Immortal: Love Stories With Bite
by P. C. Cast (Editor), Leah Wilson (Editor)
Evernight (prequel), Love Stories with Bite (1)
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Fantasy. Romance. Short Stories. Young Adult Fiction. HTML:In Immortal: Love Stories With Bite, edited by New York Times bestselling author of the House of Night series P.C. Cast, seven of today's most popular YA vampire and contemporary fantasy authors offer new short stories that prove when you're immortal, true love really is forever.Rachel Caine (the Morganville Vampires series) revisits the setting of her popular series, where the vampires are in charge and love is a risky endeavor, show more even when it comes to your own family
Cynthia Leitich Smith (Tantalize) gives us a love triangle between a vampire, a ghost and a human girl, in which none of them are who or what they seem
Claudia Gray (Evernight) takes us into the world of her Evernight series, in which a pre–Civil War courtesan-to-be is courted by a pale, fair-haired man whose attentions are too dangerous to spurn, in more ways than one
Richelle Mead (the Vampire Academy series) brings us the tale of a young vampire on the run from the rest of her kind, and the human boy who provides the getaway car, as well as a reason to keep running
Nancy Holder (the Wicked series, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer") immerses us in a post-apocalyptic New York where two best friends are forced to make a choice that may kill them both
Kristin Cast (the House of Night series) introduces us to a new kind of vampire: one with roots in Greek mythology, and the power to alter space and time to save the girl he's meant to love
Rachel Vincent (the Soul Screamers series) explores a new corner of her series with the story of aleanan sidhe capable of inspiring the musician she loves to new creative heights, or draining him, and his talent, dry
And Tanith Lee (Black Unicorn) shows us what happens when a bright young woman with some supernatural savvy encounters a misguided (but gorgeous) young vampire. show less
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Immortal, edited by P.C. Cast, is worth buying even if just for P.C. Cast’s initial essay on that thing teenagers seem to have with vampires. Not just lust nor raging hormones, she identifies some fascinating points of contact between teen reader and vampire lore, and leaves this long-gone teen thinking yeah, that does make sense. And then there’s the stories.
I enjoyed this introduction to a fine mix of authors: Kristin Cast writing on her own to combine vampire and other ancient myths into an intriguing whole; Tannith Lee viewing the stranger at the party through strangely well-trained eyes; Rachel Caine creating a curiously disturbing little world in Morganville; Cynthia Leitich Smith’s truly haunting Haunted Love; Nancy show more Holder’s scarily post-apocalyptic New York; Richelle Mead’s odd story of vampires and men with its underlying commentary about the fate of the “different”; and finally Claudia Gray’s strange trip to New Orleans.
The stories are fun, nicely collected, neatly disturbing and intriguing. And okay, I’m not a teen and never will be again, but I really enjoyed the book. show less
I enjoyed this introduction to a fine mix of authors: Kristin Cast writing on her own to combine vampire and other ancient myths into an intriguing whole; Tannith Lee viewing the stranger at the party through strangely well-trained eyes; Rachel Caine creating a curiously disturbing little world in Morganville; Cynthia Leitich Smith’s truly haunting Haunted Love; Nancy show more Holder’s scarily post-apocalyptic New York; Richelle Mead’s odd story of vampires and men with its underlying commentary about the fate of the “different”; and finally Claudia Gray’s strange trip to New Orleans.
The stories are fun, nicely collected, neatly disturbing and intriguing. And okay, I’m not a teen and never will be again, but I really enjoyed the book. show less
An earlier version of this book was published by Borders (or at least for Borders) exclusively sold within their stores. However for this new edition a new story was added by Rachel Vincent.
"Haunted Love" Cynthia Leitch Smith
There's more at stake (get it? at stake? vampires? work with me people) in this story then a love triangle. There's a decades old murder and hiding your true self and learning to move on from bad experiences. I admit I did not see the twist coming at all and I enjoyed the 'romance' of this story. Just gotta believe right?
