Vampiric superlatives

It’s no secret that stories about alienation and assimilation and transgressing the taboo are often best told through genre. And what’s a better way to explore those themes than with a brooding, ever encroaching darkness we can feel but fail to identify until the moment of crisis? Vampire stories can be told sideways, villainizing or empathizing, where we become the other or long for their existence outside our social norms. Throw in some queer pining, colonialism, or vengeance elements and they can become all the more a commentary on power, class, and identity.

I was a kid who loved horror and was raised in a home without a heavy hand in what I watched or read. My affinity vampires probably started in earnest as a preteen with Anne Rice, but I have a vivid memory, years earlier, of an extremely distressed elementary school teacher clocking Salem’s Lot sitting on my desk, waiting patiently for silent reading time. The Twilight phenomenon missed me by a few years, but those books were a balm for me as a new mom looking for easy-to-digest stories to read while sleep deprived.

As I’ve gotten older, I’m more squeamish about visual depiction of violence. I avoid books with overt body horror, but my favorite reads are dark, moody, and full of social commentary. I love the sultry, gothic atmosphere of a good vampire novel, and I love even more when they do something unexpected.

When a friend asked for recommendations on my favorite vampire books, I had a moment of complete paralysis. (Have I ever read a book about vampires??) With a moment of reflection, here’s what I came up with:

Overall favorite vampire stories: 

• The Route of Ice and Salt, Luis Jose Zarate: Fantastic in both premise and execution. This queer, Mexican novella imagines what happens on the Demeter’s voyage to the English harbor where Dracula is delivered to Whitby. It’s atmospheric and terrifying and so very gay.
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones: I fell completely in love with SGJ’s ability to subvert a genre years ago when I picked up “Mapping the Interior,” his take on the haunted house. This novel is political. It’s personal. It’s a comment on the past and the future and this terrible present. It’s just a brilliant bit of storytelling and an important addition to vampire lore.  
• Vampires of El Norte, Isabel Canas: When I was younger, I wanted my vampires to be swoon worthy. Now, I am more drawn to their deployment in stories about dehumanization. This is my favorite of Canas’s novels because she’s doing something different with the genre. And it includes one of the scariest vampires scenes I’ve ever read.  

Most compelling toxic lesbian vampires (Sorry, V.E. Schwab)

• Hungerstone, Kat Dunn 

Vampire I most want to befriend: 

• Woman, Eating, Claire Kohda 

The classics, of course: 

• Carmilla, J. Sheridan Le Fanu 
• Dracula, Brahm Stoker 

Most politically charged vampire story (in a list filled with political vampires, nonetheless): 

• Our Share of Night, Mariana Enriquez 

Moodiest vampire with a truly unfortunate amount of murdered house cats: 

• The Night Guest, Hildur Knutsdottir 

Most fun vampire romance: 

• Fang Fiction, Kate Stayman-London 

Cheekiest read that is probably overhyped but enjoyable: 

• The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix 

Best bunny / children’s vampire story: 

• Bunnicula, Deborah and James Howe