Fangs and Hair, Vamps and Weres, and What’s Next

I was pondering my continued enjoyment of werewolf fiction, especially in the wake of the polarized reaction to my review of Bitten, and started to wonder why were-predators and vampires seem to be still the dominant paranormal motif in romance. There are other paranormal creatures – faeries, were-amphibians, were-birds, demons, ghosts, incubi and succubi, for example – within the paranormal romance shelves, but the predominant creature, both in continued fascination and in number of titles, seems to be the weres and the vamps.

Why is that? There’s a lot of questioning as to why the Twilight series sustains its audience (which grows weirder and weirder with every movie release, holy hell) and why vampires remain so alluring, and why these creatures pair so well with romance. I think that the allure of vampires is related to the allure of were-predators: each metaphorically details and resolves a deep-seated human fear or struggle.

With vampire romance, beneath (heh) the resolution of the attraction and courtship, there’s obviously death. Whether the vampirism is explained by a virus or the creature in question is actually dead, putting aside the “Ew, necrophilia” questions, vampire romance negotiates and conquers or destroys death.

I’ve talked about why paranormal romance is so popular and related that to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, and I think that same resolution of fear is, in part, what makes vampire romance so continually interesting to readers. I think (and many people disagree with me here) that paranormal romance became superbly popular in the US market following 9/11/01, for two main reasons. First, the evil is easily identified. Either he wants to exsanguinate you, or he gets really hairy in compliment to her lunar cycle, but the otherness and the potential intent to harm is pretty easy to spot. Contrast that with the kid and a backpack on the subway who might be a student or might be ready to blow himself and his neighbors to bits. The easily identifiable evil is a comforting contrast.

Then, there’s the resolution of that otherness. Either the Other is tamed by the Power of Lurrrrve™ and the protagonists united through conversion (she becomes a vamp, he becomes a were, etc) or the Other is destroyed because it’s the antagonist preventing the happy ending. And when a paranormal creature is destroyed in romance, it’s not just a duel with a handkerchief in the dew. The offending Other is chopped into pieces, set on fire, beheaded, and possibly sent to an entirely other dimension, depending on the world building and mythology at work. There is no ass kicking like paranormal villain ass kicking.

So when that taming and uniting or destroying happens within vampire romance, death is being vanquished at the same time. The unification with the heroine is symbolically a return to life. In Kresley Cole’s world, the vampires regain their heartbeats when they meet their mated other – a physical return to life. With Feehan’s Carpathians, they see in color after eons of monochromatic vision, and eventually indulge in requisite doggy style sexxoring. Nothing says back to life like backin’ that ass up, right?

With were-predators, I think, the issue being negotiated with the happy ending is anger. Combining animal instinct, predatory violence, and a code of rules and behavior that are both similar and separate from human society, were-predators can make for some amazing romance fiction. Instead of death, it’s rage and anger that are tamed and directed, or vanquished all together, and I think that for women particularly, that’s compelling. Were heroines come to terms with their violent side and have a proper and sanctioned outlet for all that unladylike rage and anger. Were heroes are isolated, even in a pack, and their rage must be tamed or redirected, or destroyed altogether, lest that anger and rage dominate the person. Emotional and psychological balance often factor into were romances, as well. Perhaps, even, it’s not so much anger as it is insanity that’s being negotiated in were romances.

When I was pondering this in 140-or-less on Twitter, Syzygy Magazine (NSFW) proposed that the vampires and the weres were recast archetypes which never go out of style, thereby extending their popularity as they reappear in other subgenres. The vampires are “the same brooding, wounded noblemen that dominate the period romance market, while the weres are “the tough, somewhat dangerous wilderness-connected archetype that usedto be rendered as cowboys.” I’m not sure I agree that the popularity can be explained simply by recurrence of archetype, and certainly there are broody weres up and down the joint, but that’s definitely a factor in their sustained popularity.

So what comes next? (heh.) What paranormal creature will rise (heh) to equal the vampire and the were in stature and publishing frequency? Are succubi and incubi the next big thing, or are their predatory sexual natures not that threatening? Ghosts are about death, but they’re also not entirely corporeal – something that troubled many a JR Ward fan. Zombies? Syzygy suggests that zombies represent the underclass; I think they represent decomp.

