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Voice of Blood #2
Wounds
After killing thousands and seducing everyone within arm’s reach, Daniel Blum has finally gotten bored with his vampire life. When he meets Sybil, a talented, enigmatic, homicidal, teenage exotic dancer, it seems to be just the thing to add some much-needed spice into his nocturnal haunts.
Vampire Daniel Blum imagines himself the most ruthless, savage creature in New York City, if not the world. He once feasted on the blood of Nazi Germany and left a string of shattered lovers behind him. But now the usual thrill of seduction and murder has begun to wear off. Until he meets Sybil, the strange former stripper whose mind is the first he’s ever found that he cannot read or manipulate.
Vampire Daniel Blum imagines himself the most ruthless, savage creature in New York City, if not the world. He once feasted on the blood of Nazi Germany and left a string of shattered lovers behind him. But now the usual thrill of seduction and murder has begun to wear off. Until he meets Sybil, the strange former stripper whose mind is the first he’s ever found that he cannot read or manipulate.
361 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2002
12 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
Jemiah Jefferson
11 books97 followersAfrican American horror author and Dark Horse comics editor. Her Voice of Blood series introduces the smart, beautiful, sexy and vicious vampires of Portland.
Jemiah Jefferson was born in Denver, Colorado. Her childhood consisted of a steady diet of AM radio, New Wave and disco, music videos, Star Wars, and resenting the strictures of school. At an age too early to remember, she began making up stories populated by vivid characters. Combined with a compulsive urge to write commentary and reactions in the margins of books she read and re-read, she found that these increasingly-complex stories demanded to be written down.
Her first printed work, St*rf*ck*ng, a group of short erotic stories with a touch of celebrity obsession, was published by local small-press rockstar Kevin Sampsell for Future Tense Books.
The first draft of the novel that would become Voice of the Blood was written in 24 hours in 1990 in a fit of inspiration. After another six years of thinking about it (and writing a few more novels and short stories in the meantime) she finally began to apply herself to this work, taking her experiences of living in San Francisco and of her contacts with the young, amoral, and beautiful that she had there and applying them to a situation and a set of characters already in existence in her imagination.
She works in the editorial department at Dark Horse Comics, Inc., working on titles including Emily the Strange, Creepy Archives, The Complete K Chronicles, and the Eisner Award-winning Herbie Archives.
Jemiah Jefferson was born in Denver, Colorado. Her childhood consisted of a steady diet of AM radio, New Wave and disco, music videos, Star Wars, and resenting the strictures of school. At an age too early to remember, she began making up stories populated by vivid characters. Combined with a compulsive urge to write commentary and reactions in the margins of books she read and re-read, she found that these increasingly-complex stories demanded to be written down.
Her first printed work, St*rf*ck*ng, a group of short erotic stories with a touch of celebrity obsession, was published by local small-press rockstar Kevin Sampsell for Future Tense Books.
The first draft of the novel that would become Voice of the Blood was written in 24 hours in 1990 in a fit of inspiration. After another six years of thinking about it (and writing a few more novels and short stories in the meantime) she finally began to apply herself to this work, taking her experiences of living in San Francisco and of her contacts with the young, amoral, and beautiful that she had there and applying them to a situation and a set of characters already in existence in her imagination.
She works in the editorial department at Dark Horse Comics, Inc., working on titles including Emily the Strange, Creepy Archives, The Complete K Chronicles, and the Eisner Award-winning Herbie Archives.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 25, 2017
"Look how dead I can get and still be standing."
Umm.... well. It's safe to say I didn't like this anywhere near as much as the first book, Voice Of The Blood, which was freaking AWESOME. But there wasn't much to like in this.
I was kind of interested to have an entire book devoted to Daniel. He dresses flamboyantly, or in drag, or just weirdly, and I loved it. But the parts of his character I didn't like involved Sybil.
Sybil. Amoral, sociopathic, sanctimonious, entitled, bitchy, hypocritical, disgusting in both her behavior and her person. SHE WAS AWFUL. SO FUCKING AWFUL. She was a huge part of this book and every page with her on it was the worst. And how Daniel was with her, just a freaking doormat, was so annoying. I just didn't get his attraction for her.
There was a lot of art stuff, which should have interested me more than it did, but most of the art was shock-value performance stuff. Bleh. Not my favorite. Especially Sybil's idiotic ideas about it all. I didn't want to hear her stupid, pretentious pontifications on the kind of art she wanted to do, especially with all her awful qualities swirling around on the page.