"Amber Smoke" Kristin Cast
I enjoyed this story, and the premise behind it (let's go Furies!), but it felt rushed and as if it didn't have enough space to really explore everything. Alek's show more motivations were vague and defined only in that he wanted to protect Jenna. Jenna accepted her role fairly quickly. The pacing was off and I think if this was made into a full length novel it would smooth out the pacing faults easily.
"Dead Man Stalking" Rachel Caine
This ties in with her Morganville Vampires series. In The Eternal Kiss we saw the Morganville Universe through Eve's eyes and this time we see it through Shane's eyes. This isn't a story of romantic-love, but of family-love. Or whatever passes for family-love in Frank Collins' (Shane's father) eyes. This wasn't a story you could really read independent of the series either, as it relied upon knowing about Frank's last visit to Morganville and the fall out from that for development purposes. I enjoyed this look through Shane's eyes, saw a side of him we don't normally see. As with Eve's story, this could certainly be a set up for another arc in the series proper, but it makes you wonder--how many chances is this man going to get to burn the town?
"Table Manners" Tanith Lee
I wanted to like this story, because it looks at vampirism so differently, but the writing style was rather odd. It was almost like a gothic novel, with some of the sentences awkwardly phrased and elaborate descriptions of scene and mood. I liked that Lee looked at vampirism as an evolution of humankind, not a disease or curse and made it clear that really vampires didn't need blood or to avoid the sun or any of that, the media had just convinced them that's how things should be. Popular Culture--it will be the death of free thought and rational thinking.
"Blue Moon" Richelle Mead
I've not yet read the Vampire Academy series (it sits so forlornly on my shelves...beckoning I swear), but after reading this I have a new sort of impetus to. Blue Moon has nothing to do with the VA series (that I know of), but Mead's writing has a sort of urgency to it that I responded well to. I liked that her two characters, Lucy and Nathan, were both not quite sure what to do. Vampire-Human relations are, at best, categorized as Master-Servant class. It was enthralling simply put.
"Changed" Nancy Holder
Holder's story was brutal, emotionally and in how it depicted vampires. These aren't your brooding romantic vampires--these are amoral, cruel and inhuman creatures parading around in human guise. I felt so bad for Jilly, for everything she went through all because of a doomed (romantic) love. Her development throughout the story was fairly astounding, given the short nature of the story, but it flowed so easily. So logically as Jilly went from being desperate to find her friend Eli because she loved him so much, to finding him and understand that he loved her but not enough and ultimately to her realization that it didn't matter what form of love they shared, it was love and that's what mattered.
"Binge" Rachel Vincent
This is set in her Soul Screamers universe. A story about a siren and a leanan sidhe, of what power they have and what destruction they can cause. This was a painful story as Mallory, who always made sure Andi didn't go too far with her siren songs, learned that sometimes its hard to know when to stop even when you know better. You could feel how painful it all was for Mallory and how badly Andi wanted to save her from herself. In the end they both learn a powerful lesson, but at what cost.
"Free" Claudia Gray
This is set in her Evernight universe (featuring Patrice, Bianca's roommate from the novels). We learned the bare facts of how Patrice became a vampire in Evernight, and here we learn the whole truth. Over a century later we see what this one choice, how powerfully Patrice wanted to be truly free, becomes. Beauty is her weapon, her way to survive and charm. I enjoyed learning this little about her and what makes her tick.
These stories were at times surprising and at others times heart-breaking. I enjoyed this anthology a lot, and can only hope for more such anthologies in the future. show less
"Haunted Love" Cynthia Leitch Smith
There's more at stake (get it? at stake? vampires? work with me people) in this story then a love triangle. There's a decades old murder and hiding your true self and learning to move on from bad experiences. I admit I did not see the twist coming at all and I enjoyed the 'romance' of this story. Just gotta believe right?
