These are a Few of my Favorite Fangs.
Aug 22 '00 (Updated Aug 25 '00)
I admit it: I love vampires. They're night people, like me. They are usually tall, dark and handsome. You never have to cook for them, or introduce them to your parents. They dress nice.
Seriously, though, I think vampires are still viable, and not just as figures of fantasy. When well-conceived and well-written, they can perhaps continue to evoke a variety of reactions from even the seasoned reader of horror novels. With this possibility in mind, let us take a look at some old classics -- and some new blood.
DRACULA* (1897), by Bram Stoker, was the second original full-length vampire novel written in the English language. It gave us THE archetypal villainous supernatural vampire in a classic plot. Stoker's epistolary style helped to disguise his limitations as a writer: DRACULA is inspired hackwork, rife with bad dialect. It should appeal to almost every vampire lover anyway, because we've all seen the movies and they never get the plot right! DRACULA gets it right (or I'M a Dutchman!).
I AM LEGEND (1954), by Richard Matheson, was the first great vampire novel of science fiction; it gave us an entire world full of hungry vampires -- and one man trying to outwit and survive them. Matheson's style is smooth, with a tendency toward short sentences: extremely readable, especially at high speed! This book should appeal to SF fans, to viewers of the two films based on it (THE LAST MAN ON EARTH and THE OMEGA MAN) and to fans of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and DAWN OF THE DEAD. Its vampires are monsters rather than villains.
SOME OF YOUR BLOOD (1961), by Theodore Sturgeon, is a psychological mystery investigating a human vampire, an emotionally arrested man who is drawn to others only on an infantile level. Sturgeon's style is a combination of the epistolary (mostly involving medical documents and transcriptions) and a modified, swift-moving stream-of-consciousness when we are given the vampire's thoughts. The overall tone is clinical. Unglamorous and compassionate, this book should appeal to those interested in psychopathology. It caused quite a stir when it first came out, primarily because the vampire obtained blood from his girlfriend without harming her.
'SALEM'S LOT* (1975), by Stephen King, is a big book about a small town being overrun by vampires. The King Vampire (sorry!) responsible for this devastation is an unusually greedy, thinly disguised version of Dracula, with one notable exception: he transforms all of his victims automatically, without their having to drink his blood in return. He is a villain; they may be seen as either monsters or victims of disease. King's trademark style -- personal, and very revealing of his characters -- hits its stride in this book, which should appeal to fans of DRACULA and to lovers of THE STAND, for which it is (in terms of structure) a sort of dress rehearsal.
THE DRACULA TAPE (1975), by Fred Saberhagen, tells the story of a misunderstood nobleman so fearless that he could not die, and so sensible that he is certain to be believed if we will only listen to HIS side of the story! Written with fang in cheek, this is a single, folksy, FUNNY epistle. Its vampire hero is not precisely supernatural: instead he has transcended nature. Van Helsing is the villain. Anyone with a sense of humor and even one Dracula film under their belt will enjoy this sucker immensely. (Its many sequels go slowly downhill; when they descended into the Grand Canyon I gave up on them.)
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE* (1976), by Anne Rice, is a philosophical novel, an extended metaphor representing a transition to a gay lifestyle, and a vampire novel entirely about vampires: its human characters are little more than fleeting figures of fantasy when seen through Vampire Eyes. Beyond the supernatural lies the surreal, or perhaps the super-real: Rice's style is dreamlike, luxurious, and prone to excess. Sensualists will love this book. (Please see my review of it if you want my opinions of the sequels; I don't want to belabor my points. As it were.)
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA* (1977), by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, is the first of a dozen novels concerning le Comte de Saint-Germain, vampire hero and all-around class act. Yarbro's style is usually fluid and graceful, with frequent touches of wit, but some of the characters' correspondence found between chapters is heavy on the irony. The style seems to me to grow more modern in the tenth book, WRIT IN BLOOD. The entire series should appeal to romantics -- and to those interested in history, for Yarbro is more concerned with a wise man's perspective on humanity than with his (nature-transcending?) vampirism, and it often seems when reading this series as if Saint-Germain is the most human character in the book.
TABITHA FFFOULKES (1978), by John Linssen, is a comedy in which a thirty-something woman actually gains energy (!) and confidence from her affair with a European nobleman cursed with an hereditary disease, an obnoxious mother, and a daughter who also goes crazy for Tabitha. The vampire curse can be managed, but the relatives are impossible! I do not own a copy of this out-of-print novel, and cannot now describe the author's style except to say that the story is told in first person. The tone was funny and modern. This one should please those who believe, as I do, that orphans make the best mates!
THE VAMPIRE TAPESTRY (1980), by Suzy McKee Charnas, is a series of five short stories so interwoven as to form a novel examining a member of a species above us on the food chain. Dr. Edward Weyland is an anthropologist who studies his prey, the human race, even as a human psychiatrist studies him. The book came out at a time when schizophrenia was being studied using the vampire legend as a possibly relevant metaphor for the sense of combined alienation and neediness some schizophrenics seemed to feel toward other people. Charnas' style is mutable, changing effortlessly with her viewpoint and the feelings of her characters. So, perhaps, is her viewpoint itself: there is some ambiguity as to who is the predator and who the prey. EVERYONE who likes vampires should appreciate THE VAMPIRE TAPESTRY.
