Do Your Vampires Sparkle?

How much longer do we have to keep comparing vampire novels to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga? All joking aside, it is becoming tedious.

Enough Already
Ok, ok, we get it! Your vampires don’t sparkle! Move on! Left to right: Vampires Don’t Sparkle! (2013), edited by Michael West (Amazon); Amy Fecteau’s Real Vampires Don’t Sparkle (2013) (Amazon); and These Vampires Don’t Sparkle (2014), edited by Carol Highshore (Amazon).

I don’t mean to imply anything negative here about her books by asking. I am just curious why readers and reviewers insist on asking some form of “Do your vampires sparkle?”

I have to wonder though, I mean the question is pretty leading. It seems like what they are really asking is, “They aren’t like Twilight, right?” Because whenever I’ve said, “No, my vampires don’t sparkle,” inevitably the response back has been, “Oh thank goodness.”

Yet Meyer’s Cold Ones are very different from other vampires, and no one else, as far as I am aware, has followed her lead and devised new vampire clans with crystalline skin. Why would anyone presume this is a new trend?

I suppose I should be thankful no one has asked, “Are your vampires full of those gross and redundant vampire leech-worms, like The Strain?” I mean, that is also unique — it definitely amps up the creepy, horror element — but it hasn’t been a flashpoint like the Glitterati have been.

Maybe, just maybe, they want to know, “They drink human blood, like you know, vampires?” Other vampires in many stories I’ve read try to go “cold turkey” on the human vitae consumption. Some grab a synthetic, some chug blood bags, some even drink rodents or other available beasties, all so they can avoid harming people. These vamps cling to their humanity. Nothing wrong with that, it’s rather admirable for a monster that looks like its prey to identify with it.

It’s just that I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone ask, “Are your vamps like Stoker’s?” I have heard, “Are they Hollywood vampires? Are they sexy or ugly? Are they demons or just resurrected? Are they lovers or killers?” This I can get behind. To that end, over at her blog Emz Newz, horror author Emerian Rich is assembling a whole sheet of traits for our kindred authors to list so she can discuss what makes some vampire books unique.

1555257-blade1
Blade’s had enough of this silliness, too. (Via In the Mouth of Dorkness)

So, can we set a moratorium date on the Twilight comparisons? I suppose soon we’ll all shift back to Anne Rice analogies once her long-awaited Prince Lestat hits bookshelves. It’ll be a nice change of pace at least.

4 comments

  1. I get the same question all the time, and the same response. And while I joke about Stephanie Meyers and sparkly vampires, the truth is I don’t really see the Twilight vampires as the monsters we all grew up with. No offense to Miss Meyers (I wish my vampire novels were as successful), but she didn’t write vampire novels as much as she did a teen romance where the girl falls for the ultimate bad boys, a vampire and a werewolf. Miss Meyers drafted a modern retelling of a classic love story. Today we talk about Team Edward or Team Jacob. Almost sixty years ago the young girl’s choice would have been between the Jets or the Sharks.

  2. “All joking aside, it is becoming tedious.”

    Quote for truth. I don’t like Twilight – though I don’t begrudge others who do – because it’s not meant to appeal to guys like me. But if people wanted Twilight to go away, they should have just quit complaining about it. When Twilight mania was at its peak, there were still alternatives – Let the Right One In chief among them. I would rather relate my vampire interests to stuff that is critically acclaimed rather than something that I didn’t like.

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