Bayou Bytes Blog

 Holly is a young trans vampire, who has recently joined a vast underground colony. Modeling themselves after the honeybee, these vampires dutifully perform their assigned duties and defer only to the Hierophant, their founder. All Holly wants is to be fully accepted, for the Hierophant to give him a new name, which will wipe away the last of his human past and mark him as a true member of the colony.  But the Hierophant seems to be rebuking Holly at every turn, and Holly begins to wonder if this is really where he belongs. The Mellification  was an interesting story. At about two hundred pages, this is a novella rather than a full novel. And though it's a good plot, I think the length counts against it. This story introduces not only Holly, his partner Cain, and the Hierophant, but it also throws in some perspective switches and introduces you to Lila and Claudia -- two vampires locked in an eternal rivalry that dates back to their time as humans. It would have really be...

Courtesy of junotdiaz.com Junot Diaz doesn't shy away from the heart wrenching.  He has written the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner about a multi-generational family curse (lots of dying); several short stories about a young man who just cannot stop cheating on women he loves (lots of thoughts about dying); and about people who try to ingratiate themselves in America for a better life (leaving behind lots of death in the Dominican Republic, just to face having to die in the American ghettos where they live).  Life and death go hand in hand in Diaz's stories, along with failure and success, and the desperate need to be better than one's parents, while maintaining their heritage. Diaz, who writes both short stories and novels, creates an unique central character: the Dominican Republic (DR).  The DR holds a strong place in Diaz's heart; he too immigrated to the US as a child and was raised in New Jersey.  Currently a creative writing professor at MIT, Diaz strives to ...