VAMPIRE CENTRAL:
A Selection of
Novels About the Un-Dead
Dracula Unbound,
by Brian Aldiss. HarperCollins, 1991.
Inventor Joe Bodenland travels back in time to 1890s London where he encounters
Bram Stoker. Together they try to prevent a nuclear explosion in the year 2599
that leads to the subjugation of the human race by vampires.
The Night
Inside: A Vampire Thriller, by Nancy Baker. Fawcett Columbine,
1994, 1993.
A graduate student is kidnaped for the nourishment of a captive vampire and
soon realizes that her only hope for salvation is to also become one of the
undead.
His Father's
Son, by Nigel Bennett & P. N. Elrod. Baen, 2001.
Richard d'Orleans, who was once Sir Lancelot, is now a security expert in modern-day
Canada. When he fails to save his mortal godchildren from a murderer, he sets
out to avenge their deaths. Sequel to: Keeper of the King (1997).
Mina,
by Elaine Bergstrom (Marie Kiraly). Ace, 2000, 1994.
The story of Mina Harker, who had become Count Dracula's obsession, and her
attempt to reclaim her life after his spell over her is supposedly broken. By
the same author: Blood to Blood: The Dracula Story Continues. (2000).
Blood Groove, by Alex Bledsoe. Tor, 2009, 2006.
Although he was “staked to death” in Wales in 1915, Baron Rudolfo Zginski awakens in 1975 Memphis, Tennesee where he finds himself in a society marked by free love and simmering racial tensions. Hoping to gain insight into how to survive in this strange new world, he tracks down a nest of teenage vampires. But this clueless lot, who learned what little they know about being vampires from movies like Blacula, will need his help as well.
Agyar,
by Stephen Brust. TOR, 1993.
John Agyar, who roams from woman to woman and decade to decade, finds himself
in modern day Ohio where he spends his nights seducing various inhabitants of
a college town. He becomes obsessed with two women, one a beautiful young dancer
and the other who seeks to destroy him.
Fledgling,
by Octavia Butler. Seven Stories, 2005.
An apparently young, amnesiac girl discovers that she is a genetically modified,
53-year-old vampire. As she delves into her stolen former life, she must also
learn who wanted-and still wants-to destroy her and those she cares for.
The Strain,
by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan. Morrow, 2009.
Aboard a grounded plane police and emergency medical crews are called to investigate the possible outbreak
of a mysterious disease which has killed all but four of the plane's passengers—their bodies drained of blood.
Faced with a species of parasitic worm that gradually turns its host into vampires, a CDC doctor teams with
Abraham Setrakian, a Holocaust survivor (who has dealt with this sort of thing before) in a race to save humanity.
Bloody Good, by Georgia Evans. Kensington, 2009.
During World War II, villagers in a small British town are called upon to combat a Nazi vampire. While
some might not be equipped to take on such a formidable foe, many of the villagers are not quite what they seem.
Fat White
Vampire Blues, by Andrew Fox. Ballantine, 2003.
Thanks to the unhealthy diets of his victims, New Orleans-based Jules Duchon
is one over-weight vampire. And now a young, cocky, black vampire is trying
to muscle in on his turf. Followed by: Bride of the Fat White Vampire
(2004).
In the
Blood, by Stephen Gresham. Pinnacle, 2001.
When the Tracker family of Soldier's Crossing, Alabama, decide to raze their
ancestral home, an unspeakable evil is released upon them.
Lord
of the Dead: The Secret History of Byron, by Tom Holland. Pocket,
1996, 1995.
Famed 19th century poet Lord Byron-the supreme sensualist-embarks
on a life of adventure that even his genius could not have foreseen-that of
the world's most formidable vampire.
Slave
of My Thirst, by Tom Holland. Pocket, 1997, 1996.
English doctor John Eliot, who has been in India studying a strange brain sickness
shrouded in vampire lore, is asked by an old friend to investigate the disappearance
of her husband. He is joined on his search by theater manager Bram Stoker, and
encounters the seductive and dangerous Lilah.
Already
Dead, by Charlie Huston. Del Rey, 2005.
The opposing vampire clans of New York would like vampire detective Joe Pitt
to join their circle. But Pitt is a rogue with a captial "R" and is
reluctant to commit. Still, he doesn't mind doing business with them, and so
he accepts a job locating a prominent New York socialite's runaway teenage daughter,
a task made all the more dangerous when he is stalked by brain-eating zombies.
Voice
of the Blood, by Jemiah Jefferson. Leisure, 2001.
A bored graduate student longing for excitement falls prey to a seductive vampire
who initiates her into a world of eternal life--and eternal death.
