Believe it or not, except where noted, I have actually read all of these books. The ones I haven't read yet, I own and they are in my big stack of "stuff to read". I also have a stack of vampire paperbacks that people have given me, or I have gotten cheap that I may never read. I like vampire books with a good story, where the vampire is the central character or narrator. I do not like unneccesary gore, or apocalyptic "the world's been overrun with vampires" type books, I like the story to have some basis in reality. A little romantic interest is not a bad thing, either. I also read some werewolf and ghost stories, gothic/suspense type books, and anything by Shirley Jackson. If this appeals to you, read on!
NOTE: Most of these books are still in print, but a few must be found in your local used book store.

NEW STUFF OF NOTE:

Some of these are not brand new, but things I've recently discovered searching though Amazon.com... They make up a great part of my "to read" file.

Other Worlds by Barbara Michaels is now available in PB. It's a mystery/suspense book that pits Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, amongst other sleuths, out to solve two unsolved supernatural cases.

Nevermore by Harold Schechter is a mystery involving non other than Edgar Allen Poe himself.

Midnight Enchantment by Nancy Gideon (who writes incredible vampire/romance books, with the focus on vampire) is out in trade PB form.

Beneath a Blood Red Moon by Shannon Drake is a New Orleans vampire story, which might be in either the Romantic Suspense of Horror section.

The Passion by Donna Boyd is a romantic suspense novel about werewolves.

Mary Ann Mitchell has a vampire series out about the Marquis de Sade. The most recent is Quenched, and the previous one is Sips of Blood.

Richard Laymon's novel Bite is out in paperback and promises to be an interesting vampire read.

Homebody by Orson Scott Card (the author of Lost Boys) just came out in paperback is an eerie novel about a haunted house.

The first of the new series of Dark Shadows novels is out. It's called "Angelique's Descent" and is written by Lara Parker, who, ironically enough, played Angelique in the '66 series. It starts off kind of rough, but the writing evens out after a few chapters and is actually surprisingly good.

The second of the Dark Shadows novels, "Dreams of the Dark" by Stephen Mark Rainey and Elizabeth Massie is now available in PB also. It's part of my "to read" pile but friends who have read it say it's quite good.

Elaine Bergstrom: "Shattered Glass", "Blood Alone", "Blood Rites" and "Daughter of the Night" (about Elizabeth Bathori). All are very good and tell the story of a family of elegant vampires. I just picked up a new book of hers called "The Door Through Washington Square", which promises to be a suspense novel about a young woman discovering old family secrets involving Aleister Crowley. Also see Marie Kiraly

Poppy Z. Brite: "Lost Souls", Drawing Blood". Poppy writes beautiful, grim, deeply disturbing stories of contemporary teen vampires. Lots of Gen X angst. "Lost Souls" has a good portion of it set in New Orleans. (I haven't read "Drawing Blood" yet)

Michaels Cecilione: "Thirst" and "Domination". I haven't read either of these yet, I think I'll read "Thirst" first, it looks better. "Domination" seems to be about some sort of underground vampire sex slave society.

Scott Ciencin: "Vampire Odyssey", "The Wildings", "Parliament of Blood". Gory, but well written stories of gangs of roving young vampires.

P.N. Elrod: She has two Vampire series, there are six "Vampire Files" books about a vampire detective in the 30's )the seventh "A Chill In The Blood" is available in PB now. I have recently acquired the newest VF book, "The Dark Sleep" in hardback, but it's due for a PB release if it hasn't already been. There are also three "Jonathan Barrett" books, which are set beginning in the late 1700's. (Look for her stuff in the Sci-Fi/ Fantasy section if you can't find them in Horror).

Christopher Golden: "Of Saints and Shadows", "Angel Souls and Devil Hearts", and just available is the latest, "Of Masques and Martyrs". I haven't started in on these yet, but they look really good. Secret societies tracking down vampires, etc.

Pat Graverson: "Precious Blood". This is supposed to be the second of a series, I hope the first one was better. I'm not sure why I even finished this book. The story is stupid and unbelievable, the female lead is a transient, drug taking vampire. The convoluted storyline made no sense at all, apparently you had to read the first book.

Wendy Haley: "This Dark Paradise" and "These Fallen Angels". Old southern vampire family, really good story (might be in Romance or Sci-Fi/Fantasy section).

