Discussion Vampires, Vampires, everywhere...

Oh, that would be quite cool! I've thought a bit about this, mostly when I was toying with the idea of a Supernatural/Twilight x-over where the boys from Supernatural went to hunt the vampires of Twilight. While both canons have vampires, they are very different creatures; however, I figured that it could be plausible using the reasoning that there are numerous different genuses (genusi?) of vampires.

Like you, Sinrebirth, I don't really like vampires -they strike me as overrated and overdone, and the only fandom that I've bothered to completely be familiarized with was Twilight, and that was only out of curiosity (and a bit of Buffy, but I've only seen the first two seasons). Still, I'd be interested in seeing how someone would pull this off.

Certain authors would present difficulties, though. Alas, Ann Rice's vampires shall never roam through daisy-covered fields with the Cullens...

hmmm well as far as i know there is nothing out there based on the mortal instruments screenwise, but i think that that series and twilight would cross over well and maybe some angst ridden vampire diaries.

Hmmm, a huge cross-over fic with every kind of vampire ever could be interesting. I'd like to see how the 'House of Night' vampires are worked in as they turn into vampires over a few years, where as Twilight vampires are transformed by venom and other vampires require the drinking of blood on both sides. There are lots of vampire books out right now and I'll probably read them all, but would I know enough to knit all the vampire variants into one big fic?

And then you can throw in Count Chocula, Count Duckula, Count von Count, The Vampire Diaries, The Vampire Plagues, Vampire in Brooklyn, The Little Vampire, Fright Night, Forever Knight, The Night Flier, Moonlight...



Oh, and the plural of genus is genera.

Huh! You learn something new every day.

Yes, that's Count von Count. How little faith do you have in me?

Oh Lord, there are so many different kinds of vampires out there today, I have no idea how you'd manage to write them all. *grins* It does sound interesting, though.

Is the Little Vampire that kid series where a kind of dorky little kid and is friends with a vampire who lives with his family in a crypt? I had one of them (the first, maybe) as a kid and always wanted to read more. When we moved to Germany, I realized it was a series, but by that time I was a bit too old to want to bother reading them all.

Also, you've all forgotten Tanz der Vampire or Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampires or the Blue Bloods series, or the Vampire Academy series or the vampire that appears in Vivian Vande Velde's book, or, or, or...

Like I said, too many to name *grins*

Possibly. I was just brainstorming a few titles and remembered the film with Jonathan Lipnicki.


And my list wasn't intended to be anywhere near exhaustive, just a quick smattering.

I met Rachel Caine the other day, and she signed some of my books! I was very excited about meeting her as I love the Morganville books.

I think I've got most of the vampire stuff here, correct me if I'm wrong:
Bram Stoker's Dracula
True Blood
Buffy (and spin-offs)
Twilight
House of Night
Count Chocula
Count Duckula
Count von Count
The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Plagues
Vampire in Brooklyn
The Little Vampire
Forever Knight
The Night Flyer
Moonlight
Tanz der Vampire
Morganville Vampires
Blue Bloods series
Vampire Academy
The Night Watch series
The Night World series

If someone was to write a cross over I think it'd be a good idea to see which vampires are the same to minimise the number of variations. For example, Count Von Count isn't going to be like the vampires in The Vampire Diaries, but are the vampires in The Vampire Diaries the same as those in something else? There'd be a huge cast of characters but simplifying the vampire lore aspect of it would make things easier.

I just realized, if I'd remembered it, Fright Night would've fit perfectly ahead of Forever Knight and The Night Flier.


EDIT: History has now been retconned. Move along, nothing to see here.

BATTY BAT

There's also the series, er -- Blood Ties. A TV series that was based on the books by Tanya Huff. And though I haven't watched it yet, I heard that The Gate, the new show, has vampires? Cirque de Freak is also a vampire series. Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Darkside is a vampire novel. There's also a book that recently came out that's called something like the Anti-Vampire Club, which is about vampires. Supposed to be quite good. And Robin McKinely (I think it's her) wrote a book called Sunshine or something, also relatively new book.

Also, the Ann Rice books? And Scott Westerman wrote a duo of books on vampires, the first is called Peeps. And Lyndsay Sands writes fluffy vampire books. Oh, and the Betsy series by Mary Janice Davidson. Great series. And the movie series Blade, iirc, is vampire-themed as well.

I'm sure more will come to me. It's such a popular topic right now, and it really has been pretty popular over the decades.

moose, I adore the Morganville vampire series. Very well-written and not fluffy at all.

