VC 17 (Spring 1998)

Amanda Ashley. SHADES OF GRAY (Leisure Books, 1998). Romance. Is handsome, enigmatic Grigori Chiavari Marisa's savior -- or no better than the vampire who wants to possess her?

Susan M. Garrett. FOREVER KNIGHT: INTIMATIONS OF MORTALITY (Boulevard, 1997). Nick Knight's latest attempt to become human leads him into a dreamworld in which he is human . . . and all the humans he knows are vampires.

Tom Holland. SLAVE OF MY THIRST (Pocket Books, 1997; published in the UK as SUPPING WITH PANTHERS). Sequel to LORD OF THE DEAD. Lord Ruthven plays only a minor part in this sometimes hallucinatory novel of vampiric powers and lust for family blood.

Lee Killough. BLOODWALK (Decatur, Ga.: Meisha Merlin, 1997). Omnibus edition of Killough's excellent vampire detective stories, BLOOD HUNT and BLOODLINKS. In BLOOD HUNT, police inspector Garreth Mikaelian tracks down the person who made him a vampire; BLOODLINKS pits him against a mysterious vampire hunter -- as well as his own doubts about who he can trust.

Jana Marcus. IN THE SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE: REFLECTIONS ON THE WORLD OF ANNE RICE (Thunder's Mouth Press, 1997; nonfiction). Interviews with Anne Rice fans reveal their likes and dislikes regarding Rice and her writings. Numerous photographs, including a full-color costume section.

Jonathan Lewis Nasaw. SHADOWS (Dutton, 1997). Sequel to THE WORLD ON BLOOD. Witch Selene Weiss must hunt down the maniac who wants to kill her old friend James Whistler -- and her.

L. J. Smith. HUNTRESS (Night World; Archway/Pocket, 1997; YA). Half-vampire Jez Redfern seeks to atone for her youth as a hunter of humans by finding one of the Wild Powers that can save the world from the coming time of darkness.

S. P. Somtow. THE VAMPIRE'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER (Atheneum, 1997; YA). One half-vampire's choice leads Johnny Raitt to valuable conclusions about life and undeath, community and self. Recommended.

BLOOD READ: THE VAMPIRE AS METAPHOR IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE, ed. Joan Gordon and Veronica Hollinger (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997; bibliography, filmography, notes, and index; nonfiction). Scholarly articles on the vampire as metaphor in contemporary culture. Novelists Suzy McKee Charnas, Jewelle Gomez, and Brian Stableford also write about their own work.

DRACULA: THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS, ed. Bob Madison (Baltimore: Midnight Marquee Press, 1997; nonfiction). Mostly about movies but includes something for every stripe of vampire interest -- comics, fiction, and sidebars on topics as diverse as ballet and plastic model kits.

GIRLS' NIGHT OUT: 29 FEMALE VAMPIRE STORIES, ed. Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, Martin H. Greenberg, and Robert E. Weinberg (Barnes & Noble, 1997). All-reprint anthology of stories about evil female vampires includes some hard-to-find tales.

THE VAMPIRE HUNTERS' CASEBOOK, ed. Peter Haining (Barnes & Noble, 1997). Mostly reprint anthology includes both modern stories and some hard-to-find museum pieces.

VC 18 (Fall 1998)

Steven-Elliot Altman. ZEN IN THE ART OF SLAYING VAMPIRES (Hell's Kitchen Books, 1994 [1997?]). Readable and often suspenseful account of a vampire who finds his calling -- vampire-slaying -- through meditation.

Ulysses G. Dietz. DESMOND: A NOVEL OF LOVE AND THE MODERN VAMPIRE (Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 1998). Romance is not dead in this often gentle story of a gay vampire and his loves.

Laurell K. Hamilton. BURNT OFFERINGS (Ace, 1998). Anita Blake must deal with wereleopards running amok, a pyrokinetic on the loose, a group of powerful vampires who have taken over Jean-Claude's Vampire Circus, and her own ever-problematic love life.

Kyle Marffin. CARMILLA: THE RETURN (Darien, Ill.: Design Image, 1998). Sequel to Le Fanu's novelette, set in modern times. Intriguing in concept, but its sex, splatter, and existentialism give it a too-modern flavor that can't measure up to the subtlety of the original.

S. A. Swiniarski. THE FLESH, THE BLOOD, AND THE FIRE (DAW, 1998). Combines police procedural and horror in an alternate history focusing on the Cleveland Torso murders and a terrifyingly powerful old vampire.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. THE ANGRY ANGEL (Avon, 1998). First in a trilogy about Dracula's female companions. Yarbro shows her usual excellent grasp of historical detail.

