Tuesday Top Five: Fangs for the Memories
Oct. 1st, 2024 07:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nevannaHappy Spooky Month! The next few Tuesday Top Five entries will focus on horror or horror-adjacent media, beginning with my five most formative vampire-related books, in order of publication.
1. My Babysitter is a Vampire by Ann Hodgman (1991)
I remember this series as a very solid version of “kids fight a monster in their own home while parents are oblivious.” I like that our heroine Meg and her friend Jack delve into library books to confirm their suspicions about Vincent, and some of the twists and turns in the rest of the series were also a lot of fun.
2. Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton (1993)
And now, for something completely different. The Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series has been a mainstay of urban fantasy for decades, and I devoured the first seven books when I was in high school. I was fascinated by the world-building, in which supernatural beings lived openly in human society; I liked Anita’s narrative voice, and I was invested in her relationship drama, up to a point. I’ve gotten the impression that the later books don’t contain nearly as many of the elements that I liked, and I’m not sure that the series overall holds up to modern critical scrutiny, but at the time, it offered me something new and exciting.
3. Look For Me By Moonlight by Mary Downing Hahn (1995)
If I had a nickel for every book I’ve read in which a bloodsucker named Vincent menaces an innocent family in a remote location, I’d have two nickels. The titles in question, however, are significantly different in audience and tone. Hahn’s vampire is a morally bankrupt manipulator who preys on teenage Cynda and her little brother Todd in some uncomfortably real ways; I’ve reread this one several times over the years and am still impressed by the wintry atmosphere and psychological (as well as supernatural) danger.
4. Night World: Secret Vampire by L.J. Smith (1996)
I’ve read a few books in this series (whose author might be better known for The Vampire Diaries), both as a young person and as an adult, but the first volume is also my favorite, although the ending undermines the “star-crossed lovers” tension that was part of its appeal. Still, the story contains more than satisfactory amounts of telepathy and mind control; Poppy’s decision to stage her own death and return as a vampire carries genuine emotional weight and gives her agency in a situation in which she could have been an object for the men in her life to act upon; and her love interest James set a high bar for Vampire Boyfriends in teenage Nevanna’s eyes. Anything that I’ve written about Evan Lukas in The Magnus Archives probably owes at least a little bit to James’ rebellion against his own monstrous family.
5. Sunshine by Robin McKinley (2003)
Like the Anita Blake series, Sunshine takes place in a world where vampires, were-creatures, and other supernatural beings coexist with humans. Unlike that series, it devotes as much time to its heroine’s job as a baker and her relationships with family and friends as it does to her erotic and/or traumatic encounters with vampires. I don’t know whether this title would count as “cozy fantasy,” since it contains a significant amount of violence and danger when Rae/Sunshine isn’t busy making cinnamon rolls, but the details of her everyday life might appeal to fans of that recent subgenre.
Honorable mentions: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (2013), and The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (2020), both of which I love even if they didn’t shape my understanding of the genre in the same ways as the other titles on this list.
Are you a vampire fan or a fan of other fictional monsters? What are some of the texts that sparked your interest in them?
1. My Babysitter is a Vampire by Ann Hodgman (1991)
I remember this series as a very solid version of “kids fight a monster in their own home while parents are oblivious.” I like that our heroine Meg and her friend Jack delve into library books to confirm their suspicions about Vincent, and some of the twists and turns in the rest of the series were also a lot of fun.
2. Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton (1993)
And now, for something completely different. The Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series has been a mainstay of urban fantasy for decades, and I devoured the first seven books when I was in high school. I was fascinated by the world-building, in which supernatural beings lived openly in human society; I liked Anita’s narrative voice, and I was invested in her relationship drama, up to a point. I’ve gotten the impression that the later books don’t contain nearly as many of the elements that I liked, and I’m not sure that the series overall holds up to modern critical scrutiny, but at the time, it offered me something new and exciting.
3. Look For Me By Moonlight by Mary Downing Hahn (1995)
If I had a nickel for every book I’ve read in which a bloodsucker named Vincent menaces an innocent family in a remote location, I’d have two nickels. The titles in question, however, are significantly different in audience and tone. Hahn’s vampire is a morally bankrupt manipulator who preys on teenage Cynda and her little brother Todd in some uncomfortably real ways; I’ve reread this one several times over the years and am still impressed by the wintry atmosphere and psychological (as well as supernatural) danger.
4. Night World: Secret Vampire by L.J. Smith (1996)
I’ve read a few books in this series (whose author might be better known for The Vampire Diaries), both as a young person and as an adult, but the first volume is also my favorite, although the ending undermines the “star-crossed lovers” tension that was part of its appeal. Still, the story contains more than satisfactory amounts of telepathy and mind control; Poppy’s decision to stage her own death and return as a vampire carries genuine emotional weight and gives her agency in a situation in which she could have been an object for the men in her life to act upon; and her love interest James set a high bar for Vampire Boyfriends in teenage Nevanna’s eyes. Anything that I’ve written about Evan Lukas in The Magnus Archives probably owes at least a little bit to James’ rebellion against his own monstrous family.
