V for Vampires and Vampire Fiction . . .
So. Fifteen to twenty years ago, I was almost convinced I wanted to be a vampire. Oh, not for the blood or anything really kinky, but for the immortality. I was terrified not of growing older, but of dying young. I was sure I was going to die before I was thirty. (Finally, I figured out that I died just before age thirty in my past life . . . I don’t want to start an argument, so just take my word for this.)
Just to set the record straight, I’ve actually read only the first Stephanie Meyer book – Twilight. I enjoyed it, and this was before it was popular. In fact, I read it before it was released as an advanced reading copy (ARC). I thought that my vampire-loving teens at the library would like it and added it to my library vampire book list. I had no idea it would become so popular. I tried and tried to get into the second book in the series, also as an ARC, but just could not. I really didn’t care about the characters that much. I could have also told you even then that I wasn’t into sparkly vampires!
One of the first vampire books I read was Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot. I also watched the movie version from the ‘70s. The windows in my bedroom were so like the windows in the movie that I saw creepy eyes peeking in. I learned that while reading the book that I had to stop by 9 pm or give myself nightmares. That was probably okay, too, because I distracted myself by studying my school books!
I read and loved the original “Vampire Diaries” by LJ Smith when they first came out. I loved them very much, and were much more my idea of how vampires should and could be (rather than the Salem’s Lot variety). I couldn’t stand watching the tv show when it first came out (and still don’t) because right away, it was quite unfaithful to the books (and don’t get me started on The Secret Circle – loved the books, can’t stand the tv show.)
Ultimately, my favorite vampires are Anne Rice’s . . . they are the best vampires ever! (And for the record, I loved 1994’s movie of Interview with the Vampire. They did a pretty good job with it.) I devoured and then re-read several times the Vampire Chronicles that were available at the time, and then over the years waited eagerly for the next ones to come out. In 2000, at the library I worked at, we got the ARC for Merrick, which I took home and read in one night.
I read other novels as well, particularly in high school . . . including but not limited to S. P. Somtow’s books such as Vampire Junction, Lois Tilton’s Vampire Winter, and a novel based on Elizabeth Bathory’s life (I read this while I was reading Red Badge of Courage for my American Lit class.)
I wanted to write a paper on vampire literature for one of my English classes while I was in high school, but my parents thought this was a terrible idea. I wrote it on Laura Ingalls Wilder instead – quite a switch, huh? I wrote a paper in college (university) instead on the vampire aspects found in several examples of poetry . . .
I did write a short story for my creative writing class in high school about becoming a vampire (and also an apocalypse story) – I should resurrect it and see if it is publishable if re-written.
This was just a short overview of my relationship with vampire fiction.
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