cult of Blood. Her journey for revenge, her empathy for what her son went through, and the awesome twist ending were all very well done.

The Dripping of Sundered Wineskins by Brian Hodge - the terrible horrors lurking under the face of Christianity (a religion ultimately decided by a committee, Hodge says) and a glimmering menagerie of monstrous, but somehow sympathetic flesh eaters and blood drinkers. Beings from the ancient world, and bloodthirsty demons given form by man. The main character himself, hanging in the balance between saint and butcher, is wonderfully complex.

[Michele Brack · Rating 5 out of 5]

#20 A book with a pun in the title

Of course I had to put something by Poppy on here. I can't go very long without reading one of his books. Plus the pun in the title just makes it so much better. I know the stories aren't really by him, but there are some good ones in here, including the story by Neil Gaiman that I read the graphic novel for last year about Snow White being a vampire. Good story.

[Wondra Vanian · Rating 1 out of 5]

For a book that claims to contain 'Tales of Vampire Erotica' I found very little in the way of either. There were maybe one or two that might fit into one category and one or two that possibly fit into the other but none that I felt were both about vampires and erotic. (Perhaps my standards are too high?) Here's a hint, sweetie: if I'm not reading it with one hand, it ain't erotica.

As you can tell, I didn't care for this book much. I did enjoy one of the stories, though, "The Dripping of Sundered Wineskins" by Brian Hodge - but not because it was about vampires or erotica; I enjoyed it because it was one of those stories that turns the Christian faith on its head and that always amuses me. And "Snow, Glass, Apples" by Neil Gaiman wasn't completely dire but it probably wasn't the best one to open with either.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

More darkly delicious vampire erotica.

Be warned. If you found Love in Vein too disturbingly dark, too exquisitely explicit, too deliciously erotic in the secrets it revealed -- you're going to adore Love in Vein II . Poppy Z. Brite has done it again with a provocative new collection even more dangerously seductive, more boldly erotic than her first. It is not for everyone. But it may be what you need.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories were good, some not so much. Some really didn't seem to involve vampires despite the title of the anthology. But I must say I bought this at the dollar store so I'm not complaining! The reason it took me so long to read was because this was my "I can't sleep and am going to read a little until I pass out book."

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A second helping of passionate bloodsucking...any collection that opens with a reprint of Neil Gaiman's "Snow, Glass, Apples," is doing something right, plus it's got writers like David J. Schow and Pat Califia.

[Cynthia · Rating 2 out of 5]

With a few exceptions, pretty forgettable stuff that isn't all that erotic and has gore in lieu of real horror.

The best ones are the Gaiman everyone mentions, "The Dripping of Sundered Wineskins," "Bela's Plot," and "Armies of the Heart."

And why is there an ad covering 25% of the typing field?

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give it less stars I would. Very few of the stories include anything that could be described as a vampire, and while many of the stories were sexual, I'd hardly call them erotic. many were downright disgusting or grotesque, as if the authors were trying their damndest to be shocking.

[Robbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

While there are a couple of good stories I have trouble seeing how many fit into either category. At times I found myself flipping forward to see how much longer I had to endure that particular story, which in my opinion is never a good sign.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun escapist smut