The Inside Scoop on Gaming

What it is:

Almost half a year ago, I saw in the release schedule from White Wolf the mention of Vampire Erotica: Eternal Hearts. It promised to 'examine the vampire as a sexual metaphor'. It does, a little. It does a lot, if you take the word 'erotic' as an excuse to write shocking fiction, with a small plot and— Let's stop it. I'll get back on that.

Eternal Hearts comes to you in a nice hardcover book. The cover art, as the rest of the art in the book, is from John Bolton. That name should ring a bell: he's also done the covers of Libellus Sanguinus I & II, Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic and others. On the interior of the cover is a full color, 2-page picture of Sacha Vykos, one of Vampire's signature characters and an important character in the book.
The books' layout is very good, with easily read pages and full page illustrations. The only thing that bothers me is the font used for the chatroom conversations between two of the characters. One would think the typesetter could have found another monospaced font.

Preceded by the credits are the table of contents and a list of illustrations. White Wolf thought that a little explanation would be appropriate, so the developer (Justin Achilli) tells us his thoughts about the reasons for this book, and the choice of Lucy Taylor as its author.

The 27 chapters that follow are, at the core, about a clash between Lucita, Lasombra antitribu and arguably the sexiest vampire babe around, and Sacha Vykos, Tzimisce priscus. Yes, they are both clan novel signature characters, and they're not the only two in Eternal Hearts at that. The story is well written with references to events that are described in other Vampire books.

The book has 16 illustrations by John Bolton. 7 are full color paintings, the remaining 9 are black-and-white drawings. All but one are displayed on full page size, which is nice.

What I like:

The references to other events in the World of Darkness. The other fiction about the World I've read are the clan novel excerpts on www.white-wolf.com, so I don't know how well the references fit in the meta-plot of Vampire, but I'd like to read some more now, thanks to Taylor. The use of the signature characters seems to fit quite nicely, too. The character of Rev. Vargas is very good, especially his degeneration as a hunter.

The art from John Bolton is beautiful and contributes a lot to the mood of the story. Technically, they are nothing short of perfect, but I have one great regret. And that brings me to ...

What I don't like:

The content of the pictures is quite shocking and over the edge. I know, it's a Black Dog book, but some of the content is just too much of a gratuite showing of nude genitalia. Too bad that a illustrator of Bolton's stature resorts to this.
Some of the content of the text isn't much better, either. While Taylor describes the thoughts and actions of the main characters quite good, she too resorts to many scenes with sex and violence. I have to say she's more subtle than Bolton, most of the time, but one scene was way over the edge. It's chapter 7 where I'm talking about, which is the excerpt that is available on the web site. White Wolf has published the right chapter at that, because it depicts the most shocking scene in the book.

Conclusion:

Eternal Hearts is a well-written book that is presented very well: handy dimensions, good layout, very fine art. The contents are sometimes a bit on and over the edge of good taste. White Wolf said they wanted to explore the limits of Vampire in a erotic way, and I can't blame them for that, but it wasn't my cup of tea all along.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Eternal Hearts
Author: Lucy Taylor (text) and John Bolton (art) Category: Fiction Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Vampire: The Masquerade Cost: 19.95 US$ Page count: 156 ISBN: 1-56504-205-0 SKU: WW2400 Capsule Review by Jake de Oude on 03/09/00. Genre tags: Modern_day Horror Vampire	What it is: Almost half a year ago, I saw in the release schedule from White Wolf the mention of Vampire Erotica: Eternal Hearts. It promised to 'examine the vampire as a sexual metaphor'. It does, a little. It does a lot, if you take the word 'erotic' as an excuse to write shocking fiction, with a small plot and— Let's stop it. I'll get back on that. Eternal Hearts comes to you in a nice hardcover book. The cover art, as the rest of the art in the book, is from John Bolton. That name should ring a bell: he's also done the covers of Libellus Sanguinus I & II, Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic and others. On the interior of the cover is a full color, 2-page picture of Sacha Vykos, one of Vampire's signature characters and an important character in the book. The books' layout is very good, with easily read pages and full page illustrations. The only thing that bothers me is the font used for the chatroom conversations between two of the characters. One would think the typesetter could have found another monospaced font. Preceded by the credits are the table of contents and a list of illustrations. White Wolf thought that a little explanation would be appropriate, so the developer (Justin Achilli) tells us his thoughts about the reasons for this book, and the choice of Lucy Taylor as its author. The 27 chapters that follow are, at the core, about a clash between Lucita, Lasombra antitribu and arguably the sexiest vampire babe around, and Sacha Vykos, Tzimisce priscus. Yes, they are both clan novel signature characters, and they're not the only two in Eternal Hearts at that. The story is well written with references to events that are described in other Vampire books. The book has 16 illustrations by John Bolton. 7 are full color paintings, the remaining 9 are black-and-white drawings. All but one are displayed on full page size, which is nice. What I like: The references to other events in the World of Darkness. The other fiction about the World I've read are the clan novel excerpts on www.white-wolf.com, so I don't know how well the references fit in the meta-plot of Vampire, but I'd like to read some more now, thanks to Taylor. The use of the signature characters seems to fit quite nicely, too. The character of Rev. Vargas is very good, especially his degeneration as a hunter. The art from John Bolton is beautiful and contributes a lot to the mood of the story. Technically, they are nothing short of perfect, but I have one great regret. And that brings me to ... What I don't like: The content of the pictures is quite shocking and over the edge. I know, it's a Black Dog book, but some of the content is just too much of a gratuite showing of nude genitalia. Too bad that a illustrator of Bolton's stature resorts to this. Some of the content of the text isn't much better, either. While Taylor describes the thoughts and actions of the main characters quite good, she too resorts to many scenes with sex and violence. I have to say she's more subtle than Bolton, most of the time, but one scene was way over the edge. It's chapter 7 where I'm talking about, which is the excerpt that is available on the web site. White Wolf has published the right chapter at that, because it depicts the most shocking scene in the book. Conclusion: Eternal Hearts is a well-written book that is presented very well: handy dimensions, good layout, very fine art. The contents are sometimes a bit on and over the edge of good taste. White Wolf said they wanted to explore the limits of Vampire in a erotic way, and I can't blame them for that, but it wasn't my cup of tea all along. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 3 (Average)