Favorite Vampire Books

Melos

Melos 18 years, 7 months ago at Oct 1 11:22 -

Hey guys. I researching for an upcoming novel and would love suggestions for the best (or any!) vampire books out there. Anyone into vampires? What would you tell people to read to get the best idea about them. Thanks!

tartan_skirt

VIP

tartan_skirt 18 years, 7 months ago at Oct 1 21:25 -

There are plenty of good books out there, but it really depends what type of vampire fiction you're wanting to look into. Firstly of course there's the classics, such as Dracula (and Dracula's Guest which is a collection of short stories also written by Bram Stoker) which depicts the vampire as the bad guy. Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot is another good one if you're wanting the vamp as the bad guy, but I didn't find it that great. Then of course there's Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles (10 books) and New Tales of the Vampires (2 books) which show the story from the vampire's point of view. If you're wanting to delve into some young adult fiction then Darren Shan's The Saga of Darren Shan is always good, but Shan creates his own rules about how vampires live and you don't really want to copy. Some other good YA books include Chrisopher Pike's The Last Vampire series, which once again show the vampire as the main character.

Hopefully that helps and doesn't go on too much.

Melos

Melos 18 years, 7 months ago at Oct 2 13:43 -

Definately helps. Any of those a really modern view of vampires? Anyone know about vampirism is a virus themed books?

cocoabri06

cocoabri06 18 years, 7 months ago at Oct 4 14:26 -

The Occult Truth; One of the best vampire books that I have read so far,I also enjoyed "The burning"

tartan_skirt

VIP

tartan_skirt 18 years, 7 months ago at Oct 4 17:55 -

Both the Darren Shan and Christopher Pike books deal with vampires in the modern world (although the latter does have flashbacks sometimes, been a while since I've read them though).

Not sure about the virus theory though.

karenlyn

karenlyn 18 years, 7 months ago at Oct 5 8:26 -

Has anybody tried the Laurell K. Hamilton vampire hunter series? Those books are utter trash (she's not a very good writer) but lots of fun despite that.

Brian Lumley's Necromancer series is really good. Good writing, cool stories that combine vampire myth with the Russian mafia. Neat stuff.

Agaric

Agaric 18 years, 7 months ago at Oct 6 13:12 -

The one and only vampire book I've read has been good ol' Stoker's "Dracula." I'm not a vampire nut, but that book was a superb piece of gothic horror.

bubblegum_gunslinger

bubblegum_gunslinger 18 years, 7 months ago at Oct 6 15:18 -

You should check out "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson.

Sounds like what you are looking for, dealing with vampirism as a virus.

It's about a guy who is apparently the last person alive, everyone else has been infected with something that causes them to become vampire-like.

classic book.

TrekBody

TrekBody 18 years, 7 months ago at Oct 9 21:07 -

Really liked the Coldfire trilogy by ???? (damn lousy brain of mine) - very different take on Vampires, but definitely not "classic" vampires.

Anonymous

Anonymous 18 years, 6 months ago at Oct 25 13:18 -

You can't go wrong with Dracula. And 'Salem's Lot sort of complements it, but is quite different.

Anonymous

Anonymous 18 years, 6 months ago at Oct 25 13:23 -

(And I agree with tartan_skirt that 'Salem's Lot isn't all that great - it certainly didn't live up to its reputation for me. But it's worth a read. I found King's two "Lot" stories from Night Shift - Jerusalem's Lot, and One For The Road - much scarier. Though, if memory serves, Jurusalem's Lot doesn't feature any actual vampire action, but references it. Rather, it features some haunted house creepiness; but I guess the corpses walking around between walls and down the cellar are indeed vampires)

Clara Calamai

Clara Calamai 18 years, 6 months ago at Oct 25 13:34 -

HMmm... My most favorite would be Tanith Lee's Blood Opera trilogy. It's not really vampire as in the vampire myths, but there is a certain languid element there that I find very alluring. So, I suggest those three (Dark Dance, Personal Darkness, and Darkness, I).

Deleted user

Deleted 18 years, 6 months ago at Oct 25 14:14 -

I adore Anne Rice's work...

scullyx101

scullyx101 18 years, 6 months ago at Oct 27 3:04 -

stephenie meyer - twilight and new moon

Vikster

Vikster 18 years, 6 months ago at Oct 28 3:17 -

I agree with Scullyx101. Twilight is probably my favourite vampire-centric book at the moment, even if it is YA. :D

Devious Phenomenon

Devious Phenomenon 17 years, 8 months ago at Sep 1 16:08 -

Plague is a great vampire book lets see theres the Plague: london 1853, Mexico and uh... i forgot the third one but its about a special god worshipping type of vampires and its pretty dark fer a scholastic book lol

Deleted user

Deleted 17 years, 8 months ago at Sep 2 1:06 -

Some other good YA books include Chrisopher Pike's The Last Vampire series, which once again show the vampire as the main character.

I wasn't going to mention this, but since YA reading was brought up I should say that Peeps by Scott Westerfeld is sort of a vampire book. It's about someone who curved getting the vampire virus (which in this case is transferred through saliva) by instead turning into one of the 'Peeps', and now he has to get back to everyone that he may have transferred the actual virus to. I don't like Scott Westerfeld as much, and I haven't read this novel myself, but he's one of the more popular people involved with teen literature.

If you're looking for Dracula-specific things, I did a list called Dracula's Crypt that includes insightful versions of the novel as well as other related books. As far as story-telling goes, the only things included are the Essentials and the Elizabeth Miller novel. I'd greatly appreciate it if any Listal members could mention some titles for me to include.

The Legacy of Monsters series recently released an issue with Morbius and a victim on the cover, which featured a story on Morbius as well as one on Dracula and his daughter, Lilith.

kitty

kitty 17 years, 3 months ago at Feb 10 5:16 -

Well, the reading craze right now is Twilight and so on, by Stephenie Meyer, and yes, it also has vampires in it. I've read Darren Shan, and, of course, Dracula, and I guess these books are enough to get you off to a kick start. Hope this helps.

Deleted user

Deleted 17 years, 3 months ago at Feb 10 17:54 -

darren shan are some of my faverites also

Richard A. Booth

Richard A. Booth 17 years, 3 months ago at Feb 12 10:59 -

Hold on - you're (presumably) writing a novel featuring vampires, yet know nothing about them..??? Stick to what you know really is good advice, you know!

Deleted user

Deleted 17 years, 2 months ago at Mar 6 13:13 -

good Vampire books include:
The Vampire Lestat and the Cirque Du Freak series

Lilythe

Lilythe 16 years, 4 months ago at Dec 13 23:30 -

The Sookie Stackhouse saga refers to vampirism as a virus.

Isis

Isis 16 years, 4 months ago at Dec 14 15:58 -

I really, really love Anne Rice's work, even tough I haven't finished it yet cuz its hard to find some of her books in Brazil.

And I relly, relly don't get why so many people like the Twilight series. They're almost not vampires, c'mon.

Deleted user

Deleted 16 years, 4 months ago at Dec 15 4:55 -

I really love the cirque du freak series by darren shan, they are incredibly addicting to read.