The vampire, perennial monster, has received somewhat of a makeover in recent years. For almost two decades it has become romantic hero and seducer, often aimed at younger consumers. Twilight as well as the Vampire Diaries series may be the most obvious exponents of this trend, but the seeds were already planted in shows like Buffy (remember Angel?), and the territory continues to be watered with numerous vampire men in the urban fantasy or romance section of the bookstore, who must invariably profess eternal love to a nubile woman.
Before this trend kicked into full gear, vampires were more likely to be rich counts out to bite pretty young lasses à la Christopher Lee or Bela Lugosi. Sexually magnetic, perhaps, but not boyfriend material.
(If I refer to the vampire as male it is because it is most often portrayed as a man. Count the most popular incarnations and you’ll find six Edward analogues for every Carmilla.)
My novel, Certain Dark Things, set in a Mexico where vampire drug lords are busy carving out territories for themselves, is not about vampires who you’d bring home to meet the family (the word “gritty” seems to show up a lot in reviews). In that spirit, here is a list of five vampires that definitely don’t sparkle. To boot, I decided to focus on books you are less likely to have read, so no ’Salem’s Lot, Interview with the Vampire, or Dracula.
Vlad — Carlos Fuentes
This short novel by literary darling Carlos Fuentes tells the story of a lawyer assisting an eccentric European refugee in finding proper lodgings in Mexico City. If you liked the black and white Mexican movie El Vampiro and ever wondered what it might look like in print, this is the book for you. Full of lush descriptions, it also features a nasty vampire, ensuring no romantic longings will be stirred upon the page. There are plenty of digs at Mexican bourgeoisie customs, but you do not need to get them all to enjoy it.
Fledgling — Octavia Butler
Science fiction vampires are not as common as fantasy ones and Octavia Butler provides us with one of the more interesting examples available. Shori looks like a 10 year-old black child but is far older, the member of an alien species which lives by establishing symbiotic relationships with humans. Butler explores notions of agency, as Shori’s bite makes humans dependant on her venom. Race is also tackled: Shori’s skin color is markedly different from her fellow pale vampires, melanin proving a useful adaptation for an organism that can’t stand sunlight, but it is also a trait that marks her as different.
My Soul to Keep — Tananarive Due
The African immortals in Due’s series of novels might best be called reverse vampires, since it is humans who would want to get a hold of the immortals’ blood due to its special healing and life-extending properties. Still, the immortals hold parallels with what we call vampires in popular culture, so I’m placing them on this list. Due’s books tackle issues of power dynamics and although Dawit, a 500 year-old Ethiopian man, is not unfeeling and has a human wife, he is not a cuddly romantic hero and would not hesitate to kill to protect himself.
Enter, Night — Michael Rowe
On top of becoming younger and more romantic, vampires have also become more urban. Enter, Night, however, bucks that trend, taking place in a small town in the 1970s (and in Canada, to boot; the Great White North doesn’t get too many bloodsuckers so that’s an extra yay from me). A 300-year old vampire is sleeping in an old Jesuit mission and is about to wake up. This vampire is not just mean, it’s plain evil. I mentioned Salem’s Lot at the beginning of this list, so if you liked that vibe you should like this one too.
Lost Souls — Poppy Z. Brite
Nowadays Billy Martin doesn’t write horror books anymore, but when he was still active penning stories and novels under the name Poppy Z. Brite he was an astounding example of the 1990s horror scene—the other astounding example of the 1990s was Kathe Koja—which rose from the ashes of the 1980s horror boom and bust. Lost Souls follows the colliding tales of a couple of musicians in a small North Carolina town, their associates, and a group of truly amoral and disturbing vampires. Random murder, incest, there’s very little these vampires won’t do and trying to become a vampire groupie is a very bad idea.
So there you have it: five books off the beaten path with vampires who won’t be sending you valentines. Stay fangy.
Originally published October 2016.
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Certain Dark Things
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Certain Dark Things focuses on Mexican vampires involved in turf battles. She is the British Fantasy, Locus, Aurora and Solaris nominated author of Signal to Noise and the editor of the World Fantasy finalist Lovecraft-themed anthology She Walks in Shadows.
Nancy Collins cut an interesting swath through vampire lit with her first Sonja Blue book, ‘Sunglasses After Dark’, published in 1989. A punk, urban fantasy variation of the vampire myth – more common now, but pretty fresh in the late 80s.
Agyar, by Steven Brust. I am a big fan of Brust’s work, and this one is his most unique. It is a vampire novel without ever using the word “vampire” (or any other names as a stand it) and never once discusses drinking blood, but it is also absolutely a vampire novel. It is horrifying without any real violence or gore, and it is well worth hunting down (heh heh).