I will admit, I didn't see the ending coming until I was only one or two pages away from it. I hope the climactic event is somehow circumvented in the fourth book (from what I can tell, book three happens in the past). And let me tell you, I am SO FUCKING MAD that
Jefferson writes really well, and I did very much enjoy the part with Ariane (I wish many spoilery things about all that). Book three centers on Ricari, and Daniel is in it too. Good fucking riddance to Sybil, who is the devil.
Umm.... well. It's safe to say I didn't like this anywhere near as much as the first book, Voice Of The Blood, which was freaking AWESOME. But there wasn't much to like in this.
I was kind of interested to have an entire book devoted to Daniel. He dresses flamboyantly, or in drag, or just weirdly, and I loved it. But the parts of his character I didn't like involved Sybil.
Sybil. Amoral, sociopathic, sanctimonious, entitled, bitchy, hypocritical, disgusting in both her behavior and her person. SHE WAS AWFUL. SO FUCKING AWFUL. She was a huge part of this book and every page with her on it was the worst. And how Daniel was with her, just a freaking doormat, was so annoying. I just didn't get his attraction for her.
There was a lot of art stuff, which should have interested me more than it did, but most of the art was shock-value performance stuff. Bleh. Not my favorite. Especially Sybil's idiotic ideas about it all. I didn't want to hear her stupid, pretentious pontifications on the kind of art she wanted to do, especially with all her awful qualities swirling around on the page.
I will admit, I didn't see the ending coming until I was only one or two pages away from it. I hope the climactic event is somehow circumvented in the fourth book (from what I can tell, book three happens in the past). And let me tell you, I am SO FUCKING MAD that
Jefferson writes really well, and I did very much enjoy the part with Ariane (I wish many spoilery things about all that). Book three centers on Ricari, and Daniel is in it too. Good fucking riddance to Sybil, who is the devil.
July 6, 2011
Wow. Um...wow. This was one of the most intense books I've read in a very long time. The switch in mood from erotic to horror to tender to god, I can't even think of the words.
It really messes you up.
It was fantastic. A really true horror novel for a Vampire genre that has slipped into the divine and lofty. It was like watching a train wreck, you just can't look away but you know you should. And then proceed to count the bodies after.
I was really quite surprised at the ending. Daniel is -for as odd and macabre as it sounds- quite a likeable character. I honestly held out hope for him until the very last page. I *wanted* him to repent because there were good sides to him. I wanted him to come out on top even though he was a sick bastard.
I couldn't put down the first novel and am already knee-deep into the third.
It really messes you up.
It was fantastic. A really true horror novel for a Vampire genre that has slipped into the divine and lofty. It was like watching a train wreck, you just can't look away but you know you should. And then proceed to count the bodies after.
I was really quite surprised at the ending. Daniel is -for as odd and macabre as it sounds- quite a likeable character. I honestly held out hope for him until the very last page. I *wanted* him to repent because there were good sides to him. I wanted him to come out on top even though he was a sick bastard.
I couldn't put down the first novel and am already knee-deep into the third.
June 23, 2010
Jemiah Jefferson, Wounds (Leisure Books, 2002)
I was recommended Jefferson a number of years ago by no less a horror authority than Poppy Brite, though she did add the codicil that she'd heard Jefferson was one of the big new things in horror, rather than having firsthand experience. When I went looking, I found that her books were out of print, which seemed odd given that they'd been published so recently. Took me a while to hunt one down, and when I did, I discovered it was actually a sequel. I briefly considered the idea of waiting till I'd got my hands on the first. Then I realized I'd been trying to get one for four years and jettisoned that idea, digging in. It turned out to be... not what I had hoped (I kept putting it down to concentrate on other things, and as a result it took me a touch under five months to make it through the book), but in the end, it's not awful, it's just not great.
Wounds focuses on Daniel Blum, a supporting character in Voice of the Blood, and his relationship with Sibyl, a regular human who is seemingly immune to Daniel's vampire powers. The novel traces their relationship, the power struggles therein, the ways Daniel's friends react to Sibyl, etc. There are a couple of extended scenes thrown in that seem to be there for the sole purpose of appeasing Voice of the Blood fans (I'm inferring from some of the language that the characters in these scenes were central characters in that book, while Daniel was more minor). The whole thing builds to an unnecessary, gratuitous climax, but in this case let's remember that “gratuitous” sounds an awful lot like “gratifying.” Especially given the three hundred-odd pages that have come before it.
