Sick and Tired of Vampires!!!

[Werewoman]

Mir,

I love paranormal love stories! Not that I'm prejudice or anything , but a dear writer friend of mine writes paranormal novels, including romance. And I am not a big fan of romance novels at all, but adding that paranormal element, which sometimes includes vampires, to the story makes them much more interesting to me.

I can't comment on what is or is not on the shelves at the bookstore because I haven't been in a while - no budget for books - but I used to buy tons of books and it does get kind of old when a certain theme, vampires being only one, is all the rage. Bookstores only stock what marketing tells them will sell. When my daughter was 12 or 13, Goosebumps was all the rage, and she had most if not all of them. The local bookstore dedicated a whole frickin' section to them, while classic literature was stuffed in some obscure corner gathering dust.

Speaking as both a parent and a teacher (I still refuse to sign such a document , btw), I much prefered the latter, but you can't force someone else to read what you want them to read, so I had to keep in mind that at least she was reading and that was more important to me than what she read - usually...there are of course exceptions.

For what it's worth, I do agree that no one here is being forced to read something they don't want to, but I also understand the frustration of having to wade through what's popular at the moment to get to what I'm interested in, since my tastes tend to lean towards the obscure anyway.

I personally love vampire stories and the creativity of some of the authors. Some may take poetic license and create some very strange variations of these creatures. Sometimes it's cool and sometimes it isn't, imo. Still, I'll take Bram Stoker any day of the week. *big silly grin*



LOL chopper, can I read your story? Pleeeeze? *bats eyelids*

[ratsy]

I have never been a big fan of the whole Vampire Genre...It seems to me like it is more of a female fantasy kind of thing. Vampires, have always come accross as a romantic creature, when in all actuality they are blood sucking killers...I must admit that I have read the original Ann Rice Interview book and there have been vampires mentioned in the couple Harry Dresden books I have read but other than that I have not felt the need to read them....

I also feel that being from Canada we have no Vampire folklore...If I was european where vampires seem to like hanging out maybe I would feel different...

I don't feel annoyed at the popularity of Vampires just and I dont really care that there are a million dancing reality shows on tv...I just dont bother them and they dont bother me...I will stick to what I enjoy and that is that

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by ratsy

I also feel that being from Canada we have no Vampire folklore...If I was european where vampires seem to like hanging out maybe I would feel different...

I wouldn't be too certain about that:

Wilno vampire lore « Uncanny Canada

The most well-known examples (these days, at least) are of the extraction you mention, but vampires in one form or another date back to the earliest civilizations, and some of those versions were no less seductive than those of today.

There are some very good tales featuring vampires, of course, in classic fantasy and horror; Clark Ashton Smith's vampires were often very seductive indeed... and particularly nasty (see "The Death of Ilalotha", for example....)

The Death of Ilalotha by Clark Ashton Smith

[chopper]

Originally Posted by Werewoman

LOL chopper, can I read your story? Pleeeeze? *bats eyelids*

hmm. not often people want to read my stuff! yep, though it's needing some rewrites in the middle third....

[Werewoman]

Originally Posted by chopper

hmm. not often people want to read my stuff! yep, though it's needing some rewrites in the middle third....

Hey! Didn't you read the rest of the post? You know...the bit about having no budget for books? I'm desperate, okay?

kidding...kidding! *ducks as a flying shoe goes whipping past her head*

*another shoe comes flying across the room from the opposite direction and knocks WW senseless* <WHAM!> *groan*

note to self: no picking on the authors!!

On a more serious note, seriously, I really would like to read it.

[chopper]

i have it on good authority that my shoes are deadlier than anything Michael Crichton ever wrote....

pm me an addy and i'll send ya the pdf....

[Werewoman]

Originally Posted by chopper

i have it on good authority that my shoes are deadlier than anything Michael Crichton ever wrote....

*pictures giant shoes smacking a t-rex upside the head*

*shudder*

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by WizardofOwls

Just out of curiosity, what series are you talking about? Forever Knight perhaps? Or maybe the revival of Dark Shadows? I actually liked both of those series, but they were way before the current tidal wave of blood suckers. I also like a new show which airs on an adult gay channel called The Lair which is about vampires.

