SilverMoon Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Help? This is out of my field. DS/10th has asked for more *good* vampire stories. By good he means "not the recent sparkly, romantic, fluff" that is popular. He would prefer no romance at all, but has grimly accepted that he'll have to wade through some for this venture. He's reading Bram Stoker's Dracula currently and we have Interview With a Vampire on the shelf. That's it. Dracula has him enchanted! This is not for a school assignment. He just wants to trace some development of vampire stories for the fun of it. He breathes mythology/fantasy, and the Faerie and Fantasy course from Tolkien Professor really had an impact on him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 The Strain Trilogy by Guillermo del Toro and some other dude is a good, non-sparkly read. I read all three Halloween week and really enjoyed them. Vampirism is a virus in these books and they're more thriller than horror (think Hot Zone more than Stephen King). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tress Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. Last year I combined a reread of Stoker and The Historian with a really old version of Dracula, Price of many Faces by Radu Florescu. Price of Many Faces explores the real history behind the myth and for a vampire lit fan was pretty interesting. It went really well with the other books. Tell your ds that Rices series gets better after Interview with a Vampire. It has been years since I have done a reread but The Tale of the Body Thief normally ends up being my favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaughingCat Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Salem's Lot by King scared me silly at just little older than that age. Dracula on the other hand was not scary - except for the first chapter (or prelude?) which is written in a completely style then the rest of the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. Absolutely!! This was going to be my suggestion. It's a lovely pairing with Stoker. I also like the Anne Rice books that I read - some of them at least, I didn't read the whole series. Some were better than others, for sure. I think The Vampire Lestat was my favorite of the ones I read. It's not a romantic series at all, and I like how it explores the issue of whether we change with the passage of time, or whether we become who we truly are. It also has a lot to interest history buffs. I notice she has a new Lestat book out recently, I'll have to check that out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Agreeing with all the above, but watch the Anne Rice books. The later books get quite...interesting. However, the woman is some kind of genius. The last books are not something I would put in the hands of a child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Discworld books by Terry Pratchett have some fun vampires -- Carpe Jugulum has a lot but would make more sense if you already knew the witch characters... "Monstrous Regiment" has a great vampire character too and it's an awesome story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Lolly, may I ask why you recommend against the last Anne Rice books? :) This is a great list! Thanks! The variety especially. :) I'm getting The Historian on the way because I doubt Dracula will last the holiday weekend. He is excited to see how the character evolves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Fred Saberhagen has a vampire series which features Dracula and other vampires as the good guys. They are old so usually available pretty inexpensive. Anne Rice can get very sexually explicit in some of her books, often in a somewhat disturbing way. I don't remember how bad it is in the Vampire series, it's been a very long time since I read them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Just wanted to put in another plug for The Historian, a very non-sparkly and (for me at least) page turning look at the Vampire genre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 You might want to try Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times. http://www.amazon.com/Dracula-Prince-Many-Faces-Times/dp/0316286567/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417055300&sr=1-1&keywords=vlad+the+impaler Vlad Dracula was a Romanian Prince (1431-1476) who was nicknamed "the Impaler". This actual prince was the inspiration for "Dracula". It may be nice for your ds to read about the real person and historical events which birthed the mythological Dracula. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicheleinMN Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Just wanted to put in another plug for The Historian, a very non-sparkly and (for me at least) page turning look at the Vampire genre. I must be one of the few who didn't like The Historian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Help? This is out of my field. DS/10th has asked for more *good* vampire stories. By good he means "not the recent sparkly, romantic, fluff" that is popular. He would prefer no romance at all, but has grimly accepted that he'll have to wade through some for this venture. He's reading Bram Stoker's Dracula currently and we have Interview With a Vampire on the shelf. That's it. Dracula has him enchanted! This is not for a school assignment. He just wants to trace some development of vampire stories for the fun of it. He breathes mythology/fantasy, and the Faerie and Fantasy course from Tolkien Professor really had an impact on him. I have a nephew who is actually a professor who teaches vampire lit. I'll see what he recommends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Fred Saberhagen has a vampire series which features Dracula and other vampires as the good guys. They are old so usually available pretty inexpensive. Anne Rice can get very sexually explicit in some of her books, often in a somewhat disturbing way. I don't remember how bad it is in the Vampire series, it's been a very long time since I read them. I think the first five in the vampire series are less explicit then Rice's other books but it has been a very long time since I read them also. So I am not sure what level less actually is. I have a nephew who is actually a professor who teaches vampire lit. I'll see what he recommends. I would love to hear what your nephew uses in his class. I read quite a bit of vampire fiction and my favourite part of these books is the variety of background mythology the author's present..... Everything from all descended from super nanos created on Atlantis to Egyptians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 If he likes Interview, Anne Rice well keep him occupied for a good long while. A good vampire series with a different feel is The Vampire Files series by P.N. Elrod. They are murder mysteries with a vampire private detective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 If he would consider a wider topic of man's response to monsters, I can't recommend World War Z too highly. I first heard about the book when the author gave a speech at the Naval War College. I've since heard him in person myself. I think the book does a really good job of looking at how people respond to situations where the normal rules don't apply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 My daughter enjoyed Dracula and went on to read several other related books that she spoke highly of. Renfield: Slave of Dracula by Barbara Hambly From Booklist: Hambly has retold Bram Stoker's Dracula in the voice of a minor character, Renfield, the madman who becomes the vampire's slave-agent in England. In Stoker's original, Renfield is a harbinger, extremely