If you look over the evolution of the vampire, you see an interesting phenomena. Over the years, the vampire has gone from the monstrous Nosferatu to the mysterious, tragic character of Count Dracula, to the homoerotic Louis and Lestat of Interview with the Vampire,to the sparkly teen heartthrob Edward Cullen.
Because of the adverse reaction to Twilight, it seems like a lot of people are writing off vampires lately. This is, of course, silly. There are still plenty of awesome vampires out there as long as they can keep it in their pants–yes, I’m looking at you, Laurell K Hamilton*.
Here’s the thing. I don’t really care. I liked vampires before Twilight. I liked vampires before Anne Rice’s vampires, and I will continue to like vampires. I will not grow tired of vampires, and I don’t care if a vampire book doesn’t “bring something new to the table,” as long as it makes with the fangs and the biting and the blood. Some people might say that’s a plebeian attitude. I say it’s a level of awesome they will just never understand.
* And seriously, LKH, you do know there are men out there packing less than 8 inches, don’t you? Don’t you?
I’m with you – I’ve loved vampires since I was 8 years old. I found them fascinating, and very cool (Drac Pack anyone? Did I just horribly date myself??) and, well, Vinny is the epitome of my favorite kind of vampire. 🙂
I’m so glad to hear it.
As long as I can make a few people happy with my writing, I feel like I’ve won.
You won years ago.
I liked vampires for a long time, but somewhere in high school, I just kind of drifted away toward werewolves and more obscure supernatural creatures. Still read vampire stories, though, just don’t write them.
Though, there is one vampire story I want to write, about a fat and balding vampire that is a joke on the entire community. Never know if I’ll actually write it though.
Hmm – someone has written a series called “Fat Vampire” but they’re spendy so I haven’t read any of them…