WHAT DO YOU THINK OF VAMPIRES?

What do you think of vampires?

Bored? Hate them? Think there can be a new twist on them?

I have revenants (as Victor says, "Think vampires ... but without as many morals.") in my urban fantasies.

I take famous historical figures as revenants, having their humanity slowly ebbing away over the decades. Abigail Adams is my tragic figure that towers over them all.
In THE RIVAL, she takes center stage quite often.

Here is what Neil Gaiman has to say of vampires :

"The glorious thing about being a vampire is that you don't die.

And whether you're talking sparkly magic vampires or the intelligent, sympathetic Dracula — Fred Saberhagen's Dracula Tape series for example,

or the Saint Germain Chronicles by um, oh God, what's her name? Chelsea Quinn Yarbro —

all of that stuff essentially gives you, ''You're conquering death.''

You have limitations, and it depends on how crippling you think those limitations are.

The very best piece of vampire fiction, I think, is incredibly short, and it was written by Charles Beaumont [in 1961]. It was just a vampire talking to a psychoanalyst.

And it's just a glorious, very, very short story. It's called ''Blood Brother.'' It's the guy bitching about not being able to shave properly.

And not being able to cross running water, and what that actually means in a city, and turning in and out of a bat.

It's a wonderful sort of grumpy vampire shtick. And a kind that nobody's really done. Then of course there's Sesame Street, which I think may well have really created the sympathetic vampire for the world."

So what do you think of vampires?
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