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This post written by Clint Carmilla
by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
What do you do if you have read all the popular vampire books and still want more? You might want to check these lists from Reading Rants or The Monster Librarian. However, if you consider yourself a fairly good reader, you don’t mind old-fashioned writing (like from the 1800s), and you want to learn more about the history of vampire literature, you might want to give an old-school vampire story a try.
Carmilla was written in 1872, making it 25 years older than Dracula. I can think of three reasons to recommend it. First, unlike Varney the Vampyre, it seems to be reasonably well written. In some parts, the writing is even beautiful. Second, it features a vampire who isn’t super obvious about being a vampire. The vampire actually tries to blend in, and she does a reasonably good job of it. Third, it’s historically significant because it is the first story about a lesbian vampire. It’s not at all graphic – there’s a little bit of kissing and hugging and talk of loving someone forever, but that’s all. It seems very PG these days, but I’m sure it was sensational when it was written.
Laura lives with her father and a few servants in a castle out in the middle of nowhere in Styria, a region of Austria. Her closest neighbors live at least 15 miles away, so she doesn’t get to spend much time with anybody her own age. Then one day a carriage has an accident on the road near her castle, and one of the people in it, a girl of about Laura’s age, is injured. This is Carmilla, and her mother is in some kind of trouble. Mom needs to travel fast, but she doesn’t think Carmilla is well enough to sit in a speeding carriage all day. Laura’s father offers to take care of Carmilla until the mother returns, and Laura is thrilled. Laura and Carmilla appear to form a bond almost instantly, and Carmilla appears to be quite fond of Laura.
Some time later, Laura and Carmilla hear about a disease that is killing the peasants in the area. The victims are fine one day, but at night they often feel as though something is trying to strangle or smother them. The next day they grow weaker, and then they die. Carmilla is frightened by this, so she and Laura buy charms to ward off the disease. It’s just in time, too, since they both have a similar experience one night. Laura left her charm somewhere, but Carmilla kept hers under her pillow, so while Carmilla isn’t too bothered by her experience, Laura is is more upset. After that, they both have trouble sleeping and seem to feel unwell, although Laura seems to be suffering far more.
Nobody really seems to know what is going on until the end of the story, when several people arrive, unmask the vampire, and kill her. The problem with the ending, other than one character just coming out of nowhere to solve the problem, is that only part of the problem is solve – I’m pretty sure the vampire they killed was only one out of a group, and most of the peasants who died should also have become vampires. We can assume the peasant vampires were taken care of, but we never do find out what happened to the others.
So how does Carmilla compare with the Hollywood vampire stereotype?
- Drinking Blood [checkmark] Yeah, although apparently this vampire also sleeps in blood.
- Has Fangs [checkmark] They’re hard to notice, but yes, there are fangs and puncture marks on the neck.
- Vampires Spread by Biting [checkmark] Yes. Vampires can also be created through suicide sometimes.
- Amazingly Strong [checkmark] It’s more than just physical strength – the touch of a vampire can make you weak.
- Unkillable [checkmark] Pretty much. Apparently you need to stake, decapitate, and burn the vampire, and then maybe scatter its ashes.
- Weak Against Wooden Stakes [checkmark] That’s just one step of the process.
- Weak Against Sunlight [xmark] Not even a little bit.
- Must be Invited In [xmark]
- Weak Against Flowing Water [xmark]
- Weak Against Holy Symbols [checkmark] The story never mentions crosses, but vampires do not like certain religious things, and priests seem to be some kind of protection against them.
- Weak Against Garlic [xmark]
- Get Confused at Crossroads [xmark]
- No Reflection in Mirrors [xmark]
- No Heartbeat/Breath/Blood/Temperature/Other Signs of Life [xmark] In fact, before they kill the vampire, our heroes have a doctor make sure she is still breathing and has a pulse. She also bleeds a lot.
- Pale, Corpse-like Appearance [xmark]
- Doesn’t Age [checkmark] The vampire that dies is about 150 years old and still looks fairly young.
- Changes Shape [checkmark] This one turns into some kind of cat when it feeds.