Nancy Kilpatrick: "Near Death". Really different modern day, sort of punk-edged vampire story. I recently found that she has continued to write vampire novels, including "Reborn" and "Child of the Night".

Brent Monahan: "The Book of Common Dread" & "The Blood of the Covenant". Very intelligently written, if you like "Anno Dracula", read these.

Jonathan Nasaw: "The World on Blood", is about vampires and witches. Excellent and very unique book. The sequel "Shadows" is out in PB also.

Kim Newman: "Anno Dracula" is a very intelligent, witty book, that has lots of inside references to other vampire books. I haven't read the sequel yet, "The Bloody Red Baron", but I plan to. The third Anno Dracula book is out in paperback now, Judgment of Tears - Anno Dracula 1959.

Anne Rice: "Interview With the Vampire", "The Vampire Lestat", "Queen of the Damned", "Tale of the Body Thief", and "Memnoch the Devil". I've been in the Anne Rice Fan Club for years, but I gotta say my interest in her fiction has diminished with every new book. "IWTV" changed my life, and "TVL" helped me through a real low point in my life, but "QOTD" is too bizarre in my opinion, "TOTBT" was boring, and I haven't read "Memnoch". I heartily recommend the first two books, especially the first one. The rest and her other books ,"The Witching Hour", "Lasher", etc. are just too overdone for me. Too many characters, way too long, too much philosophizing and too little storyline. "The Mummy" starts off well, then turns into a gorefest for no reason. She's supposed to be writing a new vampire book. If it's less than 800 pages, I'll probably check it out!

Fred Saberhagen: "The Dracula Tape", "The Holmes-Dracula File", "A Matter of Taste", and many more. Saberhagen has a number of "Dracula" series books that I read years ago, but were quite good. "Seance for A Vampire" was just released 1/98 in paperback.

Karen Taylor: "Blood Secrets", Bitter Blood", and "Blood Ties". Liberated female vampire! Ignore the hokey cover and description and check it out! All three have recently been re-released in paperback. Update: Volumes 4 & 5 are out, "The Vampire VIvienne" and "Resurrection".

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: Has a huge series revolving around Count Saint-Germain. Her books are interesting, but can be very slow. C.Q.Y. is a historian and her books have more history than vampirism in them. Try the early books like "Hotel Transylvania", "The Palace" and "Blood Games".

The following books are all in the Romance section, but try them. I think the authors are all really frustrated horror writers!

Nancy Gideon: "Midnight Kiss", "Midnight Temptation", and "Midnight Surrender" (Very good stories & lots of vampirism!) The newest book just came out this past December, "Midnight Enchantment".

Lori Herter: "Obsession", "Possession", "Confession" and "Eternity". The first one of these books progresses towards the vampire storyline rather slowly, and reads at first like a bad romance, but it gets better as it goes on. The other three books are better.

Cherylyn Jac: "Night's Immortal Kiss" and "Night's Immortal Touch". The first book is pretty lame, but the second one is better. Louisiana/ New Orleans setting. There's supposed to be a third book coming out, but I haven't seen it.

Linda Lael Miller: "Forever & the Night", "For All Eternity", "Time Without End", "Tonight and Always". Good story, interesting characters, more vampire than romance. Time travelling vampires, would appeal to Dark Shadows fans.

Christine Feehan has a series of vampire romances, "Dark Prince", "Dark Desire" and "Dark Gold", and I believe another is due for release this summer.

Amanda Ashley has a vampire romance series. "Embrace The Night", "Deeper Than the Night", Sunlight, Moonlight", "A Darker Dream" and the latest "Shades of Gray". The first one is more romance than vampire (and is kind of hard to get through if you're not a romance reader), but the series gets better as it goes on, and the latest book is actually really good. I just recently bought "Sunlight, Moonlight" used because I didn't realize it was a vampire book. The cover shows a tan Fabio-type guy and the word "Sunlight", but it has a second cover beneath that has the vampire and the word "Moonlight". (Warning: it's two books in one. The first part, "Sunlight", is about a tan guy who looks like Fabio, but he's from outer space. I started trudging through it before realizing that the second half of the book is what I really wanted to read. It was an "OK" vampire story that starts off really strange, and improves as it goes on. I still like "Shades of Gray" the best, though.

