Review: Hugo the Vampire - Bloody Kingdom by Gabriel Arruda Burani

** May contain spoilers of Hugo the Vampire - Lights on Dark Ages **

Well, it's always a pleasure to write a positive review for a book written by an author we love.

Last year, around August, I reviewed Hugo, the Vampire - Lights on Dark Ages and, despite some details - very short book, very heavy - I believe I made it clear that I liked it a lot. But now I can clearly say Bloody Kingdom overcomes it's predecessor on all points.

Starting on the "too short" factor. Bloody Kingdom is over 200 pages. Following with "too heavy", as the first book was short, it ended up having too much information on every line and getting heavy, hard to read, while Bloody Kingdom is much better on that issue, the author managed to extend just enough to explain what's necessary, no stolling, but not having "too much information at once".

We have, again, Hugo. But most characters are given as dead or at the end of "Light on the Dark Ages" or right at the beggining of Bloody Kingdom. Hemillia, the vampire, baroness, still shows up on this book and some other characters, but the most interesting adition is Sarah of Lyzonn - a female characte, but with attitude and authority like any other man on the story.

It's clear the writer's evolution and I'm glad to follow and help it, because Gabriel sent me a manustcript, actually, guys, I felt so important that way, receiving the book before everyone else ;) Both on the text construction and the plot evolution and time passages you see an incredible improvement.

The story talks about Hugo, after Hegon's death (see, spoiler), ruling as king. He rules with harmony, love and justice, but other people drag him to war and it's that war the book talks about the most. The battle descriptions are very well done, bloody enough and exciting without dragging for pages and pages with armies descriptions. Some questions about Hugo's family are answered, some aren't but we get to know more of the reality, geography and life of Beznã-Ateriza, we know more of Hugo, his wishes and personality... And his weaknesses.

The book is almost a "part 1", it ends with a hook, with no proper ending and drives me insane for the next one - and that is the major issue with reading things even before publishing, if, between the publishing of one and the other you wait several months in agony, imagine if you read it months before it gets published?

Stay tuned, those of you who haven't read Hugo, Lights on the Dark Ages, keep your eyes open, we're looking into ways of taking it the international ways ;)  I'll let you know.

Brazilian Thursday (on a Friday) - Interview w/ Eduardo Spohr

Sorry, my thursday was chaotic, so I'm posting on Friday. I present you, an interview with Eduardo Spohr, author of "The Battle of The Apocalypse" (A Batalha do Apocalipse)


May – First of all, seeing recent news  (at the time of the interview of course), I wanted to know how do you feel having your book among the top sellers of one of the most considered brazilian indexes?

Eduardo Spohr: It's a complete surprise. I never thought such a thing would happen. All I hope is that this opens space for new fantasy authors.

May –  We'd like to know something about your childhood. You always wanted to be a writer? Did your family incentive you? You used to read, when younger?

Eduardo Spohr: Not exactly a writer. I always wanted to tell stories. I wrote my first comic when I was 6. I wanted to express myself through drawings, but I was always bad at it, so I ended up shifting to another way - literature. I'm no poet, just a storyteller who uses books to tell them.

I didn't use to read when I was a child. Back then, everything got to me by the movies and TV. I started liking literature around my teen years, because of RPG.

May – I read that it took you around 2 years to finish "The Battle of the Apocalypse", but did the idea of it started developing previously, befor you started writing, or was it something of the moment, you started writing and it started flowing?

Eduardo Spohr: I had many of those ideas since the late 90's, but it was only when I stopped and wrote it down that I managed to, finally, build a structure.

May – Are you updated with the national and worldwide literature scenary? What do you think about today's bestsellers compared to a few years back (the pre-Harry Potter and pre-YA books era)?

Eduardo Spohr: I think each time has it's tendencies. Today we have an explosion of fantastic literature and personally I think this comes from the movies that, with the special effects, are managing, more than ever, to show and give life to these fantasy "worlds".

May – Some authors can only write by hand, some require total silence and some like music while they write. Do you have any kind of environment or "ritual" that helps you release your creativity?

Eduardo Spohr: I write on the computer, no music, withas much focus as possible. I think the only "ritual" that I have is to write during the day. I have an ordinary work routine, 8 hours a day, and it helps me with discipline. I would never be able to work by night, sleepy, fueled with coffee and tobbacco. I need to be rested to actually work.

May – To sell the first thousands of copies, you had help from your friends and a major portal/blog on the web. What do you think it's the hardest part to a writer that chooses a more web-linked strategy (also, a cheaper strategy)?

Eduardo Spohr: I think the web must be seen as an entry door to publishers. We must take the web's visibility to push a start on the work,  communicate with the audience and create a "buzz" to catch a publishers' eye. I don't see any hard parts in that. But, as I said, it must be seen as a path.

May – Is any character a portrait of someone you know or have known or do all characters bare some characteristics of people you have known?

Eduardo Spohr: Almost all characters were based off of real peoeple, with a few changes, of course. I see artists in general as observers of the world and human beings. People are their raw matterials.

May – Have you had any problem with extreme religious peope complaining about the book/the story?

Eduardo Spohr: Only those that didn't read it. All religious people that read it through to the end, understood the proposal of the romance, that's to be a fantasy, fiction work.