- Flight [xmark]
- Wall Crawling [xmark]
- Hypnotic Powers [xmark] Charisma yes, hypnotism no.
- Sleeps in a Coffin [checkmark] In a coffin full of blood under rock and dirt. Nobody knows how she gets in or out without disturbing the dirt, but our heroes do wonder.
- Wealthy [xmark] [checkmark] At least one of the vampires was, but we really don’t know much about the others.
How about some of the more modern trends?
- Sophisticated and Elegant [checkmark] These vampires seem to be able to move in high society.
- Angsty [xmark]
- Dark and Brooding [xmark]
- Really Just Misunderstood [xmark]
- A Sucker for Love [xmark] At the end of the story, we find out that vampires sometimes become obsessed with somebody and they act like they are in love, but that’s all just part of the feeding process.
- Looks Young and Sexy [checkmark] [xmark] At least one is, and there might be one who isn’t. We never find out if that person is a vampire or not, though.
- Fluid Sexuality [checkmark] We’ve got a female vampire who only feeds on women and seems to be very interested in a few of them. At the end of the novel, we find out that it’s not really romantic interest. It’s just lunch.
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Where to Find It
[librarylist showtitles=true]
[linkplus name=”Carmilla” url=”http://csul.iii.com/search~S0/?searchtype=t&searcharg=carmilla|&sortdropdown=m&SORT=D&extended=0&searchlimits=&searchorigarg=tcarmilla” series=false cchasone=false]
Make sure you don’t request Carmilla: A Vampire Tale unless you want to get the libretto for a chamber opera.
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This post written by Clint Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom
by Julie Kenner
[cover name=carpedemon]
Kate Connors never went to high school or college, but she had a job she loved and was good at. Then she married a co-worker and settled down to raise a family, and she never even thought about going back to work. She used to be a demon hunter, and that’s not really something you can do while also raising kids.
Kate has been a full-time mother and a full-time wife for the past fifteen years. Her husband doesn’t know about her past, and she’d like to keep it that way. She really wants her husband to see her as a wife and not an unstoppable killing machine. Her daughter doesn’t know about her past, although Kate might tell her one of these days. Her son doesn’t know and wouldn’t care if she told him, since he’s only two years old. Kate doesn’t really like keeping secrets, but since she’s not longer fighting demons, nobody really needs to know.
Her husband is running for a political office and has to win important people over, and one day he calls her to ask if she can put together a dinner party for that evening. Then an old demon jumps through her window and tries to kill her. Now she has to clean up the glass, hide the demon corpse, and make the dinner party happen.
This is where Kate’s life gets fun. Some big, bad demons are moving in on her town, and due to budget cuts and recruiting trouble, she’s the only demon hunter around. She does eventually get the help of an alimentatore, an advisor who is the brain while Kate is the brawn. Unfortunately, her alimentatore has a day job, so he makes Kate dig through records. She also gets the help of another retired hunter. Unfortunately, he’s currently in a nursing home. She also finds a sidekick. Unfortunately, when danger threatens, her sidekick plans to scream and run. Then, of course, she’s got to deal with her husband, teenage daughter, and two-year-old son. With help like this, how can she lose? Oh, and she’s a little out of shape, too. Not a lot, but enough to make fighting demons dangerous.
You can read some of it online at Google Books.
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Where to Find It
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This post written by Clint Dead is the New Black
by Marlene Perez
[cover name=deadisthenewblack]
The women in Daisy Giordano’s family have special powers. Her mom can see bits of the future. One sister can read minds, and the other is telekinetic. Somehow, though, Daisy missed out. She’s normal, or as near as you can get when your family runs a psychic detective agency. A lot of strange things happen in her hometown of Nightshade, California, but Daisy’s life really gets interesting when the most popular girl in her high school comes back from vacation looking kind of dead. Undead, actually, and she’s popular enough to make pale skin and custom-made coffins stylish.
Then one of Daisy’s fellow high school students is murdered. Death doesn’t seem to stop this student, though, and she shows up to a pep rally. It’s up to Daisy and the police chief’s son Ryan (the guy she’s got a crush on) to figure out what’s going on.