"Amber Smoke" Kristin Cast
I enjoyed this story, and the premise behind it (let's go Furies!), but it felt rushed and as if it didn't have enough space to really explore everything. Alek's show more motivations were vague and defined only in that he wanted to protect Jenna. Jenna accepted her role fairly quickly. The pacing was off and I think if this was made into a full length novel it would smooth out the pacing faults easily.
"Dead Man Stalking" Rachel Caine
This ties in with her Morganville Vampires series. In The Eternal Kiss we saw the Morganville Universe through Eve's eyes and this time we see it through Shane's eyes. This isn't a story of romantic-love, but of family-love. Or whatever passes for family-love in Frank Collins' (Shane's father) eyes. This wasn't a story you could really read independent of the series either, as it relied upon knowing about Frank's last visit to Morganville and the fall out from that for development purposes. I enjoyed this look through Shane's eyes, saw a side of him we don't normally see. As with Eve's story, this could certainly be a set up for another arc in the series proper, but it makes you wonder--how many chances is this man going to get to burn the town?
"Table Manners" Tanith Lee
I wanted to like this story, because it looks at vampirism so differently, but the writing style was rather odd. It was almost like a gothic novel, with some of the sentences awkwardly phrased and elaborate descriptions of scene and mood. I liked that Lee looked at vampirism as an evolution of humankind, not a disease or curse and made it clear that really vampires didn't need blood or to avoid the sun or any of that, the media had just convinced them that's how things should be. Popular Culture--it will be the death of free thought and rational thinking.
"Blue Moon" Richelle Mead
I've not yet read the Vampire Academy series (it sits so forlornly on my shelves...beckoning I swear), but after reading this I have a new sort of impetus to. Blue Moon has nothing to do with the VA series (that I know of), but Mead's writing has a sort of urgency to it that I responded well to. I liked that her two characters, Lucy and Nathan, were both not quite sure what to do. Vampire-Human relations are, at best, categorized as Master-Servant class. It was enthralling simply put.
"Changed" Nancy Holder
Holder's story was brutal, emotionally and in how it depicted vampires. These aren't your brooding romantic vampires--these are amoral, cruel and inhuman creatures parading around in human guise. I felt so bad for Jilly, for everything she went through all because of a doomed (romantic) love. Her development throughout the story was fairly astounding, given the short nature of the story, but it flowed so easily. So logically as Jilly went from being desperate to find her friend Eli because she loved him so much, to finding him and understand that he loved her but not enough and ultimately to her realization that it didn't matter what form of love they shared, it was love and that's what mattered.
"Binge" Rachel Vincent
This is set in her Soul Screamers universe. A story about a siren and a leanan sidhe, of what power they have and what destruction they can cause. This was a painful story as Mallory, who always made sure Andi didn't go too far with her siren songs, learned that sometimes its hard to know when to stop even when you know better. You could feel how painful it all was for Mallory and how badly Andi wanted to save her from herself. In the end they both learn a powerful lesson, but at what cost.
"Free" Claudia Gray
This is set in her Evernight universe (featuring Patrice, Bianca's roommate from the novels). We learned the bare facts of how Patrice became a vampire in Evernight, and here we learn the whole truth. Over a century later we see what this one choice, how powerfully Patrice wanted to be truly free, becomes. Beauty is her weapon, her way to survive and charm. I enjoyed learning this little about her and what makes her tick.
These stories were at times surprising and at others times heart-breaking. I enjoyed this anthology a lot, and can only hope for more such anthologies in the future. show less
I found some new, excellent authors to read, so I am excited. Lee was so interesting and idiosyncratic. I have never read her, but will be sure to now. Gray and Holder- their stories had real lessons to ruminate on over the next few days. Definitely good for teens to consider. The others are just fluff, but Kristin Casts' story is almost unreadable IMHO. But with the editor being her mother, there was little chance editorial tough love would be provided.
Some of the short stories in this collection are much better than others, but overall it is a very enjoyable book.
First, you have "Haunted Love" by Cynthia Leitich Smith. A combination ghost and vampire story, it's not the best I've ever read, but definitely held my interest and had quite a twist ending. It's an enjoyable short story.