If someone was to write a cross over I think it'd be a good idea to see which vampires are the same to minimise the number of variations. For example, Count Von Count isn't going to be like the vampires in The Vampire Diaries, but are the vampires in The Vampire Diaries the same as those in something else? There'd be a huge cast of characters but simplifying the vampire lore aspect of it would make things easier.

Yeah... probably best to separate it out in who can/can't go out in the sun/technically can't but has ways to get around it, who drinks blood/doesn't have to drink blood/drinks in moderation but can eat human food, etc. It's also interesting, because some vampires aren't even what we'd really consider vampires at all. And if you examine the vampire myth, you'll find that there are a lot of different variations that make up what mainstream belief of vampires is today.

Here are some photos I took of my signed books!
The first book.
The second book.
The eighth book.

And one of me with here, I'm on the right.

That's awesome, moose!

I have a question for you all: what vampire traits/tropes are you tired of? What would you like to see more of? What makes or breaks a vampire novel for you?

I like it when vampires aren't the bad guys, though the 'good guy vampire' is getting a little cliche. I like it when things are different to everything else, or unexpected. Oh, and while I like Twilight I'm not sure I'm keen on sparkley vampires without fangs, and even if they did have fangs, sparkles? Really?

Oh, and I now have the first eight Morganville Vampire books, and the ninth is out in November!

It's not just human/vampire romance that's getting irritating, Nat, but human/any supernatural person. I've seen it done with fairies, dragons-in-human-form, werewolves, Gods... and almost all the time, it's the girl whose the human one. I know I'd love to see this trope reversed.

Why are vampires sexy?

Don't you know? THEY SPARKLE! SPARKLES ARE SMEXY!

*gets dropped off a hundred-floor building*

All joking aside, it's probably the mysterious factor and the long-held tradition that Girls Like the Bad Boy. That tradition is also probably part of what is cementing the girl human/boy supernatural trope. And somewhere along the line, blood drinking became a euphemism for sex.

Also: Angel and Spike from BtVS.

... yeah.

The whole vampire/human pairing is overdone. If it's going to be done again, let's see a girl as the vampire.

Other than that, sparkly vampires. That trait can go away. Sparkling takes out some of the vampire's personal risk.

Personal risk is excellent. All good supernatural folks need an Achilles' Heel. It's boring if they're all-powerful.

If you look at who reads the human girl/supernatural boy type romances it tends to be teenage girls. I'm guessing that goes a long way in explaining why it's popular. It's easier to identify with a human girl than it would be if it was a supernatural girl, and supernatural boys are 'hawt' because they're not human and that makes them more interesting and more exciting than every other male the reader will ever meet.

As for the bad boy thing?

I can't think of any author who actually likes sparkling vampires, even those who like Twilight. To me, vampires and fangs go hand-in-hand, and sparkles just don't belong. How did SM come up with something that ridiculous anyways?

I'm really sick of the human/vampire forbidden romance, especcialy girl human/guy vampire. It's been done. I'd like to see something different there - vampire/vampire, or a story that isn't centered around romance/sex - why are vampires considered sexy, anyway?

Why not an unforbidden human/vampire romance? And I agree -- why can't there be a human guy and a vampire girl? Vampire/vampire I have seen recently, though I can't remember where. *sigh* I read too much, sometimes.

I think vampires are considered sexy because of the whole bad-boy factor, also the whole forbidden aspect, the seduction, etc. Some people think bloodplay is kinky, so that might play a part. I don't know... perhaps courting death is another factor?

I've seen it done with fairies, dragons-in-human-form, werewolves, Gods... and almost all the time, it's the girl whose the human one. I know I'd love to see this trope reversed.

Working on it. *grins* But I agree. The books are generally written by female authors for teenage girls, so I guess the human!girl factor is making the character more relatable.

supernatural boys are 'hawt' because they're not human and that makes them more interesting and more exciting than every other male the reader will ever meet.

And that is a problem, because then you end up with girls who are searching for their perfect Edward. *sigh*


My current audio book is Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Darkside by Beth Fantaskey. When I first started it, I was not impressed (it didn't help that I started it minutes after finishing the last Percy Jackson book, which I absolutely adored, and this was so different). But now I'm about halfway into it and quite impressed. Jessica has decent parents, is not incredibly skinny and obsessed with fashion, is a vampire herself (though the change is slow), and while Lucius does have a bit of a bad boy image, he's not really -- and, the romance is slow to build and acts like a normal relationship. It's not a sudden attraction, and the characters are actually getting to know each other. I have to admit that I'm quite impressed with it.