THE DARKEST THIRST: A VAMPIRE ANTHOLOGY (Darien, Ill.: Design Image, 1998). Sixteen provocative and at times truly scary original short stories.

Clive Leatherdale, ed. and annot. DRACULA UNEARTHED (U.K.: Desert Island Books, 1998). Painstakingly thorough annotated edition of Stoker's classic. Recommended.

DRACULA: THE SHADE AND THE SHADOW: A CRITICAL ANTHOLOGY, ed. Elizabeth Miller (U.K.: Desert Island Books, 1998). Collects 20 conference papers from Dracula 97. Good introduction to Dracula scholarship for non-academic readers.

Alain Silver and James Ursini. THE VAMPIRE FILM: FROM NOSFERATU TO INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (3rd Limelight ed.; New York: Limelight Editions, 1997). Organized thematically, takes a leisurely approach to describing the highlights of vampire movies. Includes a comprehensive filmography, index, and bibliography; well illustrated.

Jeanne Youngson. PRIVATE FILES OF A VAMPIROLOGIST (Chicago, Ill.: Adams Press, 1997; 61 pp. Also available through the Count Dracula Fan Club). Eleven "case files" on people with vampiric inclinations or experiences, interspersed with correspondence from vampire aficionados.

VC 19 (Spring 1999)

Miguel Conner. QUEEN OF DARKNESS (Warner, 1998). Iconoclastic vampire Byron learns the truth about his past and vows to save his postapocalyptic world from his own kind -- and from their ruler/goddess, the Queen of Darkness herself.

P. N. Elrod. A CHILL IN THE BLOOD (The Vampire Files 7; Ace, 1998). Jack Fleming returns, continuing to blend a heaping human element into the hard-boiled world of gangland Chicago.

Christopher Golden. OF MASQUES AND MARTYRS (The Shadow Saga Series 3; Ace Books, 1998) Sequel to ANGEL SOULS AND DEVIL HEARTS. The evil shadows have a new weapon to use in their campaign to rule the world, and Peter Octavian's unprecedented transformation leaves doubt as to whether he can lead the forces of good.

Laurell K. Hamilton. BLUE MOON (Ace, 1998). Richard has been framed for rape, and Anita must spring him before the full moon.

Nancy Kilpatrick. REBORN (Power of the Blood 3; Nottingham, England: Pumpkin Books, 1998). In the universe of NEAR DEATH and CHILD OF THE NIGHT, someone is killing only old vampires. Michel's special blood may enable Karl to destroy the rogue and rescue Gerlind from him -- but can Michel survive what must be done?

Kim Newman. JUDGMENT OF TEARS: ANNO DRACULA 1959 (Carroll & Graf,1998). Newman's third alternate history, as suspenseful, creepy, and literarily allusive as its predecessors, pits the genius loci of Rome against the very notion of a vampire's humanity.

Michael Ratnett and June Goulding. DRACULA STEPS OUT (Orchard Books, 1998). Paper engineering by Iain Smyth. An impressively well-engineered pop-up book. Recommended.

Selina Rosen. THE HOST and FRIGHT EATER (Alma, Ark.: Yard Dog Press, 1997; 1998). First two books in a projected trilogy pit a lesbian kabbalist rabbi against soulless, fright-eating vampires. Suspenseful plots and not-in-your-face cultural commentary make these less gimmicky than they sound.

L. J. Smith. BLACK DAWN (Night World; Archway, 1997; YA). When Maggie Neely is captured to be a Night World slave, she meets her soulmate, Delos Redfern, a hereditary vampire -- and one of the Wild Powers needed to combat the coming time of darkness.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. THE SOUL OF AN ANGEL (Sisters of the Night 2; Avon, 1999) Sequel to THE ANGRY ANGEL. Fenice Zucchar's longing for adventure leads her to become Dracula's second companion. But will the jealous Kelene let her survive?

THE KISS OF DEATH: AN ANTHOLOGY OF VAMPIRE STORIES (Darien, Ill.: The Design Image Group, Inc., 1998). A variety of high-quality and sometimes daring short fiction.

Patricia Altner. VAMPIRE READINGS: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1998). Up-to-date bibliography with brief annotations, aimed at the nonspecialist.

BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA: SUCKING THROUGH THE CENTURY, 1897-1997, ed. Carol Margaret Davison with Paul Simpson-Housley (Toronto: Dundurn Press / University of Toronto Press, 1997). Fifteen essays on DRACULA -related topics, some quite scholarly.

J. Gordon Melton. THE VAMPIRE BOOK: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNDEAD(2nd Ed.; Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1999). Reorganized, revisededition of this hefty reference includes some new entries.

