Eight Vampire Books for Serious Vampire Aficionados



By Editors Joan Gordon and Veronica Hollinger 

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press 
Date Published: October 1, 1997 
ISBN-13: 978-0812216288

The vampire is one of the nineteenth century's most powerful surviving archetypes, owing largely to Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula, the Bram Stoker creation. Yet the figure of the vampire has undergone many transformations in recent years, thanks to Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and other works, and many young people now identify with vampires in complex ways.

Blood Read explores these transformations and shows how they reflect and illuminate ongoing changes in postmodern culture. It focuses on the metaphorical roles played by vampires in contemporary fiction and film, revealing what they can tell us about sexuality and power, power and alienation, attitudes toward illness, and the definition of evil in a secular age.

Scholars and writers from the United States, Canada, England, and Japan examine how today's vampire has evolved from that of the last century, consider the vampire as a metaphor for consumption within the context of social concerns, and discuss the vampire figure in terms of contemporary literary theory. In addition, three writers of vampire fiction—Suzy McKee Charnas (author of the now-classic Vampire Tapestry), Brian Stableford (writer of the lively and erudite novels Empire of Fear and Young Blood), and Jewelle Gomez (creator of the dazzling Gilda stories)—discuss their own uses of the vampire, focusing on race and gender politics, eroticism, and the nature of evil.

The first book to examine a wide range of vampire narratives from the perspective of both writers and scholars, Blood Read offers a variety of styles that will keep readers thoroughly engaged, inviting them to participate in a dialogue between fiction and analysis that shows the vampire to be a cultural necessity of our age. For, contrary to legends in which Dracula has no reflection, we can see reflections of ourselves in the vampire as it stands before us cloaked not in black but in metaphor.



By: Nina Auerbach 

Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Date Published: April 7, 1997
ISBN-13: 978-0226032023

Nina Auerbach shows how every age embraces the vampire it needs, and gets the vampire it deserves. Working with a wide range of texts, as well as movies and television, Auerbach locates vampires at the heart of our national experience and uses them as a lens for viewing the last two hundred years of Anglo-American cultural history. 

"[Auerbach] has seen more Hammer movies than I (or the monsters) have had steaming hot diners, encountered more bloodsuckers than you could shake a stick at, even a pair of crossed sticks, such as might deter a very sophisticated ogre, a hick from the Moldavian boonies....Auerbach has dissected and deconstructed them with the tender ruthlessness of a hungry chef, with cogency and wit."—Eric Korn, Times Literary Supplement

"This seductive work offers profound insights into many of the urgent concerns of our time and forces us to confront the serious meanings that we invest, and seek, in even the shadiest manifestations of the eroticism of death."—Wendy Doniger, The Nation

"A vigorous, witty look at the undead as cultural icons."—Kirkus Review

"In case anyone should think this book is merely a boring lit-crit exposition...Auerbach sets matters straight in her very first paragraph. 'What vampires are in any given generation,' she writes, 'is a part of what I am and what my times have become. This book is a history of Anglo-American culture through its mutating vampires.'...Her book really takes off."—Maureen Duffy, New York Times Book Review



By:  J. Gordon Melton

Publisher: Visible Ink Press; 2nd edition 
Date Published: November 1, 1998 
ISBN-13: 978-1578590711 

The Ultimate Collection of Vampire Facts and Fiction

Death and immortality, sexual prowess and surrender, intimacy and alienation, rebellion and temptation. The allure of the vampire is eternal. The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead, Third edition, explores the historical, literary, mythological, biographical, and popular aspects of one of the world's most mesmerizing paranormal subject. This vast reference is an alphabetical tour of the psychosexual, macabre world of the soul-sucking undead.

In the first fully revised and updated edition in a decade, Dr. J. Gordon Melton (president of the American chapter of the Transylvania Society of Dracula) bites even deeper into vampire lore, myths, reported realities, and legends that come from all around the world. From Vlad the Impaler to Dracula and from modern literature to movies and TV series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood, Twilight, and The Vampire Lestat, this exhaustive guide furnishes more than 400 essays to quench your thirst for facts, biographies, definitions, and more.



By Montague Summers 

Publisher: Dover Publications 
Date Published: August 28, 2001
ISBN-13: 978-0486419428 

"Throughout the whole vast shadowy world of ghosts and demons there is no figure so terrible, no figure so dreaded and abhorred, yet [looked upon] with such fearful fascination, as the vampire, who is himself neither ghost nor demon, but yet who partakes the dark natures and possesses the mysterious and terrible qualities of both."

