Friday, November 2, 2007

Vampires! Vampires! Vampires!

by Madelynne Ellis et al.



We're trying something new at Lust Bites today, the magic extendy post. Yep, you read that right, it starts off small and grows with stimulation! So hang on to that refresh button and don't be surprised if there's some gnashing of fangs along the way.

Vampires are such a horror (and erotica) genre staple that it's easy to forget that the modern image of the gentleman of the night only dates back a couple of centuries, to a fateful night on the banks of Lake Geneva, Switzerland.


Prior to Dr John Polidori's Byronesque "Vampyre", our fanged fiends were typically uncultured monsters, crawling around graveyards and generally making Nosferatu look like Brad Pitt.


Well today on Lust Bites (see we're even appropriately named) we're celebrating our favourite Vamps. The ladies will be along during the day to introduce you to their personal favourites. I'm expecting a certain Angel to sneak his way in there amongst the Draculas and Lestats, along with a few less obvious surprises, and of course we'd love you all to share you're own favourite vampires, be they from literature, stage or screen.

Anyway, to start us all off, I offer you my personal Vampire favourite, this is Alex (aka Julian Sands in Tale of a Vampire), doing what Vampires do best. As for why I love him, well you only have to look here and here to know that I like them bad, angst-ridden and bloody.

Janine Ashbless says: Well, watch me throw down the glove! I'm the voice of dissent today, because vampires do nothing for me. I mean - I am happy with them as predators, or as vehicles for introducing dominance and/or a little necrophilia to an erotic story; it's when the author wants to use them as characters that my eyes glaze over. Why? This is epitomised by a montage scene in Interview with a Vampire where years pass over New Orleans. In these centuries human beings with their pitiful short lives have created beautiful art and architecture, established complex societies and communities, turned swampland into a thriving city. What have the vampires, with their eternal youth and their physical superiority and their accumulated experience, achieved? Well, they've killed some people and drunk absinthe. And one of them plays the piano a bit. Boring, boring bastards.

Having said that ... I do have a soft spot (and you can guess where) for Dracula in Dracula 2000 (or Dracula 2001 in Europe because the film got there later). He's a mean predator, he's Gerard Butler and he has a backstory so clever that I smote my head and shrieked "Why didn't I think of that?!"



Lestat in Queen of the DamnedLestat in Queen of the DamnedOlivia Knight says: Whereas I love vampires because they're supercilious, arrogant, knowing, cultured, and effeminate. It's not always what one wants in a man, but they're top of the "what I look for in a vampire" list. The blood-letting is an unfortunate side-effect for me; the eternal rage and worldweary ennui of perpetual youth is delicious. They come with the added advantage that, being nearly immortal, they probably know more than me, and being a jumped-up supercilious arrogant little know-it-all myself, I appreciate occasionally being trumped. Mostly, though, Lestat's goth-rock and intensity are what catch in my throat. (Nothing to do with the narrow planes and sharp angles of his face at all)
One more thought - the moment of blood-exchange (preferably without the actual dead-body bit afterwards), the feeling what someone else feels, gaining access to their heads - closer than sex, more heated than mind-reading, complete and perfect union: yes, please.

Portia Da Costa - me like Frank Langella as Dracula. :) Suave.Seductive.Romantic.Mass Murderer - the Count who never flashed his fangs.

Madelynne Ellis back again. Darn I couldn't resist coming back for some more. Here's a snippet from my tale, Lust for Blood, in Love on the Dark Side. Because, you know Lucius is one of my favourites.

And he advances.

Perversely, he's prettier now than he was on the edge of the dance floor. It's an ethereal, otherworldly sort of beauty, frighteningly cold, and horribly arousing. A montage of images enters my mind from somewhere outside: licking the blood from his face, smearing it across his chest, him going down on me while I bleed. I can see his tongue delving between my pussy lips, and somehow that seems horribly wrong.

There's a girl dying, right now, because of him.

