Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, a book review

Revisionism has always been a part of history. Take the Civil War as an example. Was the war about freeing slaves, state rights, or any of the hundreds of other reasons? That's how history works. The story is always changing to reflect the Now. That is what we have such stories as Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.

This book is brought to us by the same creative mind that brought Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to the world. In this book, the text of Pride and Prejudice is injected with scenes involving Zombies. I haven't read that one, but one of my English professors wrote the introduction to the second edition (now with 30% more zombies.)

The concepts are smart and thought provoking. What would history look like if Abraham Lincoln was a vampire hunter? What if the Civil War was really about stopping vampires from using slave populations to fulfill their blood lust?

So how does the book do in telling its story? I found it lacking in a lot of ways.

First, there is definitely not enough vampire hunting for my tastes. Lincoln only hunts vampires as a young man. It does make sense since he can't have that kind of strength and resilience as a child or older man, but I'm not really interested in seeing an older vampire hunter try to be President. I want to see Honest Abe rolling up his sleeves and fighting.

Second, the book takes itself far too seriously. Am I really going to believe that Lincoln fought vampires? Not with the way this is written. When I first heard about the idea, I was excited about the combination of actual written work by Lincoln and fictional passages. There is so much potential there. Unfortunately those passages tend to be a way out of actually writing. Also, there are fictional writings that make it hard to take any of it seriously.

Third, is the ending. I don't want to give anything away, but I did not feel satisfied with the ending. It was a cop out and took away from the rest of the story. I wish I could tell you exactly what I don't like about the ending, but I do want you to read the book even if it isn't as great as it could be.

There are things that I did enjoy, but they tended to be isolated segments. Here are some of them:

• Lincoln seeing the impact of slavery on the slaves as 10 auctioned slaves are sold to vampires to feast upon.
• Lincoln mistakes Edgar Allen Poe for a vampire.
• Lincoln actually fighting vampires.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer returns?

So today I was reading an article about a new movie project that I can't quite make up my mind about. There have been many reboots over the years and some of them have turned out very well. A great example of this is the recent reboot for Batman.

So what makes Batman a great reboot? For starters, consider what had been going on in the franchise when someone decided that Christian Bale should get a fresh beginning. Three men had played the part of Batman, with varying degrees of success. Keaton was a great Bruce Wayne, and an adequate Batman thanks to some rubber muscles. Kilmer was overshadowed by Jim Carey's Riddler. Clooney was just bad casting and bad writing, and way too many villains and heroes to make the movie workable. It was the perfect time to forget the past and start over.

So what does all this have to do with my opinion on a new "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" movie? Let's consider some valid reasons why a reboot movie would be a good choice after some history on every one's favorite blond vampire slayer. Back in the 90's a young writer named Joss Whedon thought up this great idea about a series of young girls that are given superhuman abilities to battle all sorts of supernatural threats, specifically vampires. Unfortunately, someone took his idea and made a movie in 1992 starring Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry. Don't get me wrong, I love the movie, but when you compare it to the TV show, it falls flat because the person with the idea didn't get to write the screenplay. A few years later Sarah Michelle Gellar took the title role and with the Scooby Gang, kept Sunnydale safe from the unrelenting forces of evil.

So now for those reasons to reboot the show. First, do you really want to watch the adventures of a 30-something slayer? Just imagine Buffy fighting vampires while trying to keep track of her kids. Chasing after the baby who can't keep from crawling into the demon-filled crypt. Maybe she can have a preteen daughter that can be hard at work learning the family business. Sounds like a lot of fun doesn't it? Maybe in a Disney-run family flick, but I'm not interested in that kind of Buffy. Besides, will the Scooby Gang want to come back for a movie?

I'm trying to avoid giving away the ending of the series for anyone who hasn't seen it all the way through yet. (If you're reading this, and this applies to you, get going. It is worth seeing it all the way through. You can watch all seven seasons on "Watch It Now" through Netflix.) Let's just say that while the show provides closure, there are way too many loose ends at the end of the series that I wouldn't want to try to sort out in a follow-up movie.

For those hardcore fans that just want to know what happens next, I suggest you turn to the Dark Horse comic series. Joss Whedon is involved in all of the issues to some extent, I'm not exactly sure how much, but I know that he keeps a close eye on the series. This is the best way to keep track of the characters and story lines you love without stretching your suspension of disbelief too much.

With that being said it's time for my explanation for why this is not the time to reboot Buffy. First it is way too soon to restart this franchise. There are way too many people that love the show and aren't willing to consider a new girl as Buffy, or setting aside everything they love and know about The Slayer. Give it some more time, and there will be a new generation of young girls out there looking for a hero and role model to look up to.

More importantly in my opinion is the lack of Joss Whedon in the project. Buffy is his creation, and she works best under his watchful eye. As much as you love Buffy the movie as a guilty pleasure, I don't think we want something like that coming back to the theaters. That isn't to say that Whit Anderson doesn't have the potential to do something great with the character and story, but I never saw "Yes Man," so I really don't know enough about her to have an expectation.

So there you have it, my opinion for what it's worth. Check out the link to the original article below:
http://www.ontheredcarpet.com/Buffy-the-Vampire-Slayer-movie-remake-gets-new-blood-with-screenwriter-Whit-Anderson/7804387?rss=rss-kabc-snippet-7808136