One of the other reviews I scanned recently compared the book to eighties fiction, and when I read that, a lot of things about the novel that left me feeling restless clicked into place; this is very much an eighties novel along the lines of Tama Janowitz, Bret Easton Ellis, etc. I don't know why I didn't see that before. Now that I consider it from that angle, there are a whole host of parallels I want to draw to books like Glenn Savan's White Palace and Jay McInerney's Ransom, but Jefferson, at least in this book, is not the writer they are. (A few other reviews mentioned that Voice of the Blood is a much better-written book than this, so maybe she is and I just can't see it from Wounds.) That said, I'm actually tempted to up my review half a star now that someone's made that connection for me, because as an eighties-fiction novel, it makes so much more sense than it does as a horror novel (which it ain't). It wants to tread that line between horror and existential angst that Koja treads so well in Skin, and now that I think about it that's another parallel I should have caught before (and now my head is flying off into comparisons between Koja and eighties fiction, which never came to me before—and I've been a diehard Koja fan for two decades), but the ending art installation in Skin just works so much better than it does here. Not to say the ending art installation in Wounds is bad, it's actually the best part of the book. But I'm not sure it justifies the price of admission.
Worth picking up if you were a fan of midlist eighties fiction. Otherwise, you can probably skip it. ** ½
I was recommended Jefferson a number of years ago by no less a horror authority than Poppy Brite, though she did add the codicil that she'd heard Jefferson was one of the big new things in horror, rather than having firsthand experience. When I went looking, I found that her books were out of print, which seemed odd given that they'd been published so recently. Took me a while to hunt one down, and when I did, I discovered it was actually a sequel. I briefly considered the idea of waiting till I'd got my hands on the first. Then I realized I'd been trying to get one for four years and jettisoned that idea, digging in. It turned out to be... not what I had hoped (I kept putting it down to concentrate on other things, and as a result it took me a touch under five months to make it through the book), but in the end, it's not awful, it's just not great.
Wounds focuses on Daniel Blum, a supporting character in Voice of the Blood, and his relationship with Sibyl, a regular human who is seemingly immune to Daniel's vampire powers. The novel traces their relationship, the power struggles therein, the ways Daniel's friends react to Sibyl, etc. There are a couple of extended scenes thrown in that seem to be there for the sole purpose of appeasing Voice of the Blood fans (I'm inferring from some of the language that the characters in these scenes were central characters in that book, while Daniel was more minor). The whole thing builds to an unnecessary, gratuitous climax, but in this case let's remember that “gratuitous” sounds an awful lot like “gratifying.” Especially given the three hundred-odd pages that have come before it.
One of the other reviews I scanned recently compared the book to eighties fiction, and when I read that, a lot of things about the novel that left me feeling restless clicked into place; this is very much an eighties novel along the lines of Tama Janowitz, Bret Easton Ellis, etc. I don't know why I didn't see that before. Now that I consider it from that angle, there are a whole host of parallels I want to draw to books like Glenn Savan's White Palace and Jay McInerney's Ransom, but Jefferson, at least in this book, is not the writer they are. (A few other reviews mentioned that Voice of the Blood is a much better-written book than this, so maybe she is and I just can't see it from Wounds.) That said, I'm actually tempted to up my review half a star now that someone's made that connection for me, because as an eighties-fiction novel, it makes so much more sense than it does as a horror novel (which it ain't). It wants to tread that line between horror and existential angst that Koja treads so well in Skin, and now that I think about it that's another parallel I should have caught before (and now my head is flying off into comparisons between Koja and eighties fiction, which never came to me before—and I've been a diehard Koja fan for two decades), but the ending art installation in Skin just works so much better than it does here. Not to say the ending art installation in Wounds is bad, it's actually the best part of the book. But I'm not sure it justifies the price of admission.
Worth picking up if you were a fan of midlist eighties fiction. Otherwise, you can probably skip it. ** ½
January 23, 2017
IMO, this series began to lose steam with this installment. Because, whenever I start to skip pages, that's a huge indiction that a series is no longer my cuppa.
Giving this one: 2.5 stars.
