Dracula's dungeon discovered

Did you know Dracula was a real guy?  Not a vampire, necessarily, but a real 15th-century man whose legend may have influenced Bram Stoker when he was writing his famous novel.

Archaeologists in Turkey Say They've Discovered Dracula's Dungeon

Favorite vampire books

What would be your favorite vampire books, or the vampire books you would consider the best of the genre, if you were asked?  This article, The Five Greatest Vampire Novels Written in the Last 100 Years, gives a few great ones.  Sadly, I've only read one on the list (Interview with the Vampire -- the one that began my addiction to the genre), but I'm interested in reading some of the others, especially the last one, Let the Right One In.  I've seen the Swedish movie and loved it, although I haven't seen the American version yet.

What would be on your list if you were to write a similar article?

Vampire fiction and vampire romance: Genre must-reads

If you're a fan of vampire fiction, be sure to check out this article in the Chicago Tribune:

The vampire's allure

The article initially focuses on Anne Rice and everything she has contributed to the genre -- she was writing about vampires long before Twilight made it the next "in" thing -- but then goes from an overview of other modern favorites to a discussion of landmark classics in the genre, such as Dracula and Carmilla.  The list includes Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, as well as other more recent series, such as the Anita Blake series.

On this list, I've only actually read Dracula, The Passage, and most of Anne Rice's books, but several of the others -- including The Vampyre and Carmilla, both of which predate the 1920s, the setting for my vampire world -- are on my reading list.  I've also seen the movie versions for a couple of the others, I Am Legend and Let the Right One In (the foreign movie).

What about you?  Have you read any of the highlights of vampire fiction mentioned in the article?  Also, do you think she's left anything out?  Sparkly or not, I probably would have included Twilight on the list, since we do have to give it credit for putting vampire fiction on the map again!

My vampires don't sparkle

Today Anne Rice shared this amusing article on Facebook:

Should vampires sparkle?

The article gives a brief, but interesting, history of vampire fiction.  The genre has been around longer than you might think — a lot of people think Bram Stoker's Dracula was the first, but that's actually not true.

Much of the vampire lit of the 17th century was poetry, often about the dead returning from the grave to kill a former beloved. The poetry often featured a religious theme as well.

Vampires remained present in literature throughout much of the 1800s. Varney the Vampire, a penny dreadful published in 1847, was the first vampire novel to explore the concept of a vampire entering a window at night to attack a sleeping maiden.

The article goes on to say that Dracula was inspired by the 1872 novella Carmilla.  Dracula was not the first novel to present vampires as sexual creatures, just the most famous one.

The article also talks about how authors of vampire fiction in recent years all want to do things differently.  The ultimate example of an author changing the rules is, of course, Stephanie Meyer's sparkly vamps.

I have to admit, I'm changing up the rules a little myself.  What fun would it be if I didn't?  Then I'd just be writing about somebody else's vampires, instead of creatures entirely of my own making.  My vampires aren't undead Halloween monsters, but they aren't sparkly, either.  They are super-predators, and hell yes, they are sexy, too.  I think my ideas work quite well, but then again I may be biased.

I am curious...  Whose vampire "rules" are your favorites?