What is your favorite author's take on vampirism?

I believe my favorite would be Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Her vampire mythos incorporates the most common elements from folklore about the vampire. Her vampire protagonists can walk around during the day, they just need to be fortified with their native earth. They also don't rely so much on blood, but on the feelings engendered when blood is shared.

I liked Anne Rice's before they "evolved" into... gods, basically.

HP Lovecraft did something very interesting but I can't describe it right here; it's very weird and it's been too long.

I think Bram Stoker actually did quite a smashing job with his mythos for the time. There's a reason it became so classic.

I like Stephenie Meyer.The books of Twilight, New Moon

Then I also like Ellen Schreiber. Her books are vampire kisses, and kissing coffins, and soon there will be more!

I think I liked Anne Rice's vamps until it became apparent that they were all the same person, in a way. Just varying shades of Rice's personality.

The substituting vampire bites for real, physical sexual intercourse seemed kind of weak to me. And then she decided to start throwing the latter in anyway, defeating the point...

It may seem odd, but I kind of dug the vampire mythos of White Wolf, with the different clans.

Hi, I so new to this group.

The vampire lore is easy for me to get into since I am such a huge fan of horror and a vampire usually makes such a great "monster".

Now, I haven't read many books about them and of the two authors' works I have read, Stephen King's Salem's Lot, The Night Flier and Anne Rice's various vampire chronicles, I love Ms. Rice's take on the legend. She makes vampires seem like they could actually exist, that's scary and exciting all in one. She hasn't gotten it a 100% but by far I can't get enough of her--The Queen of the Damned being my favourite Rice novel.

I don't like the romance element of the vampire legend--I like to think of vampies as Rice writes them--untouchable monstrosities.

Stop reading The Vampire Chronicles while you can - in Blood Canticle Lestat his puberty and discovers girls.

I second that. The Vampire Chronicles starts off with them being 'untouchable monstrosities', but they degenerate into Harlequin novels about halfway through the series and then it's just weird.

I like the romantic/sexual undertones of the vampire legend, but I stop liking it when they stop being undertones.

Message 6 and 7: Thanks for the heads up guy, sad tho' it maybe.
I guess I can always enjoy(re-read) the first three of the Vampire Chronicles again and again.

Also see another thread here there are some suggestions as to great "real" vampire fiction!!

I can't narrow it down to just one author!
I too became disenchanted with Anne Rice and also Laurell K. Hamilton after the first few in their respective series. I glanced at my vamp shelf and picked out books I thought had something different to offer (didn't realize I had so much YA material on there). midnightrose mentioned Stephanie Meyer's books and I enjoyed her too. I liked some of what Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' did with her material. The Darkangel Trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce had an epic fantasy/quest feel (if you like that). Peeps by Scott Westerfeld, took the 'virus' approach to vampirism which has been done a lot lately, but I liked how his vamps had an aversion to the familiar which is in contrast to most vampire stories. Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin didn't have anything new as far as mythos but I haven't read too much about vamps and water so it was a nice change of locale. And this is not a book, but I just recently saw the movie Dracula 2000 and I liked the twist they gave to Dracula's origin story. So there's my 2 (or 20) cents...

I'm liking Kim Harrison's series which starts with Dead Witch Walking. The vampires aren't all that different from what is expected, but the reason they are around a lot more is pretty funny.

Also, I love the "sheriffs" and "kings" and "queens" in the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris.

Ok, New to both the group and the posting thing, but I couldn't resist this topic! My favorite, or at least high on my list, would be Connie Willis' short story Jack which sets up a "body-sniffer" during the Blitz (London WWII)

My favorite vampire series is the Lee Nez series by David and Amiee Thurlo. Lee Nez is a Navahoe vampire and a state trooper. The Thurlos make him so human that you almost forget that he's not human. I like to read books where the vampire is the good guy.

I'm some what new to vampires but my favorite is J.R. Ward and her black dagger Brotherhood vampires. They are burned by the sun but they don't have to sleep during the day,they eat all kinds of food,and perfer blood from vampires. They can live on human blood but it takes frequent feedings. Their society has not yet been completely revealed,but they don't bother humans and have another enemy to fight.
I no longer buy Laurell K. Hamiliton but I still read her Anita series I'm just tired of the excesses.

Nzingha

i like stephenie meyers and lynn viehl. i dont like anne rice's cause in her's the human dies if bitten. period. i also like how the vampires in both of these series have their own personal abilities that set them apart.

"i dont like anne rice's cause in her's the human dies if bitten. period. "

Anne Rice's vampires seem to get a more satisfying feed if they kill people, but I don't recall the bites necessarily being fatal...

hmm. maybe but from wat i remember they either get turned or die. i could be wrong though. still her books just didnt grab my attention. i dont believe i even got through with "interview with a vampire" all the way

the ending suck!

In Anne Rice's books, the vampires talk about the "little drink", which is where they drink the blood but do not kill them. Usually they die, because the vampires get a more satisfying feed that way, but it is not necessary.

My favorite is Anne Rice (up until Memnoch--hated it--though Blood and Gold, I thought, was redeeming).

Twilight's pretty good, but Rice is better, I must say. Definitelyl made for a certain audience.

The Vampire Kisses series are a set of appalling books if you're trying to take them seriously. If you want some fun, light reading, then they're great.

One romance writer, Lynsay Sands, has a particular explanation for the vampires in her series that appeals to me.

Her characters are descendants from Atlantis, who were truly a technologically advanced race. They created a nano-virus that used blood to regenerate and repair damage done to the body. Only after these nanos were introduced to the body did the scientists figure out that they were overperforming - that they repaired damage done by aging, sunlight, etc., and that the need for blood would be more than one's body could handle. The Atlanteans did have technology to transfuse blood; but when the civilization was destroyed, the people with the enhancement were unable to take the technology with them into the primitive world beyond their gates. The nanos then created a means for their hosts to feed without the transfusions - by adding fangs for drinking blood directly from the source.

I like seeing the inexplicable explained...

But with Lestat he hates being a vampire and tries to find his humanity. He even tries to kill himself by going out in the desert sun for several days and only winds up with a severe case of sunburn. I think that book may have been Queen Of The Damned. I have her New Tales Of The Vampire series however I haven't gotten around to finish reading The Vampire Chronicles. When I finish reading The Vampire Chronicles I'll start on Tales Of The New Vampires.

beatles1964