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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A very, VERY poor book, October 4, 2006
This is not a good book.
Fact is, NOTHING in this book was interesting WHATSOEVER. It was boring, poorly written, monotonous; in fact it was nothing but worthless. Not only that, it was by far one of the worst proof-readings I've ever seen, and even though I'd planned to count every single typo, I eventually lost count. Or perhaps I'm unable to count that high. Regardless of the final number, an already horrible book managed to become ever worse.
The author, Viola Johnson, is a member of a clan of vampires who call themselves The Illuminati or Children of Lilith. According to their own mythology they are descendants to the first wife of Adam, and unlike many other vampire clans (at least according to Johnson) it says clearly in their codex that they do NOT have the right to kill. Instead these pacifist vampires have so-called "feeding circles" where they are able to indulge in the blood fetishism without worrying about any unfortunate consequences.
So what, then, is this book about, really? Well, that's difficult to say, because it's hard to care. After finishing the (fortunately) short book you're simply too focused on being proud having made it to the last page. But according to the back of the book, the entire piece is a homage to Johnson's daughter, who as an adult becomes a member of the Children of Lilith, and thus is reborn. But that's not the real truth. It's just a big ego boost: Hey, look at me, I'm a self-proclaimed vampire, here's a few extremely low-quality pictures of me and my loved ones, here's some more uninteresting facts, blah blah blah...
If you look up "boredom" and "pointlessness" in a dictionary you'll see that they're both defined as Dhampir: Child of the Blood.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
hmmmm, November 21, 2005
I typed in otherkin too see if any of the many otherkin books were out so I could add it too my wish list.
I have not seen this book before, but being a pranic not of the fetish scene (urgh) and being one who doesn't go about siring children all the time though I have and found that you can only turn someone who has the dormant latentness (unawakened). Regular old humans just get paranoid nightmares.
Real Vampires can have children the old fashion way though there is often complication with pregnancy with a tendancy for their children too be born quite early, and grow up too be latent vampires themselves.
The BV is taken from the 13 laws of community by the rpg books vampire the masquerade.
Even the revision did not help very much. I do believe there are ancient bloodlines. I'm of one of them, and the mythos of Lilith also seems too be tied too mine as well. (But not Caine)
But not the Lilith and Caine mentioned in the rpg books.
I will have too get this book sometime toor ead just toos ee for myself. I visit many communities and keep an open mind on most vampyrism, finding truth in many of the lesser accepted communities as well as similarities too my own. I can dismiss what is not truth too me without getting personally offended. "No thats not right!" and creating a community war. As longa s someone's not trying too force me too change my beliefs then it is all good.
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5 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The only book I know of written by a real vampire , August 31, 2004
I have to start this off by saying that this is one of the books I recommend to apprentices and fledgelings just starting out in the community or those curious about vampires in general. The author, Viola Johnson is a much revered figure in both leather and vampire communities and one of the first Elders I know to be totally "Out of the Coffin".
The book is a record of communications between her and her apprentice Cub in the days before e-mail and online vampiric resources. Also included are letters to others and journal entries from the author talking bout her struggles with the Hunger and her experiences with other vampires.
There is some controversy surrounding this book and it's possible association with or plagarism of a White Wolf book titled "Revelations of the Dark Mother". This stems from the fact that Johnson mentions many times that ther bloodline is the Clan of Lilith. There are many similarities between the stories in Johnson's book that she lists as traditional to her bloodline and those in the gaming supplement by White Wolf. However, Johnson's book was published in 1996 and the White Wolf book in 1998. They do bear striking similarities, and I truly wonder if quite a bit in the White Wolf book was, to be polite, "inspired" by Johnson's book.
The legends themselves are fascinating reading, especially since we vampires have few legends of out creation to fall back on or discuss. Johnson speaks in these legends of a link between vampires of her Clan and shapeshifters, angels and the children of her student, Cain. Here are those wonder if perhaps the ideas for this cycle of myths came from the publication of the White Wolf "book of Nod" since they were published the same year. I do not know the answer to this and plan to write to the author to find out about this. I will mention that many of the letters and journal entries are dated prior to 1996 and still deal with the Cain and Lilith mythos.
Other sections of "Dhampir" cover the Laws of her clan and the rules of etiquitte taught to fledgelings. The latter are somewhat humorous but still quite appropriate. The former read a bit like the Black Veil but are still quite different, and could easily be used as a code of ethics for those with objections of whatever kind to the Black Veil.
I will admit that I do not agree with the stated opinion that vampires can procreate through the sharing and exchange of blood. Feeding too much on a donor can create a sort of sympathetic hunger in the donor and a strong bloodlink through which emotions and physical sensations (like the Hunger) can be shared. I do not see how we could procreate by sharing blood except perhaps to Awaken the dormant possibility in those with latent vampirism.
I also do not agree with the fact that the author mentions feeding through biting and never speaks of screening her donors. Both are dangerous, though since she is a long standing member of the SM/fetish community I personally will give her the benefit of the doubt. She does mention Cub's reactin to feeding on someone with cancer...instant vomiting. I have had similar reactions, so I winced in sympathy as I read that part.
All in all, this book remains one of my favorite and most recommended to vampires looking for published material on others like them.
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