Also, Roger Zelazny has some fun with vampires as well in his short stories, “The Stainless Steel Leach” being a well known example, but “Dayblood” is probably my favorite, with Zelazny’s trademark wit and word play and a wonderful inversion.
Gah, need coffee. “Stainless Steel Leech,” not “Leach.”
The Historian! Traces bloodline of Vlad and the attempts of the historian, her father and mother to destroy Dracula for once and for all – also has a librarian vampire!!!
Man, real estate is a dangerous game in vampire fiction – also, the sentence above might be the most perfect hook for a WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (TV) spin-off written to date!
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro definitely writes romantic, heroic vampires, but one of her short stories deals deftly with the opposite. I’m afraid I can’t remember the title or pick it out from her bibliography, but it involves a vampire who had to, essentially, raise himself, apart from the loose-knit family tradition of Yarbro’s characters. It’s the early 20th century, so he has plenty of vampire media to choose from. He was not a safe person to be around before he was changed and leaning into the pop culture vampire mythos did not improve that. Luckily, he uncritically swallowed all of it, including the part about crosses (which, in Yarbro’s mythos, do nothing). Saint-Germain has to dispose of him and clean up after him. Practically the last thing he says to the villain is, “You watched too many Hammer films.”
The Golden by Lucius Shepard is wonderful.
Fond memories of the vampire Ischade from the Thieves World books.
@@@@@ 6, Jenny Islander:
“You watched too many Hammer films.”
I’m not where I can check. But I believe your story is Cabin 33.
“Fevre Dream” by George R.R. Martin.
The most disturbing vampire novel I ever read was the original, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. And that’s with the awkward epistolary narration and verbose Victorian prose! I couldn’t finish it, I couldn’t sleep at night!
The sexual element in Dracula’s vampirism is very clear and very horrific and upsetting rather than pleasantly erotic. Lucy doesn’t choose to become a predatory creature of the night, it’s done to her. And it’s very clear that that her former suitors turned vampire hunters are not destroying Lucy with the stake but releasing her tormented soul. When the team finally get Dracula he too has that moment of beatific peace before passing on, suggesting that maybe the monster was a victim too, and the Vampire hunters have given him redemption, rather than death or damnation.
Modern stories tend to make vampires cool and sexy kind of glossing over the fact they are animate corpses.
The “seeds were planted” way before buffy, which actually portrayed vampires as mostly monstrous and only the exceptional cases as relatable. The big turning point was Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, that paved the way for The Lost Boys, the World of Darkness Vampire roleplaying game, etc, portraying vampires as cool and existentially troubled.
What, no love for Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla? That was a mean customer…
Harlan Ellison mentions turning down a story about a snot vampire. Can’t recall if it was submitted for DV or ADV. I do remember he wrote that it was too gross even for him. And for damn near 45 years, I have wondered about that story and who submitted it
#15, Gingerbug, pretty sure I remember reading the snot vampire story (or at least *a* snot vampire story) when it finally appeared in a fanzine at about the right time period. Don’t remember the title or, for sure, the author. (Also not sure the author would appreciate being identified at this far-removed point in time.)
Not a mean vampire, but since you mentioned a dearth of vampires in the land to the north, a Canadian one – The Night Wanderer: A Native Gothic Novel, by Drew Hayden Taylor, tells the story about an Anishinaabe young man who joined some fur-traders, traveled to France, and developed unusual appetites and an aversion to sunlight after a strange nocturnal encounter, comes home to the Clear Lake Reservation 300 years later. Short, but worth a read.
Not a super dark vampire series, but the Vikki Nelson series by Tanya Huff is set in Canada.
Barbara Hambly’s Asher/Ysidro novels, beginning with Those Who Hunt the Night, may not be as obscure as some of the above, but they’re definitely not King or Rice (the US publisher gave up on them some time ago, so now they’re published by Severn House) and they certainly aren’t pretty; Asher works with Ysidro due to a combination of threats and knowing that he’s working against a greater evil, but is frequently reminded that Ysidro has to kill in order to continue to exist. (Asher himself is ~”morally compromised” — presently an Oxford don, but previously in one of the secret services.)
Another vote for Steven Brust’s Agyar, and I’m surprised to see no mention yet of Suzy McKee Charnas’ The Vampire Tapestry.
And yes, Carmilla for the win.
@@@@@ 12 princessroxana: I agree with most of your post, except for the epistolary narration.
Which is a staple of Victorian literature, and gives the book the 19th century equivalent of a “found video” feeling by the fact that Mina is the one who has typed everyone’s letters and assembled the final typescript.
I think it says something about me that I have read three of these five books…
I’m back to say I just discovered Carmen Maria Machado’s annotated edition of Carmilla, and I’m enjoying it ENORMOUSLY.
It’s a delicious example of metanarrative, and I cannot recommend it enough.