PRAISE FOR MICHAEL SCHIEFELBEIN
For VAMPIRE VOW
Lambda Literary Award Finalist
Michael Schiefelbein has employed the conventions of gothic fiction with wit, passion, and intelligence, a combination that will render his book a crossover success because these qualities will appeal to a wide range of readers, including those who would not normally read vampire novels... For most readers, perhaps, VAMPIRE VOW'S pleasures will be more concrete: Its action is tightly plotted, it characters completely and believably drawn, and its prose style simple but elegant. They will devour it--or let it devour them.
Lambda Book Report
[An] audacious, erotic and entertaining novel... Sexy, suspenseful and yes, spiritual, "VAMPIRE VOW" is a distinctive debut.
Philadelphia Gay News
[Schiefelbein's] take on vampirism is perhaps the most interesting... The theological concepts, the envisioning of a vampire heirarchy, the conflicting emotions of the protagonist, all conspire to render an absolutely fascinating book.
Gay People's Chronicle
VAMPIRE VOW is a literate, compelling, and original contribution to the horror fantasy genre, and strongly recommended, especially compelling reading for vampire buffs.
Midwest Book Review
Any compilation of this year's best cannot overlook VAMPIRE THRALL, the latest incarnation of Michael Schiefelbein's sexy gay vampire.
New York Blade
Schiefelbein pulls the reader once again into his thrall ... carefully continues his provocative examinations of Catholocism, spirituality, and good and evil while vibrantly giving readers all of the tempestuous melodrama of a great and thrilling vampire novel filled with deep sexual passions. Bring on the next installment! Fast!
Lambda Book Report
Swiftly plotted and sufficiently sexy, the book races toward a climactic ending that begs for the next installment.
Out Magazine
A wicked guilty pleasure rich with a high camp quotient and a killer story ... Joyfully mixes gay romance, vampire thrillers, Vatican travelogues, and Catholic dogma into a giddy sensation ... grand and highly entertaining.
Gay City News
Great pulp queer fiction with a remarkable depth of reflection to match.
Bent
Once again draws the reader into a spell. Enough suspense and sex to keep one reading with rapt attention until the last page.
Virginia Gazette
A fast paced and well-written delight.
reFresh
Just like his first novel, I devoured VAMPIRE THRALL in two evenings. Who could ask for anything more!
Liberty Press
As well-written and powerful a story as one will find. Its depths are as thought-provoking as they are spine-tingling. Its resolution is both shocking and profound ... remarkably poignant Whatever it was that inspired Schiefelbein, VAMPIRE THRALL is likely to make readers fall to their knees and give thanks.
X-Factor (Phoenix, AZ)
A must-read. Clearly Schiefelbein has arrived.
The Hour
A great book for a sunny day on the beach.
PopMatters
This spiritually-tinged potboiler's nonstop progression or lurid gay sex and bloodsucking scenes will titillate fans of the genre.
Publishers Weekly
...well written and replete with fully realized characters. Recommended.
Library Journal
A sexy, savory novel ... Schiefelbein is a masterfully atmospheric writer, evoking the culture of Spain in the years both before and after the 1975 death of the dictator Franco with the flair of a fine travel writer, while at the same time crafting an unusually intelligent psychological thriller.
Richard Labonte
In Newsweekly, many others
Pulp fiction to the max ... a compelling read and the characters are clearly drawn. Like a guilty pleasure, you just may have to hide it in your robes when people are looking.
Instinct
A refreshing departure...In addition to BLOOD BROTHERS' well drawn characters are the other atmospheric details that Schiefelbein has such a gift for. The greatest and strangest of these is the mysterious, transcendent and sometimes destructive thing called love.
X Factor Magazine (AZ)
You'll be busy turning the pages, be it for the blood, sex or fears.
Memphis Flyer
A straightforward and timely story that could have been stolen directly from recent headlines ... Schiefelbein has succeeded again in writing a well-crafted novel that draws us in and will not let us go. Just like VAMPIRE VOW, BLOOD BROTHERS will keep you riveted and begging for more.
The Libery Press
Compelling...Schiefelbein's writing is crisp and flowing. His descriptions of Catholic ritual and practice are thorough and reverent, and his perceptions about issues facing the church are interesting. A subtle beauty pervades this text despite the more controversial parts.
The Daily Oklahoman
With delicate grace, Schiefelbein compassionately limns the all-toohuman yearnings and shortcomings of clerics in this quietly moving novel.
Booklist
[A] steam suspense tale... Schiefelbein presents the dilemma of gay priests with sensitivity...
Publishers Weekly
A sexually charged thriller...with a lot of heat.
Kirkus
THE WORK OF MICHAEL SCHIEFELBEIN
Click to go Back