Top 3 Vampire Authors I think you should read...

Vampire Novel anyone?

Warning: Explicit Language and some insane ranting.

As an author I always have people asking me what inspired me to write about vampires. Usually, I get this pathetic sense of shy, bashfulness where I shrug with a goofy, tooth out hi-yuck and giggle in a very unladylike manner because… well…

I’m an author.

I never intended to have to talk to people, I hide in my basement and write in the dark like a mushroom.

But, if I really had to think about it – and obviously I have to – there are three books that heavily influenced my own penchant for the living dead creature that is the Vampire. These are books that on one end of the scale (the tame end of the scale) they are more of an emotional experience and on the other end of the scale (the incredibly feral end of the scale) you are in for a complete gore fest mixed with a sex fest and possibly opinions that will challenge every part of your inner sense of morality… BUT SOOO GOOOOD!

Naturally, I have many people going “She is totally going to write about Twilight.” And, naturally, I guffaw and snort indignantly before cackling like a crazed witch creature that slunk out of the Salem Witch Hunt. So, before I get into the three vampire Author’s that I believe everyone should read, and you like Twilight – Get out.

Just, get out.

Because this is not the place to hear about darling (misogynist) Edward and that pathetically clumsy, dimwit, Bella. This is the place where Sparkling like a prancing unicorn is very much not allowed.

This is the place that endorses the bottom dwelling vampires that plagued folklore throughout history… and we like it that way.

So, I shall begin.

Anne Rice

Naturally…

*Insert cunning little expression while stroking a black cat.*

So, I was thirteen when I read Interview with the Vampire for the first time. And like most of the girls that read Twilight whose eyes sparkled with endearment as they reached for the second book, I was wrapped, hooked! I needed more! Only my eyes didn’t sparkle and I’m pretty sure my heart bled for dear, sweet Louis rather than turning me into a girlish mess every time I heard his name. Don’t lie Twilight fans – you were a girlish mess. And yes, we know you’re still here.

I was hooked on the dark, sad, depressing, and existential views on true love. It wasn’t about finding the guy and falling head over heels in love, it was an experience that taught an odd teenage girl (that was me) that love – true love – comes in the strangest of forms and has nothing to do with getting married.

I was taken over by an uncontrollable urge to find more and I went through The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, Marius, Armand, etc, etc. I was a girl possessed!

Or maybe just tainted like Mina when she was first bitten by Dracula.

Yeah, that was it.

The reason I say that every vampire enthusiast should read Anne Rice’s books is for this very simple reason. Anne’s books are not what you expect. Yeah, they have vampires and a little gore. But they are tender and gentle on you and yet at the same time they challenge your perception of the relationships around you. They focus on the loneliness of the vampire, the isolation, the pure and simple fact that if they were pathetic enough to kill everyone they came across there would be a lot of dead people and some severely hungry vampires in the world.

Because vampires are people too…

It’s okay, you can look at me like I’m special. I get that a lot.

So, once I was finished reading as many of Anne’s books as I could wrap my tiny, pale (bordering anaemic) fingers around I went on the search for something else, I even went as far as asking my year ten librarian if they had vampire books in the library and guess what!

They did!

Darren Shan

Right now, a lot of people that haven’t actually read the book but have instead seen the movie The Vampire’s Assistant are thinking – what really?

Yes! Really.

Darren’s series, beginning with Cirque du Freak is possibly the single greatest twist on vampires that has ever been created. Oh, the imagery! This man, as an Author, is downright brilliant!

Emotional whiplash, heartbreak, love, being a kid, being a vampire kid, just… wow… read it. I get so excited by this series that I find it hard to talk about why I loved it soooo much without letting go of the twists in it which would just about slaughter it for you before you read it. Did I mention that you can see the things he writes about? SEE! The detail and description Darren Shan goes into, in this series, the Larten Creplsey Saga and the Demonata series – I haven’t read his Zom-B books yet, but they’ll be equally as brilliant I’m sure – is absolutely tangible.

Nightmares are born of the Demonata series.

Nightmares, seriously.

Not only this, but the story is addictive. I read the four trilogies in like, two weeks. Couldn’t put that shit down. Of course, I failed my science class that term…

Moving on, in my never ending hunt for vampire experiences - *cough* books - I then came across this author in a bargain books bin.

And my life was never the same again.

Jemiah Jefferson

I am laying down a warning!

If you are of timid mind or humbled heart – do not! by any fucking means read these books!

This shit will either fuck you up, or you’ll walk out of the book on the other side a shade greener but glad as all hell you read it. Not even kidding. You thought I loved Darren Shan’s description, this author will challenge your analytical mind and the stuff of your stomach – at times.

Mostly though, it will make you want to fall at Orfeo’s feet and bleed to death just so that he will turn you and love you hold you forever, and you’ll want to kick David in the dick a few times, but you have to love him too. They are two ends of a beautiful, fucked up, perfect creatures mix. Admittedly, I found Arianne’s decisions a little… like… WTF! But they make sense once you get to the end and all.

The Series I read is called The Vampire’s Quartet, beginning with The Voice of the Blood which is basically a confronting introduction into her world of vampires and they are madly awesome. I say madly, because they are literally – in a sense of what is and isn’t normal – insane.

Kind of like, me…

*glances shiftily left to right*

I can understand why it has some of the reviews it does on Goodreads – and I imagine it is because so many people go into it expecting something completely fucking different and are shocked and want to vomit in parts – BUT! – this is not because of the writing, or the grammar, or even the edit. Jemiah is one of the greatest Vampire writer’s I have come across and if you are into the deeply gloomy, seriously vicious, gothic, mental type of things that are in these books, then… you will love these books. They are definitely aimed at the Goth. I think the problem is that her writing challenges people’s delicate sensibilities.

I don’t really have any delicate… anything.

So… Naturally…

*Smirks*

So, there you have it. If you are a vampire enthusiast – or just into vampire books – get your hands on these books and author’s and read the shit out of them.

I’m going to read a good one now… No idea what it’s about but…

I guess that’s the point of reading it?