Vampirey stuff in this thread...

Lindsay Sands puts a new twist on vampires, as do many other authors. Vampires are FINALLY shedding their traditional French accents and frou frou dress style. They're evolving, just like everyone else. Of note is also MaryJanice Davidson, although hers are more traditional, but still interesting. Charlaine Harris is pretty popular too. Those are the ones I can come up with off the top of my head.

I'm of the opinion that Vampire lit hasn't yet run its course, tho I have noticed werewolves and magic users are a bit more popular at the moment (or maybe I have this weird talent of picking out books that have more wolves than blood suckers?). Vampires represent everything naughty, and every heroine needs something naughty or tempting, so I doubt they'll go completely out of style for a while.

Movies? Vampires are definitely in a "down" phase right now. The last vampire movie I remember showing in theatres was Queen of the Damned.

Am I writing about 'em? Yes! My current vampire is a minor character but he still lurks in the darkness, wooing unsuspecting college girls into giving him a little sustenance.

Would I read new vampire stories? Absolutely!

Sexy brooding vampires bore me. Suave sexy vampires annoy me. I want my vampires dripping with grave dirt, with the stench of rotten flesh and corruption hanging around them like stink on you-know what.

Like this guy:



Then, when the woman has to willingly spend the night with it in order to vanquish the creature, it means something.

rugcat said:

Sexy brooding vampires bore me. Suave sexy vampires annoy me. I want my vampires dripping with grave dirt, with the stench of rotten flesh and corruption hanging around them like stink on you-know what.

Like this guy:

Then, when the woman has to willingly spend the night with it in order to vanquish the creature, it means something.

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Have you read David J. Skal's The Horror Show?

Apparently Bram Stoker's widow tried for years to sue the makers of Nosferatu with no success. She was a notorious b-word; she fought biographers for years, forever really, and there's still no definitive of Stoker available.

Speaking of Stoker. Skal suggests that Dracula was such a leap in creativity for him -- an otherwise pitiful writer -- that some critics, including HP Lovecraft, have posited that the novel might be the work of someone else.

I enjoy a good vampire book. Notice I said GOOD. There are plenty of crappy ones out there. I like novels with a new twist on vampires, not just the same old cliches.

Just for the record, most of the vampire novels I read are paranormal suspense. Nothing like a 400 year old, sexy, brooding vampire...

Vampire threads suck


sorry, couldn't resist

Seriously, one of my favorite vampire books is The Dracula Tape.

Tells the story of Bram Stokers Dracula from Draculas POV. He speaks the whole story onto a tape recorder. Really interesting twist on a great book.

Will Lavender said:

Speaking of Stoker. Skal suggests that Dracula was such a leap in creativity for him -- an otherwise pitiful writer -- that some critics, including HP Lovecraft, have posited that the novel might be the work of someone else.

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Or, just maybe, could it have been...NON FICTION!

rugcat said:

Or, just maybe, could it have been...NON FICTION!

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You just blew my mind

Someone needs to write a story about a "minor" vampire. Most times I hear about the resident leader, or if it's not a leader, it's the most powerful vampire in the area who should be a leader. Someone needs to write about the dorky punching bag of the vampire world.

Sassee said:

Someone needs to write a story about a "minor" vampire. Most times I hear about the resident leader, or if it's not a leader, it's the most powerful vampire in the area who should be a leader. Someone needs to write about the dorky punching bag of the vampire world.

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Thats not a bad idea. A friend of mine just finished proof reading a story of mine and asked when I was going to write a vampire story. Wanna sell that idea for a rep point? lol

Sassee said:

Movies? Vampires are definitely in a "down" phase right now. The last vampire movie I remember showing in theatres was Queen of the Damned.

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You must have missed Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, Blade 1-3, Van Helsing, BloodRayne, and The Covenant.

Although I don't know anyone who will admit to watching BloodRayne, because as I understand it, it's one of the worst movies ever.

Sassee said:

Someone needs to write about the dorky punching bag of the vampire world.

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Ha! That made me think of Harmony (Buffy/Angel), the most inept, dumb-blonde vampire ever.





Personally, you can't turn around in Borders without falling over another new Vampire novel. The trick is to make yours stand out. Do something unique with the genre, trip me up. Make me go "I wish I'd thought of that!"

Paranormal in general is still booming, but it seems more agents are looking for that "different" take on it. Succubi are popular, as are other demons and fey. I think writers of vampire and werewolf fiction have to work a little bit harder to stand out now.

