A lot of people think the “Vampire Bubble” may have burst (Vampire Diaries seems to be gearing up for its final season, True Blood is already gone, Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ Dracula never got off the ground) and that zombies have taken their place in that part of geek culture that wants to be scared by something that looks human but really, really isn’t.
And every time I think I’ve gotten my fill of vampires too, a collection like this comes along.
Blood Sisters is a selection of vampire stories (edited by Paula Guran) from as far back as 1982 and as recent as 2012. The fact that they’re all written by women is almost inconsequential; the focus is on both male and female characters, and there isn’t an overriding feminist theme to the stories. Many of them are fine as stand-alone pieces, some are okay, but several made me want to hunt up the authors who wrote them and see what other vampire stories they’ve created, because when it comes to off-the-wall interpretations of the original vampire myth, the well definitely isn’t dry yet.
“A Princess of Spain” by Carrie Vaughn tells the story of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, but there’s a vampire involved this time, and probably not in a way you’d expect.
“Shipwrecks Above” by Caitlin R. Kiernan combines mermaids with vampires, and it works really well, keeping in mind that this mermaid is less Disney and more Lovecraft.
Nancy Kilpatrick’s “In Memory Of…” is a much slower story, but intriguing, because it painted Oscar Wilde in a completely different light than any other story I’ve ever read about him.
“Where the Vampires Live” is another story that’s more atmospheric than adventurous, but in the end the bittersweet tone really won me over.
Pat Cadigan’s “The Power and the Passion” has a character who reminds me a lot of Neil Gaiman’s character Mr. Smith: the main character of this story isn’t nearly as educated or classy as Mr. Smith, but they’re both essentially very horrible people that someone else has put to good use. I really liked this one, the details were fascinating.
“This Town Ain’t Big Enough” features Tanya Huff’s vampire character Vicki Nelson, who I’d never heard of before. She’s a smartmouth and a bit of a badass, but still a fledgeling vampire so she’s got some stuff she’s still figuring out. This is one of the stories that makes me want to track down more of the author’s work; I already knew Tanya Huff was a prolific writer, but the Vicki Nelson series sounds fun.
“The Better Half” by Melanie Tem was a very slow buildup, almost too slow in places. The payoff was worth it.
I think most vampire fans have heard of Laurell K. Hamilton, her Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series are pretty popular, though I haven’t read many of them (she’s a little too fond of describing every scrap of a person’s wardrobe for my tastes.) I liked “Selling Houses” though; it’s in the Anita Blake world but doesn’t feature any of the main characters, it’s just a little side story about living in a world that knows about vampires, and how that might affect the real estate market.
I feel like I ought to mention “Tacky” just because it was written by Charlaine Harris (the author of the series that True Blood was based on) but I’ve never been a huge fan of the books. The tongue-in-cheek-except-in-a-vampire’s-mouth air of True Blood was fun, but always felt a little cheesy to me in the books. But that’s a matter of personal taste; the series is wildly popular, and this story is a nice reflection of that world, with vampires and werewolves, and humans plotting to take out both.
I’m not a hundred percent sure what was going on in Elizabeth Bear’s story “Needles” but that doesn’t bother me too much; it’s excellently written, the characters are interesting, the story moves quickly without needing to turn everything into a blood bath, and even though the ending came a little sooner than I wanted, I think that’s just because I liked the story so much I didn’t want it to end.
“Magdala Amygdala” by Lucy A. Snyder is just horrific. I mean it, it’s the goriest, creepiest story in the whole book, and it’s not for the easily squeamish. In this world it’s possible to contract a virus that could either kill you slowly and really painfully, or cause you to crave blood, or cause you to crave brains. And if you happen to find a person who won’t die when you eat their brains, well isn’t that convenient? And horrible?
I’ve skipped over a few stories, though none of them were bad, I just didn’t enjoy them as much as the stories above. Except, of course, for the last story in the book. I’ve been a huge fan of Catherynne M. Valente since In the Cities of Coin and Spice and I knew she’d deliver a matter-of-fact, quirky story about vampires, and I wasn’t disappointed. In the world of “In the Future When All’s Well” you can turn into a vampire from almost any event; eating the wrong kind of meat, having the wrong kind of hair-color, having really thick eyebrows, burying a body at a crossroad, failing to bury a body at a crossroad, or having a mother who didn’t eat quite enough salt while she was pregnant with you.
I heard about this one guy like two towns over who was a seventh son with a unibrow and red hair and was born backwards, and he just turned by himself. Just sitting there in English class and bang.
Valente’s story twists the old vampire myths around, but it’s also a funny look at people getting hysterical over the latest thing the media says is bad, and about growing away from people while you grow up. It’s short and sweet and definitely my favorite in the book.
Vampires certainly aren’t going away completely (The Originals has at least one more season, I hope they squeak by with two.) Even if zombies are getting a bigger piece of the spotlight lately, I think the blood-suckers can hold their own against the brain-eaters for a while longer.