Places I Never Meant To Be: A Review

Title: Places I Never Meant To Be
Edited By: Judy Blume
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Where I Found It: Library
Summary: A collection of short stories accompanied by short essays on censorship by twelve authors whose works have been challenged in the past.
General Impression: It's hard to come up with a true opinion of a collection of short stories by multiple authors, some of the stories you'll like, and some you won't. I liked a vast majority of the stories and the ones I didn't really like weren't awful or anything. The little essays on censorship were really intriguing. The different takes by different authors was an interesting way to explore the issue. I encourage anyone who is against censorship to read this book and hopefully purchase it (all profits go to the National Coalition Against Censorship).
-Heather

Vampires = Perfect Teen Book

I was just at the Mall of America and of course had to visit Barnes and Nobles. While I was buying On Writing by Stephen King, Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, and Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks; I noticed something that disturbed me. It would seem that after the success of Twilight the number of teen vampire novels has skyrocketed. I find this insulting as a reader and as a writer.
That writers would forgo all sense of originality to copy the latest big thing. I mean why copy the latest big thing, why not try to BE the NEXT big thing? And why do they think that the readers of America are content to just sit in a pile of ever growing vampire novels? I like variety in my reading. Plus, the vampire genre is riddled with cliches that are becoming increasingly difficult to avoid.
As a confession, I do have a vampire character in my fantasy novel, but she really is no where near a main character. To say the plot revolved around her would be like saying the sun revolves around the earth.
Anyway, rant done.
-Heather