Vampires in fiction - Bundaberg Regional Libraries

BOOKS
Vampires in Fiction
To many readers, the world of Vampire fiction
began and ended with Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series
published over the last few years. In fact, the resurgence
of the genre owes much to the popularity of these books and there are many excellent authors out there for fans to
discover.
Early Vampires
While many people have heard of Bram Stoker’s 1897
novel Dracula, few know that it was heavily influenced
by a colleague. Sheridan Le Fanu wrote a rather daring
tale of a lesbian vampire, Carmilla in 1872, which was
itself influenced by the serial ‘penny dreadful’ tale
Varney the Vampire in 1847.
While Bram Stoker was not the first vampire lit author,
he certainly set the basic ground rules for vampire fiction
which have been followed to some degree ever since.
Most authors use the setting of Transylvania, have some
kind of vampire hunter in the story, and imbue the tale
with overtones of blood, death, and eroticism.
The next big development in the genre came in the
1970s, when the TV series Dark Shadows was a huge
success in America, and spawned a series by writer
Marilyn Ross called the Barnabas Collins series. The
portrayal of the vampire as dark, tragic and alluring
originated from these two productions, and heavily
influenced the author of arguably the most popular
vampire series until Twilight—Anne Rice.
Anne Rice
Anne Rice published Interview with the Vampire in
1976—it was the first in her best selling Vampire
Chronicles series. Rice was one of the first authors to
plan multi-volume story arcs—a staple of many authors
of vampire fiction today. Her tales of the brooding and
weary Lestat de Lioncourt combined elements of the
Goth sub-culture with a first person narrative, and became enormously
popular with Goths everywhere.
The New Vampire Writers
With Vampire fiction becoming so popular, new writers seemed to
appear almost every month, and each had a slightly different spin on
the genre.
Tanya Huff
Canadian author Tanya Huff began a series about a retired policewoman, Vicky Nelson, who has a love triangle between a fellow police
detective, and Henry, the bastard son of Henry VIII. Who just happens
to be a vampire…
The first book in the series, Blood Price (1991) was the basis for the
TV series Blood Ties.
Laurell K. Hamilton
Laurell K. Hamilton also began writing in the early nineties, and her
Anita Blake:Vampire Hunter series is still being published today. Her
early books focused on a power triangle between the Vampire Master
of the City—Jean Claude, Necromancer Anita Blake, and werewolf
Richard.
Hamilton’s novels have become progressively more explicit over the
last few years, with many criticisms of lack of plot and excessive sex
and violence. Her books are extremely popular though, and, beginning
with Guilty Pleasures (1993) the series now numbers 17.
Charlaine Harris
Charlaine Harris began her Southern Vampire series in 2001, with the
publication of Dead Until Dark. More popularly known as the Sookie
Stackhouse series, the books follow the adventures and romances of
waitress Sookie Stackhouse in the small town of Bon Temps,
Louisiana.
Having the gift of telepathy makes Sookie an unwilling eavesdropper
into the secrets of her neighbours, which usually leads to murder,
mayhem and a lot of running around in the woods… Sookie’s on-again
off-again romances with Vampire Bill and Eric, the owner of the vamp
nightclub Club Dead make for amusing and sometimes dramatic
reading. Overall, the tone is light, sometimes humourous, although
recent books in the series have had darker tones.
The series was filmed last year as Trueblood, and the books have been
renamed to cash in on the TV popularity.
J.R.Ward
Combining the more erotic story, with a harder-edged vampire
mythology, J.R.Ward became a fan favourite with the
publication of her first novel in the Black Dagger Brotherhood
series.
Published in 2005, Dark Lover is the story of the blind vampire
king Wrath, the only pureblood vampire left on the planet. Over
the series, each of his colleagues meets his mate, and has to
continue to battle evil in the shape of—wait for it—demons who
smell of baby powder…
It’s a very addictive series, from a talented writer.
Vampire Romance
A lighter subgenre of the vampire fiction has also emerged in the
last few years, with some writers heading towards Vampire
ChickLit, and others towards more classic interpretations of
paranormal romance.
Mary Janice Davidson
Mary Janice Davidson has been very popular with her Undead
series, featuring vampire queen Betsy, who is devoted to the
worship of high heeled shoes. Expensive designer ones.
Beginning with Undead and Unwed (2004), the series tracks
Betsy’s death and reemergence as a Vampire Queen, and her
comic attempts to fit in in the intensely traditional vampire
world.