Are faeries the next big thing, or are they too complex to capture the romance reader imagination for repeated readings, since their mythology involves a very large and complicated society already? Maybe there isn’t a creature that captures, conveys and recasts a basic fear as much as vampires and weres do already.

What I’m most curious about is what creature could come next that would attract repeated readings of similar mythologies and characters as much as weres and vamps. Readers of were romance and vampire romance so often go after more of it, and seem to revel in re-experiencing the mythology and the courtship within it in books from a huge variety of authors. In fact, it’s that repeated reading of similar creatures that made me wonder if the attraction to the creature is tied to an underlying issue. Is there a similar issue that imbues a different paranormal creature? I’m not saying that we’re all neurotic morons who have our knickers tied into origami about death and anger. I do think, however, that the commonalities are revealing, and the enduring popularity of both vampires and weres indicates that more is being revisited than just a fangsome, hairy courtship.

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Random Musings

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  1. Suze says:

    Imagine a world where every country is secretly led by vampires and the humans “in charge” are just puppets not even aware they’re under control of a superior being.

    No, no, it’s not vampires it’s reptilian aliens.  Nice attempt to distract us from the awful truth, though.  What are you, an agent of the Illuminati?

    HUMANS, GET OFF YOUR KNEES!

    Conspiracy theories are so much fun!

  2. JamiSings says:

    What are you, an agent of the Illuminati?

    The Illuninati are SO 1884! I’m part of the Discoinati. Because I love the nightlife, I’ve got to boogie.

    Geez – and I wonder why I’m single.

  3. Mia Cherish says:

    And you’re not the only one.  Sherrilyn Kenyon’s vampires are connected with the Greek and Atlantean gods.  I’ve sort of stopped following the series, but I think her later books feature fewer vamps and more assorted other beings.  I also remember a book—can’t bring the author to mind, unfortunately—where the protagonists were wrapped up in some sort of contest run by the goddess of paradoxes and other impossibilities.  I was confused by coming in mid-series, but I thought that universe included vampires, weres, phantoms of some sort, demons, and . . . valkyries, I think?  A total smorgasbord, in other words.  All in all, I think you’re at the head of a trend.  🙂

    An Aussie friend of mine goes on and on about Kenyon; I need to pick up at least one of her books and see if she works for me. : )

    I do think these kinds of trends are inevitable.  That said, for now at least, vampires are my “main love” in genre fiction.  At least the really pretty ones are.

  4. JamiSings says:

    An Aussie friend of mine goes on and on about Kenyon; I need to pick up at least one of her books and see if she works for me. : )

    Start with Fantasy Lover. That’s the one that got me hooked. Grace acts almost exactly the way I would – except I would’ve locked Julian out of my room and bathroom and cried every time he touched me.

    I wonder if anyone here would be interested in reading my “rules for dating a vampire”….

  5. lunarocket says:

    Vampires and were’s are popular because, whatever characters an author creates, they are riffs on an familiar and appealing theme: dangerous, undead, attractive, amazing secks.

    And this last bit is what confuses me about vampires. Vampires are DEAD. There is NO heartbeat. Therefore there is NO blood pumping through the extremities. Therefore, no matter how hot he is there ain’t gonna be hot secks! 😉

    This would go a loooong way to explain the broodiness in my humble opinion!

  6. JamiSings says:

    Therefore, no matter how hot he is there ain’t gonna be hot secks! 😉

    Ah – but vampires are supernatural. The natural rules don’t apply to them. In fact, there’s many myths about vampires whom feed on the psychic energy of sex. Yes, that would seem like incubuses/sucubuses, but they are demons. These vampires were once human.

    Then of course there’s vampires whom feed on psychic energy given off by nightmares. These ones are usually females. If they taste the blood of the man who they’re tormenting they’ll “fall in love” with him and keep giving him nightmares every night until he dies.

  7. lunarocket says:

    Ah – but vampires are supernatural. The natural rules don’t apply to them.

    I don’t know….. supernatural is all fine and dandy but I think they get way too many perks to still be dead. The only perk they don’t seem to get is enjoying food and wine. Personally, I can’t imagine giving up chocolate and sex no matter how great being a vampire is. I like things a little more realistic even in vampires. Never got the “sunlight frying them thing” either. Just doesn’t make sense.

