Letter #32: Vampires!
This is the most I have ever talked about vampires
Dear readers,
🎃 👻 🕯️ 💀 🌕 🕸️ 🌙
Happy (almost) Halloween!
🎃 👻 🕯️ 💀 🌕 🕸️ 🌙
As it’s The Spooky Time, I’ll be talking all about vampires today.
A Little Introduction is in Order
I never had a Twilight phase like a lot of my friends growing up and I never really got into vampires too much.
I think the only vampire-centric book I read as a kid was the first Vampirates book, Demons of the Ocean by Justin Somper. I distinctly remember picking it up from a small secondhand book store when I was in middle school, choosing it because I liked the concept of vampire pirates and the sorta pun in the title.
Shout out in the comments if you’ve read it!
However, I’ve been actually getting curious about vampire lore as an adult human.
As a result, I am now about 100 pages into Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. Finally.
This is a book that has been floating around in my head since I read a very formative book in 5th or 6th grade: Your First Novel by Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb. (That probably tells you a lot about younger me, huh?)
Your First Novel breaks down writing a novel (from a published writer) and getting that novel published with an agent (from an agent), often using excerpts from Interview with the Vampire to show how good writing is done.
I had been curious about this famous vampire story ever since, but little eleven or so year old me thought I’d be too scared of the book.
Dear reader, I am about 1/4th of the way through this novel and no, I am not afraid as of yet. (Growth! Or possibly the narration style. Or both.)
The title says it all: a young journalist (he’s only described as “the boy” thus far) is interviewing a vampire sometime in the present-ish day. (Present enough that there is a tape recorder, so I’m assuming it was present-day when it was written in the 1970s.) We dive back into the vampire’s memories as he describes his story, starting back in the 1790s.
But since I started reading this novel, I’ve stumbled across a lot of other vampire stories recently.
Vampire in the Garden
I watched this five-episode anime series in one sitting and just… wow. It’s really tragic but compelling.
The anime follows Momo, a human survivor in a walled human city in a vampire-dominated world, and Fine (Fee-nay), a vampire queen struggling with ill health from her choice not to bite a human ever again. We watch as the two embark on a journey together to find a safe haven where humans and vampires can live in harmony despite the war between humans and vampires.
I thought the show might scare me, and while it was a tense watch, I didn’t find myself being truly afraid while watching it.
However, watch with caution, as there is some blood and gore.
TW/CW for the show: blood, gore, depictions of war.
The soundtrack and animation is great and the story is compelling.
Not quite a spoiler but you can skip to the next section if you’re worried about spoilers:
My only issue with the show is that one character kind of randomly mentions that Momo is 14 years old in the second to last episode, which confused me and felt… iffy, given the context of the rest of the show. Up until that point, I was under the impression that she was in her early to mid twenties, as it’s mentioned that she graduated the “Academy.” I’d assumed the Academy was the military academy or college of this universe, as she fights as a soldier in the vampire resistance at the start of the show.
Two Podcasts with Vampire Episodes
The lovely Lottie Bevan and Alexis Kennedy of Weather Factory, the folks behind games like Cultist Simulator, have discussed a lot of spooky things in their Skeleton Songs podcast, including this episode on vampires.
Skeleton Songs is another of my favorite podcasts, but be warned that it does not update regularly. This creative duo has been very busy working on a new game, hosting a super cool mystery event, writing books, running their storefront, and more!
We also have Part I of this Ologies episode about vampires, but I have yet to listen to this one currently.
“The Gruesome History of Real Life Vampire Hunting”
This is another video from Kaz Rowe!
At this point, Kaz Rowe is now my favorite YouTube creator besides Rachel Maksy.
Their videos are just so well-researched and presented, beautifully costumed, and finely crafted. Chef’s kisses abound!
They just released this video about the history of real-life vampire hunting two days ago, so I absolutely had to talk about it here after watching it last night.
Lucy’s Endless Night
I found this charming webcomic this past week.
The story follows Lucy, a spitfire artist who goes out on her own to draw vampires, as her parents arrange for her to marry a skilled vampire-hunter. Things go a tad bit awry when a vampire bites her one night when she’s out drawing!
“Stayin’ Alive, performed by a vampire”
Bryan David Gilbert released yet another horror disco cover last week: “Stayin' Alive, performed by a vampire | Bee Dee Gee's Hee Bee Bee Gees.”
This is probably my favorite of the covers now!
Also, here’s my curated Halloween playlist:
Psst, I’ve added to it since last year!
Also, as usual, none of these links are affiliate or sponsor links. I’m just talking about things I’ve enjoyed or care about! :)
Thanks for stopping by this week!
Does anybody have any neat plans for Halloween or the end of October? Any sanguivorous vampire tidbits to share? Have you read or seen anything above?
🎃 👻 🕯️ 💀 🌕 🕸️ 🌙
Happy reading,
Quote(s) of the Week:
“Into every generation comes a vampire.”
“The vampire is an outsider. He's the perfect metaphor for those things. He's someone who looks human and sounds human, but is not a human, so he's always on the margins.”
Works Cited (MLA 9th)
Staff, Country Living. “30 Best Vampire Quotes You Can Really Sink Your Teeth Into This Halloween.” Country Living, Hearst Digital Media, 10 Aug. 2021, https://www.countryliving.com/life/g28452084/vampire-quotes/?slide=30.