Dracula is the vampire lord who brought fame to the undead monster of legend, the one we’re all most familiar with. But the concept of vampires didn’t spring fully formed from Bram Stoker’s mind. Who were the literary vampires that came before Dracula and paved the path for him? Editor James Grant Goldin seeks to answer that question in his two-volume collection Vampires: First Blood, published back in July. The volumes are divided by gender, with the first volume focusing specifically on “The Vampire Lords.” This is the one I’ll be reviewing today. Continue reading Vampires: First Blood, Volume I Review
Tag: vampires
Byron and Polidori’s Vampire Tale
Tall, dark, handsome, … and bloodthirsty. We’re all familiar with the image of the seductively suave vampire. Usually a wealthy aristocrat, he mingles with respectable society while secretly preying upon innocent young maidens in the dead of night. But how did this depiction come to dominate the popular imagination? It all comes back to Byron. Continue reading Byron and Polidori’s Vampire Tale
Review of Peeps–Unsexy Vampires
These days, we have a tendency to want a scientific explanation for everything—even in our most outlandish fantasy stories. Writers of vampire fiction, in particular, have come up with myriad explanations for how vampires come into existence, whether it’s a genetic mutation or some blood-borne disease. In Peeps, Scott Westerfeld has a particularly unsexy explanation: parasites. Through the eyes of teenage protagonist Cal, Peeps gives us the scoop on being a vampire, including the good, the bad, the awkward, and the gross. Continue reading Review of Peeps–Unsexy Vampires
Interview with the Vampire’s Assistant: Becket on Writing the Vampire Chronicles Alphabettery
Last week, I reviewed Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles: An Alphabettery. This brand-new A to Z compendium tells you everything you could want to know about any person, place, or thing mentioned in Rice’s popular vampire series. But who took the time to painstakingly compile all this information, and how did they become such an expert on Rice’s extensive fictional world? The Alphabettery was written by Becket, a close friend of Anne Rice who served as her personal assistant from 2005 to 2017. I reached out to Becket and he was kind enough to send back some detailed and thoughtful replies about what it was like working with his idol and writing the definitive guide to her most prominent series. Read on for our interview. Also, be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post and enter the giveaway to win your own copy of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles: An Alphabettery!
Review of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles: An Alphabettery
Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles have been around for over four decades now, and with the recent release of Blood Communion, the series is up to thirteen books (fifteen if you count the New Tales of the Vampires). That’s a lot to keep track of, even for the most dedicated of fans. But never fear, the ultimate Anne Rice reference book is finally here! Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles: An Alphabettery, compiled by her personal assistant Becket and with an introduction by Rice herself, comes out tomorrow, October 23. Here’s what you need to know about the hefty reference guide: Continue reading Review of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles: An Alphabettery
The Vampire Armand Review: Returning to Anne Rice
Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles changed the world of vampire fiction and are responsible for so much of the way the genre is today. You can see Rice’s influence in everything from Twilight to True Blood to The Vampire Diaries. Knowing this, I picked up Rice’s books quite early, reading Interview with the Vampire during my initial bloodsucker craze when I was probably about thirteen. Taken together, the first three books—Interview, The Vampire Lestat, and The Queen of the Damned—have been canonized as timeless classics that are essential reading for anyone who loves these creatures of the night. But as many fans would agree, after Queen of the Damned the books begin to get … weird. I pushed through for a couple more books, but after Lestat embarked on a Dantesque voyage through heaven and hell and back in time to witness the Crucifixion during Memnoch the Devil, I decided I was done and abandoned the series for half a decade. This year, however, I decided to try picking back up where I left off with The Vampire Armand. Continue reading The Vampire Armand Review: Returning to Anne Rice
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown Review
I will never be tired of vampire stories. Especially when authors keep finding clever new ways to reinvent the lore as Holly Black does in The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. I’ve been a fan of Holly Black for years and have particularly enjoyed her books on fairy tales and faeries, so I knew my favorite monsters would be in good hands with her. “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown” started out as a short story, which I came across in an anthology several years ago. Though the story hardly did more than briefly sketch out the vampire-infested world that Holly Black created, I remember enjoying it immensely. Well, the full-length novel that grew out of it is even better. Continue reading The Coldest Girl in Coldtown Review
Review of The Hunted: Encore–A Vampire Musical
Remember the musical episode of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer? What if you could have a whole show like that? The Hunted: Encore is an indie-made musical web series about a team of vampire hunters living in New York City. The show is one of many spin-offs from the long-running web series The Hunted, but the first to take the musical approach. Producer Ned Donovan stars as a somewhat clueless newbie hunter who teams up with a badass vampire-slaying veteran played by Megan Dorn. Together, they crush villains and make allies while singing and dancing their way through original songs with music composed by Marcus Thorne Bagala. The minute I heard the words “vampire” and “musical” in the same sentence, they had my attention. 
Continue reading Review of The Hunted: Encore–A Vampire Musical