We have seen quite the string of vampire novels in publishing the last few years. From Anne Rice to THE HISTORIAN to TWILIGHT, every time I have heard someone in the publishing business say the whole vampire thing had run its course… along came another successful vampire book to prove that it had not.
America apparently loves vampires! And I’m still getting more vampire novels in my Inbox than perhaps any other genre/trope.
What do you think? Is the public still ready for fresh takes on vampirism? Or is it time to break out the garlic?
bryngreenwood says
I don’t necessarily want to run a stake through the vampire genre, but please, could it take a vacation? Vampires do hibernate, right?
Anonymous says
Kid’s still love it, and look for it.
Jeremy Robb says
Personally, I don’t think Vampire stories will ever die. They were classic tales through history, and during the Victorian era they became somewhat erotic in nature. Put the together, and you have a draw for a story. Granted, it still needs to be well written…
Anonymous says
LOL. Three years ago, I had an idea for a vampire novel. My agent said vampires were passe so I didn’t develop it…
Like with many subjects, I think it’s all in the way you present it.
other lisa says
I’d like to think they are dead, but probably not.
In the meantime, here is a way to understand the entire Twilight series inone page! (this was all over the Twitterverse the other day so apologies if you’ve seen it. Still cracks me up!)
Jennifer Roland says
I have always loved vampires–since I was a little girl. I have seen the genre ebb and flow, and we’re due for another ebb soon.
The problem is that when it ebbs in one form of media (e.g., books), it flows in another (e.g., movies). It can make the genre seem completely overdone to the casual vampire fan but insanely limited to the voracious fan.
Beth Dolgner says
I think good vampire novels will always be in demand…emphasis on the word “good.” Bram Stoker ignited something in our imaginations that has proven to be timeless.
panhistoria says
I’ve been tired of vampires for about ten years now. It’s kind of disgusting that the most popular romantic trope is now dead people risen and sucking the blood out of your neck. It’s so wrong and in oh so many ways.
Jennifer Hendren says
Personally, I never get tired of vampires, but a friend and I were discussing it just yesterday and agreed we’d like to see something other than the classic effeminate vamp. Instead of frilly linen shirts with leather pants, how about some work boots and jeans for once? Is it wrong to make them a little more…manly? (g) Perhaps have them turn when they’re past being prepubescent boys for once?
Just a thought… (g)
Rachel says
I was sick of vampire novels until Twilight came out and then, suddenly, it was like a whole new world…all over again. Like anonymous @ 11:49, I think it’s all in the way you present it. Saying that, after something like Twilight, I think the next vampire novel would have to be very fresh and different to catch people’s attention for long.
Rose Pressey says
I still enjoy vampire novels. Probably always will.
Crystal says
Vampire books aren’t dead, that doesn’t mean that I’m not sick of seeing them on every book shelf. Seriously authors, go to another genre already! Perhapssomething super natural that isn’t about blood-sucking romance?
Dara says
They will probably go through cycles. I said their dead because to me, they are. I’ve not been one for vampire stories though (even though I did read Twilight to see what the hype was about).
Kristi says
The Historian was a great book! While I have no desire to write a vampire novel myself, I do love reading about them. I believe people will always be fascinated with the concepts of death and immortality, and vampires are often portrayed as highly sexual as well, which gets a whole other set of people reading. Most books out there are just familiar topics with a fresh twist anyway. Long live vampires! 🙂
ella144 says
Stories about immortals have been popular for about 5000 years now, right? Apparently that trend isn’t ending anytime soon.
Debra Mullins says
First there was Frank Langella. Then Buffy and Angel. That about does it for me and find myself avoiding vampire books that are out there these days and have no desire to write one.
Dara says
Oops. Spelling error. “They’re”
not “their.” 😛
Alice says
I love vamps! Have loved them since I was 5 and watched cheesy late-night horror with my dad. Can’t get enough of (well-written) vamp books.
Anonymous says
I don’t even read them but I want them to go away. Then again, maybe that means nothing really is ever dead, which is a good thing, especially in this grim economy (or, the perception of this grim economy)
davidf says
Unfortunately, I don’t think the vampire genre will ever die. Can we just start referring to it as the “ironic genre”? (Or is that name in use for something else?)