Elizabeth Miller. REFLECTIONS ON DRACULA: TEN ESSAYS (White Rock, B.C., Canada: Transylvania Press, 1997). A collection of Miller'sessays on Stoker's classic novel and related topics.

Katherine Ramsland. PIERCING THE DARKNESS: UNDERCOVER WITH VAMPIRES IN AMERICA TODAY (HarperPrism, 1998). An outsider looks from the inside at vampire fandom and self-proclaimed real vampires in an often insightful and sometimes intense narrative.

VC 20 (Fall 1999)

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. IN THE FORESTS OF THE NIGHT (Delacorte Press, 1999; YA). Centuries-old Risika must confront one of the few vampires more powerful than she in a world that demands a delicate balance between detachment and remembering her humanity.

VC 21 (Spring 2000)

Christine Feehan. DARK PRINCE and DARK DESIRE (Love Spell, 1999). First two books in a vampire romance series about "Carpathians," vampires as a separate species who encounter human soulmates and must deal with their many differences to survive.

Sherry Gottlieb. WORSE THAN DEATH (Tor, 2000). Romance and detective story, sequel to LOVE BITE.

Laurell K. Hamilton. OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY (Ace, 2000). Anita Blake takes a break from "the boys" to pay Edward the favor she owes him, helping investigate a series of mutilation murders. But can any enemies be more dangerous than Edward's "friends"?

Richard Laymon. BITE (Leisure, 1999). A vampire road novel with nearly no vampiring but some tasty comeuppance. Terry Pratchett. CARPE JUGULUM: A NOVEL OF DISCWORLD (1998; HarperPrism, 1999). Three witches take on a family of vampires intent on ruling Lancre in a novel that takes subtly satirical pokes at history, pop culture, and anything else available.

Susan Sizemore. LAWS OF THE BLOOD: THE HUNT (Ace, 1999). Vampire Enforcer Selim sees trouble brewing when a movie script exposing the truth about his world starts making the rounds. A rich vampire subculture and engaging characters fill out this multi-threaded novel.

Lyndon W. Joslin. COUNT DRACULA GOES TO THE MOVIES: STOKER'S NOVEL ADAPTED, 1922-1995 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1999). Painstaking analysis of movie versions of DRACULA, and treatments of movies that show its influence.

THE BLOOD IS THE LIFE: VAMPIRES IN LITERATURE, ed. Leonard G. Heldreth and Mary Pharr (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1999). Eighteen essays, some scholarly, many accessible to the casual reader, covering a wide range of vampire fiction.

THE CREATURE VAMPYRE: A TREATISE BY PROFESSOR CHARLES BLOMBERG. Illus. Mark Bierbaum (Denver, Colo.: Fear No Evil, 1999). Novelty book with high production values, purportedly a manual for vampire slayers.

VC 22(Fall 2000)

Sabine Baring-Gould. MARGERY OF QUETHER AND OTHER WEIRD TALES, ed. Richard Dalby (Mountain Ash, Wales: Sarob Press, 1999; limited to 250 copies). Resurrects a nearly forgotten vampire story and collects five other stories and a poem by this prolific author.

Elaine Bergstrom. BLOOD TO BLOOD: THE DRACULA STORY CONTINUES (Ace, 2000). Sequel to MINA. Dracula's sister Joanna Tepes comes to England and Mina Harker comes to terms with the freedom of financial independence.

Mick Farren. DARKLOST (Tor Books, 2000). Sequel to THE TIME OF FEASTING. Now in Los Angeles, Victor Renquist and colony must contend with new members and a Cthulhu-spawned apocalypse.

Paul Feval. VAMPIRE CITY (Mountain Ash, Wales: Sarob Press, 1999; limited to 250 copies). Translator Brian Stableford gives this century-old parody of the gothic genre a new lease on life.

Kyle Marffin. GOTHIQUE (Design Image, 2000). Does for urban goth/White Wolfite subculture what Stephen King did for rural Maine in 'SALEM'S LOT. An excellent exercise in formulaic horror.

Thomas Staab. VAMPIRE'S WALTZ (New Hyde Park, N.Y.: Crazy Wolf Publishing, 1999). Vampire Glynis has cleaned out Brooklyn to make it the spawning ground for a new race, and only a motley handful of mortals and immortals can oppose her.

Elizabeth Miller. DRACULA: SENSE AND NONSENSE (Desert Island Publishing, 2000). Miller ferrets out and corrects misstatements, misrepresentations, dubious claims, and out-and-out errors concerning Stoker's classic work. Carefully documented and entertainingly written.