So begins this riveting study by one of the foremost authorities on witchcraft and occult phenomena. An indefatigable researcher, Summers explores the presence of vampires in Greek and Roman lore, in England and Ireland during Anglo-Saxon times, in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Romania, and Bulgaria, even in modern Greece. More than just a collection of library lore, however, this detailed examination of the history of vampirism in Europe also includes anecdotes and firsthand accounts gathered by the author from peasants in places where belief in vampires was still common.

A fascinating, sometimes terrifying book, The Vampire in Lore and Legend is a "mine of out-of-the-way information full of unspeakable tales," writes The New York Times; and according to Outlook, "a fascinating inquiry into the vampire legend . . . a storehouse of curious and interesting lore." Of great interest to any enthusiast of the supernatural and the occult, this book will appeal as well to the legions of general readers captivated by this ancient myth.
By Pam Keesey

Publisher: Cleis Press illustrated edition edition 
Date Published: December 1997 
ISBN-13: 978-1573440264 

Popular vampirologist Pam Keesey invites you to feast in the company of the most beautiful, alluring and untamed women in history. From Dark Goddesses to flappers, Vamps: An Illustrated History of The Femme Fatale presents 2,000 years of campy, witty and dangerous Bad Girls -vampires, witches, bitches, vamps, femmes fatales, & screen trash together for the first time. 

Popular culture - especially film - is filled with images of the femme fatale, the woman who destroys those she seduces. According to Keesey, all bad girls can trace their origins to the vampire, that quintessential evil woman who uses sex as a weapon. From Greta Garbo to Sharon Stone, these irresistible women are marked as excessively sexual, creatures of great appetites who step outside the realm of acceptable feminine behavior to satisfy their desires.

Keesey's fascinating cultural history is punctuated by excerpts of interviews with film stars and critics. Vamps book is a must-buy for vampire lovers and movie fans who treasure images of women as powerful, sexual beings. Includes 100 black and white photographs (including rare photographs of film favorites) along with complete annotated filmography, bibliography and video resources.



By Rosemary Guiley

Publisher: Checkmark Books 
Date Published: November 30, 2004 
ISBN-13: 978-0816046850 

From ancient customs to famous cases of beasts and vampires and their reflections in popular culture, six hundred entries provide definitions, explanations, and lists of suggested further reading on the macabre.

You’ll find everything in The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters from ancient customs to famous cases of beasts and vampires in modern culture, to books, movies and more about vampires and werewolves; everything has its own entry in the complex and very complete edition of  a supernatural encyclopedia. 

The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters focuses a lot on folklore, historical cases, cross-cultural mythology, and the presence of the monsters in the world of entertainment.  It also covers in its entries Japanese, Mexican, Gypsy, and Bosnian variations, among others displaying a very detailed and multicultural perspective that shows the similarity of monsters and myth around the world.

By Ph.D., Jay Stevenson

Publisher: Alpha 
Date Published: January 21, 2009 
ISBN-13: 978-1592579433 

Vampires are the hottest topic in popular culture today. From the now classic novels of Anne Rice, to the mega-selling series by Stephanie Meyer to the hit HBO series True Blood based on the bestselling novels of Charlaine Harris, the undead are certainly not dead in terms of books sales. Now, those curious about the history and lore of these creatures can get up to speed in the refreshed edition of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vampires. It provides a detailed explanation of the origins of vampires and insight into the fascination they hold in literature and belief.

Complete history and origins of this mythic creature.

An explanation of the various rules that vampires exist by.

A lively and exhaustive literary discussion of vampires and their importantce in fiction.




By:  Barb Karg, Arjean Spaite, and Rick Sutherland

Publisher: Adams Media 
Date Published: January 17, 2009) 
ISBN-13: 978-1605506319 

• An affordable, accessible companion to vampire literature, films, and TV 

• Several vampire movies are due out in 2008 and 2009: Twilight, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, and The Historian 

• Vampire communities are flourishing on the Internet—a simple “vampire societies” search on Google yields over 580,000 results 

• Everything reference books have sold more than 575,000 copies! Bram Stoker’s Dracula Anne Rice’s Lestat Stephenie Meyer’s Edward Who can resist these erotic, exotic creatures of the night? And who wants to? In The Everything® Vampire Book, readers unearth all the secrets of this beautiful, terrible underworld, including: 

• How vampires live, hunt, and endure 

• Why they refuse to die 

• How to destroy a vampire—from holy water to decapitation 

• The best—and worst—vampire books, TV shows, and films 

• What constitutes the “vampire lifestyle” and blood fetish practices 

• All the incarnations of vampires—from the Greek Lamia to the Indian Churel 

• Real-life encounters with vampires Vampire aficionados will enjoy sinking their teeth into the notorious history and bewitching tales in The Everything® Vampire Book!




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