"Amber Smoke" by Kristin Cast was the one I personally cared for the least in the set. It wasn't a bad story, but wasn't my kind of story. I don't want to spoil it by revealing the new twist on vampires, so I'll just say it's a very different vampire story.
"Dead Man Stalking" by Rachel Caine was by far my favorite short story in the book. A great introduction to the Morganville Vampires universe for me, show more since I've never read them, it prompted me to immediately add the books to my wish list. It is very well written and makes for one of the more well-developed and enjoyable short stories I've read.
"Table Manners" by Tanith Lee is another new twist on the vampire story. It's not great, in my opinion, but isn't bad either. I considered it to be somewhat interesting, but nothing to get excited about.
"Blue Moon" by Richelle Mead was another very good story that made me interested in the author's other work (the 'Vampire Academy' series). It could easily work as a full-length novel (which I would love), but works well in this short form too. A world run by vampires, a world-changing prophecy, excitement, what else do you need?
"Changed" by Nancy Holder is nothing less than an old-fashioned gore fest in print. Lots of blood, bleakness, a love story, all in all it's quite an interesting combination. Think Armageddon via vampires, and you'll have a pretty good idea what this story is.
"Binge" by Rachel Vincent is one where it takes a while to really find out what's going on. An interesting, if tragic, storyline combined with good writing talent make it worth reading, even if I wouldn't call it a favorite.
"Free" by Claudia Gray is another favorite from this collection. With a lead character you can easily connect to, a good story, and a real ability to grab and keep your attention, I'll definitely be picking up the 'Evernight' books. show less
First, you have "Haunted Love" by Cynthia Leitich Smith. A combination ghost and vampire story, it's not the best I've ever read, but definitely held my interest and had quite a twist ending. It's an enjoyable short story.
"Amber Smoke" by Kristin Cast was the one I personally cared for the least in the set. It wasn't a bad story, but wasn't my kind of story. I don't want to spoil it by revealing the new twist on vampires, so I'll just say it's a very different vampire story.
"Dead Man Stalking" by Rachel Caine was by far my favorite short story in the book. A great introduction to the Morganville Vampires universe for me, show more since I've never read them, it prompted me to immediately add the books to my wish list. It is very well written and makes for one of the more well-developed and enjoyable short stories I've read.
"Table Manners" by Tanith Lee is another new twist on the vampire story. It's not great, in my opinion, but isn't bad either. I considered it to be somewhat interesting, but nothing to get excited about.
"Blue Moon" by Richelle Mead was another very good story that made me interested in the author's other work (the 'Vampire Academy' series). It could easily work as a full-length novel (which I would love), but works well in this short form too. A world run by vampires, a world-changing prophecy, excitement, what else do you need?
"Changed" by Nancy Holder is nothing less than an old-fashioned gore fest in print. Lots of blood, bleakness, a love story, all in all it's quite an interesting combination. Think Armageddon via vampires, and you'll have a pretty good idea what this story is.
"Binge" by Rachel Vincent is one where it takes a while to really find out what's going on. An interesting, if tragic, storyline combined with good writing talent make it worth reading, even if I wouldn't call it a favorite.
"Free" by Claudia Gray is another favorite from this collection. With a lead character you can easily connect to, a good story, and a real ability to grab and keep your attention, I'll definitely be picking up the 'Evernight' books. show less
P.C. Cast's introduction to Immortal: Love Stories With Bite: I'm one of the older readers. My introduction to sympathetic vampires was the original 1966-1971 Dark Shadows soap opera. I can't remember if I was 12 or 13 when I started watching Barnabas Collins as the vampire tortured by what he was, but no, I didn't identify with vampires because of their immortality. I'd already deduced my own mortality on my 9th birthday. I identified with him because he was different and something of an outcast, another aspect a teen could understand. Still, the introduction was interesting. Don't skip it.