Both Christine Feehan and Sherrilyn Kenyon have invented new
mythologies combining aspects of classic Greek and European
legend.
Christine Feehan
Christine Feehan has returned to the European origins of the
vampire myth, with a race of people called Carpathians, who are
doomed to turn vampire unless they find their lifemate.
The series began with Dark Prince (1999), about Prince of the
Carpathian race, Mikhail Dubrinsky. Mikhail has almost given
up hope that he will ever find his life mate, and is resigned to
killing himself to prevent turning vampire. So he will be ruthless
if he suspects his true mate is out there in the world.
Feehan’s writing is firmly in the paranormal romance category,
and the series has become a bit repetitive over the years.
Nevertheless, it is an interesting development of the traditional
vampire hero.
Sherrilyn Kenyon
In contrast, Sherrilyn Kenyon’s books have gained tremendously in
popularity, and have developed a complex and intriguing mythology
as they progressed.
The Dark-Hunter series began with little more than a standard
fantasy romance in 2002 with the publication of Night Pleasures— a
story about a Macedonian prince trapped in the pages of a book and
doomed to be a sex slave to whoever owned the book. Sounds like
basic romance/fantasy doesn’t it?
Happily for her legions of fans, Kenyon jumped off the deep end
with her next title, and hasn’t looked back since.
Developing a new Pantheon of Gods to mix with the known Greek
and Atlantean Gods, the author also mixes in vampiric blood
drinkers, shape changers and demons. The plots have grown more
complex, the characters darker and the writing more addictive.
The Younger Generation
L.J.Smith
A good decade before Stephenie Meyers put pen to paper to write
about Edward, Bella and Jacob, author L.J.Smith was exploring the
world of teenage vampires in her Vampire Diaries series.
Recently filmed as a TV series, these books have been republished
after several years out of print. Written in 1991, The Vampire
Diaries explores the classic love triangle between high school girl
Elena, and two vampire brothers—one good, one evil.
As with all of L.J.Smith’s books, the writing is fast and romantic,
and the action never stops as Elena is torn between the two brothers,
and ultimately becomes a vampire herself.
After a break of almost 18 years, Smith has published a new novel
this year in the series—Vampire Diaries-The Return: Nightfall.
P.C. and Kristin Cast—House of Night
Fantasy author P.C.Cast collaborated with daughter Kristin Cast to
write this popular series, which many of the Twilight fans have
moved on to.
The series revolves around teenager Zoey Redbird, who
becomes a fledgling vampire on her sixteenth birthday, much
to her horror.
As per the rules of her race, she must attend the mysterious
House of Night school, where things really do go bump in the
night. And of course there is a good looking teenage boy as a
romantic interest. The latest in this series, and number 6, is
Tempted.
Richelle Mead—Vampire Academy
Urban Gothic Fantasy writer Richelle Mead, who has a
number of very successful adult series, has turned her skills to
the perfect follow-up vampire series for the Twihards.
The Vampire Academy series is of a higher quality writing than
normally seen in teenage genre fiction, and the books could be
read easily across to adult fiction.
Four in the series have been written, and follow Rose, a teen
bodyguard to a living vampire. The Strigoi, or dead vampires,
are a constant threat, and are dedicating to killing the living
vampires, considered the Aristocracy of the vampire world. To
make matters worse, but perfect for the readers, Rose is attracted to an older bodyguard, which is forbidden in the code.
Mead is a skilful fantasy writer, and this shows in the pace and
intricacy of the plot and characters in this series. Again, this
series will be read from teenage to adult with ease.
The Future of Vampire Fiction
While Vampire fiction has held sway for the last few decades,
it has led to the massive popularity of Paranormal Fiction, and
the recent subgenre Urban Gothic Fantasy.
Paranormal Romance/Fiction involves other fantasy creatures
such as Demons, Werewolves and Witches, and can involve
fantasy worlds.
In contrast, Urban Gothic Fantasy places the action firmly in
the world around us—the streets and cities of the world. The
action tends to be nonstop, and the heroines more kickass than
your usual romantic heroine - Bounty Hunters, or Investigators
or Law Enforcement Officers of some kind.
Look for authors Jenna Black, Kelley Armstrong, Richelle
Mead and C.E. Murphy if you’d like to try this emerging
genre.
Sue Gammon
Bundaberg Regional Library