  8. JamiSings says:

    Not all vampires are allergic to sunlight. There’s actually one legend about a farmer whom returned from the dead as a vampire – and came home during the day to help on the farm so his family wouldn’t go broke or starve. Then returned to his grave at night to sleep.

    Now, before I run off to work, here is –

    Jami’s Rules For Dating A Vampire

    1: Vampires are highly allergic to UV rays. So dates at the beach or gift certificates to tanning parlors are out. Also don’t expect trips to the Virgin Islands or Bermuda. Disneyland/Disneyworld/EuroDisney are also out.

    2: Not all vampires have fangs. Russian vampires, for instance, have long, sharp, pointed tongues. Be sure of your vampire’s dental make up before you french kiss him or her.

    3: If you’re a woman, avoid dating your vampire if you are menstrating.

    4: Do not handle anything that might cut you while on your date with a vampire. Be certain to clean wounds throughly and bandage them well before going out on a date.

    5: Do not eat a lot of garlic heavy foods while dating your vampire.

    6: Like werewolves, vampires are sensitive to silver. Stick to gold jewelry.

    7: A vampire can control you if he or she drives a gold spike through your shadow. If you enjoy free will, look out for gold spikes.

    8: Vampires can be killed with thorns from wild rose bushes or with cold iron spikes. Be careful when wandering through wild flowers or in iron factories.

    9: If you and your vampire break up one way to repel him or her is by spreading cow poop that has been found in a thorn bush on your window sills and door jams. This is also good for door to door salesmen, Jehovah Witnesses, and your nosy neighbor. Buying your own cow and planting a lot of thorn bushes will help you keep up a fresh supply.

    10: Vampires are repelled by religious symbols you have faith in. Try to leave off the Star Of David, crucifix, or pentagram while on your date. Unless you don’t allow blood drinking on the first date.

    11: Vampires are total alphas. Be prepared to say “Yes master” or “yes mistress” a lot.

    12: Vampires don’t care to be tied up, but they don’t mind you being tied up. Especially on their dining room table.

    13: Vampire females can’t have babies. However vampire males can impregnate human females. (Yeah, Undeath is not pro-feminism.) So ladies, unless you wish to give birth to a natural born vampire hunter – a dhampire – you better practice safe sex/birth control.

    14: Vampires have OCD. If grain like oats, wheat, corn, rice, etc fall at their feet they have to stop and count every grain. They also will untie all knots they see. Buy a lot of dress shoes, slip ons, or shoes with velcro, and keep your vampire out of the kitchen.

    15: Don’t cheat on your vampire with a werewolf and vise versa.

    And also –

    Jami’s Useless Vampire Trivia

    Ways to become a vampire:

    1: Be the 7th son of a 7th son.

    2: Die as any one of the following – suicide, murder victim, witch, or werecreature – and you will return as a vampire.

    3: Be a murderer.

    4: Die unbaptized. (Obviously if you’re any denomination of Christianity that will apply. Jewish, not so much.)

    5: Satan brings you back as one because too many people cried at your funeral.

    6: Be a redhead. (Seriously, many countries believed redheads, especially redheaded women, came back as vampires after they died.)

    Ways to kill a vampire –

    1: Iron spike through skull.

    2: Silver knife or bullet blessed by a holy man. (Silver, not just for werecreatures anymore.)

    3: Thorn poked through the tongue pinning it to the roof of the mouth. Vampire will starve to death.

    4: A branch of wild rose on their grave. Traps vampire in grave. Vampire starves.

    5: Remove and burn the heart. Cut off the head and bury it under the vampire’s feet.

    If bitten to prevent coming back as a vampire, kill the vampire, then mix their blood with dirt from the vampire’s grave and eat it.

    And of course there’s different foods for vampires too. Of course we all know what incubuses and succubuses all feed on. Then there’s myrnas whom give men nightmares and feed off their fear – myrnas are only women, never men, and if they taste the blood of the man they’re feeding on they’ll return to him over and over until he dies. Any man whom suspects he’s the victim of a myrna has to sleep with a silver dagger clutched in his hands pointing upwards. (So on his back and he can’t roll over.) The myrna (I might be spelling that wrong, BTW, but I know it’s like that and it also happens to be an actual woman’s name as well) will throw herself upon her victim, the silver dagger piercing her and killing her.