Michael Pickett says
I personally don’t do the whole vampire thing unless its a new take on the subject like in “I Am Legend” (the book, not the movie; I am fully aware that since the book was published about fifty years ago, it’s hard to call it a “new” take, but I still think the idea is fresh, which is more than I can say for a lot of other stuff written fifty years ago). I think that if people start publishing Twilight ripoffs, people will start to think that they are tired of vampires, but they’re really just tired of Twilight ripoffs. If someone can use vampires intelligently, I think they can go on forever. After all, they’ve been around for hundreds of years. And can’t they live, or unlive, forever?
Anonymous says
If you look at the NYT Children’s bestseller list, especially in the series category…you’ll see various vampire books listed…but here’s the thing…they are all different. From Twilight to the Vampire Academy series, to the House of Night books to the Vampire Diaries….they all have their own mythology and history….so as long as it’s different, it will sell.
and in my opinion no one wrote it better than Joss Whedon.
behlerblog says
Reading about your over-stuffed inbox of vampy stories reminds me of the days of The DaVinci Code. I actually put up a blurb in our submission guidelines promising that all like-minded stories would be fed to my beagle. Oy,, what a headache.
Elissa M says
I would like to see vampires become scary again. Most of what I’ve seen lately has dropped the creepy, undead, blood-thirsty stuff and made them all romantic and full of angst. I want my vampires BAD.
Margaret Yang says
“…and then Buffy staked Edward. The end.”
I wish. Heh, heh.
Richard Kriheli says
I actually blogged about this very topic in november of 2008. i invite all of you to give it a look and chime in as well: https://kriheli.com/2008/11/the-bastardization-of-the-bloodsucker/
i personally think the whole mythos is lost on the current generation.
Ash D. says
I voted undead.
If people are writing stories with the intention of sponging off previously successful vampire stories, then that’s just totally lame, in my humble opinion. I liked Twilight but I certainly do not want to read a hundred more angsty, teen romance driven vampire stories that only came about after being inspired by said bestseller.
But, if someone writes a unique and compelling vampire story simply because they love vampires? More power to them and to fans of the genre!
Chuck H. says
I like stories about immortals but the only vampire story other than Bram Stoker’s I liked was Vampirella.
Scott says
I said “dead”, only because I kind of think they need to die for a bit. When a genre reaches the WB, it’s time for everyone to step back and evaluate what’s going on.
In a similar vein (yuk yuk), Zombies need to stay down, too. But this is mostly in film, where the metaphor is being done to undeath. I vote everyone just give it a break until World War Z is released in 2010. Maybe by then someone will have found a way to make them fresh again. And that goes for you, too, Romero.
As a rabid horror fan, I love that the myths are perpetuating. I just find the abuse of them to be desensitizing. Vampires used to be scary, now they’re dreamy and kind of irritating. Makes me pine for the days of George Hamilton!
Ash D. says
other lisa –
Thanks for posting that link for the “condensed” Twilight series! I hadn’t seen that.
I enjoyed the series (with the exception of the last book) but that thing was TOO funny! Especially the “Book 4” part. It literally made me laugh out loud.
Thanks 🙂
Mary Caffrey says
Portions of a wildly funny vampire novel are read every week in my writer’s critique workshop.
I live to hear more of this work, though I never was particularly fond of vampires, myself. This vampire character sets a new bar for blood suckers. Therefore, I’m with the group that appreciates fresh approaches,or transfusions, to the genre.
Ink says
I am a vampire. And dead sexy. So, really, this whole vampire romance trope is really helping me score big with the chicks. Have you seen those “Bite Me Here” tattoos on girls’ necks? Aces.
Jordan Summers says
Considering the popularity of True Blood, Blood Ties, Moonlight, and Twilight, I don’t think they’ll be going anywhere for a while.
I know that vamps have been done to ‘death’, but I’m still looking for a very specific type of vamp book that blends super dark with a little romance. Thus far, it hasn’t been written. There are some books that have come close, but didn’t quite hit the mark.
Ink says
I joke, I joke…
(It’s funnier if you hear it with the Transylvanian accent)
Jo says
I don’t mind as long as they are well-written and I have found there are some new takes on the whole myth. What I am tired of is the whole tragic, romantic undead dude approach.The vamp with soul. We need some scary bad guys. And throw some heroines with fire in there too. Enough of girls being rescued all the time.