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This post written by Clint A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
by Ishmael Beah
[cover name=alongwaygone]
Ishmael Beah grew up in Sierra Leone during its civil war. He and some of his friends have their own rap and dance group, and one day, they all go to another town to take part in a talent show. While they are out, their home town is attacked and destroyed. Ishmael is twelve years old at this point. He and his friends think about going back to find their families, but instead they end up on the run and try to make their way to some safe part of the country. Ishmael is eventually separated and forced to join the army. They brainwash him, give him drugs and an assault rifle, and let him and other children loose on the rebel army and anyone else in the way. Eventually he is released and take care of by UNICEF, but he has seen and done a lot of really bad stuff, and he doesn’t know how to be a normal person anymore. One volunteer finally reaches him through his love of rap music, and he finally begins to recover.
This book has a lot of violence, but it is more about the author’s recovery. It is also written to draw attention to the tragedy of child soldiers – Sierra Leone is not the only country where children have been used this way.
There has been some controversy about this book. Some reporters say that Beah’s dates are wrong, that certain events probably didn’t happen, and that it is unlikely that any one person could have experienced everything that happens in this book. I don’t know the whole story, but you can read about all of this on Wikipedia. Even if this book isn’t the literal truth of what happened to Ishmael Beah, it’s still a moving description of the kinds of awful things that children face in many civil wars.
You can read some of it online at Google Books.
You can watch Ishmael Beah on the Daily Show.
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Where to Find It
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This post written by Clint Three Girls and Their Brother
by Theresa Rebeck
[cover name=threegirlsandtheirbrother]
Daria, Polly, and Amelia, along with their brother Philip, are the grandchildren of a famous (dead) literary critic. The three sisters become major celebrities when The New Yorker publishes a photo of them. Daria, Polly, and their mom are thrilled. Daria wants to be a model, Polly loves to be the center of attention, and mom was almost Miss America and really wants her daughters to be famous. Amelia, on the other hand, has a special talent for seeing disasters coming, and Philip is smart enough to know trouble when he sees it.
The sisters get thrown into modeling, show biz, and the theater, where they meet the kinds of strange people who prey on celebrities – paparazzi, publicists, and a creepy fortysomething guy with a crush on the fourteen-year-old sister. The author, who has worked in the television industry, makes fun of all of these people.
If you’d like to read some of it online, you can, thanks to Google Books.
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This post written by Clint Over and Under
by Todd Tucker
[cover name=overandunder]
Tom and Andy are best friends, and they have been for as long as they can remember. In their spare time during their last summer before high school, they explore the wilderness and the system of caves near their town. Meanwhile, there is a labor strike at the Borden Casket Company, where both their fathers work. Tom’s dad is a laborer, while Andy’s dad is a manager. That shouldn’t be a problem, should it? Oh, wait. Yeah, it will be. As the strike gets worse, Tom and Andy learn that there is more to life than running around the wilderness, climbing through caves, and shooting their rifles.
You can read some of the book online at Google Books, if you want.
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This post written by Clint Naruto
by Masashi Kishimoto
[cover name=naruto]
Naruto is a hyperactive teenager in one of the best ninja academies in the world. He wants to be the greatest ninja ever, but he’s kind of dumb, easily distracted, and obsessed with ramen. Still, he has a great deal of natural ability, if he can pay attention long enough to use it.
You can look it up on Wikipedia. You can also read some of it online at the publisher’s website.
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Where to Find It
[librarylist]
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This post written by Clint Unwind
by Neal Shusterman
[cover name=unwind]
Unwound is set in the future, when parents who get tired of their children can have them “unwound,” or dismantled for their organs. Connor, Risa, and Lev are teenagers on the run from the law. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthdays, they will be free. Otherwise, they will be unwound.
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This post written by Clint Blue Bloods
by Melissa de la Cruz
[cover name=bluebloods]
Blue Bloods focuses on six young vampires in a private New York high school. They’re thin, wealthy, almost immortal, and obsessed with high fashion. However, someone is trying to kill them.
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