Cheri Scotch: I bought "The Werewolf's Kiss" , because I like horror romances and because it was set in New Orleans. It's a 1992 book that I found in the romance section of Half Priced Books, and it turned out to be quite good. It's got voodoo queens, lots of werewolves, and a lot of authentic local scenery. Worth looking for!

Nancy Gottlieb: "Love Bite" Good book made into a good TV movie "Deadly Love" with Susan Dey. More feminist vampires.

Barbara Hambly: "Those Who Hunt the Night" and "Travelling With the Dead". Read TWHTN years ago, remember it was a great Victorian era book. Just got TWTD, it's good but was a hard read for some reason. (Too many obscure words?)

Tom Holland: "Lord of the Dead". I tried to read this, but it bored me to tears. He's got a sequel to it out in HB, also.

Sabine Kells: "A Deeper Hunger". Look for it in the romance section of your used book store. Great, surprise ending story!

Christopher Moore: "Bloodsucking Fiends" Truly funny, off-the-wall story of a young woman who gets converted and recruits a young man to help her cope with her new "life". I'm not sure if this is in paperback yet. Look for it in the "new fiction" or "literature" section.

Gail Petersen: "The Making of a Monster". Really good, realistic story of what would happen if you got attacked and killed by a vampire tomorrow. (Probably a used book only)

Sisters of the Night: Edited by Barbara Hambly & Martin H. Greenberg (new to paperback with great cover art!)

Blood is Not Enough: Edited by Ellen Datlow

Love In Vein: Edited by Poppy Z. Brite. Vampire erotica.

Night Bites - Vampire Stories by Women: Edited by Victoria A. Brownworth

The Time of the Vampires: Edited by P.N. Elrod and Martin H. Greenberg

A Whispering of Blood: Edited by Ellen Datlow

After Midnight a vampire trilogy by authors Carol Finch, Colleen Faulkner and Karen Ranney is in the Romance section of your local bookstore.

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Piercing the Darkness, Undercover With Vampires in America Today: Katherine Ramsland. Interesting overview by Anne Rice biographer Katherine Ramsland of the underground world of vampires today. I will be adding this to my store stock as soon as I get it scanned.

American Vampires: Norine Dresser. This is a good book by folklorist Dresser about how the vampire myth had affected American society. I especially like it because I participated in the survey for the book and am quoted twice within it. It's also how I also met my husband (his vampire fan club is listed in the back!).

Blood Lust: Carol Page. I really don't like this book because of Page's snide attitude towards her research subjects.

Something in the Blood The Underground World of Today's Vampires: Jeff Guinn with Andy Grieser Interviews with a cross section of "vampires" and other blood drinkers, including the ever present Vlad (of the band 'The Dark Theater' and Dark Rose. Interesting, but not enough pictures of the people, lots of Lugosi interspersed throughout.

Vampires Among Us and The Complete Vampire Companion: Rosemary Ellen Guiley. I really like the more recent "CVC" best, though the first one has some interesting stories.

The Vampire Book: J. Gorton Melton. Huge vampire reference guide.

Vampires, Burial and Death - Folklore and Reality: Paul Barber. Scholarly, folklorist book about the vampire myth. Still interesting, though.

The Vampire Encyclopedia: Matthew Bunson. Another good reference book about everything about vampires.

Vampires- Restless Creatures of the Night: Jean Marigny. Pretty little book full of all sorts of neat gothic vampire images. If you have a "Half Priced Books" in your town, they always seem to have tons of new copies.

Ann Arensberg: "Sister Wolf". If you can find this book at your local used book store, or library, please read it. It's sort of a girl's book, about an eccentric young woman who relates just a little too much to the wolves she keeps on her estate. I would love to find something else she has written. It's very Shirley Jackson-esque. Just re-released in trade paperback form, check Amazon.com for info! Her newest novel, "Incubus" had just been released in paperback also I believe.

Lois Battle: "Storyville". This is not a horror or suspense book, but I'm including it because it is a wonderful narrative of a young poor woman's life in turn-of-the-century New Orleans, and how she rises out of it by becoming a prostitute in the legendary "Storyville" red light district of New Orleans. It's a great story, and the New Orleans setting is very vividly drawn.

