What are your thoughts about vampire stories?

Discuss the December 2016 Book of the Month, Nightlord by Garon Whited.
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TrebledLiberace
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Re: What are your thoughts about vampire stories?

Post by TrebledLiberace »

Vampire stories are perhaps my favorite including the cheesy ones. I mean I grew up on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. There's something fascinating about being able to see how each author adapts their stories and changes them up so they're not all similar.
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Post by K_laleanne »

Too cliché and over done
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James Craft
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Post by James Craft »

They can be amazing, but sometimes there are just so many it is hard to keep up.
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Post by erasmus »

James Craft wrote:They can be amazing, but sometimes there are just so many it is hard to keep up.
Now that is something I can agree with.
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Mbarnes
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Post by Mbarnes »

I can normally make it through vampire books. This one on the other hand was terrible. I could not make it through it. According to my kindle I only made it about fifteen percent through it before I called it a wash. It was to much filler spots to where he could have just gotten to the point of things. The time travel is where I lost what little interest I still had in the book. I have read many other vampire books and this is probably the worst one that I have read. I thought it might be different because of the reviews on Amazon. I was sadly mistaken. I only gave it one star in my review.
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Lady Countryrose
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Post by Lady Countryrose »

There are too many vampire stories out there, but I guess I am getting tired about it. I have see more YA genre for them. But I think it's because it is a supsotuet for sex, violence, and drugs. It has become a new kind of drug for teenagers. Reading about Vampires.
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Post by Insightsintobooks »

I read a lot of vampire tales. I've read Dracula, Anne Rice, and the Twilight Series in addition to Nightlord. I like the different perspectives that authors can take on vampires and their stories.
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Post by mewsmash »

I'm definitely not a big fan of vampire stories. They all seem like the same story, copy and pasted over new character names and maybe one or two new love triangles. They certainly aren't scary, either.
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Post by cjohns105 »

I think that there are some questions that are as timeless as the creatures themselves. There are so many angles to be explored for some questions, like how something can retain its value when you have it in an unlimited quantity, wherein the perspective of a vampire serves as the ideal conduit. That being said, there are certainly more than a few authors who choose not to dig into the psychology of the whole thing, choosing instead to relay on the romanticism of these creatures of the night. The latter group of authors are the ones that I am becoming quite tired of. So, I think my answer ends up being something along the lines of "Vampire stories can be valuable when done right, but those not done right have become overrated and boring, to be frank."
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Post by Corybarclay »

I think if you can come up with something original, then that's fine. But in the present day the vampire trope is pretty overused and cliche at this point. I know they say that you can never come up with anything original, that everything's been done before, but all of these romance-vampire stories make me yawn, to be honest. I think Stephanie Meyer covered that idea pretty well (although Anne Rice perfected it--let's be real). We should go back to the Bram Stoker-type vampire stories, if anything. >:)
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Post by dosenron877 »

I have never been a fan of them considering them to be one story told many times. This one is different in three ways. First, there is a lot of dry, understated humor as Eric evaluates himself as he is going through changes. Second, primarily from the point of view of Eric but also occasionally Sasha, the description of processes that occur when tendrils are deployed is something I have never seen. Third, there is a description of the purpose of a vampire, a purpose that seems almost a necessary duty for the good of the world. These three things alone, and these are only from the sample, make this book different from others in the genre.
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Post by kimmyschemy06 »

I read Bram Stoker's Dracula and it scared me. Then, I read Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire and I think it was kind of cool. Then I read Twilight and I think had enough :) because when I started House of Night I was not able to finish the entire series. But I think this book might rekindle my interest in vampires :)
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Post by noorsawhney »

I have started reading two vampire stories that I can remember: Twilight and another one I've forgotten the name of. The vampire plot in Twilight was actually quite well dealt with and intrigued me, but unfortunately I found the writing of the book rather terrible and abandoned it half way through. The other book was much darker but due to the bad writing (again) and the equally bad portrayal of vampires I also stopped reading that one. I'm not sure if it was those two books in particular but I've still been wary of reading vampire stories since then.
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Post by Mune »

Vampires are one factor of many that will be used again and again. I see it as another color on a writer's palette. You have war, murder, vampires, witches, love triangles, government conspiracies, shape shifters, murderers, dragons, animals, and on and on. The stickler is how you use the color.

I love a good vampire book. My first was Bram Stoker's Dracula followed by Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. I have read the Twilight series, the Marked series, Blue Bloods, Vampire Academy, Anita Blake series, the Shadow Hunter series, the Dark Hunter series, and on and on. Stand-alones and series, YA and adult, romance and horror. My favorite are the books that are either highly traditional and based on old mythology or something with a modern twist. I really enjoy anything that explains vampirism in scientific terms (Shadow of the Night).

If done right, and not copying a storyline from the plethora of vampire books on the market, a vampire story is just as good as any other story with the components I enjoy.
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Post by papaya12 »

I haven't read a lot of vampire books so I can't really say this with much authority but I think that there will always be a new author who can write vampire books with a new angle.
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