SABELLA, OR, THE BLOOD STONE (1980), by Tanith Lee, is a first-person narrative by a reluctant female vampire whose affliction has a science-fictional explanation. Lee's style is as crisp and clear as her novel is morally ambiguous. Men just will NOT leave Sabella alone, and she does her best not to kill them; in some sense she is certainly THEIR prey. This book should appeal to romantics, including those who harbor romantic notions about the planet Mars.
THE HUNGER (1981), by Whitley Strieber, is my one really guilty pleasure on this list because the writing is so, well, bad. Strieber can put the words together all right, but his characters go on and on and on in their own little minds, remembering and wishing and hoping and planning and plotting and sulking and feeling guilty and remembering again. Then something happens. Then they go on and on again. Sometimes they do it for long, long paragraphs DURING THE DIALOGUE! His bisexual vampire, Miriam Blaylock, is also of a species above ours; she would be pretty effective if she'd only stop maundering. Why I like this one, and who else might like it, I really don't know. But I felt compelled to list it here, even though it bites. Sorry!
FEVRE DREAM (1982), by George R. R. Martin, is a terrific historical novel and still another vision of vampires as a breed apart from ours, although here there arises the possibility of controlling, if not curing, their need to prey directly upon us. Martin's style runs the gamut from lyrical to graphic as his vision is by turns beautiful and gory. FEVRE DREAM is for all vampire lovers of strong stomach.
THE DELICATE DEPENDENCY (1982), by Michael Talbot, is a paperback original offering four hundred pages of mind games with 'nother-breed vampires, plus several historical inaccuracies. I still like it. Talbot's style is smooth and skilled, and there is (for 1982) an absolutely amazing plot twist! For those with plenty of free time ....
I, VAMPIRE (1984), by Jody Scott, is absolutely whacko: wild, vicious, loving, and mad. It IS a mind game, designed to make the reader think way, WAY outside the box. An hereditarily-cursed female vampire who runs a ballroom dance school falls in love with a sea-dwelling pig from outer space who has disguised herself as Virginia Woolf. (I am NOT making this up!) Only later do matters REALLY get strange .... Scott's style is almost frantically rapid-fire, and apparently effortless. One passage is quite disgusting. This one is for those who like to feel their little minds wobbling!
SUNGLASSES AFTER DARK (1989), by Nancy A. Collins, is the first novel in the Sonja Blue trilogy, featuring a young woman who gets kidnapped, gets transformed into a vampire, and gets revenge! Collins' style is remarkably swift and smooth considering her vocabulary, which must run to ten thousand words in just over two hundred and fifty pages. This book should appeal to anyone fond of justice, revenge, or urban nightlife. SUNGLASSES AFTER DARK won both the Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Awards. IN THE BLOOD and PAINT IT BLACK are the sequels.
VAMPIRES ANONYMOUS (1991), by Jeffrey N. McMahan, is the first-person narrative of gay vampire Andrew Lyall, previously the anti-hero of two stories in McMahan's Lambda Award-winning collection, SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT. McMahan's writing is classy -- almost "literary" -- but enjoyable, with a streak of romantic yearning. Andrew's own style is sharp, fresh and seriously campy (and he dresses nice even for a vampire!). VAMPIRES ANONYMOUS will please the romantic, the sarcastic and the sartorially precise.
DARK DANCE* (1992), by Tanith Lee, is the first of three novels thus far in the Scarabae series, the story of a family so strange that vampirism is one of their less bizarre tendencies. Lee's style has evolved beyond that demonstrated in SABELLA: elegant and spare, it is as sensual as Rice's but more suspenseful. DARK DANCE is followed by PERSONAL DARKNESS and DARKNESS, I. Those fond of family pathology, mind games and kinky sex should consult the Scarabae.
ANNO DRACULA* (1992), by Kim Newman, is a whacko alternative history in which Queen Victoria has married the King Vampire. Newman's writing is vivid, funny, and graphic when matters get gory. ANNO DRACULA should appeal to strong-stomached fans of any of the following: the Victorian era, DRACULA, Jack the Ripper, and OTHER vampires -- for there are dozens of familiar ones flapping around in this book. There is a sequel, THE BLOODY RED BARON.
KISS OF THE VAMPIRE/THE NIGHT INSIDE* (1993), by Nancy Baker, is the story of another kidnap victim, her transformation and her revenge. Baker's style is skilled, sensual and swift-moving. This one is for those interested in sibling rivalry or urban nightlife -- and for women attracted to vampires as figures of fantasy. I believe my editorial has now come full circle!
Yet I will take the time to suggest this tentative conclusion: for me, at least, style matters less than substance in any relationship -- even one with a vampire! If a vampire novel demonstrates a fresh approach and interesting content, I will probably like it. Then if the author's style is particularly compelling, suspenseful or sensual I am more likely to reread the novel someday. (Beware of how often you visit a vampire!)
Feeling drained? I don't blame you. Yet all of these favorite novels together constitute just the tip of the fang. I've omitted all the short stories and even a taste of young adult/children's fiction.
Not to mention a whacking great glut of adult novels not chosen! Some of those are perfectly acceptable books but just not my type, as it were (I never did care for vampire dynasties, for instance). And many more of them are so badly written that they simply ... well, you know what they do!
As for the Curse of the Unread, I have high hopes for Tom Holland's and Jonathan Nasaw's books, and will update this already overlong editorial accordingly. Thank you for your time -- so precious a thing, to mortals!
*I have reviewed this book for Epinions.
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