Elizabeth Bergstrom: "Lizzie Borden". This is a really interesting book, written from Lizzie's perspective of what made her do what she had to do. If you can find this in your used book store, and have any interest in this character, read it! (It's very candid about the lesbian aspect of her life, also)

Tracy Briery: "The Werewolf Chronicles" and"Wolfsong". California girl gets bit by werewolf. Both are actually fairly good. This is amazing considering the first book I read by Briery "The Vampire Memoirs" was just awful!

Elizabeth Hand: "Waking the Moon". Complex, bizarre story of mythology gone haywire. Really interesting book.

Judith Hawkes: "Julian's House". Good ghost story about a young couple who are paranormal researchers and get too caught up in their own research. I just finished her new one, "My Soul to Keep", and it's good also, but not quite as scary. It's about a woman going back to live at her inherited grandmother's house where a childhood friend of hers was killed in front of her years ago, and now the child's ghost is haunting her and her son. She also has a recent book called "The Heart of a Witch", which I think is the best one yet. It's about two twins (a boy and a girl) who get caught up in a local coven of witches and have to test their courage and strength against a number of supernatural obstacles, as well as a number of emotional conflicts between themselves. Great story and interesting characters as well as being a good primer in Wicca, though there's a lot more free love in this book than I've come across in the craft. Maybe I'm missing out on something ; )

Alice Hoffman: "Practical Magic". This isn't a horror story, but it does qualify as suspense. It's about two sisters growing up with two eccentric aunts who are witches, and how this affects their lives as they grow older, especially when they run into a malevolent haunting by a dead ex-boyfriend. This really is a magical book. They've recently made a movie of it (cool website, check it out!), with Nicole Kidman and Sondra Bullock playing the sisters (not bad, the book's better, but what's new?). I've also read "Here on Earth" which is really good, but rather grim, and I just finished "Seventh Heaven" which is more fun.

Marie Kiraly: "Mina-The Dracula Story Continues", "Leanna-The Possession of a Woman", and "Madeline-After the Fall of Usher". I wondered why these books were so good, and just recently discovered it's because Marie Kiraly is also Elaine Bergstrom, whose books I have read for years. "Mina" is about what happens to Mina after Dracula is killed. "Leanna" is about a woman writer obsessed by the story of a woman who was apparently killed by her lover in New Orleans, and who was involved in voodoo. The writer moves to New Orleans, lives in her apartment, becomes possessed by the ghost, and solves the real mystery of her death. "Madeline" is full of Druids, incest, romance, and Edgar Allen Poe himself is a main character.

Michael Llewellyn "Twelth Night" is also included because it's a suspense type book about antebellum New Orleans. Murder and intrigue in the midst of Mardi Gras, voodoo, insight on the lives of the Quadroon mistresses of the wealthy Creoles... Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, as well as a very gripping storyline. Brand new book (1/98).

Valerie Martin: "Mary Reilly" and "The Great Divorce". The book "Mary Reilly" makes a lot more sense than the movie, and is a dark and spooky book. "The Great Divorce" does have a divorce in it, but read it for the young female character who thinks she is turning into a jaguar. It's set in New Orleans, and is very well written.

Carol O'Connell: I noticed "Stone Angel" by because of the lovely cover of an angel in a graveyard, and bought it after reading the synopsis on the back (a woman comes back to solve the mystery of her mother's murder when she was a child in a small Louisiana town). It promised a slew of Southern Gothic characters, and it delivered them beautifully. This is the fourth of a four book series about a female detective named Mallory who is also a computer hacker, and one of the best characters I've found in years. The first three books are, in order, "Mallory's Oracle", "The Man Who Cast Two Shadows", and "Killing Critics". Her newest is "Judas Child", is in hardback only and doesn't appear to carry on with Mallory's character. I don't normally read mysteries unless they have a supernatural slant, but O'Connell's writing is suspenseful and emotionally moving.

Dan Simmons: "Summer of Night". This is the only book by Simmons that I like, but it's a great book. It's the "Stand by Me" boys meet the demons from hell. This would make a great movie!

Thomas Tryon: "The Other" and "Harvest Home". Both of these classics have been made into very good, faithful movie adaptations, but read the books too. Especially "Harvest Home". Tryon was a hell of a writer.

John Updike: "The Witches of Eastwick". This was a great book, unfortunately the movie bears little resemblance to it.