My sensible self fights its way through the fog in my brain, yelling: "Run! Run! You stupid bitch." But I don't run. I'm numbed. I just shuffle backward until I hit the sinks, which dig into my back, cold and impossibly real.

"What are you doing to me? Don't come any closer!"

My fist tightens around my phone and I wish for the nineties and something a bit heavier. This slender silver shell won't cause more than a slight bruise before it snaps.

"What am I doing to you?" His voice is in my head. His eyebrow asks the question. "I'm not the one with these fantasies."

Alison Tyler says: I can’t think what my first vampire movie was. I’m sort of afraid to admit that it might have been Once Bitten! But I am definitely a fan—in fiction and film, porn and prose. Kiefer is one of my favorites, but I think that Bowie will win the prize for me this time.



By Kate Pearce
I don't really get the whole vampire visual, probably because I'm a wussy and hate the sight and smell of blood. But, I do occasionally like to read vampire romances and two series really impressed me this year from J R Ward and Lynn Viehl. They are both quite different, Ward being more like an addiction while Viehl's are more gruesome and bone cracking.


Apologies for the Amazon tags but I'm rushing a bit here!




Deanna Ashford - I just go for sexy, brooding reformed vampires like Angel and Henry Fitzroy in Blood Ties. I find the fact that they are in some way trying to atone for past actions highly compelling.

Kristina Lloyd says: OK, so I realise David Beckham isn't actually a vampire, and that he doesn't look much like one either. However, he does look like my vampire, Billy, from my novella, The Vampire's Heart. There was a moment on Lust Bites back in January when Mat posted a pic of Becks looking mean and dirty in his army gear. I fell in love, right there and then, and you all saw me do it. And you can see it again right here! I was plotting my vampire novella at the time and I'd already invented Billy - a muscled vamp, blond mohawk, army gear, yum-fucking-yum. And there was Becks on our blog, my lead vampire come to life! Months later, and the novella's about to be published - next Thursday in the UK and January 1st in the US - in a volume called Lust Bites! Ain't life strange? Next week, I'll be here with Portia and Mathilde to tell you more about the book. Did I just do Becks and a shameless plug in one paragraph? I think I peaked.

Teresa Noelle Roberts:
I have mixed feelings about vampires, I have to admit. When I think about the genre too much, I get irked. They're so damn angsty and so many of them shallow, stuck in perennial adolescence despite their great age. You're five hundred years old and hanging out in a nightclub, Mr. Vamp. What's with that?

That said, I can't help picking up vampire-themed books, even if a lot of them don't end up being keepers. What's the fascination? Well, beside the obvious fact that vampires always seem to be preternaturally attractive and often kinky, it's the notion of defeating death.

I started reading Anne Rice back in the 80s with my best friend Gregg, who was gay. I honestly don't know if the books would have fascinated us so much if we hadn't secretly wanted some sexy supernatural force to offer us an escape clause from the mortality that was bearing down on so many of our friends. (Alas, Lestat didn't appear to whisk Gregg away before AIDS did, but I've had the occasional dream in which he appears as an aimable, bookish vampire. He once told me that, gifted with eternal life, he'd spend a lot of it catching up on his reading.)

Oh, wait a minute, this was supposed to be cheerful and sexy, right? I'll throw in a vote for one of my favorite vampires being Jean-Claude from Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series. The flashy clothes and the "ma petite" get annoying, to be sure, but I love the fact that he's not, overall, filled with angst about being a vampire. He regrets things he's done in his long life, he's haunted by past experiences, but overall, he thinks being a vampire is pretty damn neat. Plus, he's a very incubus-like vampire; he gets more from the feeding if his "donor" is turned on, which sounds good to me.

Dayle Dermatis (aka 1/2 Sophie Mouette and Sarah Dale) checking in!

I don't go for angst. I don't go for brooding. But I do go for cheeky bad
boys, and that's why I love Spike:

29 comments:

Janine Ashbless said...

Who's the vamp with the bloody mouth, Madelynne?
Just checking...

Oh, and I adored Julian sands as the bad guy in Warlock.

Anonymous said...