'Haunted Love' by Cynthia Leitich Smith **** The movie theater, relic of a small Texas town's glory days, is haunted by a girl who was murdered show more there in 1959. Can our young vampire hero prevent tragedy from happening again?
'Amber Smoke' by Kristin Cast***1/2 Love the creative use of vampires and the Furies, but that slang is going to seem awfully dated in the long run.
'Dead Man Stalking' by Rachel Caine**** Love the Morganville vampires -- well, Claire, mostly. This story is from the viewpoint of her boyfriend, Shane. Shane and Michael have problems in this story -- painful problems. The first sentence made me laugh aloud.
'Table Manners' by Tanith Lee***1/2 Didn't care as much for the hero and heroine as this take on vampires, which was interesting. Got some amusement out of the descriptions of the castle, its inhabitants, and their ball.
'Blue Moon' by Richelle Mead***1/2 It takes quite a while to find out why Lucy, a vampire where vampires rule, is having to run for her unlife. Good thing she picked a good man to help her escape because that reason is very dangerous.
'Changed' by Nancy Holder**** Vampires have invaded and taken over New York City. 16 year-old Jilly is trying desperately to reach her beloved best friend, Eli, who is equally desperate to find his boyfriend, Sean. The description of the invasion is scary. I wonder if they'll ever correct that line where it says the vampire is going to 'sing' his fangs instead of 'sink'.
'Binge' by Rachel Vincent **** Neither Andi nor Mallory is a normal human, and their gifts, with their needs, can bring death.
'Free' by Claudia Gray**** I knew a bit about the plaçage system in New Orleans from Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January mystery series, but here the story is from the point of view of one of the young women of color being reared to be a white man's placée (concubine) instead of the brother of such a young woman. I have never read any of the Evernight series, but this prequel about Patrice Deveraux was very good. I particularly enjoyed the last three pages. show less
'Haunted Love' by Cynthia Leitich Smith **** The movie theater, relic of a small Texas town's glory days, is haunted by a girl who was murdered show more there in 1959. Can our young vampire hero prevent tragedy from happening again?
'Amber Smoke' by Kristin Cast***1/2 Love the creative use of vampires and the Furies, but that slang is going to seem awfully dated in the long run.
'Dead Man Stalking' by Rachel Caine**** Love the Morganville vampires -- well, Claire, mostly. This story is from the viewpoint of her boyfriend, Shane. Shane and Michael have problems in this story -- painful problems. The first sentence made me laugh aloud.
'Table Manners' by Tanith Lee***1/2 Didn't care as much for the hero and heroine as this take on vampires, which was interesting. Got some amusement out of the descriptions of the castle, its inhabitants, and their ball.
'Blue Moon' by Richelle Mead***1/2 It takes quite a while to find out why Lucy, a vampire where vampires rule, is having to run for her unlife. Good thing she picked a good man to help her escape because that reason is very dangerous.
'Changed' by Nancy Holder**** Vampires have invaded and taken over New York City. 16 year-old Jilly is trying desperately to reach her beloved best friend, Eli, who is equally desperate to find his boyfriend, Sean. The description of the invasion is scary. I wonder if they'll ever correct that line where it says the vampire is going to 'sing' his fangs instead of 'sink'.
'Binge' by Rachel Vincent **** Neither Andi nor Mallory is a normal human, and their gifts, with their needs, can bring death.
'Free' by Claudia Gray**** I knew a bit about the plaçage system in New Orleans from Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January mystery series, but here the story is from the point of view of one of the young women of color being reared to be a white man's placée (concubine) instead of the brother of such a young woman. I have never read any of the Evernight series, but this prequel about Patrice Deveraux was very good. I particularly enjoyed the last three pages. show less
Like any collection of short stories, there were some I loved and some I didn't like at all. Free by Claudia Gray made the whole book worthwhile to me; any fan of her Evernight series should check it out. It deals with how the somewhat minor character of Patrice became a vampire, and honestly I could have read a full length book about it.