    A dhampire can be identified at birth by the fact they have see-through skin and soft bones. Basically they’re a human shaped jellyfish their first year of life. (Since all myths are based in reality I wonder if there has ever been any see-through babies.)

    To find a vampire’s grave send a pure white horse with a virgin upon it’s back through a cementary. Any grave the horse stumbles on, won’t walk on, or freaks out around contains a vampire. Oddly in most of the mythology they not only stress a virgin, but a boy virgin age 8 or younger. I don’t know why boys and not girls. Unless girl virgins were harder to come by back then or something. And considering they stressed 8 years old or younger – well, it just makes my stomach queasy to think about what prompted that part of the myth.

    I tell you, if there’s ever a vampire apocalypse I’m covered.

    A zombie one – well, I’m sc**wed.

  9. XandraG says:

    I’ve read or skimmed every post here—good stuff! 
    I think the universal appeal for Vampires and Weres has really taken off since 9/11’s influence not just because of the direct effect of such a cultural blow, but of the immense load of by-blows surrounding it.  All of a sudden, in the collective consciousness, War has become something other than lines of men facing off on a field, or fields of tanks and soldiers.  War lost its “front lines” far away from everyday life and the front lines were driven home to become—especially to American audiences, who haven’t seen domestic conflict on home soil in at least two generations—our places of work and play.  Our homes.  Now War is fought not between soldiers who’ve signed up for combat duty, but by agents of terror and chaos who *look just like us* – without uniforms to distinguish them, without combat zones to separate them from civilian places.  And without political entities with structures to be negotiated with.  Other countries aren’t our enemies anymore, now it’s the twitchy looking dude with the backpack on the subway.  And speaking plainly, all the military technology in the world couldn’t stop an assault of hate from people whose bases were in caves.  That’s damn scary.

    So what we turn to in our fictions is the concept of a Greater Justice.  It comes from the secret super-power of something that is human, but super-human.  It comes with the obligatory “That’s not a knife, THIS is a knife” I-have-a-secret-weapon scene against the bad guys.  And it comes with a secret society with more power than the clay-footed powers our everyday organizations have shown.  How many readers can’t get enough of the weres because they show pack society where everyone’s place is secure, and the laws of ascension are pretty clear, and the idea is that if someone’s in trouble, not only the big dude with the hairy back, but his whole family of big dudes with hairy backs, are going to come galloping in to rend flesh and save the day.

    As for what’s next—fae do have a certain appeal, but like other posters have mentioned, the fae have been established as capricious and alien in their thinking, and not all noble in their dealings with humanity.  Which sheds a certain appeal when one thinks of the banking industry’s same capricious malice.

    Aliens don’t have the entirely same appeal because as much as we like the idea of advanced beings coming to our rescue, we’d still feel like pets on the inside.  Note the popularity of space environments where humans are dominant.

    Zombies—PS – to the yinzers, take a gander at http://www.monroevillezombies.com/

    Zombies don’t so much represent rotting flesh and tasty brains, but the sameness of corporate america.  How different are the shambling undead than the shambling inhabitants of America’s cube farms?  I’ve done my time in the corporate world, and indeed, we used to joke about how much more lively the cemetery was on any given day.

  10. Elemental says:

    Jami, great summing up there. It would be funny to see a wisecracking vampire slayer try the stake-through-the-heart method, and then have it do nothing because she forgot the iron spike, bag of rice, or the bushel of roses.

    Something I’d like to see is for Asian mythology to be mined a bit. You have all kinds of interesting human-like creatures such as the kitsune, nagas / naginis or asparas, who in the original stories had no problem mingling with and marrying humans—some myths even had dragons assuming human form and fathering children.

  11. JamiSings says:

    Funny you should mention it, Elemental – the rice part of the vampire’s OCD actually comes from China. There their vampires are suppose to have long nails and are covered in moss. I noticed that the grain myth is actually the most prevalent of the vampire repelling/stopping myths. The grain just happens to change depending on the country. In Asian countries it’s rice, in European it’s wheat. I assume in America it’s corn. Seems like every country has a variation of the “must collect all spilled grain” myth.

