Undead liven hundreds of novels—October 17, 2008
If you have seen any news about television, movies or books lately, you have probably caught on that vampires seem to be very popular these days. But these are not the Bela Lugosi, Count Dracula scary type vampires I remember from many years ago. These vampires are young, sexy and very appealing to mortal women. What follows are just a few of the over 200 adult fiction titles in the library catalog.
My first exposure to this "new" vampire came from Anne Rice and her Vampire Chronicles series which starts with "Interview with the Vampire" and continues with such titles as "Memnoch the Devil" (#5) and "Blackwood Farm" (#9). Rice has created a complex and interconnected history for her vampires and tends to focus each title on a different character or time period.
Two authors that follow in Rice's vein of creating entire worlds for their vampires to inhabit are Laurell Hamilton and Kim Harrison. Hamilton's "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" series begins with "Guilty Pleasures" and has little resemblance to another vampire hunter series of not too distant television fame. Harrison's dark and violent Hollows is the scene of her "Rachel Morgan" series. Rachel is a witch, who inhabits the Hollows with vampires, demons and other nasty, and not so nasty, creatures.
This fall's new vampire television series "True Blood" is based on the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. Sookie is mortal, but her mind reading gift makes it difficult for her to keep friends, unless they happen to be vampires or werewolves. The series starts with "Dead Until Dark" and continues with titles like"Dead to the World" (#4) and "Dead as a Doornail" (#5).
If all of these just sound too dark and scary for you, check out "Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter" by Nancy Atherton or Tate Hallaway's "Dead Sexy: There's No Rest for the Wiccan." These are a bit lighter fare, but still give you a glimpse of the "new" vampire. Or if you want just a taste of the vampire genre, try "Cravings", a collection of four novellas.
Judge the buzz about the undead by diving into one of these novels about vampires from the Hastings Public Library.