Giving this one: 2.5 stars.
March 27, 2010
Really interesting book not like the typical vampire book I guess that's what got me interested in the first place. So far my favorite vamipre book.
November 26, 2024
Not long after the events in the first book, Daniel has rebuilt a life for himself as an artist in New York. Enter Sybil, an unusual young woman resistant to his various psychic vampire powers. Jumping into Daniel's PoV is a bold move, because he's a larger than life character even for this series, and maybe more tolerable and convincing as a supporting character. The answer is to pair him with someone even more unhinged. Sibyl, young and insecure and mortal, impulsive and vicious and immune to consequences, is an exaggeration of Daniel, speedrunning his violence with even less justification &, in doing, asking if there is such thing. She's awful, but I don't mind an awful character fulfilling such a complicated motivating role.
Except ... a lot of excepts. I want more longterm vampire relationships, instead of another falling-in-love, which the first book already had in droves. I want more of the trends revealed across Daniel's interpersonal relationships, loving and murdering en masse and with almost-sympathetic specificity, reliant on and secretly resenting his powers; Sibyl highlights his patterns, but her stranglehold on the plot also overshadows them.
This maintains the delightfully shameless vulgarity and perversity of the first book, so it's still a fun "guilty" pleasure even when unlikable. And it's interesting! But it's not the direction I would have picked for this series. I'll still continue on.
Except ... a lot of excepts. I want more longterm vampire relationships, instead of another falling-in-love, which the first book already had in droves. I want more of the trends revealed across Daniel's interpersonal relationships, loving and murdering en masse and with almost-sympathetic specificity, reliant on and secretly resenting his powers; Sibyl highlights his patterns, but her stranglehold on the plot also overshadows them.
This maintains the delightfully shameless vulgarity and perversity of the first book, so it's still a fun "guilty" pleasure even when unlikable. And it's interesting! But it's not the direction I would have picked for this series. I'll still continue on.
August 7, 2024
this ending made me LIVID 😭 i don’t think i’ve ever hated a book character as much as i hate sybil. i do understand where she took his character, like he had so much control and genuine support in the first book that is makes sense that this book would center on him having the opposite, but it was brutal to read. i think i’ll probably end up completely this series, since there’s two books left, but i definitely need a break now. ugh, she’s such a good writer too and it almost makes me angry cause this was good and i feel like i got played 😭
June 21, 2025
I quit at page 28, which was 8% in my reader
Just plain awful. There were no redeeming qualities of the main character. I couldn’t recommend this if it were the last vampire book on the market.
Just plain awful. There were no redeeming qualities of the main character. I couldn’t recommend this if it were the last vampire book on the market.
August 27, 2007
My least favorite in the series.
November 10, 2007
The first book I read from her. Some damn fine writing. Well worth your time.
February 5, 2009
great read not meant for children due to sexual content
September 15, 2016
Delicious!
July 5, 2011
More meh...
April 21, 2017
A combination of erotica and horror, romance and lust, and wonderfully 'real' vampires. Tender and touching, and at the same time, brutal and terrifying. Made me shiver at times.
May 1, 2017
This was TERRIBLE. I skipped pages.
Spoilers ahead -
This Sybil woman sucked the air out of everything. Shes ugly, uncharming, boring and a lunatic in the most boring sense of the word. I dont need "good" leads, i just need leads that arent boring.
Anytime she was on the page it was so BORING. It didnt make any sense that the vampire would love her.
The scene were he finally met up with Ariene was really weird too - the writer is not writing the scenes properly if they were fighting and fell back - hang up did he just fall on his butt or out the window - a bit more detail as to what is happening please. Same with the end - were they blowing up the place?
Really doesnt want me to try Part 3 - though I suspect it may be a better book. And no bloody plot.
Spoilers ahead -
This Sybil woman sucked the air out of everything. Shes ugly, uncharming, boring and a lunatic in the most boring sense of the word. I dont need "good" leads, i just need leads that arent boring.
Anytime she was on the page it was so BORING. It didnt make any sense that the vampire would love her.
The scene were he finally met up with Ariene was really weird too - the writer is not writing the scenes properly if they were fighting and fell back - hang up did he just fall on his butt or out the window - a bit more detail as to what is happening please. Same with the end - were they blowing up the place?
Really doesnt want me to try Part 3 - though I suspect it may be a better book. And no bloody plot.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews