A Field Guide to Vampires

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Posted by Jeanette Shaw

October is right around the corner, and it is absolutely my favorite month. The weather is cooling off (though not fast enough this year!), baking season kicks into gear, and, of course, Halloween approaches. This holiday always makes me want to go re-read my favorite horror stories—The Shining, The Haunting of Hill House, The Tell-Tale Heart. And, of course, this is the time of year to celebrate the supernatural stars du jour—vampires. From Dracula to Twilight, Interview with the Vampire to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood to the awesome CW show The Vampire Diaries (seriously, watch it), vampires are perennial favorites among authors and readers (it’s no surprise five of the six stories I just listed originated as books). People like their vampires different ways—scary, romantic, outsiders, witty, brooding—but with the overwhelming influx of vampire-related books, films, shows, comics, etc. it’s getting a little hard to keep all these different species of bloodsuckers straight.

Which leads me to one of the most fun books I’ve worked on at Perigee: Vampire Taxonomy: Identifying and Interacting with the Modern-Day Bloodsucker. Written by the very cool Meredith Woerner of scifi blog io9, this witty guide is a must for pop culture vampire junkies. It covers the gamut of famous vampires, from those listed above to other popular mythologies like Dark Shadows, The Lost Boys, Blade, Vampire Academy, and many more. Using an extremely scientific (read: totally made-up but surprisingly effective) classification system based on careful examination of physical attributes, feeding habits, weaknesses, habitat, and more, vamps are categorized by type: Romantic, Villainous, Tragic, Halfies, Child, etc. Also included are approach and avoidance methods, useful fang diagrams, and infestation maps (you can’t travel down South these days without tripping over a bloodsucker). It’s a really fun read for vampire lovers of all types, and who knows—the information might just save your life one day, should you meet a mysterious stranger in a dark alley.

Give it a read, and let me know your favorite pop culture vampires in the comments, or on Twitter @PerigeeBooks. And Happy October!

Vampire Taxonomy is available now.

Posted by Perigee Book Marks at 11:01 AM in Books, Jeanette Shaw, Miscellaneous | Permalink

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