IN BLOOD WE LUST: DEPRAVED SEXUAL FANTASIES FOR VAMPIRES, ed. Louisianax Caliban and Louis Ravensfield (London: Dark Angel Press, 1999). These 33 short stories, most by authors new to publication, present sexuality of every variety and intensity in a similarly wide variety of plots -- love, horror, O. Henry endings. Definitely adults-only, but more than just skin slapping skin, or the BDSM or blood fetishist equivalent.

TALES FROM THE DARK TOWER, ed. Joseph Vargo and Christine Filipak (Cleveland, Ohio: Monolith Graphics, 2000). Haunting illustrations by Vargo inspired this anthology of short stories about the Dark Tower and the vampire who guards its legacy of evil.

BLOOD THIRST: 100 YEARS OF VAMPIRE FICTION, ed. Leonard Wolf (Oxford University Press, 1997). Wolf's literate commentary introduces 27 previously published short stories and novel excerpts, all of high caliber and some difficult to find.

VC 23 (Spring 2001)

Scott Charles Adams. ...NEVER DREAM. (Maple Shade, N.J.: Scott Charles Adams, 1999). Arthur Talon must cope with a human groupie and a werewolf when a younger vampire tries to seize his power.

Nancy Kilpatrick. THE VAMPIRE STORIES OF NANCY KILPATRICK. (Oakville, Ontario, Canada: Mosaic Press, 2000). Collects previously published short stories by the writer some call "Canada's Anne Rice."

Billie Sue Mosiman. RED MOON RISING. (DAW, 2001). An old man seeking eternal life, a ruthless Predator, and a sage with nearly godlike vision -- they all surround Dell Cambian when she comes of age as a vampire and must learn about the choices and risks she faces.

Jack Pantaleo. MOTHER JULIAN AND THE GENTLE VAMPIRE. (Roseville, Calif.: Dry Bones Press, 1999). Anchorite, mystic, and feminist Julian of Norwich is a central character in this story of a vampire who must give until it doesn't hurt.

Lois Tilton. DARKSPAWN. ([Tulsa, Okla.]: Hawk Publishing, 2000). Emre Bakhany, ancestral ruler of Karithnya, faces opposition from both priests of the sun god Belan and invaders who want Karithnya for themselves.

THE VAMPIRE SEXTETTE, ed. Marvin Kaye. (Garden City, N.Y.: GuildAmerica Books, 2000). Distributed by the Science Fiction Book Club. Novellettes by Kim Newman, Nancy Collins, Brian Stableford, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, S. P. Somtow, and Tanith Lee.

VC 24 (Fall 2001)

P. N. Elrod. LADY CRYMSYN. (Ace, 2000). Jack Fleming once again turns detective to learn the truth about the body discovered during construction of his new nightclub, Lady Crymsyn.

P. N. Elrod. QUINCEY MORRIS, VAMPIRE. (Baen, 2001.) Follow-up to Stoker's classic novel features Quincey Morris as a colorful and kind-hearted addition to the ranks of the undead. Recommended.

Karen Koehler. SLAYER. (Xlibris, 2000; re-released Black Death Books/KHP Industries, 2002). Vampire slayer Alek Knight discovers truths darker than the evils he has been trained to destroy. First in a series.

Jane Mendelsohn. INNOCENCE. (Riverhead, 2000, 2001). Surreal YA novel about a teenage girl's coming of age in a universe where her paranoia is justified and the most mundane of details can have significance.

Elizabeth Miller. DRACULA. (Parkstone Press, 2001). Introduction to all matters Dracula-related in coffee table book format.

VC 25 (Spring 2002)

Jim Butcher. GRAVE PERIL (Dresden Files 3; Roc, 2001). Wizard Harry Dresden tangles with vampires and a powerful member of the fae while seeking out the evil force that is disturbing Chicago's spirit world.

Margaret L. Carter. SEALED IN BLOOD. (RFI West, 2001). Sherri Hudson is introduced to the world of vampires when Nigel Jamison enlists her help in rescuing his half-sister.

William Meikle. WATCHERS OF THE WALL. (The '45 Book 1; Barclay Books, 2002). Alternate history in which the Others -- vampires -- make a bid for rulership of 1745 Britain.

DRACULA IN LONDON, ed. P. N. Elrod. (Ace, 2001). An assortment of authors present tales that answer the question, "What ELSE was Dracula doing in London when he was not being chased by Van Helsing and company?"

THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF VAMPIRE STORIES BY WOMEN, ed. Stephen Jones. (Carroll & Graf, 2001). Maybe not all vampire, certainly not all horror, but a wide variety of often unconventional stories.

VAMPIRES: ENCOUNTERS WITH THE UNDEAD, ed. David Skal. (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2001). Large-format illustrated anthology of modern and historic fiction and nonfiction examining all manner of things vampiric.