Brian Frost chronicles the history of the vampire in myth and literature, providing a sumptuous repast for all devotees of the bizarre. In a wide-ranging survey, including plot summaries of hundreds of novels and short stories, the reader meets an amazing assortment of vampires from the pages of weird fiction, ranging from the 10,000-year-old femme fatale in Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Conqueror to the malevolent fetus in Eddy C. Bertin’s “Something Small, Something Hungry.” Nostalgia buffs will enjoy a discussion of the vampire yarns in the pulp magazines of the interwar years, while fans of contemporary vampire fiction will also be sated.
The Ultimate Collection of Vampire Facts and Fiction From Vlad the Impaler to Barnabas Collins to Edward Cullen to Dracula and Bill Compton, renowned religion expert and fearless vampire authority J. Gordon Melton, PhD takes the reader on a vast, alphabetic tour of the psychosexual, macabre world of the blood-sucking undead. Digging deep into the lore, myths, pop culture, and reported realities of vampires and vampire legends from across the globe, The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead exposes everything about the blood thirsty predator. Death and immortality, sexual prowess and surrender, intimacy and alienation, rebellion and temptation. The allure of the vampire is eternal, and The Vampire Book explores it all. The historical, literary, mythological, biographical, and popular aspects of one of the world's most mesmerizing paranormal subject. This vast reference is an alphabetical tour of the psychosexual, macabre world of the soul-sucking undead. In the first fully revised and updated edition in a decade, Dr. J. Gordon Melton (president of the American chapter of the Transylvania Society of Dracula) bites even deeper into vampire lore, myths, reported realities, and legends that come from all around the world. From Transylvania to plague-infested Europe to Nostradamus and from modern literature to movies and TV series, this exhaustive guide furnishes more than 500 essays to quench your thirst for facts, biographies, definitions, and more.
This blend of history and dark fantasy feasts upon vampire lore, reinventing the manner in which real-life monsters were transformed into pop culture icons by two of Ireland's great writers. Dubliners Sheridan Le Fanu and Bram Stoker travel to Transylvania where they race to save the women they love from the Countess Elizabeth Bathory. After the blood bath, Le Fanu and Stoker pose as doctors John Seward and Abraham Van Helsing to confront Vlad the Impaler and Count Dracula himself. Together for the first time, this immortal cast offers a highly erotic exploration of the vampire's eternal allure.
The Virgin Vampire leads you on an emotional rollercoaster ride filled with adventure and love. Chan Balum is an ancient vampire, made when the Mayans ruled Guatemala. In 600 CE, he was a priest who sacrificed men to his pagan gods. Determined to find the perfect sacrifice, one that will bring the gods back to Tikal, and his power back to him, he is in Seattle hunting for that perfect sacrifice. Each victim is tried and each one fails the test. Then one night, he meets Targ Erikson. The tall blonde Norseman seems like a perfect sacrifice. He glamours him, takes him back to his home and seduces him. Then he turns Erikson into a vampire. Enrique Valdavar, called Rickie, is a shifter, and gay. He falls in love with Erickson who can’t accept he’s a vampire, or that he’s fallen in love with a man. Will Targ Erickson ever be able to accept his new identity as a gay vampire in love with a shifter?
From vampires and demons to ghosts and zombies, interest in monsters in literature, film, and popular culture has never been stronger. This concise Encyclopedia provides scholars and students with a comprehensive and authoritative A-Z of monsters throughout the ages. It is the first major reference book on monsters for the scholarly market. Over 200 entries written by experts in the field are accompanied by an overview introduction by the editor. Generic entries such as 'ghost' and 'vampire' are cross-listed with important specific manifestations of that monster. In addition to monsters appearing in English-language literature and film, the Encyclopedia also includes significant monsters in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, African and Middle Eastern traditions. Alphabetically organized, the entries each feature suggestions for further reading. The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters is an invaluable resource for all students and scholars and an essential addition to library reference shelves.
From 18th Century poetry up to modern 3D cinema, the vampire has developed a genre in its own right. Leaving behind its roots in phantasmagoria and horror, taking in romance, action and adventure, as well as flights of science fiction fantasy and political allegory. The vampire is a part of all these fields of artistry and beyond them, a melting pot of imagination and invention that has captivated audiences around the world. In the first part of this volume, Andrew M. Boylan - author of the famous vampire blog Taliesin Meets the Vampires, looks at the genesis of the vampire genre from Ossenfelder's poem Der Vampir to Bram Stoker's seminal novel Dracula. The second part of the book spreads eclectically out from Dracula, just as the genre spread, taking in some famous kissing cousins of the genre as well as looking at the vampire's changing relationship with the divine and following the toothsome bloodsuckers out into space.
