When I was writing the Third Edition of the Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror, I originally had over 20 annotated choices per subgenre appearing in chapter 4-13. However, for word count sake, I had to reduce each lists to a well packaged dozen. Obviously making the cuts was hard, but I was able to include the tittles of those deleted annotations in an appendix at the end of the book with a promise that the annotations would run here on the blog.
And that promise begins today. Each list will be posted on the blog over a series of 10 weeks, every Tuesday, beginning June 1, 2021 and running through August 3, 2021. This weekly series will serve to promote the book's upcoming release in August of 2021, but I have also created an archive of all of the lists that will live here. That page is the official index of this bonus content.
In the book, my top three choices in each list are marked to denote Becky's Picks. I will also do that in these lists to give you a place to begin as you suggest. Just like the titles in the print book, every title appearing here is a great options for all public libraries. You can use these lists for collection development, displays, lists, and suggestions. Each subgenre has an essay discussing its history and appeal in the book which you can order here.
Bonus Annotations
Chapter 5: Vampire Menace
[+] Denotes Becky’s Picks
Ajvide Lindqvist, John. Let Me In. 2004
Originally translated from the Swedish as, Let the Right One In, but changed to reflect the title of the popular film adaptation in 2010, Lindqvist’s novel is a unique, dark take on the vampire tale. Twelve-year-old Oskar is a total outcast and obsessed with serial killers. Eli is a young, pale, foul smelling girl who happens to also be a vampire. The two develop a macabre friendship which leads to violence as Eli tries to protect Oskar from being drowned by a gang of bullies. With a frame of childhood trauma and a compelling writing style, this is a haunting tale that will stay with you long after you finish it. The story of Oskar and Eli was continued in Let the Old Dreams Die.
Barnes, J.S. Dracula’s Child. 2020.
Answering the question of what came next for Jonathan and Mina Harker after the end of Dracula, Barnes tells the story of their son, Quincey on the eve of WWI. Told through found journal entries, newspaper clippings, and letters mostly set during the events of Quincey's 13th year, it is clear that not only is Count Dracula not truly vanquished but rather, he is merely waiting for a return that involves a very steep price. This is an ominous and dark story with a pace and sense of dread that steadily and relentlessly increases and will appeal to fans of historical horror and vampires alike.
+Cronin, Justin. The Passage Trilogy begins The Passage. 2010.
A virus which turns people into vampires has decimated North America. Fed up with living in fear, a band of survivors hook up with a mysteriously ageless young girl and attempt to regain control of the world. The Passage is an absorbing, frightening, action-packed story which ends with the mother-of-all cliff hangers and a promise of two more installments. This novel was widely acclaimed as one of the best novels of 2010, in all fiction. The trilogy continues with The Twelve and comes to a satisfying conclusion with The City of Mirrors.
+DiLouie, Craig. Suffer the Children. 2014.
Out of nowhere, every prepubescent child in the world dies, on a single day. The world is devastated and grieving, pundits and scientists struggle to find answers, and then a few days later, as quickly as they died, the children all climb out of their graves and return to their families. Relief is quickly replaced by terror as it becomes clear that these children all require human blood in order to stay alive. A killer of a setup for sure, but DiLouie manages to heighten the emotional response and ratchet up the terror even more by focusing on the personal experiences of specific families.
+Engstrom, Elizabeth. Black Ambrosia. 2019.
Angelina Watson is a vampire trying to survive in 1980s America. It isn’t easy when you have to ignore your hunger for blood. But Angelina doesn’t refrain from draining the people she meets in her travels hitchhiking across hardscrabble, blue collar America out of guilt or even kindness. Rather, the more she feeds, the easier it will be for her ex-lover to find her, and he wants her dead. This disturbing and violent vampire pulp classic with much to say about its time and place was re-released as part of Grady Hendrix’s Paperbacks from Hell series and features an introduction by the best selling author which takes a fresh look at Engstrom’s tale from a 21st Century perspective.
Fuentes, Carlos, translated by E. Shaskan Bumas and Alejandro Branger. Vlad. 2004.
In this Dracula update, Yves, an attorney in Mexico City, is asked to find a home for his boss’s wealthy, Eastern European friend. His wife, a realtor, takes the list of strange requirements, such as black out windows, in stride. When Yves visits his new client, he blacks out, coming back to consciousness and exploring the house only to realize that he is trapped in the home of a vampire. This short, menacing, and compelling story follows the pattern set up by Stoker, but tells its own modern version of the Count’s story including vivid descriptions of the inside of his home. The perfect suggestion for readers seeking to know “where is he now?” told by a stalwart of modern Mexican literature.
