friend, the womanizing poet LordBlz'on. ThenBram Stoker'sDracala 0897) Iaid bare the pride, prejudices, and prudishness of Victorian London. Contempomry vam- pire stories havebeen more open-minded,often present- ing the ghouls as misunder- similar arxiety: 'A big part stood misfits. Beginning in of the vampire myth-and the 1980s,the vampire maybewhyit's so popular becamethe syrnbol of choice now-is that it's a counter- for "issues"-feminism, drug balance to the technological addiction, and AIDS. "Vam- wave we've been riding. pirism basically came out of We'vemadesomany the closet as metapho4,not advances,but there's that pafticularly for gay sex,but shadowpart of the psyche for an act of love that kills," that wants to pullyou back says author Neil Gaiman. and say,'Do we really have Vamps are such versatile control of everything?"' syrnbols now that they can Before we get too philo- express both conservative sophical,we should also note and liberal views. Stephenie that many newvampires are Meyer's Tfu;ilightnov els ar e young male, and smoking steeped in her Mormon hot. Behold the grand new values. C onversely, T?ue subject of vampire fiction: Your blood.Your soul.In the B/oodspeaksin part forgays The Boyfriend. Vampire meantimg they'll settle for and, as Ball puts it, "eight stories give everyone a yourtime and money. years of institutionalized glimpse ofwhatwomen Vampires have risen again- demonization of pretty want-a deep romance of and in astonishing numbers. much anygroup that wasn't the soul. Theyhave always They haunt bookstores, on the bus with Mr. Bush." been written mostly television,and movies.Why And vampires,of course, for women and, lately, by has pop culture thrown open have always embodied more women.The abundanceof its door and invited them in? timeless themes, such as the them now speaks to how " The traditional vampire fear ofdeath, the veneration muchcurrent pop cultwe story with monsters anc. ofyouth, and the conflict skews female in general. victims, chasesand chills, is betweenfaith and reason. Quips Chris Moore, author pure plain fun," says Tlae Just as Stoker's Dracula of the comic vampire novel B/oods executive producer reflected the tensionsofa YouSuck: "The ultimate in Alan Ball. "But they can society being transformed chick lit would be a vampire often reveal the general by scientific and industrial who's a shoe whore. It seems state ofthe cultural psyche." revolutions,Chuck Hogan, like the logical next step." The vampire trope is as old who coauthored TheStrain If that particular fantasy as the dirt in a bloodsucker's with Guillermo del Toro, doesn't work for you, check coffin. But the modern mold believes that our vampire out the following pages.Pop was created by the now-for- outbreak is symptomatic of culture has given all of us a gotten John Wliam Polidori, vampire to sink our teeth whose 1819gotkic novella Thp into. -Jef Jercerywith addi- Vampyreconcerned a super- tional reporting by Christina natural sexualpredator-a AmorosoandDaui.dYi withering ritr (according to literary legend)on Polidori's 24 EntertainmentWeekly 8.7.09 l|amptf,eg AcoMpLErE GUrDE EtepIente me0er Authorof the Twilightseries ;it:ri,, ::ii i:ll i1: It may come as a surprise to learn that Meyer- E:1. : ..:t.. - :::::'.:i reigrring queen of pop culture's vampire coven- has an uneasy relationship with the toothy :i:, iir :, .:.: ii :::lt;:::iti:ii i:tl ijl buggers. Back in 2003, when she was tapping out the first draft of Twilight, she refused to show it to her husband. "I was embarrassed," she said. "It was about vampires." 1n2007,as T\nilightpropelled her from a surprise YA best- seller to a multigenerational superstar, she admitted to EW that shehad never read Bram Stoker'sDracu/o.Reading other people'svampire madeher too sheexplained. :.. r" lt stories "neurotic," As a Mormon, Meyer doesn't watch R-rated movies, so that eliminated a whole other swatch of the canon. (She has seen bits of Interuiew With the Vampire and The Lost Boys on late- night TV Her respectivereviews: "Yuck!" and "Creepy!") Before the movie adaptation of Tlailightpremiered last fall, EW caught up with Meyer on the book tour for her first adult novel, TheHosf. A well-reviewed sci-fi romance that has been on best-sellerlists for nearly 60 weeks,the book offeredMeyer a chanceto move on from Edward. Her voraciousfans weren't as ready to let go. As they continue to swarm T\tsilight conven- tions, and Robert Pattinson is routinely attacked on the street ry:::_;it by ponytailed neck nibblers, Meyer has taken a vo'w of media .l+f1 silence.Last year she told EW that her great wish was to ::::::::i::lil reclaim sometime to write somethingnew. "Look, I'm not just 'f.;.,.;,:r.1 : ,::r|5f.i:::i,::, a vampire girl," she said emphatically."I can do other worlds." ;lrjr:r:::::::rrr:::ri -Karen Valby,with additionalreporting by GregoryKirschling o g- <f