Disenchanted with Vampires

[Alissa]

So, unfortunately since the whole sparkly, benign vampire movement, I have not been able to even look at any new books coming out about vampires. I used to LOVE them! You know, back when they were evil, murderous bastards. Now I can't even get past the blurb just mentioning vampires.

Has anyone read anything lately that harkens back to the good ole days of death and destruction a la vampire?

[Jonathan]

Have you read The Light at the End? It isn't new, but I hadn't read it until recently, and man, did it knock my socks off.

[Alissa]

Now that is intriguing! Thanks Jonathan :)

[Jonathan]

Now I'm excited. If you haven't read this one, you're going to have a ball. I don't know how I missed it all these years, but I just ate it up. I also really enjoyed Some of Your Blood (Sturgeon), Live Girls (Garton), and The Keep (F. Paul Wilson).

Jon Recluse is the man to see for great vampire recs. You can find him in the "What Are You Currently Reading?" thread.

[Alissa]

Thanks Jonathan...my hope has been restored.

[Jonathan]

:-)

Any time!

[Char]

Check out Burden Kansas. No sparkling, lots of ripping.

[Char]

And The Light at the End WAS awesome. :)

[Kate]

are two novels by David Wellington that feature non sparkly, nasty vamps. They are two books of four in a series, very violent and no romance!

[Jon Recluse]

[Lexa]

Alissa - I totally agree. Sometimes I feel like if I read another blurb of a Paranormal where mc or love interest is a "sexy" vamp I'll scream -- and not in a good way. I'm so sick of them I can't even read Rice anymore. And there are too many freaking "sexy" werewolves out there, too. Can't anyone think up anything new??

[Amanda]

*raises hand* I did. It does have romantic elements but my vamps don't spend all their time posing for book covers. They're a bit human in some ways while in others they are more monstrous (Marie, the villian, enjoys torturing others). It's about a lot more than PNR screwing too. Perhaps Eyes Like Blue Fire is a blend of the two versions' better bits?

[Walter]

Alissa, one good vampire novel I've recommended before is Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian. Imagine a cross between Dracula and The Da Vinci Code.

[Ken B]

Walter wrote: "Alissa, one good vampire novel I've recommended before is Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian. Imagine a cross between Dracula and The Da Vinci Code."

I have so many false starts on reading The Historian that I am about to just throw the damn thing away. I just want the freaking story to start already!

The reviews seem split right down the middle between love and hate. I think I am falling into the latter set.

[Walter]

It's definitely slower paced than a lot of other vampire novels, I'll give you that, Ken.

They Thirst didn't impress me as much as it has others, but it's possible a second reading might, as I very much enjoyed McCammon's novel Boy's Life. Felt the same way about Summer of Night, and I'm also a fan of Dan Simmons (though I do think his novella-length fiction tends to be stronger overall than his novels).

A different kind of vampire novel is Theodore Sturgeon's Some of Your Blood. It's not a conventional vampire tale by any means, but Sturgeon's a genius and tells his tale well.

Some of the others suggested here I haven't read, so I can't comment on them. Oddly enough, I really haven't read that many vampire novels.

[Char]

Walter here has an excellent novel as well, House of Shadows. It's a different take on the vampire genre which I very much enjoyed.

[jb]

I too enjoyed The Historian and it does start slow and is a slower read.

[Feliks]

Alissa wrote: "So, unfortunately since the whole sparkly, benign vampire movement, I have not been able to even look at any new books coming out about vampires...."

Hear, hear! A bright voice in the wilderness.

[The Bookish Witch]

The Strain Trilogy by Del Torro and Hogan was amazing. Nasty, bloodthirsty, unattractive vamps.

[Justin]

I totally agree with this. Last week I saw this book, I forgot the title unfortunately but the cover had me like oh wow! So I read the synopsis and I'm like sweet vampires are on the loose..but then it got all lovey and sparkly I dont want to read that! I like my vampires full of gore and ready to take someone out not trying to win their heart!

[J.M.]

I agree im also fed up with all the same old vamps out there...and I'm a vamp writer! I'd like to think my vamps are more traditional in that they are unfeeling, murderous savages, one of whom is pretty twisted in how she likes to have fun with humans! There is a small amount of romance but nothing like the flood of YA and other samies out there. Please feel free to have a look here:
Darkness Forbidden

I can also endorse Eyes like blue fire above :)

Jacqui :)

[Justin]

I wrote a series of Vampire poems a few years back, the first one I ever wrote was one of my first poems. It was simple but was a 2005 poem of the year nominee. After that I decided to write 4 more, none of them about vamps in love. My vampire poems became focused on how people have forgotten about them and how some contemplate suicide and just when you feel for them I write and remind you of how they should be, how they've always been and their true intentions.

[Jennifer]

Try David Wellington's Arkley/ Claxton books. The first is 13 Bullets.

[Kevin]

I have three suggestions.

The first is Pretty When She Dies by Rhiannon Frater, the first of a trilogy that is both inventive and brutal with an appropriate level of sexual content; plus they're Texas vampires!

The second is The House On Blackstone Moor by Carole Gill, also the first of a series; it's a brutal Victorian period piece set in England concerning asylums, vampires, and demons.

The third is The Matriarch, my own just-released entry into vampire myth; a present-day college student in central West Virginia becomes the target of an immortal, a killer linked to a century-old ghost story.

You have my non-sparkling vampire guarantee for all three!