Gaiman, Neil [story] and Doran Collen [adaptor]. Snow, Glass, Apples. 2019.
Based on the Gaiman short story which completely flips the Snow White story on its head imagining that the evil stepmother is not as bad as we thought, trying to stop the seductress vampire Snow White and her evil minions, the dwarves, from destroying the kingdom. This beautiful and creepy graphic novel adaptation uses a lavish stained glass inspired style to bring the unsettling story to life. A great suggestion for fans of dark retellings of fairy tales, but beware, this is not your childhood fairy tale, there is violence and sex. Snow, Glass, Apples won the 2019 Bram Stoker Award for Best Graphic Novel.
Janz, Jonathan. Dust Devils. 2014.
Talk about the “Wild” West. New Mexico, 1885 and Cody’s wife was murdered after accepting a role with a travelling acting troupe. Cody follows the actors from a distance, meeting twelve year old Willet who is doing the same thing. But this is no innocent theater company; it is actually made up of vampires who are constantly hungry for fresh blood. Cody and Willet set off together, creating a father-son bond, out to avenge their loved one’s death, but this troupe of vampires gains strength with every stop. Can mere mortals stop them? Expect Western tropes, bloody and sexually explicit carnage, and lots of fast paced action. Janz is the leading purveyor of today’s pulp horror and this, his entry into the vampire subgenre, does not disappoint.
Klinger, Leslie S. The New Annotated Dracula. 2008.
You may have heard of Dracula, but have you ever read the book? Count Dracula hides during the day, but from dusk to dawn has the strength of twenty men, can summon armies of rats, and, oh yes, he seeks human victims from whom he can suck their blood. Written in an epistolary style, Dracula is compelling, suspenseful, and surprising. This is a classic novel for which you may need to keep multiple copies on the shelf. It continues to suck in new readers over 100 years after its first publication. Library workers should seek out this edition, edited by Leslie S. Klinger with an introduction by Neil Gaiman. It contains the entire text of the novel with the inclusion of over 1,500 annotations that add historical context and interest to this classic work.
Kostova, Elizabeth. The Historian. 2005.
In this creepy, literary thriller, a young woman begins researching the provenance of a mysterious book she finds amongst her father’s belongings. The book has an ominous note and a chilling history linking it to Vlad the Impaler. As she dives further into her research, the story vacillates between three time periods, the atmosphere gets more and more oppressive and the bloodthirsty threat becomes terrifyingly real. Told through a mixture of narratives, flashbacks, and letters, the story moves swiftly, but yet, holds back just enough to suspensefully sustain and prolong the terror.
Maberry, Jonathan. V Wars. 2014.
In this horror-thriller series, told in episodic bursts by a variety of authors based on the concept conceived and overseen by Maberry, a long buried disease is unknowingly released in Antarctica and infects the world. Activating long dormant “junk” DNA, this disease transforms some people into monsters, explaining why there have been centuries of folklore about creatures such as vampires and werewolves. But the ensuing conflict is much worse than those stories could have predicted. The series is presented as a chronicle of the wars, and with different authors taking turns at the helm, the overall effect is a fast paced tale which gives readers a birds eye view of the terror, dread, and action. V Wars is currently up to a four book series and is also available in comic book and Netflix television formats.
Snyder, Scott. American Vampire Series. 2010.
This graphic novel series imagines the history of the 20th century as a battle between the “Old World” vampires, who cannot go out in daylight and control all the power and wealth in America versus Skinner, the supremely evil leader of the “New World” vampires, who can tolerate daylight but has another, secret weakness. The dual appeal for readers here is the violent, new vampire mythology paired with historical fiction featuring vampires from the Wild West to WWII and even into space. Because the first book in the series includes a story written by Stephen King, this is a series with enduring appeal.
Villareal, Raymond A. A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising. 2018.
In this political thriller told from multiple points of view and using a variety of primary “documents,” such as interviews and official CDC reports, readers sit back and watch a blood virus pandemic sweep the globe in real time. As more people, including celebrities and politicians become infected, not everyone thinks the vampire virus is a problem; in fact some are excited about the enhancements it brings and begin working to change social structure and laws to protect [and benefit] the “gloamings,” as they refer to themselves. Written before the real life pandemic of 2020, this is a prescient geo-political thriller with plenty of vampire action.
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