Dracula
By entering the realm of Vampire stories, I’ve been looking into the history of these creatures to see where the Dawn Fangs fit. At least that was the starting idea that lasted about an hour. It’s amazing how widespread the basic concept of a vampire is even without the exact name. This feeds my idea that everyone has their own thoughts on what makes a vampire and that you’re going to get criticized no matter what.
It’s just amazing that I’ve found vampires that are beautiful and others that are ugly. Some are undead and others are demons, which is a different category. Some drink blood and others drink spirit from a person’s breath. Some are immune to sunlight and others light up like a bonfire. There are those that sneak into bedrooms to seduce women while others troll high schools. I can keep going, but I think you get the point.
Personally, I’m rather flexible when it comes to a vampire. I’m more of a fan of the fangs, blood-sucking, and superhuman powers version. Yet, I can appreciate others because they’re fun to read about. The longer I think about it, the less I can pinpoint what it is about vampires that I find interesting. At best, I can say what I don’t like, but that’s fairly negative. One thing I did get bored with is the sun weakness because I’ve read more lore where it’s only a weakening agent instead of destruction. That’s one of the big influences for the Dawn Fangs as well as Vampire: The Masquerade.
So, what do other people look for in vampires?
Legends of Windemere 
My favourite vampire story was BBC Television’s Being Human . A vampire, werewolf and a ghost sharing a flat and trying hard to be normal people!
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I only know of the US version that SyFy had, which was fun. Pretty sure the BBC version was better, but I enjoyed what I could get my hands on. The vampires worked out pretty well in that series.
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I try not to look for vampires, Charles – having a government that sucks the life blood from me is bad enough 😱
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At least vampires are polite about it. Those that aren’t tend to kill and not leave a suffering victim behind.
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That is better – I guess 😱
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Take what few silver linings you can find. Seriously, they keep werewolves away.
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We’ve got Foxes 🦊 who wander around the gardens – during the recent snow here, you could see their tracks clearly 😃
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That has to be fun. Closest thing we have hear are stray cats, which are trying to use our bird feeder as a hunting ground.
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Clever cats 👍😄
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I like mine in the style of sunlight as poison must sleep in the earth of Transylvania, and well dressed. Wooden stake does em in.
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Transylvania is always a tough addition because it means Dracula. I think he’s another reason I took my vampires out of Windemere. No more temptation to slip him into the action.
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I see that for sure.
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I grew up with books like Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire. When I became an adult, I read books like Sunshine by Robin McKinley. And yes, I read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and some of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. So my interest is broad when it comes to vampires.
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For some reason, I keep forgetting about the Sookie stuff. Funny how the oldest and the newest in that list share the sunlight resistance/immunity.
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Yes. It is a nice change.
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I’m more like John. I like the classic stuff. There is an element of Kryptonite available to what might be unstoppable otherwise.
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True. Weaknesses are important. Vampires do seem to have a lot of those too.
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Though I immediately think of the well-dressed type who can’t go out in sunlight, drinks blood, and has issues with garlic, I’m also perfectly happy to read about the other kind, up to and including the kind who hang out in highschool and sparkle in sunlight, as well as those in between those extremes. So, honestly, I don’t know what it is about them I find fascinating. Maybe it’s just the mystery behind the myth, rather than the creatures themselves?
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The mystery could play a big part. We do see vampires as tempting outsiders with hidden pasts. Although, most of us also believe we’d never fall for a vampire’s charms, which might factor in as well.
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Yes, that’s certainly possible.
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Funny you should ask 🙂 I’ve just finished writing a vampire novel… I do find them fascinating, for some reason. I’m more traditional in that my vamps can’t go out during the day, or stand anything but the mildest electric light. However, they’re different in other ways.
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Didn’t know about the electric light issue. One of the vampires in my series has bad eyes due to staying in his lair for centuries, but that’s rather unique to him.
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I think I might have added the electric light issue as an extension of the daylight issue, although I’m sure I’ve heard about it somewhere? 🙂 I like the sound of your poor blind vampire – they usually tend to be portrayed as such strong perfect creatures it’s nice to hear about one with an issue.
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Wouldn’t say he’s poor though. He makes due pretty easily and has tinted goggles whenever he has to go out. Being a vampirized gnome gives him an edge since he can invent stuff to help.
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Oh Charles, I do love how your mind works. A vampirized gnome? That’s amazing 🙂
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Makes sense for a fantasy world. Vampires wouldn’t just go for humans, so a good variety will turn up in this series. Though the characters are predominantly human vampires.
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Well, it sounds like another fascinating series, Charles 🙂
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Thanks. 😀
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It sounds kind of like my blog, which focuses on dragons. There are so many variations from cultures all around the world. I hardly ever come up dry on ideas.
The one about drinking spirit from people’s breath sounds really interesting.
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I always found the spirit drinker interesting. I’m still trying to find a way to get that into my series. Probably a special Dawn Fang. Wonder why dragons and vampires are so widespread.
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