Apparently Bram Stoker's widow tried for years to sue the makers of Nosferatu with no success. She was a notorious b-word; she fought biographers for years, forever really, and there's still no definitive of Stoker available.

Speaking of Stoker. Skal suggests that Dracula was such a leap in creativity for him -- an otherwise pitiful writer -- that some critics, including HP Lovecraft, have posited that the novel might be the work of someone else.

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Probably the widow's.

I had an idea for a Vampire story a few months ago, but I had already given up wanting to write horror stories when I was in my twenties. I still think my idea was a good one though; I haven't seen it anywhere else so far.

Anyway, I used to really like reading Vampire stories when I was younger, they were so much better than the gawd-awful Christopher Lee films I used to see as a kid. Dracula, red-eyed, no personality and totally laughable... Then came along Lost boys, brilliant compared to the old vampire films!

I read The journal of Edwin Underhill by Peter Tonkin back in 1983, I loved that book, it showed the transformation of a person into a vampire. Best of all, I was on holiday in Devon at the time, this story was set in Exeter, just a few miles up the road lol. I also read They thirst by Robert R. McCammon in those days, that was another great book for its time. Over the last 10 years or so, there was Anne Rice, I like her writing and her stories, I've even read Interview with the vampire twice because I enjoyed it so much.

I don't think that vampires will ever really be out of fashion, as we all like to be scared a little in the dark and be thrilled by so-called dark forces.


Elodie

I was never in to vampire-ish stuff until I read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. It's a YA book but the vampire-ness is not the main plot (not really).
The follow up book is called New Moon and I liked it even better than the first. The third in her collection is called Eclipse and will come out in August. I adore her characters and even went to the city where the book takes place- a tiny town called Forks in Washington.

Vamps rule.

Agent Nathan Bransford says vampires haven't gone out of style. I like to think of them as just another race... you know, Asian, African, Anglo-Saxon, Vampiric, Indian...

They prefer to be thought of that way as well. Vamps are people too.

You're prejudiced against vampires, aren't you? Admit it!

I'm waiting for a vampire who looks like Bill Gates and wears a pocket protector.

Dexter the Blood Sucking Accountant.

Never read a vampire novel. Most probably never will. No interest in them in the least!

I also enjoy a good vampire book, but I haven't found too many of them around lately (taking notes from this thread). MaryJanice Davidson highly entertains me, although the "plots" have become ever thinner with each new book so I won't buy them in hardcover.

I read the Sookie Stackhouse books when someone gives them to me, but don't go out of my way for them. It's unattractive to me as a reader to read repeatedly about some vampries cold skin under Sookie's hands. Ugh. Realistic, maybe. Desirable, no.

I tried Colleen Gleason's The Rest Falls Away, and found it challenged. There were some uncomfortable Buffy parallels and some stupid plot points, and lately I've had rather a low tolerance for stupid plot points.

Maggie Shayne has a great vampire series that's suffered in more recent books.

As more paranormals have been published, the pickings have slimmed out, but there's still mileage left the in genre, especially if an author can put a new approach to it.

ChaosTitan said:

You must have missed Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, Blade 1-3, Van Helsing, BloodRayne, and The Covenant.

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I didn't miss Van Helsing...but I wish I had. Heh.

ChaosTitan said:

Ha! That made me think of Harmony (Buffy/Angel), the most inept, dumb-blonde vampire ever.

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Her slap fight with Xander was a classic of the genre.

PattiTheWicked said:

I'm waiting for a vampire who looks like Bill Gates and wears a pocket protector.

Dexter the Blood Sucking Accountant.

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Bwah! Or IRS agent. When I was a teenager I remember reading a comic book wherein the MC was a Jewish vampire, with all the accompanying complications that entailed. I still remember how exciting the new twist on the old idea was, all these years later. There's a lesson in that, I believe.

ChaosTitan said:

You must have missed Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, Blade 1-3, Van Helsing, BloodRayne, and The Covenant.

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I feel ashamed now... I own Underworld! But the Blade movies aren't recent, just the third one. I too had the misfortune to see BloodRayne. Maybe I didn't remember it because my subconscious was trying to block it. Haven't seen The Covenant. Is it good?

Jedi Dad - sure, you can use it. Good writers "borrow" and all that. I'll race you to a good plot!

I do think their popularity will decline a little. It's crazy now that you can barely find a romance without a vampire in it. And they aren't fresh takes on the idea but the whole brooding, dark haired, fake accent cliche!