No the tv show is new that is beginning this fall and the books are from 1993 and re-released now again.

I only know of it because i was reading about upcoming tv shows and seeing the teenage vampire stuff making it to tv was just a matter of time. Its not vampire in vein of Joss Whedon's shows,Forever Knight type shows. Much more teenage romance stuff.

[Rodders]

I find it quite interesting how the Genre has changed over the years. From Salems Lot, to Lestat and his pals to the current Vampiric romance novels that are popular at the moment. If nothing else, you've got to give credit for that.

Soon there will be another ground breaking Vampire novel. No matter how bored some of us may be with this at the moment, there'll be a lot of us who are moaning on these boards will pick it up.

[Manarion]

Well, not me. I never really cared for the unrealistic attributes of the vampire. Undead, intelligent, preserved, super strong, super fast, can't be hurt by most mortal items, destroyed by sunlight yet physically solid? Hmm, something wrong here....

[Werewoman]

Originally Posted by Manarion

Well, not me. I never really cared for the unrealistic attributes of the vampire. Undead, intelligent, preserved, super strong, super fast, can't be hurt by most mortal items, destroyed by sunlight yet physically solid? Hmm, something wrong here....

Sounds more like you're describing yourself, Karn.

[Manarion]

Now, now, no need for namecalling.

Personally, there should be consistencies throughout creature groups. Zombies and ghouls should be destroyed by sunlight if vampires are. Wraiths, specters, and phantoms can be, but they're corporeal.

Not to mention that vampires are preserved-and the legend of them began far before public embalming practices started. I might be able to get past their deathly super strength-if it weren't for the fact that most other types of solid undead don't possess it and the fact that oxygen is needed for strength....

[j. d. worthington]

There are several things I see wrong with your position here, Manarion. One is that it reminds me of something which was proposed many years ago by a French critic/sf enthusiast, who set forth that, to avoid the sorts of confusion about worldbuilding and the like, all sff writers should sit down and work out a "future history" background against which all future sf stories would be written. This would allow for consistency and a much greater feeling of verisimilitude, etc.

Needless to say, no one ever took him up on the challenge....

No, I don't see it as somehow wrong to set aside one set or another of attributes concerning supernatural entities as long as it is genuinely what the logic of the story requires; after all, there was a great deal of inconsistency in most of these to begin with, if one looks back at the original sources and folklore from different regions and times. They have always reflected the anxieties of the age in that way and, to stay viable, this sort of flexibility is, I think, a good thing... as long as it is done with care and a certain degree of rigor. Look at how Matheson set aside certain aspects of the traditional vampire yet kept others, for I Am Legend; ditto with G. R. R. M. with Fevre Dream, or Simmons with Carrion Comfort, or Hugh Walpole with "Mrs. Lunt", E. F. Benson with "The Room in the Tower", or even Le Fanu with "Carmilla". Not to mention Maupassant's "Le Horla". And then there is the very odd -- yet perfectly apropriate -- vampiric entity of "The Shunned House" or "The Colour Out of Space" by HPL....

Most of what we "know" about vampires is inherited from Stoker and Hollywood, not from the genuine sources. (They aren't destroyed by sunlight, for example; far from it.) There are a lot of very good tales about vampires written over the years, and occasionally someone still does something quite good with the idea... one just has to get past the popular crap to find the gems... which is where having someone who loves the particular type of tale comes in handy....

[Connavar]

Thats what i keep saying in this thread dont diss The Vampire if you havent read more than one version. The romance hero,hollywood version is only a few sides of it.

Dismissing vampire fiction just because you dont like Twilight type isnt fair to several of the great writers that have written vampire stories.

[Teresa Edgerton]

I agree with JD. Over the centuries, and from country to country, vampires have been credited with so many different characteristics, to expect them to conform to current literary (and cinematic) clichés seems rather pointless.

I recently reread one of the stories that JD mentions up above: Carmilla, a classic vampire story that has influenced many, many other writers since LeFanu wrote it. No aversion to sunlight for the vampire there, although she does have to spend a certain amount of time in her grave in order to "survive."