    Of course according to the X-Files it’s sunflower seeds. LOL

  12. Mia Cherish says:

    Something I’d like to see is for Asian mythology to be mined a bit. You have all kinds of interesting human-like creatures such as the kitsune, nagas / naginis or asparas, who in the original stories had no problem mingling with and marrying humans—some myths even had dragons assuming human form and fathering children.

    I love Eastern Indian mythology and there are more than a few stories that make for excellent “vampirization.”

    Every so often I feel an itch to vampirize the faerie tale of Snow White.  Several elements in the story point to vampires IMHO.

  13. Vampires are DEAD. There is NO heartbeat. Therefore there is NO blood pumping through the extremities.

    Thank goodness I’m not the only one to ponder the Turgidity Paradox! And alas, JamiSings, though I love all the info you’ve posted, my inner scientist just can’t be satisfied with the *it’s magic* explanation. Is there a reasonably plausible pseudo-scientific hypothesis out there? Because it kind of bugs me. Just what the heck is, um, holding things up?

    And then there’s the Live Sperm Enigma… or are the little guys undead too?

  14. JamiSings says:

    Ah but there is no scientifically explaining the supernatural.

    That’s part of the fun. Just taking magic on faith. Somethings aren’t meant to be explained. Take, for instance, this – even as a young girl back when their true natures were hidden, I just could not stand Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson. Could I put a finger on why? No. There was just something about them that put my teeth on edge.

    Cut to years later when Cruise becomes a couch jumping cultist freak and Mel, son of a Holocaust denier, turns out to be an antisemitic sack of adulterous crap.

    I don’t think one could ever really scientifically explain how I “knew” deep down that there was something off about them. But somehow I did. I just accept it’s something I can’t explain. Like with the vampires.

    It does make me wonder what will happen in the future with Leo DiCaprio and George Clooney because I can’t stand them either. Nor Brad Pitt or Mathew McConaughey. Just something about them sets my teeth on edge.

    To be fair though, in most Christian societies they saw vampires as beings of Satan. Remember what I said about Satan making you a vampire if a lot of people cried at your funeral – if he saw that he’d raise you from the grave as a vampire. In fact there were people whom were paid to laugh at funerals to fool Satan into thinking there were people glad the person in the coffin was dead.

    And let’s not forget the classic Christian guilt about sex. Real quick family thing for me – while my maternal great-grandparents were in reality, Jewish, they hid the fact due to persecution and pretended to be Catholic. So my mom was raised Catholic. Including all the guilt about sex. When I was old enough to start thinking about and having sex, mom informed me one day, “Only men and wh**es have orgasms. Good girls never enjoy sex.” (One of my lovely Hang Ups I often hint to, but not the only one. LOL)

    Sex = evil. Satan controls/makes vampires. Therefore the vampires can have sex because Satan likes humans to sin by having sex.

    Why do male vampires have children with human women and not the other way around? Same reason women in Greece and Rome would have children with Zeus. In reality these women were sleeping around. They got pregnant outside the bounds of their marriage/after being widowed for a year. To avoid being called a fornicator, they blamed their pregnancy on a vampire.

    Oh, another bit of trivia – if you have poltergeist activity, a vampire is present. Yep, that’s one of the myths, vampires and poltergeists are suppose to go hand in hand.

  15. dangrgirl says:

    @JamiSings:

    Ah but there is no scientifically explaining the supernatural.

    Lara Adrian’s vampires originated on another planet. The original aliens, called the Breed, crash-landed on Earth, but could not sustain themselves on anything but the protein from blood. Also, they could only procreate with human women who had a specific genetic trait, called Breedmates, and could only sire sons. Each Breedmate also has some sort of paranormal talent and the mixed breed son inherits that talent from his mother.

    It’s light science because Adrian doesn’t go into much more detail than that. I wish she would, actually, because I think it’s a neat twist on the vampire myth and also because I’m a science nerd. I’d also like to know more about the origins of the Breedmates because their ability to procreate with the aliens/vampires means that they share some genetic components and therefore aren’t fully human either.

