# Vampire lit between Anne Rice and Twilight **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415 "2009-01-08T20:21:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/1 "2009-01-08T20:21:05Z")
My 13-y-o son expressed interest in reading the Anne Rice novel I brought home from the library yesterday because, as he put it, he’d like a vampire novel and he’s sick to death of hearing about _Twilight_. I told him Anne Rice was too adult for him. (If he wants to learn about incest and vampires and demons, he can do it the old-fashioned way, by reading the Bible. 😉 ) Can anyone recommend some vampires who are neither X-rated nor teeny-bopper bait? ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/2 "2009-01-08T20:23:17Z")
Dracula? Or maybe “Vampire$” by John Steakley. ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/3 "2009-01-08T20:26:15Z")
Barbara Hambly’s “Those Who Hunt The Night” is a Sherlockian kind of tale, with a mild love story but no sexy stuff, and definitely lots of cool vampires. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/4 "2009-01-08T20:34:14Z")
Don’t know that I’d consider Anne Rice x-rated for her vampire books. I don’t remember much graphic sex in them. Obviously her Beauty series is out…it’s bondage porn published under another name. But you may want to look at The Vampire Files by P. N. Elrod. These are relatively short books, with a vampire detective. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/5 "2009-01-08T20:41:18Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Don’t know that I’d consider Anne Rice x-rated for her vampire books. I don’t remember much graphic sex in them. Obviously her Beauty series is out…it’s bondage porn published under another name. > > But you may want to look at The Vampire Files by P. N. Elrod. These are relatively short books, with a vampire detective. There’s sex in that one too though; not a huge amount but some. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/6 "2009-01-08T20:44:27Z")
Fred Saberhagen has a series of novels starring Dracula that I thinkwould be perfectfor a 13-year old. Start off with _The Holmes-Dracula Tapes_. ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/7 "2009-01-08T20:47:46Z")
> [@schnuckiputzi](#): > > Barbara Hambly’s “Those Who Hunt The Night” is a Sherlockian kind of tale, with a mild love story but no sexy stuff, and definitely lots of cool vampires. Ditto that, also the sequel “Travelling With The Dead”. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/8 "2009-01-08T20:50:50Z")
Tell him he’s too young to read about vampires. Vampires who aren’t completely and totally amoral are not actually vampires and have no literary merit. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/9 "2009-01-08T20:51:57Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > Or maybe “Vampire$” by John Steakley. Unless I’m misremembering this book, I don’t think I’d recommend it for a thirteen year-old. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/10 "2009-01-08T21:02:02Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > Unless I’m misremembering this book, I don’t think I’d recommend it for a thirteen year-old. It’s entirely possible that I’m misremembering the book. I recall a bunch of violence but don’t remember any sex. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/11 "2009-01-08T21:02:26Z")
I’m so glad to hear that at least one teenager is sick of Twilight. 🙂 Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin. Vampires on a Mississippi riverboat in the late 1800’s. I’ve read it twice and I don’t remember any sex, or gory violence. Salem’s Lot by Stephen King is pretty good. There are some intense scenes, but no explicit sex. Kim Newman’s written some novels and short stories set in a world where humans and vampires co-exist. I’ve read the shorts but not the novels, and they’d be okay for a teenager. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/12 "2009-01-08T21:15:26Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin. Vampires on a Mississippi riverboat in the late 1800’s. I’ve read it twice and I don’t remember any sex, or gory violence. Err…Casually severed newborn baby’s hand, dripping with blood and offered like a tasty popsicle? ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/13 "2009-01-08T21:17:37Z")
I like Elrod’s Vampire Files too, but there are some pretty violent scenes in it, including some graphic torture. And **AuntiePam** , I remember some pretty graphic stuff in _Fevre Dream_, too. Rachel Caine has a YA vampire series called The Morganville Vampires. I’ve only read the first one, but it wasn’t bad. He might like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series, which has vampires in it as secondary characters. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/14 "2009-01-08T21:18:23Z")
There is something morally broken about our society when it’s ok to read about former humans eating humans but having sex is too mature for them. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/15 "2009-01-08T21:20:47Z")
I forgot about that. 🙂 A 13-year-old could probably handle it though. How about Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore? ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/16 "2009-01-08T21:37:01Z")
I loved The Vampire Diaries by LJ Smith, but it is told from a girl’s POV, so I am note sure if a guy would like it. There is also a whole list of stuff here: [Vampire Fiction for Young Adults](http://www.monsterlibrarian.com/vampiresya.htm) ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/17 "2009-01-08T22:01:12Z")
How about Tanya Huff’s _Blood_ books ? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/18 "2009-01-08T22:23:50Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > It’s entirely possible that I’m misremembering the book. I recall a bunch of violence but don’t remember any sex. I’m pretty sure there was a scene with a female character masturbating in the bathroom, and a few others that were definitely sexually charged. ---
**Author:** ![Strassia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@Strassia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strassia)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/19 "2009-01-08T22:35:53Z")
[Digital Knight](http://www.webscription.net/p-107-digital-knight.aspx) (free to read online) is good. There are good and bad vampires, truly evil werewolves and others. No sex and the truly terrible violence is off screen, but a good action based story set in the near future. Jonathan ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/20 "2009-01-08T22:42:40Z")
Does anyone remember whether Robin McKinley’s [Sunshine](http://www.amazon.com/Sunshine-Robin-McKinley/dp/0425224015/) has R-rated material in it? I’m pretty sure it’s got at least PG-13 level stuff, but it’s been a while since I read it. That said, it’s enough from a chick point of view that your son might be put off; depends on the kid, probably. The protagonist is a young woman, 19-ish IIRC. Well, here’s McKinley’s take on it, straight from her Amazon blog on the book: [QUOTE=Robin McKinley] All my books have no-no-I-don’t-want-to-go-there scenes in them, some worse than others. DEERSKIN is the worst. SUNSHINE is probably second. I have said many times that I wrote SUNSHINE for wimps like me, wimps who love Dracula but can’t stick horror. Who love the sex/blood, the monster/lover, power/death thing but like it, you know, a little restrained. Seven years ago when I was writing it – even five years ago when it came out – the New Vampire hadn’t really been invented yet, and it was still mostly about mayhem. When the first edition of SUNSHINE was racked in horror I got all twittery and frantic, because its audience wasn’t going to find it there. [/QUOTE] So, okay, that’s probably out… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415.md?page=2)