Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula is the book that started it all. Though he was far from the first literary vampire (Wikipedia lists Lord Byron’s The Burial: a Fragment published in 1819 as the first of the breed), Count Dracula was sexy, seductive and primal. He’s been the subject of stage plays, musicals, comic books and – of course – films. He’s been the inspiration for countless imitators. Authors from Byron to Charlaine Harris have added their little touches to the mythos of vampirism. From Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles to Charlaine Harris’ The Southern Vampire Mysteries, there have been dozens of variations of Stoker’s classic in the last forty years alone. This week, we’re asking the Confabulators who their favorite literary vampire is. Read on to find out if your favorite is mentioned.
If you only know Dracula from the movies, you don’t really know the whole story. Reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula for the first time, I discovered a world unlike anything I imagined. The thing that surprised me most was the richness of his minor characters, like the vampiric “Sisters.” I loved the Sisters, both for their animalistic hunger and sexuality. Like sirens, succubi, and other mythological femme fatales, the Sisters entrance and lure unsuspecting men to their death. For me, they were more memorable than Dracula himself. Of course, they’re in the original 1931 film with Bela Lugosi, but they get overshadowed by the Count in endless film and television adaptations.
I have a very soft spot for Louis and Armand from Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series. They both changed how I thought about vampires and what they wanted from life. That said, my very favorite vampire is Fred Saberhagen’s version of Vlad Tepes in The Dracula Tape. He’s really humanized in that book and Saberhagen does a great job of combining history and Bram Stoker’s book.
Asher from the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton. Hot, tortured (but not in a sparkly-emo way) and he’s got that sex-magic thing going for him. Okay, maybe he’s only hot on half his body, since the other half was severely burned hundreds of years ago with holy water. Also, he’s always going to be second fiddle to Jean-Claude. I prefer the sidekicks and underdogs of the world. Don’t judge me.
My favorite literary vampires are the sisters from Dracula by Bram Stoker. If you go back and read that scene, it is smoldering with sexual overtones. As a teen reading Dracula for the first time, it was enough to make me a fan of the three sisters for life. If you are going to become the latest vampire victim, what better way to go than triple-teamed by hot, ravenous hellspawn?
Ever since my Dad told me my very first vampire story when I was little, I’ve been obsessed with vampires. His vampires were proper vampires: vicious, terrifying, bloodthirsty, and disintegrated into dust in the sunlight. I will read every vampire novel I can get my hands on now because I find all of the different versions of vampire mythology to be fascinating. My favorite thus far is Matthew Clairmont from Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, however I love him more as a character than a vampire. My favorite literary vampire is probably the evil Smoking Vampire from my own vampire novel The Monsters of Lawrence. He is a true monster, and a true vampire.
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