The entries by Kristen Cast, Rachel Vincent,and Richelle Mead were also among the good stories. I guess it's no coincidence that I enjoy their books as well!
The rest were forgettable, if not downright bad, but overall this is a very good collection and worth wading through the so-so stuff to get to the excellent storytelling!
The entries by Kristen Cast, Rachel Vincent,and Richelle Mead were also among the good stories. I guess it's no coincidence that I enjoy their books as well!
The rest were forgettable, if not downright bad, but overall this is a very good collection and worth wading through the so-so stuff to get to the excellent storytelling!
A really fun collection of Young Adult vampire romance stories ... just fun escapism :-)
Adrianne
Adrianne
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Author Information
P.C. Cast was born in Watseka, Illinois in 1960. After graduating from high school, she joined the U.S. Air Force. After her tour of duty, she taught English in high school for 15 years before becoming a full-time author. She has written numerous books including the Goddess Summoning series, the Partholon series, and the Divine series. She show more co-writes the young adult House of Night novels with her daughter Kristin. She has received several awards including the Oklahoma Book Award, Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award, the Prism, Holt Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, and the Laurel Wreath. Moon Chosen, the first title in Cast's new series, Tales of a New World, became a New York Time bestseller in 2016. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Cody Stryker; Ginny Augustine; Ben Mueller; Tricia; Martie; Sonia Mitchell (show all 45); Katherine 'Katie'; the Furies, Daughters of Night; Alekos; Jenna; Bridget; Paul; Connor; Alastor; Shane Collins; Jerome Fielder; Marjo; Frank Collins; Michael Glass; Eve Rosser; Claire Danvers; Lel 'Lelystra'; Anthony; Mrs. Ariadne Kokerson; Uncle Bill; Anghel; 'Neon girl' (tonight's choice); Lucy Wade; Jilly; Eli Stein; Sean (Eli's boyfriend, doesn't like Jilly); Mr. Stein; Mrs. Stein; Bo; Mr. Vernia; Mary Ann Francis; Ms. Howison; Patrice Deveraux; Althea Deveraux; Amos; Mr. Broussard; Mr. Laurence Deveraux; Julian Larroux; Beauregard Wilkins; Mr. Ebbets
- Important places
- Spirit, Texas, USA ('Haunted Love'); Morganville, Texas, USA ('Dead Man Stalking'); Reconstruct Mansion, Chakhatti ('Table Manners'); Chicago, Illinois, USA ('Blue Moon'); Lakemont, New York, USA ('Blue Moon'); Royal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA ('Free')
- First words
- On my way to work, I pass the worn-out white cottage where I lived as a little kid. ['Haunted Love']
From their place in the bowels of the Underworld, the Furies, Daughters of Night, summon their son. ['Amber Smoke']
Living in West Texas is sort of like living in Hell, but without the favorable climate and charming people. ['Dead Man Stalking']
The moment I saw him, I knew. ['Table Manners']
I was trapped. ['Blue Moon']
The vampires invaded New York the night Jilly turned sixteen. ['Changed'] (show all 8)
'I need to sing.' ['Binge']
The house on Royal Street was as refined as any other in New Orleans. ['Free'] - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'You're not.' ['Haunted Love']
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)As I tried to make up believable and not-get-me-in-trouble answers, I watched through the little glass windows while tendrils of caressing amber clung to the ambulance, guiding... protecting... ushering me into a whole new life. ['Amber Smoke']
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)However long it lasts. ['Dead Man Stalking']
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)There in the sunset light as red as blood. ['Table Manners']
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)He caught hold of my hand, and together, we headed off into the night, off to change the world. ['Blue Moon']
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I'm back on the job amen. ['Changed']
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)So she sang. ['Binge']
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'I'm free.' ['Free']
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- Fiction and Literature, Teen, Young Adult
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- 813.08508375 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English By type Genre fiction Romance fiction Collections
- LCC
- PZ7 .I3425 — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Juvenile belles lettres
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