    If it isn’t clear already, I think a scientific origin for vampirism is interesting. Didn’t the TV show Forever Knight have some sort of scientific explanation for vampirism? I seem to remember the doctor character trying to “cure” the vampire.

  16. Irene Chandler says:

    (Quoting from two different posts: apologies.)

    A dhampire can be identified at birth by the fact they have see-through skin and soft bones. Basically they’re a human shaped jellyfish their first year of life. (Since all myths are based in reality I wonder if there has ever been any see-through babies.)

    Depends on what you mean by “see-through.”  You can’t see all the way through someone with albinism, but it might be a lot easier to make out the veins.  (I have never gone up to an albino person and said, “Excuse me, can I take a close look at your skin?” so I’m not totally sure of this.)  That might count as see-through skin to some people, and it sometimes comes with other frailties—generally vision problems, IIRC, but myths are also about exaggerating things, and heaven knows that jellylike bones are more fascinating and gross than being dramatically nearsighted.

    Okay, now I’m wanting to write a story about an albino con man in the middle ages who hires out as a vampire hunter based largely on the fact that he looks weird to the local yokels—and then stumbles onto real vampires.

    If it isn’t clear already, I think a scientific origin for vampirism is interesting. Didn’t the TV show Forever Knight have some sort of scientific explanation for vampirism? I seem to remember the doctor character trying to “cure” the vampire.

    IIRC, there were different views on that even within the show.  Natalie (the doctor) was convinced that vampirism could be scientifically explained somehow, and she was definitely searching for a cure.  Nick (the vampire) wanted a cure badly enough to go along with almost anything that didn’t involve killing folks, but he seemed to think that his problems were metaphysical, not biological.  There was a certain amount of support for both viewpoints.  Natalie managed to suppress the vampirism on occasion—never without side-effects, which is why they didn’t stick with those treatments—but the one recovered vampire in the entire series seemed to have been cured by true love.

    Also, Nick wasn’t capable of sex, although I can’t remember if it was because of blood pressure issues or because he was extremely likely to rip his lover’s throat out.  I used to know way too much about that series, but it’s been a long time.

    Irene

  17. JamiSings says:

    Oh there’s always some show trying to do that. Moonlight tried too. Even succeeded but Mick went back to being a vampire to save Beth, again. (Amazing how those shows are usually the vampire trying to save the human and rarely the other way around.)

    I don’t want a scientific explanation for vampires. I like the supernatural and things you can’t explain. Maybe it’s because I’m a believer, or because it just makes life more interesting.

    I would hate for someone to be able to scientifically explain ancient gods and goddesses. I’d much rather then me misguided or even fallen angels whom wanted to be worshiped the way God is and therefore pretended to be gods and goddesses then have them be aliens. Same thing with vampires. I’d just rather have the supernatural.

  18. dangrgirl says:

    @JamiSings:

    I don’t want a scientific explanation for vampires. I like the
    supernatural and things you can’t explain. Maybe it’s because I’m a
    believer, or because it just makes life more interesting.

    Whatever works for you, but I find the scientific explanation just as interesting as a supernatural one. I don’t favor one over the other. I enjoyed the Stargate TV series mostly because the Goa’uld represented themselves as gods all over the planet for thousands of years. We all read for different reasons.

  19. JamiSings says:

    If I remember correctly Nick only ever had sex with Janette because sex with a human was too dangerous. Janette became human while drinking the blood of the man she was truly in love with while they were having sex.

    And you could be right. Obviously all myths are based in some form of reality. Werecreatures can be explained one of two ways. There’s the mental disease of lycanthropy where people really believe they can turn into animals. I believe there was even one case where a man on trial for murder insisted that they cut off his skin so they could “see the wolf’s fur growing underneath.” Then there’s the Beserkers and other warriors who’d put on animal pelts before battle.

    Vampirism can be explained with Porphyria.

    For a publicly edited page, there’s actually a good resource over at Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampirism – covering vampire-like creatures in African and Asian folklore as well.

    BTW – The albino con man turned vampire hunter, I hope you do write it. It sounds like an awesome idea.

