# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/41 "2009-01-09T04:43:26Z")
There are vampires in the Bible? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/42 "2009-01-09T05:12:31Z")
> [@Peanut\_Gallery](#): > > I started reading Rice’s series at 13, and wasn’t even slightly shocked. Her vampires don’t fuck. There are certainly sexual themes, but don’t mistake the vampire books with the ‘Beauty’ books. This. I started reading the Vampire Chronicles in 7th grade, and was FAR more shocked by the smut in _The Thornbirds_, which I read at about the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/43 "2009-01-09T05:20:48Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > At this point, there are [10 books](http://www.annerice.com/Bookshelf-VampireChronicles.html) in _The Vampire Chronicles_. I have not read anything beyond _The Vampire Armand_ myself. I checked out that site, and I could have sworn she wrote a book about Pandora. Does anyone else remember seeing this? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/44 "2009-01-09T05:27:21Z")
> [@Qwisp](#): > > I checked out that site, and I could have sworn she wrote a book about Pandora. Does anyone else remember seeing this? You are not mistaken, and I thought maybe I’d missed it or something. On poking around on [annerice.com](http://annerice.com) for a bit, I found that both _Pandora_ and another one (_Vittorio_) are not listed under the _Chronicles_, but under _[New Tales of the Vampires](http://www.annerice.com/Bookshelf-NewTalesVampires.html)_. ---
**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 9, 2009, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/45 "2009-01-09T05:36:15Z")
> [@detop](#): > > How about Tanya Huff’s _Blood_ books ? There’s sex in the last book. And incestuous desires in the second, but not acted upon. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/46 "2009-01-09T05:45:45Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I was about 13 or 14 as well, and I didn’t find them too adult. (There was plenty enough sex in the Stephen King books I was reading!) Then they started getting a little too emo for me and I stopped. I’d argue that ‘Interview With a Vampire’ is probably the best vampire novel to start a kid of 13 with. At least Louis recognizes what a horrible monster a vampire is. To me the sugar coated vampire novels are more damaging to the psyche than one that lays it all out that they are demons. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/47 "2009-01-09T05:47:45Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > That is a wise decision, says the person who read all of them. Actually, the best decision would be to stop with _Queen of the Damned_ because Lestat suddenly gets a bad case of Catholic Guilt in _Memnoch the Devil_ and mopes around the rest of the series. I’d stop at Vampire Lestat. Queen of the Damned was garbage. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/48 "2009-01-09T05:58:18Z")
> [@](#): > > To me the sugar coated vampire novels are more damaging to the psyche than one that lays it all out that they are demons. Why? Because it gives impressionable teens false ideas about vampires instead of the true facts? ---
**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 9, 2009, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/49 "2009-01-09T07:18:45Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > There’s sex in the last book. And incestuous desires in the second, but not acted upon. Incestuous desires? Isn’t the second book the one with the werewolves? I wouldn’t consider the Blood books too graphic, but I don’t think they’d be very interesting to a kid. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/50 "2009-01-09T08:59:09Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Since they’re on the radar these days because of the HBO series, I’ll also say that I’m NOT a fan of Charlaine Harris’ vampire books. But they’re probably more mature than you’re looking for anyway. I’ve actually just started reading this series with my friend’s 11 year old. The deal is I have to keep one book ahead of her, to screen for no-no’s. I’m not familiar enough with Anne Rice to know how sexual her vampire books are but, since other posters have expressed surprise that you find them too sexual for a 13 year old, I’ll assume that even mild sexual scenes are beyond appropriate in your evaluation. I’ve just started the second of Charlaine Harris’ vampire books, and deemed the first one o.k. for the 11 year old. Sounds like you might disagree on the appropriateness, though. There are a few sex scenes in the first book. However, the descriptiveness focuses more on the main character’s emotional experience during the sexual encounters rather than vividly describing sex acts. Also, the sex is between two characters who love each other- not down and dirty stuff. There is description of erotic biting- it is a vampire book after all. So, if your standards disqualify any sex at all this series might not be o.k. I’ll just mention that the 11 year old is _loving_ the story and the characters. She’s anxious for me to finish the second book since she finished the first one so quickly after I gave it to her. This is the same child who, when she was 9, I took to see _The Threepenny Opera_ on Broadway- the production that starred Alan Cumming. It was a somewhat sexual production of the play. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/51 "2009-01-09T09:25:06Z")
Thirding Salem’s Lot. Good, fun read. I Am Legend has what are called vampires, but it feels more like what we’d consider a zombie book. It’s still great if you like horror, regardless. I remember really enjoying Richard Matheson at that age. Hell, he’s still the man. ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/52 "2009-01-09T12:11:37Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I think that’s in _The Vampire Armand_, and I think he (and the entire “stable” of kids the older man in question had around) was considerably younger than 16. I thought so too, but I didn’t want to say younger in case I had misremembered ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/53 "2009-01-09T13:14:37Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > _The Last Vampire_ series by Christopher Pike seemed good (I only read the first two books in the series). It was published as six individual volumes (_The Last Vampire_, _Black Blood_, _Red Dice_, _Phantom_, _Evil Thirst_, and _Creatures of Forever_) or two omnibus collections. They were marketed as a Young Adult series so there’s some mild mentions of sex and violence but nothing extreme. I’ll second this. And also the Kim Newman ANNO DRACULA books & stories. To the recommendation of Poppy Z. Brite’s LOST SOULS… :eek::eek::eek: Gay vampires I can stand, Incestuous vampires I can stand, GAY INCESTUOUS VAMPIRES, THOUGH…:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/54 "2009-01-09T13:22:48Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Why? Because it gives impressionable teens false ideas about vampires instead of the true facts? Exactly. Another vote for Stoker’s Dracula. After reading that, He might enjoy Saberhagen’s Dracula series. I started with The Dracula Tapes. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/55 "2009-01-09T14:09:37Z")
> [@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. and Immortal Blood by the same author, assuming that a. it’s still in print and b. is published under the same name in the US as the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/56 "2009-01-09T14:13:25Z")
I don’t know if you’d call it teeny bopper bait or not, but there is an emerging series for pre-teen/teen readers called _The Chronicles Of Vladmir Tod_ by Heather Brewer starting with _Eighth Grade Bites_, then onto _Ninth Grade Slays_. _Tenth Grade Bleeds_ is due out this year. They’ve got humor and action over the Twilight books, with much less of that romantic angsty crap. (Plus the author totally rocks. Her husband works with my husband, so we “know” each other by proxy.) The first book has a bit of “written for pre-teens” feel to it, but by the second book, it feels much more like Heather got over it and is just writing, rather than trying to write for an audience. I also really like Nancy A Collins and her Sonja Blue books, but they may be a bit advanced for a 13 year old. You might wanna read those yourself and make the call on whether or not to let him read them. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/57 "2009-01-09T16:07:07Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Why? Because it gives impressionable teens false ideas about vampires instead of the true facts? Because cannibalism is a greater sin than sex? ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/58 "2009-01-09T18:28:11Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Because cannibalism is a greater sin than sex? Vampirism is so outlandish an idea that it hardly seems similar in any way to real-life cannibalism. On the other hand, respect for life is a good value to teach, so I guess I can see how a parent might not want their child reading a book that portrayed a murderous vampire as sympathetic. Really would depend on the book and the child, though. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/59 "2009-01-09T23:39:08Z")
It really depends on how much sex and violence you think is okay for a kid that age. Myself, I was reading Auel at that age, though I was nearly 3/4 of the way through _Valley of the Horses_ before my parents remembered just how much getting it on there was in those books. Fairly graphic, but in a romance novel sort of way–lots of mentions of "throbbing member"s and "female opening"s. By contrast, my English teacher felt the need to call and tell my parents that I was reading _To Kill a Mockingbird_ because of the whole rape trial thing. If no sex at all is okay, you’re kind of stuck on vampire books. Even _Dracula_ has the three succubi trying to get it on with Harker. If some sex is okay, I think you could do a lot worse than the Charlaine Harris books. They’re not great literature by any stretch of the imagination, and Sookie’s a total Mary Sue, but they’re pretty entertaining. Far more so than, say, the couple of Anne Rice books I plodded through. Booooorrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnngggggg. Didn’t care overmuch for _Salem’s Lot_, either–I looked up and realized that major characters were dying like flies, and I just didn’t give a shit. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415/60 "2009-01-10T00:47:43Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > Didn’t care overmuch for _Salem’s Lot_, either–I looked up and realized that major characters were dying like flies, and I just didn’t give a shit. Likable characters too. But that’s what made it so good – the vampires taking over the whole damn town. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-lit-between-anne-rice-and-twilight/480415.md?page=4)