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Ceridwen

Ceridwen

You kids get off my lawn. 

Pete, Drinker of Blood (Part 2)

Pete, Drinker of Blood (Part 2) - Scott S. Phillips In our last installment, Pete established himself as a schlubby vampire with a crush on a waitress and a problem with the vampire who turned him. This reviewer also mused about the serial novel in general, and in specific.

I'm still getting used to this serial novel thing, because I tend to be a gulper, bolting down novels in sittings if I can manage it, in several intense reads if the page count is too much. Novels, for me, tend to suffer if I dole them out - I miss the shape of the thing, the gestalt. But, let's get real, if I'm mincing though an already-completed novel, it's probably because I'm just not that into it. The enforced waiting of the serial novel as it is being produced, that's another bag entirely.

So. I'm still not done feeling weird about reviewing this as it comes, but I shall endeavor to pull up my big girl pants and soldier on. Pete has a confrontation with the vamp who turned him, which sends him into the bowels of Emoglobin - seriously, best vamp bar name evah - to warn those Anne Rice-ian assholes about what's coming. Pete is still funny as hell in his schlubbiness, and the bit with the tiny windshield stuck to his fingers is awesome.

Scott - who I know irl, fyi, again - has a background as a script writer, and it shows. I could easily imagine much of this a film or an episode (in a good way) - from the soundtrack to the set. There's a lot of physical comedy here, which is often hard to translate on the page, but works pretty effortlessly here. The only trip up I can see is an awkward transition to a flashback, the kind where I was like, wait, what the hell? and had to read back to figure out we were in the past. Otherwise, this section hit several punchlines that were set up in the last section in a satisfying way: nosy neighbors, windshields. Aw yeah.

I actually read section three of Pete, but it's not up on GR as late, and I'm too godamn lazy to add it. Neener neener.

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