  20. Jamie says:

    This thread has been really encouraging to me, actually. I’ve been wanting to start a paranormal romance for a while, but I’ve been waffling on whether anyone would want to read it. Why? Because the hero and the heroine are both humans living in a paranormal world. The heroine is the tough, scarred (physically and psychologically) snappy vampire hunter, the hero is a mild-mannered (but hot, of course!) parabiologist trying to save her from her self-destructive nature and inner demons. This is set in a modern world where magic, vampires, etc., are known and accepted; the girl hunts vampires illegally because they killed her family, while the guy studies how they work- the heroine believes they are all irredeemable monsters, while the hero thinks that, like humans, some are good and some are bad. It’s (I hope) pretty different from anything that’s out there, and I thought that might be a bad thing, that it’s so different no one would want to read it, but I see the variance of tastes on here, and it gives me hope yet that my story might sell. And a couple of people mentioned using other mythologies; I try to incorporate Hindi, African, and Asian mythos into my stories as much or more than European. Transylvanian vamps are overdone; give me kappas and kitsune any day. They are a lot more interesting and a lot less trite!

  21. Jamie,

    Your book sounds great.  I know I’d read it.  Keep us posted.

  22. JamiSings says:

    Jamie – I want to read it now! *impatient dance*

    And yes, traditional vampires are overdone.

    I have to say, vampires who were Christian in their human lives is also overdone. One of the best short vampire stories I read was in a book written for kids. It was about a young Jewish boy who gets turned into a vampire. Consuming blood is a big time no-no, part of making sure meat is kosher is draining out all blood. So of course he’s a bit conflicted. Anyway, after being driven out of his own village, a Rabbi in another comes up with a solution and the vampire becomes a protector. It was like the story of the Golem but with a vampire instead.

    I mean, there’s SO many other religions out there. I’d love to see vampires from other belief systems. Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Pagan, Wiccan, etc – heck, imagine an atheist being turned into a vampire and being forced, after looking for a scientific explanation – to be forced to accept a completely supernatural one – maybe even meeting some angels and/or demons – the conflicted feelings there!

    Then there’s also other mixes – a vegetarian gets turned and has to choose between human or animal blood, a pacifist who can’t reconcile their thirst with their desire to be completely non-violent.

    Imagine, if you will, a total wallflower. A woman who spent her entire life under overbearing parents, bouncing from one emotionally abusive relationship to another, believing herself to be completely weak – gets turned into a vampire and her sire keeps telling her to stop being such a dishrag and grow a backbone.

  23. Jamie says:

    Glad to know that you guys like the sound of my book- I’m only about 15 pages in, but I’ll keep writing as fast as I can. I agree- there are lots of other belief systems, they need to be represented too. It’s a subtrope of the annoying thing where, on TV if someone is a Christian, they’re Catholic. Which, in Italy or Poland, would be fine; but the majority of Christians in the U.S. are some form of Protestant (Baptist, Methodist, whatever), and Catholics are more of a minority amongst U.S. Christians. It takes so little time to do research on those kind of things, so I find it really annoying when authors and tv writers don’t bother to do it right. The time that annoyed me the most was in an episode of Stargate SG-1 when the characters said that there wasn’t a zoo in Colorado Springs, when there is, in fact, a very large and very nice zoo- the Cheyenne Mountain zoo, as a matter of fact. As a native Coloradoan, I was headdesking for about three days over that one.

  24. JamiSings says:

    It takes so little time to do research on those kind of things, so I find it really annoying when authors and tv writers don’t bother to do it right.

    Oh I know what you mean! Law & Order: Criminal Intent did a BIG boo-boo by not researching. The episode where the guy keeps donating stuff and even killed a woman who got his kidney because she chose to get married and design jewelry rather then be a social worker. He arranges to donate a lung to a boy with cystic fibrosis.

    I may not be an expert but my best friend had CF. (She passed away in 2005.) And I know you CAN’T transplant just ONE lung! You have to do BOTH lungs or the unhealthy lung can actually infect the healthy lung. You have to wait for someone who’s legally brain dead.

    I’m sure had they bothered to ask a doctor they could’ve just as easily said the kid had lung cancer from his parents’ smoking instead. That episode always ticks me off because they obviously didn’t research CF at all.

  25. Liza says:

    I recently wrote a post about why exactly women love vampires. It comes down to power and anarchy. http://www.vanillasoup.com/attraction/why-women-like-vampires/

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