Author Archives : Michelle R. Lane

September 15, 2020

With This Ring, You’ll Be Dead: Violence Against Female Protagonists in Romantic Vampire Fiction: Part 4: Marriage

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Editor’s Note: content warning for violence, abuse, and potentially triggering subject matter. Marrying a vampire is a terrible idea. Just ask Dracula’s brides. As much as I love Bram Stoker’s novel, most of Dracula’s “romantic” encounters are nonconsensual. He uses mesmerism or some other form of mind control to seduce his prey and then he uses the bodies of his…

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April 23, 2020

Dracula Versus the Stepford Wives: A Review of Grady Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires

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I’ve been dying to talk about this book since reading the ARC in October. It drove me crazy  not being able to tell everyone I knew how good it is. The release date was April 7, so without further ado, here is my review of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying…

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March 26, 2020

With This Ring, You’ll Be Dead: Violence Against Female Protagonists in Romantic Vampire Fiction: Part 3: Dating

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Editor’s Note: content warning for violence, abuse, and potentially triggering subject matter. Dating isn’t easy. Anyone who tells you that it is, is either insane or simply not self-aware enough to see all of the potential pitfalls. Seeking a suitable mate for long-term monogamy isn’t nearly as simple a task as the romance novels and movies make it out to…

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January 24, 2020

Unmasking the Stereotype of the Strong Black Woman in HBO’s Watchmen

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The trope of the Strong Black Woman in fiction is based on an equally harmful stereotype, in which Black women are expected to perform a role that negates their own emotions, needs (both physical and psychological), in the service of caring for others. Similar to the Magical Negro, the Strong Black Woman protects her family and community, and even saves…

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December 27, 2019

With This Ring, You’ll Be Dead: Violence Against Female Protagonists in Romantic Vampire Fiction: Part 2: Seduction

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Editor’s Note: content warning for violence, abuse, and potentially triggering subject matter. What is seduction? Most people would define it as something pleasant. A series of actions and behaviors performed by someone they find attractive to make them even more alluring. However, if we examine the actual definition of seduction, it’s a bit more sinister than that. Merriam-Webster defines seduction…

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November 22, 2019

With This Ring, You’ll Be Dead: Violence Against Female Protagonists in Romantic Vampire Fiction: Part 1: Stalking

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Editor’s Note: content warning for violence, abuse, and potentially triggering subject matter. I’ve consumed a lot of vampire fiction in the past thirty-five years. In fact, I often think of my consumption of vampire fiction — novels, short stories, comics, movies, TV shows, etc. — as vampiric in and of itself. To say that I am obsessed would be an…

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October 25, 2019

Maybe Violence Really Can Solve Every Problem: A Review of Brandon Getz’s Lars Breaxface: Werewolf in Space

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Lars Breaxface: Werewolf in Space (2019) Written by: Brandon Getz Genre: Science Fiction/Horror/Comedy Length: 299 pages Publisher: Spaceboy Books Disclaimer: I received a copy of the novel for free in exchange for an honest review. Why I chose it: Maybe you can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can choose to read it based solely on its title.…

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August 23, 2019

White Privilege in A Discovery of Witches, It Isn’t Just for the Living Anymore

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Welcome to the first post in a series in which I will be examining vampire fiction — novels, film, and TV shows — through the lens of identity politics. Specifically, I’ll be looking at the concepts of white privilege and racial identity/representation in popular vampire fiction and discussing why certain tropes are problematic. As a woman of color who has…

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