Vampire/Zombie books

[j. d. worthington]

There's also an older anthology, edited by Bill Pronzini, which has been published in slightly different editions: 1) The Arbor House Necropolis; 2) Tales of the Dead. Both contain three earlier anthologies: Voodoo, Mummy, and Ghoul. Each has a nice blending of older (Doyle, Woolrich, Stevenson, etc.) and modern (King, Lansdale, Grant, etc.) writers on the subject. For things strictly on voodoo and zombies of one type or another, Hugh B. Cave has done several novels on the subject, though I personally find Cave more than a little formulaic. But, yes, it's difficult to find much in written form (even short stories) that are worthwhile on the subject of zombies. They seem to be used more in film than writing. On vampires, I'd add my vote for J. Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla". Richard Dalby also did a nice anthology of shorter vampire tales, Dracula's Brood; and even HPL had a rather unusual sort of vampire in "The Shunned House" (inspired, incidentally, by an outbreak of vampirism in Rhode Island in the 1890s).

Any other zombie pieces I come across that I think are worth bothering with, I'll pass 'em on.

[hugo]

Here's some ideas for you Dark Dance by Tanith Lee
A Taste of Blood Wine by Freda Warrington
The Saint Germaine novels by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro all vampire novels but all a good read

[Lirineth]

the books recommended are great, specially the Warrington's, but let me give you a word of warning regarding Freda's, they are a trilogy (see below) and the middle one (A Dance in Blood Velvet) is only available through independant sellers in the web and the prices range from £600 to £1,300.

1. A Taste of Blood Wine
2. A Dance in Blood Velvet
3. The Dark Blood of Poppies

[Jason_Taverner]

Necroscope series by Brian Lumley

[NorseDude]

For vampires, "Vampire: The Masquerade". It's based on the game with the same name, but is surprisingly good.

[isacked]

anyone heard of Vampire D? I'm fond of it, although I'm fond of anime and 'new' stuff like that.

[j. d. worthington]

Off topic, but just wanted to issue a welcome to you, isacked... glad to see input so early on!

[Cloud]

zombies, hmm . . . other than Laurell K. Hamilton's books, in which the main character is a zombie raiser, the only other ones I can think of are Piers Anthony's Xanth series, which feature zombies as characters, (although they aren't "zombie books" per se.)

Others which have not been mentioned are P.N. Elrods Vampire Files books, which feature a vamp P.I. and Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series, which are really fun and well written. They feature a girl who is a telepath who gets sucked into vampire and werepeople stuff.

[Nesacat]

I can't think of any zombie novels offhand other than the aforementioned Xanth series which have them as characters.

There are a couple of vampire novels though, since I am very fonmd of both the vampire and the werewolf.

Dan Simmon's Carrion Comfort has gor 'mind vampires' that are quite different from the traditional vampires. He's also got a collection of tales called LoveDeath that deal with various kinds of vampirism not necessarily the blood-sucking kind.

Stephen King's short story Poppy is one of the best I've read and I believe it should be in the Stephen Jones anthology. I might be mistaken though but it's a very good tale indeed.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova is a new novel with a different take on the father of all vampires. Vlad Dracula himself. But the portrayal here is closer to the historical prince the legend began with and it's very well done. I personally would not have been able to turn down his offer.

Brian Stableford's Empire of Fear is also a good read. It sort of turn the story on it's head and has a different idea for the creation of vampires.

One of my favourite vampires of all time is the creation of Les Daniels in the Don Sebastian Vampire Chronicles. The books span a huge chunck of history and feature all the main events of the period, for instance the executions during the French revolution; the witch trials of the Spanish Inquisition and the Aztec culture.

A very recent edition to the vampire annals would be Robin McKinley's Sunshine. Again a very different look at vampires and one that does not in any way attempt to romanticise them. Here you clearly have an alien being but you also have a situation where both the human and the vampire have to somehow find a way to work and live together.

[Who's Wee Dug]

Lucius Shepard THE GOLDEN is excellent more of a who dunnit detective among the vampire comunity than the slash and suck type.

Also in the Warhammer series are: Genevieve And Genevieve Undead by Jack Yeovil.

Blood is not Enough - 17 short Vampire stories edited by Ellen Datlow.

[The Lone Stranger]

Michael Romkey is very good.

Rice is a bit sissy and sensitive.

Steven Spruill is excellent.

[Riselka]

When it comes to vampire novels, Christopher Golden's 4 book Shadow Saga is brilliant.

[Leandra]

I'd like to recommend the already-mentioned Dracula (Bram Stoker) and Carmilla (J. Sheridan Le Fanu). As for others, one of my favourite vampire stories is Shadows in the Mirror (Inger Edelfeldt), though it's a more subtle style. No gore or blood or anything, but very nicely written.

As for zombies, the only story I've encountered them in is The Death of Halpin Fraser (Ambrose Bierce), and some R. L. Stine, but I wouldn't want to read that again!

[Nesacat]

Originally Posted by isacked

anyone heard of Vampire D? I'm fond of it, although I'm fond of anime and 'new' stuff like that.

Am very fond of Vampire Hunter D, both the books and the films. Bought the books about a year or so ago and I must say the illustrations are wonderful.

If you liked Vampire Hunter D you might want to give Hellsing a try as well. It's an anime and manga series by Kouta Hirano and it chronicles the efforts of the mysterious and secret Royal Order of Protestant Knights, Hellsing, as it combats vampires, ghouls, and other supernatural foes who threaten England.

[murphy]

Then there's Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and her Comte Saint-Germain who is a vampire. He rarely kills anyone; only when they deserve it. The first book written was Hotel Transylvania.