May – Have you ever considered to give up? Why didn't you?                   

Eduardo Spohr: I never considered giving up, but it's interesting that many people ask me about it. I guess it's an ordinary thing. I see many talented people around there, but talent's not enough. You need to be determined to finish what you start.

May – Do you have other books, with other themes, planned? Can you tell us what it is about? (let's not talk about sequels or not, no spoilers, right?)

Eduardo Spohr: My next book is already ready. There's nothing to do with The Battle of the Apocalypse, but a third, that I'm writing right now, is set within the angels' universe. We're still talking release dates, but it shouldn't hapen in 2010.

May –  Any messages to our readers out there, nerds and non-nerds around, and for the aspiring readers who are excited and got their hopes up with your success?

Eduardo Spohr: I think a good tip is what I said before: using the power of the web to advertise your work and make it happen. ;)

Quick questions

A favorite book: 1984 (George Orwell)
A singer/band: The Beatles
A place you'd like to visit: The Holy Land
A book you still didn't read: All of Asimov's work which I didn't read yet.
A twitter you like: @jovemnerd
TV series you like watching: Battlestar Galactica

Interview originally published on Sobre Livros

Brazilian Thursday - Esmera by A. P. Ribeiro

Hihi!
I'm really excited that my Crescendo ARC just got here yesterday and I am already past half of the book, so I will just leave you with a brazilian book review.

ESMERA - A.P. RIBEIRO

It's been a while since I read a fantasy book so passionate, but with no romance. Because romance's been becoming kind of cliche, everyone has a perfect love, a doubtless love, a hurtful passion, it kind of gets in my nerves.

Esmera is about a person's love to their friends and family, both blood family as love family. It's passionate and I almost set out screaming "For Esmera!"

And also... I need a sequel. I cry, ask and beg! We can't leave the story to end like that, that's no ending!

Ok, to the book! Esmera is a book by A. P. Ribeiro, a brazilian author, and it's about an orphan, Annie (Anika) who finds out she's the princess descendant of a kingdom at a parallel universe, ruled by her uncle, an extremelly violent and tyran emperor.

As we go through the pages, we're introduced to this world and the friends Anika makes in that world - and to her enemies  too. The world is fascinating and has the potential to be a Middle-Earth (Tolkien), but it needs, well, many more pages!

The book is short, only 168 pages (by the way, if you're like me and likes to read the final page before starting the book, trust me, DON'T!!), but it's captivating and heartwarming, you laugh and cry every turn of the situation and the author can juggle the point of view os several characters, changing often, so we can understand the whole story and it's consequences.

The characters shift, change and evolve during the book, some emotions blossom, as I said before, there is no specific romantic love, but you can feel the emotion between some of the characters and you know there is some sort of romance there (get it why I need a sequel?)

After all that, do I still have to say I adored it? I loved it! But, I'll say it again - it could be longer. Could be much longer, actually, when I put my hands on a sequel, that's when I'll be calmer. I need more! More Anika, more Erick, more Dante, more Iriard, more Katerine and, above all, more Pietro. Even more Abigor and Ariana - Abigor for something obvious (no spoilers!) and Ariana because, well, because she has an interesting personality and very little was talked about that in the book.

Summing up, it's a wonderful book, by a brazilian author with much pottential to, at least, one sequel. Read it, it's worth it!

Brazilian Thursday - André Vianco

Hey people! Sorry for not writing this week, it seems like I barely had time to eat, let alone blog...
But I couldn't let Brazilian Thursday down! So instead of reading my book (which, by the way, I'm dying to finish and tell you all about it) I'm using my lunch hour to blog :)

I'm here today to talk about André Vianco. He was basically the first brazilian author to be a major hit on brazilian bookstores (not counting on Paulo Coelho, who is considered self help and philosophy, mostly) and, more than anything, with a lovely vampire story. Lovely in a scary-vampire-killing-people sort of way, of course.

It was back in 2002, way before the whole sparkly vampires wave (nothing against them, I actually kind of like the romantic vampire thing, but I really wouldn't want some authors mentioned as "part of the vampire hype"), he released a book called "The Seven" (Os Sete), about seven Portuguese vampires (from Portugal, you know) who were trapped and sealed into wooden caskets and sent to Brazil. Sending trash to Brazil since the 1800's eh? (or 1700's, 1600's, can't remember).

Anyways, they wake up here and we proceed to a nice vampire horror-ish story.

André is a great writer and his books are now widely known in Brazil, he's been on top selling lists and all, he's got over 10 books published in under 10 years... I'm sure he had some of them written before that, but it's quite amazing.

Not all of his books are about vampires, though, he has one "The Lord of the Rain" that is about angels and demons, "Seeds on Ice" that's about some sort of cloning-ish thriller and recently started with some mistery books.

I only read "The Seven", "Seventh" (book #2 on that series) and "The Lord of the Rain", but I am looking foward to reading others, aren't you excited? :)
Probably not, my writing isn't all that inspiring today. But I promise I'll go back to talking about André Vianco sometime soon ;)

Also, he's a lovely guy and would probably respond if you sent him a hi on Twitter @andrevianco . Either that or send a vampire legion after you. You never know.