Blood Ties (fandom)

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Fandom
Name: Blood Ties
Abbreviation(s): BT
Creator: Tanya Huff
Date(s): 1991-1997 (books), March 11, 2007 – December 7, 2007 (tv show)
Medium: book, television
Country of Origin: Canada
External Links: official site

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Books

Between 1991 and 1997, Tanya Huff published a series of five books (and one short story collection) about the private investigator Vicki Nelson. All novels carry the word blood in the title, which is why the series is generally referred to as the Blood Books (while the creators of the TV show decided to call them The Victoria Nelson Series of Books[1]).

The series evolves around Vicki Nelson, an ex-cop in Toronto, who works as a private investigator. Being the witness to a murder where the victim is left bloodless, brings her in contact with Henry Fitzroy, Toronto's local vampire and writer of bodice rippers. The official murder investigation is led by Mike Celluci, incidentally Vicki's ex-partner (professionally and privately). Together, these three make up the major characters of the series. Sex, head-butting between the male characters, and demon hunting ensues. In the five books, they hunt down demons, werewolves, Egyptian mummies, zombies and ghosts.

  1. Blood Price (1991)
  2. Blood Trail (1992)
  3. Blood Lines (1992)
  4. Blood Pact (1993)
  5. Blood Debt (1997)
  6. Blood Bank (short story collection)

Tanya Huff also wrote three books that could be considered a spin-off, evolving around Tony, a minor character from the Blood Books. These three books are generally called Smoke Books.

  1. Smoke and Shadows (2004)
  2. Smoke and Mirrors (2005)
  3. Smoke and Ashes (2006)

Television

In 2007, the TV show Blood Ties premiered on Lifetime Television. It aired from March 11, 2007 till December 7, 2007 with 22 episodes in total (divided into two seasons). It was not renewed.

The show uses the basic premise of the books - a private investigator specialized in the supernatural while she is privately being caught between two men. The first two episodes follow Tanya Huff's first novel more or less closely and are thus aptly named Blood Price I and Blood Price II. After that, the monsters of the week differ from what Huff describes in her books, though the show continues to draw inspiration from Huff's novels.[2]

The main characters are Vicki Nelson, Henry Fitzroy and Mike Celluci. Coreen Fennel, originally a minor character from Huff's novel Blood Price got a bigger role on the show as Vicki's goth assistant with a penchant for the occult. Tony instead, was not included on the show, supposedly because another network has the rights to Huff's Smoke Books.[3]

Fandom

The books have some qualities that should appeal to a lot of fans, such as canonical slash (Henry/Tony) and still most of the fan attention concentrates on the TV show. Apparently, Kyle Schmid has a lot to do with that, because his looks cause grown woman to drool uncontrollably. Recently, his vampiric alter ego Henry Fitzroy was announced to be the sexiest man in the vampire realm, narrowly beating Robert Pattinson aka Edward Cullen.[4]

The fandom is quite small, but Blood Ties fans are very dedicated. There are quite a few fansites and communities out there paying tribute to the show. While Blood Ties tends to attract fans for whom the show is their first fandom experience, there are also many fans who are generally interested in the vampire genre and who will watch related shows like Moonlight (TV) or True Blood.

If you're especially interested in Blood Ties fandom on Livejournal, check out the Newbieguide for lots of links to comms.

Fansites:

c6d_weekly lists Blood Ties as a C6D fandom.[1] The lead actor on the show, Christina Cox, played a criminal on two episodes of Due South.

Fanfiction

Blood Ties offers something for everyone, there is a healthy combination of gen, het and slash. Since the show centers around the three main characters Vicki, Henry and Mike (and adds a good amount of innuendo as well), every combination of these three is possible as a pairing: Vicki/Henry, Vicki/Mike, Mike/Henry and even Vicki/Henry/Mike. For the femslashers there is also a small number of Vicki/Coreen.

Thematically, stories might concentrate on the dynamics between the characters or on a monster of the week. Because Henry is a vampire and the shows gives viewers a few hints about his former lives, fanfiction authors can also come up with stories of Henry's illustrious past. Also, a big portion of fic starts after the show ends, trying to come up with theories how the plot might have continued.

The main fanfiction archive is Twice Bitten.

Archives:

Fanart

Fanart for Blood Ties isn't actually thriving. There are a few wallpapers and a bit of digital art strewn across the internet. There is some iconmaking going on, though.

LJ Comms:

References

  1. ^ This can be seen in the opening credits of the show.
  2. ^ This is most obvious in the episodes Wild Blood and Wrapped. The first deals with lycanthropy, the second features an Incan mummy - both are themes Huff has used in her series.
  3. ^ See Tv.com for more on that, accessed January 10, 2010.
  4. ^ The Examiner ran this poll where fans were invited to vote for their favourite vampire. Kyle Schmid won with 42%, accessed January 10, 2010.
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