The Journal
of Abraham Van Helsing, by Allen C. Kupfer. Forge, 2004.
The renowned vampire hunter tells his own story of his obsession to eradicate
the world of its greatest scourge, a dark evil that claimed his wife in its
thrall.
The Traveling
Vampire Show, by Richard Laymon. Cemetery Dance, 2000.
Three teens determined to get into the adults-only Traveling Vampire Show get
a lot more than they bargained for.
Tap,
Tap, by David Martin. Random, 1994.
Peter Tummelier uses his newfound vampire powers to embark on a bloodthirsty
quest for vengeance on the enemies of his friend Roscoe Bird, who he hopes to
transform into one of the undead.
Gil's
All Fright Diner, by A. Lee Martinez. Tor, 2005.
Duke (a werewolf) and Earl (a vampire) stop at a diner where owner offers them
$100 to take care of her zombie problem and get more than they bargained for
when they are faced with a variety of complications involving undead cattle,
an amorous ghost, a jailbait sorceress, and the terrifying occult power of pig-latin.
Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola & Christopher Golden. Bantam, c2007.
After unwittingly awakening the wrath of a vampire on the World War I battlefields, Lord Henry Baltimore vows to
vanquish the evil that he has unleashed on the world, even as it destroys his family. An illustrated novel.
Quenched,
by Mary Ann Mitchell. Leisure, 2000.
One of the undead--known to the ages as the Marquis de Sade--stalks the clubs
and seedy hotels of San Francisco looking for his next bite.
Book
of Common Dread, by Brent Monahan. St. Martin's, 1993.
When an ancient scroll threatens the existence of the vampire underworld, 500-year
old Vincent DeVilbiss is desperate to destroy it, but Princeton researcher Simon
Penn stands in his way.
Some Girls Bite, by Chloe Neill. NAL, 2009.
Chicago graduate student Merit is forced to take up a new subject—Vampirism 101—after
she is attacked by a vampire and her life is saved (sort of) by another vampire who turns
her into one of the walking dead.
American
Gothic , by Michael Romkey. Del Rey, 2004.
Emotionally devastated by the horrors of the Civil War, Nathaniel Peregrine
allows himself to become one of the undead in the hopes of alleviating his pain.
Years later, he meets Helen Fairweather, a woman who makes him yearn once again
for a mortal life. Nathaniel seeks out a doctor whose expertise in blood diseases
may be able to give him back his soul.
Children
of the Night, by Dan Simmons. Putnam's Sons, 1992.
Kate Neuman, a brilliant hematologist working in Romania, is baffled by the
case of a 7-month old boy whose immune system holds the key to a cure for cancer
and AIDS. Assisted by Fr. Mike O'Rourke, she adopts Joshua and returns with
him to the U.S., but dark forces are also interested in possessing the child.
Rulers of Darkness, by Steven Spruill. St. Martin's, 1995. Assigned to track down a "vampire" killer, hematologist Dr. Katherine O'Keefe and her ex-lover, Det. Merrick Chapman, discover that the murderer is stricken with a rare blood disease (one shared by Chapman) whereby the blood genetically craves infusions of fresh blood.
Empire
of Fear, by Brian Stableford. Carroll & Graff, 1991, 1988.
Since the 16th century England has been governed by an aristocracy
of vampires who rule by fear. Noell Cordery, the son of a member of a cabal
pledged to destroying the vampire empire, carries on his father's crusade.
Dracula,
by Bram Stoker.
The tale of supernatural horror that started it all.
The Hunger,
by Whitley Strieber. 1981.
When her lover suddenly ages and wastes away, Miriam Blaylock, a 3,000 year-old
vampire, casts her spell upon gerontologist Sarah Roberts. Followed by: The
Last Vampire (2001).
13 Bullets: A Vampire Tale, by David Wellington. Three Rivers Press, 2007.
20 years after U.S. Marshall Jameson Arkeley destroyed a cadre of vampires, leaving their
leader, Justina Malvern, imprisoned, PA State Trooper Laura Caxton investigates a homicide that
leads to the discovery that three vampires survived the attack and are planning a wreck havoc
once again. Followed by 99 Coffins (2007) & 23 Hours (2009).
Midnight
Mass , by F. Paul Wilson. Tor, 2004.
With the fall of the Soviet Union, vampires have begun to spread all over the
world, enslaving entire populations. But in a New Jersey town, a small resistance
group decides to fight back.
Selected and Annotated by: Lynne M. Kennedy.
© Copyright 2005, 1999 Sachem Public Library. All rights reserved.
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