Pirates may be cool but Vampires continue to win the ongoing literary smackdown. Stephenie Meyer’s blitzkrieg-like popularity with the “Twilight” series started the whole thing but is only the tip of this dark red iceberg. If hapless heroines aren’t your style but blood-suckers still make your heart pound, dig into the following:
- Bunnicula by Deborah & James Howe.
How(e) could we forget this delightful series about a “different” kind of bunny?
- The Ink Drinker by Eric Sanvoisin
A step-up book, this tale involves a strange patron in a bookshop.
- Vampire Kisses by Diana McKeon Charkalis, Lucas Rivera, et. al.
A newer Vampire Manga. Blood in all its lovely colors.
- Help! I’m Trapped in a Vampire’s Body by Todd Strasser.
An amusing middle-school take on those gosh darn funny creatures of the night.
- My Sister, the Vampire by Nancy Garden
A mystery-laden middle school tale.
- Many books by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. Young lady got published at 16, she’s got skills!
- Look for Me by Moonlight by Mary Downing Hahn
A mysterious guest at a New England Inn is the perfect beginning for this classic tale.
- TwiLite by Stephen Jenner.
You read the series, now read the spoof. Well, one of several spoofs.
- Vampire Rising by Jason Henderson
A new series focusing on a contemporary teenage “Alex Van Helsing.” Young man has some family history.
- Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause
The sad reality of cancer mixes with vampire romance in this unique story by local author Klause.
- Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
The ever-popular Westerfeld turns vampirism into a communicable disease.
- Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan
Both in novel form and graphic novels, meet strange figures who travel by night to entertain the masses, but beware … odd things always seem to happen.
- Dance with a Vampire and others by Ellen Schreiber
Schreiber tosses in a little goth in these out-to-get you books.
- Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks
Mix a 12 step program with a murder mystery and you have something … a little different.
Victorian England and a woman with a secret. Check out the popular Alexia Tarabotti series.
- Midnight’s Choice by Kate Thompson
Would you choose a life as a Phoenix or a Vampire?
- Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde
The typically funny Vivian Vande Velde takes a serious turn with this dark novel.
- Children of the Night by Mercedes Lackey
The prolific Ms. Lackey spins a mysterious tale in this modern day detective story that blends witchcraft with romance.
You couldn’t have Vampire Diaries (a Twilight rip-off that has far “eclipsed” Twilight at this point – har har) and Secret Circle without her, could you?
A delightful collection of vamp tales from our favorite up-and-coming YA authors.
- Sunshine by Robin McKinley
A renowned fantasy author takes on a different style when blending vampires with kidnapping and Stockholm syndrome.
- Fat Vampire: A Never Coming-of-Age Story by Adam Rex
One of a growing number of vampire books that mixes blood and teenage angst. Speaking of which…
- The Tales of Vladimir Todd series by Heather Brewer
Teenage vamps with ‘tude.
- And the Vampire Academy series by Rachel Mead
Vampires at a girl’s prep school (isn’t that a little redundant?)
- Afterlife and others by Claudia Gray
Yes, more vampire love in a prep school. If that’s your thing. Which it is. Or you wouldn’t be reading this list.
- Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Greene, Jane Slayre by Sherri Browning Erwin and Little Vampire Women by Lynn Messina
Historical figures get the treatment. At least one “coming to a theatre near you.”
· Blue Bloods series by Melissa De la Cruz
Vamps in Italy. How romantic!
- Sweetblood by Pete Hautman
Diabetes and a rebellious teen are a bad mix when vamps show up.
- Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Vampires and wizards and Butcher, oh my!
- Gil’s All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez
Confirms the idea that the denizens of these isolated highway stops are indeed “a little different”.
- Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
The first book in a series of Southern Vampires and Sookie Stackhouse. Y’all better find some garlic. HBO’s True Blood is based on this series.
World War I and Dracula are combined in this journal style novel.
- A Girl’s Guide to Vampires by Katie McAlister
Mix some of those Candice Bushnell girls with your typical no-no romance and you have a very frothy, adult-style vampire novel.
- Don’t forget the classics! Dracula by Bram Stoker (The DK Eyewitness Classics version is pretty good, too).
- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
This complex tale of Vlad the Impaler sat on the NY Times Bestseller lists for many weeks. Find out why.
Because Buffy is Whedon and Whedon is God. Except for Dollhouse (sorry).
- And lastly – the “Vampire Chronicles” series by Anne Rice. Not for the young but definitely a measuring stick (or is that, “stake”?) when it comes to all things dark and deadly.