strong and violent, given to an unnatural diet of flies. When Dracula occupies the estate next to the asylum in which he is confined, Renfield attempts several escapes, claiming that his master is calling him. Hambly creates a past for this possessed man via his diaries and letters to his wife and gives him occasional lucid moments. When Dracula imposes himself on Renfield's deteriorated mind, he, bound to an active purpose, becomes yet more lucid. When Dracula orders him to kill Van Helsing, he isn't strong enough to refuse, but on the journey from London to Transylvania, he develops the strength to resist the count, find allies, and eventually retrace his journey back from lunacy to sanity. Hambly superbly weaves Stoker's plot and style with her own, producing one of the best recent vampire yarns. Frieda MurrayCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved and The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova Some years ago, I read with pleasure Tanya Huff's Blood books series. You can find some information in this review. The series starts with Blood Price and Blood Trail.Regards,Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It was surprisingly enjoyable. :-) FRT, I am currently reading Dracula. It is my standard of comparison for *all* vampire lore. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It was surprisingly enjoyable. :-) FRT, I am currently reading Dracula. It is my standard of comparison for *all* vampire lore. :-) I was surprised by how good Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer was also. I watched the first 10 minutes of the movie recently and it was dreadful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Lolly, may I ask why you recommend against the last Anne Rice books? :) This is a great list! Thanks! The variety especially. :) I'm getting The Historian on the way because I doubt Dracula will last the holiday weekend. He is excited to see how the character evolves. I am not sure most people realize how long this series of books is. Most people (I have spoken to personally) only think it is a trilogy. The first three are fantastic reads for almost anyone. The last books do become quite explicit. One scene is particularly stuck in my mind to this day. (It involves a very detailed account of an encounter which involves a woman who is menstruating. Seems vampires like that sort of thing.) She does have Erotic books available.(I accidentally purchased on at a used bookstore. That was an eye opener!) The scenes in the later books could be considered such, but the books themselves are not because that is not their main focus. The scenes are well woven into the fabric of the story and fit quite nicely. Just not something I would hand to a teenager on purpose. Another reason, for myself, is because Anne Rice is a genius. Her writing has quite a profound impact on the brain. As you get into the last books, I found my brain making mental leaps that could easily be turned into a religion. (I am not talking about in a Harry Potter kind of way.) Christianity is used to tie everything together in a manner that made eerie sense. Honestly, it made everything a little too real? As a well grounded adult, I could dismiss it. A less grounded younger person reading could worry me. That is, of course, dependent on the reader completely. The dd who got me started on these is one who could have been quite impacted by that aspect of these books. Rice's knowledge of religion is quite astounding. In fact, I also highly recommend her Christianity based books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 I am not sure most people realize how long this series of books is. Most people (I have spoken to personally) only think it is a trilogy. The first three are fantastic reads for almost anyone. The last books do become quite explicit. One scene is particularly stuck in my mind to this day. (It involves a very detailed account of an encounter which involves a woman who is menstruating. Seems vampires like that sort of thing.) She does have Erotic books available.(I accidentally purchased on at a used bookstore. That was an eye opener!) The scenes in the later books could be considered such, but the books themselves are not because that is not their main focus. The scenes are well woven into the fabric of the story and fit quite nicely. Just not something I would hand to a teenager on purpose. Another reason, for myself, is because Anne Rice is a genius. Her writing has quite a profound impact on the brain. As you get into the last books, I found my brain making mental leaps that could easily be turned into a religion. (I am not talking about in a Harry Potter kind of way.) Christianity is used to tie everything together in a manner that made eerie sense. Honestly, it made everything a little too real? As a well grounded adult, I could dismiss it. A less grounded younger person reading could worry me. That is, of course, dependent on the reader completely. The dd who got me started on these is one who could have been quite impacted by that aspect of these books. Rice's knowledge of religion is quite astounding. In fact, I also highly recommend her Christianity based books. Her writing is descriptively immersive but it's fiction. If someone's personality is so underdeveloped that they can't tell the difference, that could be a concern, but doesn't describe most teenaged readers. And there's a big difference between anything in the Vampire books and the Sleeping Beauty books. Those I probably wouldn't give to a 10th grader (unless they were a 50 Shades fan in need of exposure to an example of actually good erotic fiction). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Her writing is descriptively immersive but it's fiction. If someone's personality is so underdeveloped that they can't tell the difference, that could be a concern, but doesn't describe most teenaged readers. And there's a big difference between anything in the Vampire books and the Sleeping Beauty books. Those I probably wouldn't give to a 10th grader (unless they were a 50 Shades fan in need of exposure to an example of actually good erotic fiction). As I said, for me. Where I have a bit of trouble is that the logic used is so very sound. Yes, most/many teens would just say, "Hey, this is fiction." But the logic used in the presentation is astounding. I think you are off on the personality being underdeveloped. It isn't a matter of being able to tell the difference. Knowing something is a work of fiction and building something from that are entirely separate things. It was a secondary reason I did not want my dd to continue this series. She was searching for something at the time (she was also quite a young teen) and was very philosophical. The primary reason was the degree of explicit s*x in the books. As far as the s*x in the book, it is beyond (from what I understand) is contained in 50 Shades (I haven't actually read those books). It is certainly more than what I would want my teens reading. I wouldn't want them reading 50 Shades either. Yes, it is less than in Sleeping Beauty. But, that is at an extreme end of erotic writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Sunshine by Robin McKinley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 What about Christopher Moore's "Bloodsucking Fiends"? That's very vampirey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 What about Christopher Moore's "Bloodsucking Fiends"? That's very vampirey! Loved his Vampire books! Good call. I love everything that guy wrote, he's a kook in the best possible way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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