I agree, Janine. Julian in Warlock was hot. Not so great in Arachnophobia, though.

Vincent Copsey said...

I love Warlock!

As for the vamp with the bloody mouth, well he's not actually a vampire. It's Gabriel Byrne as Byron in Ken Russell's masterpiece, Gothic.
Which weirdly enough also features Julian Sands.

Alison said...

There is only one vampire for me and that is Brad Pitt in Interview with a Vampire. http://philoillogica.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/feast_of_pitt.jpg

Alison said...

http://philoillogica.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/feast_of_pitt.jpg

Sorry wrong link, try this instead, how do you put links into these posts so that you can just click on them. Sorry Technology not my strong point

Alison said...

Oh God! Soooo frustating! Still the wrong link. Use the link above but add
feast_of_pitt.jpg
on the end.

I Give up!

Anonymous said...

Great post! I would like to list a male vampire, but my choice for the most seductive vampire is Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger, plus I love the couple she goes after (Susan Sarandon and David Bowie!)

Vincent Copsey said...

Like this Alison

[a href="http://philoillogica.typepad.com
/photos/uncategorized/feast_of_pitt.jpg"] Feast of Pitt[/a]

Only replacing the square brackets with these < >.

Feast of Pitt

Janine Ashbless said...

Ah - Gothic! Haven't seen that in years. I remember the hallucination sequence with the woman with eyes for nipples.

I may have to go rewatch Warlock now.

Janine Ashbless said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Janine Ashbless said...

Oh - btw - You'll know this Madelynne: There a kids' TV series that I sometimes catch bits of, about a vampire boy who just wants to be normal, his sulky older sister and his snobbish monster of a vampire father. I don't know what it's called ... Any ideas?
And is it just me or is the Dad a bit cute?

(I nearly described him as "Mr Vampire" but Mr Vampire is a totally different film, from Hong Kong, and just AWESOME. Hopping vampires!!!)

Portia Da Costa said...

Yeah, my favourite female vamp is Catherine Deneuve... awesome beauty.

Madeline Moore said...

I liked Gary Oldman as the Count in Coppola's version of Dracula. His shadow shifting and lunging while he remained still...ooOOOoooo. Keaneau Reeves and Winona Ryder as the young lovers were perfect, I thought. Winona begs the count, 'Take me away from all this death.' I thought it was terrific.

Jeremy Edwards said...

Unlike many kids, my childhood interest in vampires was not because of the scary-and-supernatural angle (I've always been of the hide-under-the-covers school*), but just because I thought it would be neat to have such elegant clothes and hair. Those padded coffins looked pretty comfy as beds, too.

*The hiding-under-the-covers bit was strictly a context-specific statement. I don't mean to imply that my wife has to coax me out from inside a pile of blankets to engage with me.

Angell said...

SIGH - I love vampires. They are guaranteed to make my blood boil and my knees weak and quivery.

Oh, Olivia

One more thought - the moment of blood-exchange (preferably without the actual dead-body bit afterwards), the feeling what someone else feels, gaining access to their heads - closer than sex, more heated than mind-reading, complete and perfect union: yes, please.

YES YES YES YES PLEASE....for sure, I am in total agreement with you on this.

And while I love Tom Cruise's portrayal of Lestat....Stuart Townsend is definately the sexier of the two.

(And for all Lestat fans, did anyone catch the Broadway musical? I really wanted to see it but heard mixed reviews on it.)

Vincent Copsey said...

Nah, haven't caught that one, Janine. It's all Sarah Jane Adventures, Jungle Run and Raven in our house.

Oh, and I agree that Mr Vampire is fun.

Anonymous said...

Well I rather like this scene from Interview with a Vampire. It looks as though Lestat is giving Louis a bloody, biting orgasem! Look at Brad's face! Ahh! Utter contentment ;)

http://www.tomcruisefan.com/gallery/albums/albums/movies/interview-with-the-vampire/caps/interview

Although my all time favourite Vampire (From the same film no less!) has to be Antonio Banderas as Armand.

