Carmilla isn't the first story about vampires. The first short story about vampires was John Polidori's The Vampyre written circa 1816. The first full-length seriel novel about vampires was Varney The Vampire written in the 1840s.
Carmilla isn't the first story about vampires. The first short story about vampires was John Polidori's The Vampyre written circa 1816. The first full-length seriel novel about vampires was Varney The Vampire written in the 1840s.
All those sound really interesting, I would love to read some more classical works about vampires.Originally Posted by Jermac
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. ~ Edgar Allan Poe
Must it be a serious/horror work? If not, I’d suggest a “surreal and darkly humorous odyssey” (as the reviewer at Amazon called it) by Paul Féval, Vampire City (1867). I consider it a classic.
From Amazon:
To save her friends from the dreaded vampire lord Otto Goetzi, gothic author Ann Radcliffe and her fearless vampire hunting companions, Merry Bones the Irishman, Grey Jack the faithful old servant, the revenge-driven Doctor Magnus Szegeli, and Polly Bird, one of the vampire's earlier victims, launch an all-out attack on Selene, the Vampire City...
No it needs not be serrious/horror. I have read some vampire books which would not qualify as being such.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. ~ Edgar Allan Poe
I love vampire books but also hate steamy romance in them. I don't mind love interests but would rather the details be left up to my imagination. For me, the best Vampire series' that have little, or acceptable amounts, of romance are the Thirst series by Christopher Pike and The Morganville vampire series by Rachel Caine. I literally average about 1 book every day and a half. Most are vampire and paranormal. I've pretty much run out of books in the Genre that are light on the romance. I'd appreciate some suggestions too.
Too bad this post is five years old. As weirdness would have it, I was living a couple streets away at the same time. I used to see Rice at a local bookstore. She once autographed a skeleton foot for me (a plastic model for medical students--you can get anything in the French Quarter). I still have the foot. It's a small weird world.
One of my favorite non-traditional vampires is Brian Lumley's Wamphyri, which are introduced in the second book of his Necroscope series and really come into their own as characters when we go to their world in the third. They're pretty much the opposite of current sparkly romantic vampires in every way--they're huge, powerful, and vicious, and rule their own world like medieval warlords from massive aeries, aided by thralls, human slaves/food, and vat-grown creatures.
I've only read the initial five-book Necroscopeseries and the following Vampire World trilogy, and they are enormously entertaining.
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi
I was looking for something to read, and this was the first novel I picked up. It has remained my favorite Stephen King novel.
Blindsight by Peter Watts is hard sci-fi with vampires. The idea is that vampires are an extinct species of predator which fell victim to 'the crucifix glitch' - an inability cope with right angles. They are resurrected via genetic engineering, given 'antieuclideans', and used for their superior intelligence.
I know this sounds ridiculous, but somehow Peter Watts makes it plausible. The book is hard, philosophical sci-fi - the fact that it includes spaceships, vampires and tentacled aliens is almost irrelevant.
Anno Dracula (Kim Newman) looks good, although I have not read any of the series.
According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
Charles Dickens, by George Orwell
"Inability to cope with right angles"
I love that. I love totally random absurd things like that.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. ~ Edgar Allan Poe
I remember that one being good, though I didn't know it was a series.
I agree. I'm not normally into "hard, philosophical" sci-fi, but I do like when someone takes a totally off-center perspective on something and runs with it.
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi
1766 Pu Songling- Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio
1819 John Polidori- The Vampyre
1874 Paul Feval, pere- Vampire City
1897 Bram Stoker- Dracula
1954 Richard Matheson- I am Legend
1973 Anne Rice- Interview with a Vampire
1975 Stephen King- Salem's Lot
"So-Crates: The only true wisdom consists in knowing that you know nothing." "That's us, dude!"- Bill and Ted
"This ain't over."- Charles Bronson
Feed the Hungry!
I thought I Am Legend was zombies.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. ~ Edgar Allan Poe
The awful movie with Will Smith they're portrayed more like zombies... but just like Will Smith in I, Robot, the movie had very little to do with the original story. In Matheson's I Am Legend the plague that sweeps across the globe causes vampirism, and the protagonist if memory serves refers to them as vampires. Also, unlike the movie where hope remains, the book ends very badly for humankind, or perhaps not depending on your take... humanity isn't dying out, it's simply a mutation and humans are now better for it. Matheson keeps it very scientific and Darwinian; in the end, the protagonist understands the exquisite finality in it.
Last edited by Iain Sparrow; 04-15-2015 at 02:08 AM.
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