Vampires are always in fashion.

Good memories of the Golden Urban Fantasy era

I read a lot during the urban fantasy golden age between 2010 and 2018. I mean a lot. Ilona Andrews and Patricia Briggs are still on my watchlist, and when a new Mercy Thompson book hits the market, I buy it. The same goes for Ilona Andrews’ books, except I must admit they publish them faster than I have time to read them. And I keep going back to the old Kate Daniels books because... I must admit, I’m a UF gal.

When I started writing my novel ten years ago, it was supposed to be urban fantasy. The opening pages are still quite UF, but as I grew up and my tastes became more defined, they got a major overhaul too. Now it starts out with an urban fantasy-esque feel, then turns into something I find hard to define. It has some epicness of regular fantasy, the modern world with Nokias, gods and angels and magic all in the open... But no private detectives. No finding murderers. Just a woman who wants everyone to leave her alone but gets dragged on the journey anyway.

I am lucky there is the genre of dark contemporary fantasy. That covers my series quite nicely. Elements of folklore, urban fantasy, horror, psychological tension, and of course romance.

I digress, again.

Vampires. Buffy. Damon. Stefan. The People. LESTAT.

I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer when I was a teen. I still do. I binge-watched The Vampire Diaries as an adult back in the day (had to distract myself from studying somehow) and read a lot of vampire books. My favourites, Ilona Andrews and Patricia Briggs, had quite different takes on the bloodsuckers. Ilona and Gordon went for a more unusual kind of raging monster, remotely drivable by the People (I actually stole... I mean borrowed this idea for my book, except with draugar), while Patricia went for the more classic “seductive bloodsucker” type.

I approve of both.


Now that I’m watching The Vampire Lestat (and drooling over Sam Reid), I can’t help but think the classic vampires are, well, classy. Anne Rice’s books are on my shelf, and I’ve read them a thousand times. I first read them as a teenager, and I was hooked. On Lestat, I mean. Interview with the Vampire lacked that same mix of intense charisma, sensuality, self-centredness, intense loyalty, toxic limerence and deep vulnerability. I think Sam Reid captures that quite well.

Usually, I have a deep distaste for changing an original story as much as AMC has (Rice’s vampires didn’t bone; they got their jollies from sucking blood). As a purist, that bothers me, but Reid’s performance keeps me hooked.

My story has vampires, even a vampire club. I can’t shake the UF influence here, but the club only appears once, and it actually serves a bigger purpose in the plot, so please forgive me!

The vampires themselves don’t play such a big role (the love interest is NOT a vampire! Dammit.) since I focus on draugar, but I can’t cut them out either. I have a spin-off short story or two in mind where they’ll play a bigger role. My vampires aren’t as flamboyant as Rice’s, though I admit I’m tempted to change that. I love good vampire tales. They’re so wonderfully gothic and pompous. My vampires are more in Buffy’s style, undead and in need of a stake.

But I did wonder whether I should include them. Isn’t that a cliche, vampires and a vampire club?

But as the popularity of Louis and Lestat still carries the love for fangs to this day, after 50 years (Interview with the Vampire was published in 1976, imagine that! Congratulations, Lestat!), and Buffy is still quite popular 23 years after the series ended, I think we fang-girlies are safe.

Vampires are always in fashion.

Yours,

The Author



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