Among the various homages I played to the Twilight movies, (the sparkly vampires, the half-naked werewolves, and the bonfire scene from the second movie are just examples), there were still more than a dozen other vampire references slipped into COZY UP TO BLOOD. 

Were you an eagle-eyed vampire fan to spot all of these? (Wait until you see the last one.  It’s my favorite!) 

1.   The opening quote from Seth Gecko – From Dusk Till Dawn was Quentin Tarantino’s awesome, yet cheeky, vampire movie.  It’s not really an Easter egg as it was blatantly called out at the beginning of the book.  However, George Clooney’s “Everybody be cool” was a super awesome quote to kick off this tale, I wanted to mention it again.

2.   The Golden Circle grocery – in vampire terminology, a golden circle is made up of individuals who form a vampire coven.

3.   The Thirst of the Mind bookstore – in lore, thirst is a synonym for the hunger a vampire feels for blood.

4.  The Lost Toys antique store – this is a tweak on the title of The Lost Boys (1987)—the greatest vampire movie ever made! (Sorry, Twilight fans)

5.   Officer Caleb Colton – Adrian Pasdar played Caleb Colton, the main character in Near Dark, a vampire movie from 1987.

6.   Sebastian, the hotel clerk – This reference came from Once Bitten (1985), a vampire comedy staring Jim Carrey and Lauren Hutton.  Lauren Hutton plays Countess, a female vampire who must have the blood of a virgin to retain her youth.  Jim Carrey is the fresh-faced object of desire.  Cleavon Little played Sebastian, the hilarious assistant to the Countess.

7.   Spartan – I named the leader of the Moon Children (the lycans) after the mascot from the Twilight movie high school.

8.   Planaria – she is the female vampire as seen in The Lost Toys antique shop. I named her after the word written on the white board in the biology room scene from Twilight. This could be seen flashing by as Edward imagines attacking Bella.

9.   Waylon Forge – He was a bit character in the first Twilight movie.  He’s the guy who is eaten by the “bad” vampires.

10. Keifer – the villain of the Evenfall series.  This was an obvious shout-out to Kiefer Sutherland who played the villain David in The Lost Boys (did I mention this was the greatest vampire movie ever?)  Sutherland’s Lost Boys villain freaks me out to this day.  It’s hard to believe this is the same guy who would later play Jack Bauer and save the world many times over.

11.  Edgar Allen – the owner of The Lost Toys antique store is an amalgamation of Edgar and Alan Frog from The Lost Boys.  They were two weird guys whose parents owned the comic book store on the boardwalk.

12.  The Frog Brothers Comics, Santa Carla t-shirt – speaking of the comic book store, I put my character, Edgar Allen, in a Frog Brothers Comics shirt.  Santa Carla is where The Lost Boys took place and is referred to as “the murder capital of the world” in the movie.

13.  Charles “Charlie” Brewster – In the 1985 movie, Fright Night, William Ragsdale played the lead character, Charley Brewster who runs afoul of the vampire played by Chris Sarandon.

14.  “Oh, you’re so cool, Brewster. I can’t stand it.” – In Fright Night, Charley Brewster’s girlfriend slaps a sloppy joe into his while they are in the cafeteria.  Standing by is Charley’s friend, ‘Evil’ Ed Thompson.  Ed laughs at Charley’s misfortune and says this famous line.

15.  Werewolves of London/Thriller – While not vampire references, I did include them just in case you missed them.  Warren Zevon’s classic “Werewolves of London” is a song about a well-dressed ladies and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is about scary movies.  The songs played at the bonfire scene.

16. Morbius - This was just a quick mention when Murray tried to rename Shirley’s cat. Morbius the Living Vampire is a Marvel Comics character.

17.  The Lost Boys Soundtrack – That’s right.  I hid the entire soundtrack inside this book.  After the title, I put the chapter where you can find the song.  Of all the references I slipped into the book, this was the one I’m most proud of.  “To the Shock of Miss Louise” and “Cry Little Sister” turned out to be the most difficult.  Below are the list of songs from the album along with the chapters that songs appeared. 

 1.     “Good Times” (Chapter 14)
2.     “Lost in the Shadows” (Chapter 16)
3.     “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” (blatantly played on the radio in Chapter 9)
4.     “Laying Down the Law” (Chapter 7)
5.     “Cry Little Sister” (Chapter 34)
6.     “Power Play” (Chapter 2)
7.     “I Still Believe” (Chapter 20)
8.     “To the Shock of Miss Louise” (Chapter 13)
9.     “People are Strange” (Chapter 1)

That’s it! Thanks for reading COZY UP TO BLOOD and checking out these references.