Marilyn Peake says
I think that, oftentimes when someone crafts a well-written book in any genre on any theme, the entire genre/theme appears to be resurrected. Was it ever dead in the first place? Obviously not. Readers just get tired of the same old, same old.
Mira says
I imagine they’ll continue to be hot for awhile. Vampires have become an icon for rebellion, power and outsider status in the 14-24 set.
Then someone will hit a new mythos that will speak to kids, or everyone, and vampires will fade for a time.
Only to rise again….
Roland says
My horror and fantasy trend predictions for the next 5 years goes like this:
Epic fantasy set in a post-apocalypse world not unlike The Road.
Eastern Vampires replace Western Vampires. The Indian rakshasa and the Malaysian penanggalan are ripe, and hey with the success of Slumdog Millionaire I foresee creative companies (publishing or film) looking to Asia for new spice. The first writer there will make bank.
Marilyn Peake says
That reminds me that, right before the first Harry Potter book was published, there was news everywhere that children’s novels were really hard to sell. It took two years before that novel was picked up in the United States. At the time, J.K. Rowling’s literary agent told her not to quit her day job as a professor.
T. Anne says
As much as I would like Vampires to take flight for a good long while, it seems they’ve embedded themselves as a literary mainstay. I think the other commenters are correct in stating that presentation is key.
Mira says
Oh. I wanted to add that as a – shoot, what’s the word I’m looking for – Joseph Campbell – archetype (I had to look it up.)
Vampires as an archetype.
They’re a powerful archetype. Powerful seducers who feed off defenseless victims until the victim becomes nothing, or turns into a predator themselves. The only real way to kill them is to piece their heart (i.e. show them they have a heart.)
It’s always been a sexual archtype.
That’s my interpretation, anyway. But archtypes are complex.
Vieva says
I’ve been told that to “break in” I should write a vampire teen novel.
Clearly *the masses* don’t think it’s dead, if they think that would sell.
(and no, I’m not writing it! There’s no way I could do one well, and I refuse to put that much effort into something I know AHEAD of time is a stinker! (as opposed to all the stinkers I didn’t realize stunk ahead of time (not that I write those, of course (help I’m caught in parenthetical statements and can’t get out!))))
Anonymous says
I’m surprised by the vote total saying vampires are still viable. Really? I see so many books piled on one another at bookstores that I can only imagine the volume of the ones that aren’t finding an agent or getting sold.
Nathan, I know it’s a “Ruling” question for us, but can you offer some insight into what you or other agents are feeling when you receive these queries? I know it’s all in the execution, but are agents reluctant to take them on right now?
Kristan says
I’ve NEVER been into vampires — they just don’t do it for me — but I loved the Twilight series (yes, despite all its flaws). And when I started telling people that, they started telling me about all the other vampire books they love. So whether or not I/we like it, there’s obviously something going on there. Though I agree with bryngreenwood (comment #1)’s sentiment: let’s at least cycle them in an out, eh?
Martin says
Heck, I thought those suckers (ow…that hurt) were dead in the 80’s. My friend, who at the time had several vampire novels under her belt with intention of stopping, pelted me with strawberries whenever I said so, making me look like some vampires with realllly bad dental work had been gnawing on me.
In any case, chances are they will continue. I seem to recall reading somewhere (Publishers Weekly, maybe?) that several vamp deals had just gone down, so they’re here for a while yet, to be sure.
S. Stockman says
I think vampires appeal to too many human fantasies (sex, eternal youth, physical/mental/magical power, danger) to ever go away entirely. I heard a theory that werewolves (with the rise of the upcoming New Moon film) will be the next supernatural craze, but who knows?
These folks made a hilarious parody of the Twilight movie, if you haven’t seen it yet 🙂
http://www.thehillwoodshow.com
Nathan Bransford says
anon-
I think feelings vary greatly among agents, but at the very least everyone is looking for a very fresh take.
S. Stockman says
drat.
hillywood, not hillwood.
Diana says
I agree with Debra – since the sad ending of Buffy (and the less sad ending of Angel), I have zero interest in vampires.
But I do think that anything which takes the attention of tweens/teens away from their im-ing and focuses it on a book must have some merit. Therefore, not (un)dead yet.
Douglas L. Perry says
Given the current wave of popularity we’re going to need more than garlic. Time for sunlight and wooden stakes.