Vampires as Victorian Creatures
J. A. London is the mother-son
writing team of Lorraine Heath and her son Alex. DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN is the
first book in a trilogy revolving around a dystopian world in which vampires
rule and humans are corralled in 20 cities.
I had never
really given much thought to writing about vampires until my son Alex created a
world that, while modern, brought in elements of the Victorian era, which I
write as a historical author.
As Alex says, “We felt vampires
had gotten a little off track as of late and we wanted to return them to their
rightful place as Victorian creatures: Polite, courteous, and obsessed with
etiquette. Combining these ‘proper’ characteristics with their oppressive
bloodlust creates a very frightening monster, especially when they want to
cling onto the past so badly.”
This was one of the aspects of
the series that really appealed to us. We have a modern world, although
devastated by war, ruled by creatures who abhor technology and are struggling
to return to the height of their golden era—the Victorian era. Within the
vampire world, we also have younger vampires who are rebelling against the old
ways much as their human counterparts are.
Not only do our vampires
experience bloodlust—and only human blood will do—but they lack the ability to
imagine. It’s one of the things they resent about humans. Humans invent
everything. Humans write all the books. Humans paint, sculpt, build. Vampires
can only appreciate human endeavors. And in many cases they don’t appreciate
it.
We really tried to give readers a
different type of vampire but one that was grounded in the original literary
vampires.
Who is your favorite literary
vampire? One lucky poster will receive an autographed copy of DARKNESS BEFORE
DAWN.
10 comments:
Sebastian Wroth was a favorite literary vampire of mine. He was very intelligent and that was different to read about. I love when I can find a new twist on vampires.
The original Dracula by Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker's Dracula fascinated me.
little lamb lst at yahoo dot com
Anne Rice's Akasha (Queen of the Damned) remains one of the most entrancing vampires I have read. I know she had the most abdominal traits, but even amidst those flaws there was something moving about her loneliness and fight for survival. I've not yet come across another vampire who created in me an equal measure of horror and empathy.
I gotta go with an Anne Rice character too and say Lestat. Anne Rice and Lestat were my introduction to the paranormal genre and my first ever vampire books. I grew up reading about Lestat. He'll always be my favorite.
molly(dot)frenzel(at)gmail(dot)com
I Love Lestat from Anne Rice Books he is great.
flaka.077@ at gmail dot com
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your favorite vampire. We're fond of Lestat.
I really like Bones from the Night Hunstress series. He has a great sense of humor and is deadly too.
Cambonified[at]yahoo[dot]com
Dracula as re-imagined by Fred Saberhagen; Count Saint-Germain in Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's series; Dr. Weyland, the ancient vampire of THE VAMPIRE TAPESTRY, by Suzy McKee Charnas.
My favorite literary vampire is Ethan from Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde :)
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