5. Sunshine by Robin McKinley (2003)
Like the Anita Blake series, Sunshine takes place in a world where vampires, were-creatures, and other supernatural beings coexist with humans. Unlike that series, it devotes as much time to its heroine’s job as a baker and her relationships with family and friends as it does to her erotic and/or traumatic encounters with vampires. I don’t know whether this title would count as “cozy fantasy,” since it contains a significant amount of violence and danger when Rae/Sunshine isn’t busy making cinnamon rolls, but the details of her everyday life might appeal to fans of that recent subgenre.
Honorable mentions: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (2013), and The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (2020), both of which I love even if they didn’t shape my understanding of the genre in the same ways as the other titles on this list.
Are you a vampire fan or a fan of other fictional monsters? What are some of the texts that sparked your interest in them?
no subject
Date: 2024-10-01 02:30 pm (UTC)And now I realize I have no clear idea of my teen vampire books... it's weird...
no subject
Date: 2024-10-03 10:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-01 05:48 pm (UTC)Eventually I found Interview with the Vampire (maybe saw some of the movie on TV?? I forget, but I think I read the book before seeing the full film), and became obsessed with it. I read all the Vampire Chronicles books that were out at the time. I stopped reading new ones long before Rice's death, but I still love the universe and some of the books, my favorite being Queen of the Damned. Not long after this I also discovered the Buffyverse and became even more obsessed with that. And I read the Anita Blake books in there, too; they were recommended by some people in a Buffy fan group, actually. I really loved them for a while, though I never much cared for Anita as a character, and it drove me crazy the way every time she changed her clothes we got pages of information about: what she was wearing, how she felt about what she was wearing, what weapons she could wear with the outfit, how well or poorly the weapons would be concealed, and how she felt about those weapons. But, y'know, it was an interesting world with a lot of interesting and very pretty characters, and I was there for it until it really went off the rails. (And for a while afterwards, as I slowly lost interest and then hate-read them for a couple books.)
Anyway! It's fun to remember my nostalgic vampire fan origins; thanks for asking the question and for sharing yours. :D
no subject
Date: 2024-10-03 10:39 am (UTC)I binged the first five seasons of Buffy in 2006, on DVDs that I rented from an actual video store in Providence. I vividly remember emailing some of my episode reactions to my friend who lived in a different city.
I really loved them for a while, though I never much cared for Anita as a character, and it drove me crazy the way every time she changed her clothes we got pages of information about: what she was wearing, how she felt about what she was wearing, what weapons she could wear with the outfit, how well or poorly the weapons would be concealed, and how she felt about those weapons.
IT'S TRUE AND YOU SHOULD SAY IT. She also described her boyfriends' clothing from time to time; the line "there was nothing under the pants but him" apparently still lives in my head.
I love talking about vampires and fannish nostalgia with you!
no subject
Date: 2024-10-03 03:56 pm (UTC)I was young, too! Just eleven, IIRC. Just barely old enough to watch it, I expect. It's still the version of Dracula I've seen/read the most times and sometimes I have to remind myself of the major story differences, heh, even beyond the silliness - things like Mina being Seward's daughter. That makes SO much sense that your interest would be piqued by Renfield. I don't love D:DALI as much as I did when I was younger, but there is a lot that has remained funny/enjoyable in it to me and one of those things is Peter MacNicol's performance. He basically plays two roles, since pre- and post-hypnosis Renfield is so different, and I think he's hilarious in both, even though some of the post-hypnosis comedy is broader than I tend to love now.
(You know, that's another interesting difference between that version and the original story. I always think of Renfield as a much bigger character because of D:DALI than he originally was. He gets way more screentime since he goes to Transylvania instead of our good friend Jonathan Harker and even after I feel like he plays a much bigger role than in the novel.)
I binged the first five seasons of Buffy in 2006, on DVDs that I rented from an actual video store in Providence. I vividly remember emailing some of my episode reactions to my friend who lived in a different city.
LOVE THIS. I discovered the show in 2000, before it was even available on DVD. I bought all the legally available episodes on VHS (six episodes over three tapes from season 1 and the same from season 2....what a time) and then paid what was, for teenage me, a large amount of money to buy the missing episodes off the Internet from someone who had recorded them from TV. And recorded everything from season 4 off of TV myself, via reruns and the five remaining new episodes of season 4. SERIOUSLY, WHAT A TIME.
She also described her boyfriends' clothing from time to time; the line "there was nothing under the pants but him" apparently still lives in my head.
Oh noooooooo XD I don't remember that line, but since I read to much later in the series when there started to be a lot of sex scenes, I will never forget her hilarious tendency to use "the front of his body" as a penis euphemism. Thanks for truly outrageous the mental picture, Laurell.
I love talking about vampires and fannish nostalgia with you!
Ditto and same! <3