The author of Drawing Down the Moon offers a "literate, imaginative, and just plain fascinating” exploration of the enduring allure of vampires (Whitley Strieber, author of The Hunger). Author and NPR correspondent Margot Adler found herself newly drawn to vampire novels while sitting vigil at her dying husband’s bedside. Intrigued by the way this ever-evolving myth lets us contemplate mortality, she embarked on a years-long journey of reading hundreds vampire novels—from teen to adult, from gothic to modern, from detective to comic. She began to see just how each era creates the vampires it needs. Dracula, an Eastern European monster, was the perfect vehicle for 19th-century England’s fear of outsiders and of disease seeping in through its large ports. In 1960s America, the television show Dark Shadows gave us the morally conflicted vampire struggling against his own predatory nature, who still enthralls us today. From Bram Stoker to Ann Rice; from vampire detective thrillers to lesbian vampire fiction; and from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Twilight and True Blood, Vampires Are Us explores the issues of power, politics, morality, identity, and even the fate of the planet that show up in vampire novels today. Perhaps, Adler suggests, our blood is oil, perhaps our prey is the planet. Perhaps vampires are us.
Vampire narratives are generally thought of as adult or young adult fare, yet there is a long history of their appearance in books, film and other media meant for children. They emerge as expressions of anxiety about change and growing up but sometimes turn out to be new best friends who highlight the beauty of difference and individuality. This collection of new essays examines the history of vampires in 20th and 21st century Western popular media marketed to preteens and explores their significance and symbolism.
Produce, direct, promote and sell your own chilling horror film with real-world advice from award-winning producer/director/writer Danny Draven! The second edition is completely updated with information on new technology, new exclusive interviews with industry pros, new photos and samples from the production of recent horror movies, new behind-the-scenes video, information on modern distribution methods and delivery and more! From the history of horror and the technique of the scare to pre-production and distribution, this complete, full-color guide to filmmaking uncovers all the insider secrets for creating your own spine-tingling horror film from start to finish. The 2nd Edition features all NEW interviews from industry professionals such as: Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers, Bag of Bones, Desperation, The Stand) John Ottman (Composer/Editor of X:Men: Days of Future Past, The Usual Suspects) Mark Ordesky & Jane Fleming (Producers of Lovely Molly, Exists) Kane Hodder (Jason from the Friday the 13th, part 7 to 10, Hatchet) Tibor Takacs (Director of The Gate, Spiders 3D, Megasnake) John Debney (Composer of Predators, Sin City, End of Days) Jojo Draven (Composer of Ghost Month, Reel Evil) Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes, Weird Science) Mike Mendez (Director of The Gravedancers, Big Ass Spider!) Neal Marshall Stevens (Screenwriter of Thir13en Ghosts, Hellraiser: Deader) Chris Alexander (Editor in Chief of Fangoria Magazine) Jessica Cameron (Actress/Director of Truth or Dare) Denise Gossett (Founder of Shriekfest Film Festival) A newly updated companion website that features: *Behind the scenes videos for films films such as Puppet Master, Blood Dolls, Trancers, Subspecies, Reel Evil, Ghost Month and more! *A revised collection of horror movie trailers! * Sample scripts, schedules, storyboards, agreements and more! Other featured interviews include: James Wan (Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring) Robert Englund (Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street) Robert Kurtzman (From Dusk Til Dawn) Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Dagon) Tom Savini (Night of the Living Dead) Lloyd Kaufman (Toxic Avenger) Charles Band (Parasite, Metalstorm, Ghoulies) John D. LeMay (Friday the 13th: The Series) David DeCoteau (Puppet Master 3, Sorority Babes in the Slimball Bowl-O-Rama) Debbie Rochon (Tromeo & Juliet) Reggie Bannister (Phantasm) Sam McCurdy (Director of Photography of Dog Soldiers, The Decent, The Hills Have Eyes 2) Nathan Barr (Composer of Hostel,True Blood, Hemlock Grove) Jim Dooley (Composer of When A Stranger Calls) Chuck Williams (Bubba Ho-Tep) Herschell Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast, Wizard of Gore) H.P. Lovecraft’s Notes on Writing Weird Fiction And many more...