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/3/3b/180px-Ab_vampire04.jpg

Look at his eyes! They are mesmorising!


I do hope the links work.

Megan Kerr said...

Honestly, I leave you alone for five minutes and everyone's html goes to shit! ;-)

Contentment on Brad's face and amazing eyes

Oh - and Alison - here's your feast of Pitt...

Now me & Lestat are off to blow up the world.

Megan Kerr said...

I did say I was a jumped-up supercilious arrogant little know-it-all... Now if you'll excuse me, my bath is getting cold.

Unknown said...

Ok, so as the resident self proclaimed "Vamp Smut" writer, I suppose I can throw my five cents in.

Vampires are dangerous, they are eternally good looking,(they will never be fat or bald unless they started the afterlife that way,) they are usually a little gay, and they are ALWAYS in the mood.

There are two types that I love and think of when writing my vamp smut. There is the Young & Modern . And then there is the basis for the vampires in my last book Classic Master . And the bad guy was fashioned after This One though slightly more angelic.

I love vampires. I always have and I always will. For the reasons above, plus many many more.

*sigh

Dakota Rebel
www.vampsmut.blogspot.com

Madeline Moore said...

No compilation of vampires would be complete without mention of the Count from Sesame Street. As a mom, I liked him best of all the Sesame st. characters. He had a wonderful song, too, as I recall...but I know Olivia is in the bath so I won't ask her to link to it. Nice treats you have in that tub, O! Also, I liked Will's dead on impersonation of the Count, in Will and Grace.

There, all my vampires are either listed by me, or already listed by others.

Oops - except for the 'Lost Boys' - all of them but especially Kiefer.

Unknown said...

Kristina-Becks can be whatever he wants to be-I love him to bits.

Megan Kerr said...

Pass the loofah, and could someone light my cigarette for me? (Another nice thing about vampirism - you get to smoke as much as you like.)

I only ever saw her at night, and she only drank red wine...

Ally said...

You know it's kind of funny, I loved "Lost Boys", but that was because I always had the hots for Keifer Sutherland, not because he was a vampire, and Bram's Dracula because he was a hottie too. Vampires really never did anything for me until earlier this year when I became a Lust Bites addict, and after reading so many hot excerpts, I realized what a hot turn on they can be, they added an element of danger, fear, surrender. Oh My.

I watched Queen of the Damned for the first time last weekend and totally crawled out of my skin. My husband was visiting and he kept saying 'How can you watch this stuff?' He didn't complain after the movie was over though and I crawled all over his skin.

Lestat was so hot and very seductive, I wanted him bad, but then the Queen was so hot too, she was a real bitch but man she knew how to move. She could easily seduce me too.

I also went nuts when they played one of my favorite songs "Down With the Sickness" by Disturbed, I have several of their CD's, and to be able to put that song with such a sweet new image in my mind really turns my crank.

Thanks Ladies for this oh so Lustie Bite!

Mr Madelynne Ellis said...

My recommendation for a criminally underrated vampire movie is "Martin" by George Romero, which I'm convinced inspired a song by Soft Cell. You're never sure if he's a vampire or just deranged, but it features some of the more shockingly erotic footage of sexual murder. VERY edgy.
I grew up on a diet of late night Hammer horror, and the images of Ingrid Pitt and Yutte Stensgaard dripping with cochineal are engraved on my soul.

Unknown said...

How could I forget Laurell K Hamilton?? I'm an Asher fan myself :)

TeresaNoelleRoberts said...

I love Asher myself, Kate--the destroyed beauty that just makes him and the fact that he could, with utter justification, be completely melancholic woe-is-me and most of the time he's not.

Janine Ashbless said...

Teresa, thanks for sharing about Gregg. That was moving.
Cheerful and sexy isn't everything.

Dee said...

Spike is my long-term favourite vamp (and paired with Drusilla makes a hot combination in my fantasies. Not to mention with Angelus...).

But the Black Dagger Brotherhood books have captured my lust more recently, and J.R. Ward just keeps getting better!

xx Dee