Lucifer,and thats howthey were mythclogyare so differentfrom they'reimmortal, they're cursed. METISSA cursedto becomevampires. minethat I nevershould have We ollwant to liveforever, == DEtA CRUZ Andthey've been trying to gain beenworried" but we don'twant to suckblood =[ Author of the Blue Bloods series redemptionby beinggotid, so I Whob the scariest vampire in to do it,right? | thinkpeople =: haveEood vampires and bad film or literature? liketo havethese deep moral Whob your favorite vampire vampires-| also wanted to tie StephenKing's Sa/ern3 lcrf just EUestionsthat don'tcome up thatb not your own? the mythologyinto American scaredthe s*- out of me,lt was in reallife, AF =E- AnneRices Lestat. He's Socratic history,so I havevampires come reailyreal. King's vampires are not Are vampires a metaphor brl andflawed and sexy-and evil, over on the Mayflower. rexy or fabulousor attractive; for anything? =7* but in a reallygood way. What are your thoughts on the they'rehorrible, evil creatures. I I alwaysthought of vampires, Whafs uniqueabout your Tirilighf phenomenon? don'twrite that muchhorror. Peoole especiallytho young-adult =dN year <-i vision of vampires? Herbook came out a beforc tell me my booksare scary but ones,as a metaphorfor sex- z\2- go 9'1 I wantedto havea little bit of a mine.I wasworried. But it didso they'renot really;I don't there. suckingblood, forbidden, taboo. zctr creationmyth, explain how they well,it liftedall the vampireand Why do peoplefind vampires i thinkthey ju$t oozesex. cameto be,so my bigtwist is paranormalgenres. So thank God so appealing? Vampiresare all the bigthemes f;:= that vampiresare fallen angels. far Twilightllfinally actually read Theyhave $omethinq we don't in lifein oneattractive, biood- They'recast out of heavenwith the book.Her vamps and her have:imnrortalily. But because suckingpackage. lllustrations by SEAN MCCABE 8.7.09Entertainment Weekly 25 FheI'Jafura/ Hrsfory of the Vampircbv AnthonyMdsters. h; 4 ,.;: It wasthe first bookwhere tiiey r1 eqtiatedserial killers with .. e' rrampiresand werewolves. What are your thoughts on the = Twilightphenomenon? I StephilnieMeyi:r has come nnd = shelstaken the qenre that I sortof - pioneered.Her original audience z wds11- and 12-year-olds, soshe- genre. veryrightly-sanitized the .9 Shetook out a lot of the sexand ffit4 =t violence,cspecially for the first >i book.My rerldershipis bothmale Bi a g; andfemale, but lwlfghf is very iF mucha girls'book.I ask people, t Why hasthis reallycaptured :x you?What i heardfrom all ages z< is that it wasvory rornantlc zF thdt =-3 hewas willirrg to waitfor herand iri LAURELLK, that therr:was no sex.They like the ideathat waslike <L HAMILTON [Bellal the fri Author of the A nita Blake, fairyprrnccss and LLdwardj rs Vampire Hunter books the handsomeprince that rides in andsaves her. The fact that Who's your favorite vampire womenare so attractedt0 that Fo thafs not youl own? idoa*thalthcy w,tnt 1o wail J.Sheridan Le Fanu s (armilla.lt for PrinceCharnrin_c1 rather than *i >^r waswritten 125 years before] takingcontrol of tlreirown life* =x BramStoker s Dracula, but I findthat frightening. Cannillahas a femalevampire and Whob the scariest vampare? a femalevictinr, and it explored l'llbe honest: Vnmpires don't scare ii lesbianthemes at a time me,never have. l've always just 9m whenyou weren't even allowed beenfascinatod hy werer,volves, to talkabout ii. shape-shi{1crs,and vampires, When and how did you envision sincelwas snall. lalways liked z; your first vampire? .rnythingthat couldeat you. WhenI wasabout 7, lwas Why are vampires appealing? <; allowedto stayup and watch the It s a wayto be veryscared and .Y2 CreatureFeature Hour, and they sensualand hava violent passtons eil hadthe olciHarnmer vampire andstili brr safc. Yor.r'r'c si[linq rn '[ 2{ films like VanttrtirtCric*-s. hose yorirfavorite ch.rir, with hoIcocoa, <€ nroviesreally sunk into my andwhen you closet the book,your m- psyche.sa/enb lof by Stephen world isstill there. Yo#re safe. =< Kingwas important, because his €< vampireswere rrodern-day. And P: -fi ?^; +z VampireHair: The Kindest Cuts f= you Once go Blacula,you'll never go backula! ;= ;> HR oi Christopher William Kiefer Tomcruise Eddie tuGary Leein Dracular Marshallin Sutherlandin in/nteryrew Murphyin oldmanin 6C Princeof Blacula TheLostBoys Withthe Vampire Bramstoker,s Darkness 7972 1987 Vampire ln Erooklyn Dreua 1966 t994 1995 1992 q= t? 26 EntertainmentWeekly 8.7.09 lnm&iret AcoMpLErE GurDE :-ijr,:::, 1 ::i .'.:::i:i:;: SOOKIESTACKHOUSE ANDMEby firwtpine frwi8 When I begantrying to imaginethe novel I wanted to write, I knew only two things about this novel The protagonistwould be a worhan who was dating a vampire,and the bookwould beboth funny and bloody. In 1998,there were hot that many strong women charactersin the science-fictionfield, and I was constructingmy heroine from new material.