Vampire media

Mini reviews and recommendations for those with an interest in vampire fiction.

📖 Blindsight by Peter Watts

A book in which, after first contact, a crew of astronauts are sent to investigate a comet that is transmitting an unidentified radio signal to an unknown destination in the galaxy. This crew happens to be lead by Jukka Sarasti, a vampire. The book already had my attention with the concept of "vampire in space", but I also love the fact that the vampirism thing is really a side note and is part of a serious sci-fi story about consciousness.

We do learn about vampires in this universe: they are a highly intelligent natural predator of humans who went extinct simply due to a genetic condition where viewing right angles causes seizures. Humans in the modern era bring them back from extinction because of course they do. While there's some really interesting stuff with the scientific take on vampires, their social role, and the crew's dynamic with Sarasti, I can't stress enough that it's not vampire-centric. The sequel Echopraxia is more focused on vampires on Earth, though it's also just not as good of a book imo.

📖 The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez

The Gilda Stories is a book about Gilda,

📖 Night's Edge by Liz Kerin

I see vampire and human relationships used most often in the case of lovers, but I enjoy the way it's used here to explore the familial bond between human Mia and her vampiric mother Izzy. Izzy was turned when Mia was ten, and after a decade of codependence and parentification, Mia gets a tantalizing glimpse at the terrifying concept of independence and freedom.

In a worldbuilding sense, the book is mostly focused on character dynamics, though there are a couple of interesting worldbuilding elements (and possibly more in the new sequel which I only found out existed at the time of writing). Vampires aren't called vampires in this book, but "Saras", from Saratov Syndrome, though it functions the way you'd expect from vampirism. Though Saratov Syndrome is only just gaining attention when Izzy is first turned, by the present day it's a normal fact of life, with (clearly COVID-inspired) regulations in place such as obligatory blood testing outside of businesses. In addition to the traditional weakness to sunlight, I enjoyed the change in weakness from silver to rust in the bloodstream, and the negative reactions Saras have to caffeine and the cultural implications of that. Mostly I enjoyed the novelty of vampires being a dangerous thing that everyone knows about but is treated fairly casually because, hey, it's been years, and what are you gonna do, not have nightclubs?

📖 Vamp! - Narita Ryohgo

In typical Narita fashion, this light novel series taking place on a fictional island off the coast of Germany is...A Lot. Chaotic, fun, often silly, but still surprisingly heartwrenching, Vamp! probably has some of the most creative worldbuilding of any vampire media as it weaves between a plethora of different characters and plotlines. Some of the more benign bits of worldbuilding include vampire powers and weaknesses not being universal, but individual, more like allergies, and the fact that vampire hunters eat vampires to gain their powers while retaining their humanity. More of the off-the-wall stuff includes having more than just human vampires, especially with the expanded ways one can turn into a vampire: for example, a flower growing beneath a guillotine becomes sentient after being showered by the blood of an executed vampire. If you're not put off by a series that includes a vampire who's a literal puddle of blood who can form the shape of a man, a watermelon vampire, or a black hole vampire, check it out. Sadly, Narita hasn't been able to write more for a while, both due to his health issues and the fact that his editors keep pushing other projects.

📖 Woman, Eating - Claire Kohda

wip