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Life sucks
Abel, Jessica
Adult Fiction ABEL
From Publishers' Weekly:
Dave is a poor vampire, working the night shift at the 24-hour convenience store run by his vampire master, Lord Radu Arisztidescu, who thinks Dave is pretty much a wuss as a bloodsucker. Truth is, Dave would rather steal his nutrition from a blood bank than kill the innocent. But this choice leaves him weak and vulnerable to more predatory types like alpha-vampire surfer dude Wes, who's making a move on Rosa, the Latina gothic babe Dave has his eye on. There's plenty of humor with Dave's friend Jerome acting as a Clerks-like foil, coming over to Dave's work at night when the black-eyeliner crowd comes by ("the Running of the Goths"). Life Sucks also gets a good deal of mileage out of the ironic distance between the romantic visions that Rosa and her mortal crowd have of the vampire lifestyle and the grimy reality of Dave's life as an eternal wage slave. Even if it doesn't pan out satisfactorily (the conclusion seems particularly truncated), Abel and Soria's light approach, combined with Pleece's bright, Technicolor art, gives the book an entertaining Joss Whedon gloss to its Gen-Y bloodsucking melodrama. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
From Library Journal:
"You know what would be awesome?" muses Goth-girl Rosa. "If I could be a vampire.... I picture this vast network of dark, beautiful, intellectual and artistic people, living forever with only the best things." But not true, alas--Abel and Soria's vampires are caught in the capitalist system like the living, wage slaving forever in crappy night-shift jobs for jerkwad masters, hiding from the law their need for human blood, bursting into flames at the slightest sunlight. And so twenty something Dave works his dead-end job at the Last Stop convenience store, subsisting on plasma and blood-bank heists while pining for Rosa. His principles and his love prevent him from turning her into a fellow vamp, but macho scuzzball Wes, also hot for Rosa, has no such scruples. Hilarious and bittersweet, this story turns vampire clichés inside out with a compelling tale about alienation, friendship, love, being true to oneself...and compromise. Abel (La Perdita; Artbabe) and Soria deliver clever plotting and dialog, while Pleece's color art has a slightly hyperpedestrian quality well suited to the fantastically mundane life of these vampires. A sequel is reputedly in the works. Recommended for older teens and adults.--M.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Abel, Jessica
Adult Fiction ABEL
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From Publishers' Weekly:
Dave is a poor vampire, working the night shift at the 24-hour convenience store run by his vampire master, Lord Radu Arisztidescu, who thinks Dave is pretty much a wuss as a bloodsucker. Truth is, Dave would rather steal his nutrition from a blood bank than kill the innocent. But this choice leaves him weak and vulnerable to more predatory types like alpha-vampire surfer dude Wes, who's making a move on Rosa, the Latina gothic babe Dave has his eye on. There's plenty of humor with Dave's friend Jerome acting as a Clerks-like foil, coming over to Dave's work at night when the black-eyeliner crowd comes by ("the Running of the Goths"). Life Sucks also gets a good deal of mileage out of the ironic distance between the romantic visions that Rosa and her mortal crowd have of the vampire lifestyle and the grimy reality of Dave's life as an eternal wage slave. Even if it doesn't pan out satisfactorily (the conclusion seems particularly truncated), Abel and Soria's light approach, combined with Pleece's bright, Technicolor art, gives the book an entertaining Joss Whedon gloss to its Gen-Y bloodsucking melodrama. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
From Library Journal:
"You know what would be awesome?" muses Goth-girl Rosa. "If I could be a vampire.... I picture this vast network of dark, beautiful, intellectual and artistic people, living forever with only the best things." But not true, alas--Abel and Soria's vampires are caught in the capitalist system like the living, wage slaving forever in crappy night-shift jobs for jerkwad masters, hiding from the law their need for human blood, bursting into flames at the slightest sunlight. And so twenty something Dave works his dead-end job at the Last Stop convenience store, subsisting on plasma and blood-bank heists while pining for Rosa. His principles and his love prevent him from turning her into a fellow vamp, but macho scuzzball Wes, also hot for Rosa, has no such scruples. Hilarious and bittersweet, this story turns vampire clichés inside out with a compelling tale about alienation, friendship, love, being true to oneself...and compromise. Abel (La Perdita; Artbabe) and Soria deliver clever plotting and dialog, while Pleece's color art has a slightly hyperpedestrian quality well suited to the fantastically mundane life of these vampires. A sequel is reputedly in the works. Recommended for older teens and adults.--M.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
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