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True women's Gothic/ Suspense books are not really being written anymore, except perhaps by Barbara Michaels. A few years ago Zebra and Silhouette made a go at reviving the genre, but they weren't very good, and I haven't seen any lately. In the decade between approximately 1965 and 1976 , there was an onslaught of paperback Gothics, also called Suspense books, aimed at women. The market was so lucrative that many were written by male authors using female pseudonyms, such as hacks like Dan Ross (aka Marilyn Ross, responsible for the series of terribly written Dark Shadows books). I have a collection of over 400 of these easily available, very inexpensive books, many bought only for the great cover art - typically a woman running away from a house with one window lit. (CLICK HERE FOR COVER ART EXAMPLES) When you can get them for 10¢, it's hard to resist! Some of them were actually well written, but most of them were as hastily turned out as many of the cheesy vampire novels are today. The storylines ususally go like this- woman in peril, sometimes with a child to protect, goes to a place she's never been before, usually has some involvement with one or two men who are attractive in a dangerous way, she usually can't trust anyone, and it's often set in a spooky or otherwise isolated place, and can be modern day or a 19'th century setting.

Barbara Michaels is my favorite author of this genre. Her books are good, satisfying, fairly quick reads. She is a prolific writer who also writes women's mysteries under the name Elizabeth Peters. Most of her novels are set in the present, with the exception of some of her earlier books: "Greygallows", "The Master of Blacktower", "The Wizard's Daughter", and "Sons of the Wolf". When I lend someone one of her books, it's usually "Shattered Silk", about a young woman with an antique clothing business. Other good ones to start off with are "Smoke and Mirrors", "Search the Shadows", and the spooky ghost story "Ammie Come Home". Look for her stuff in the Horror or Mystery section. "The Dancing Floor" and "Other Worlds" are her two most recent paperbacks.

Mary Stewart is also very well known and loved. She has been writing since (I believe) the late 1950's or early 1960's. She also has many novels still in print, and most are set in England, or on some exotic vacation locale. My favorite of hers is "Thornyhold".

When you are looking at the dime paperbacks, and you actually want a good story and a cool cover, here are some names to look for. They each turned out lots of books.
The best ones are Victoria Holt, Norah Lofts, and Phyllis Whitney. These authors are still writing and can usually be found in the Romance section.
Also fun are Dorothy Eden, Dorothy Daniels, Virginia Coffman, and Janet Louise Roberts. Roberts wrote really trashy gothics. Usually gothics had little or no sex in them, but she pushed the envelope for that time period.

My favorite author of all time is Shirley Jackson, and if you haven't read her, you are missing out on some of the greatest fiction ever written. Her writing is so good it's actually hard to describe. She draws the greatest character studies I've ever read, and is a master of understatement. Every word she writes is integral to her story. Not all her books are horror suspense, but everything she wrote was brilliant.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle: This is the first thing I ever read of hers, and I think it's my favorite. I found the book at a garage sale and bought it because of the incredible cover. It's the story of two spooky young sisters, who are living alone, taking care of their grandfather after their entire family dies from poisoning. They are shunned by the local town people because they are believed to have been the ones that killed their family.

The Haunting of Hill House: This is the book the movie "The Haunting" (old and new) was based upon, and while the movie is very dark and creepy, the book is genuinely scary. Wonderfully atmospheric, and the characters are so much more developed than in the movie.

The Sundial: What would happen if you just knew the world was going to come to an end? That's the premise of this book, and it's wonderfully warped.

The Road Through the Wall: Magical story of small town America, full of smiling hypocrites.

The Lottery: Classic harrowing short story that inspired generations of writers. It usually comes with a collection of some of her other short stories.

The Bird's Nest: The story of a woman with multiple personalities. Predated "The Story of Eve". Read it recently, great and rather disturbing book! It's about a young woman with multiple personalities (four to be exact) and predated "The Three Faces of Eve". It was actually made into a movie also, called "Lizzie". It was based upon a true case of multiple personality disorder, which in the early fifties was an unheard of subject.

One Fine Day: A brand new collection of her unpublished short stories discovered in a trunk in an attic (believe it or not). This just came out before Christmas, so it's still only available in hardback.

She also has written several other books about life with her family, Raising Demons and Life Among the Savages which I haven't read yet. There was also a biography of her published in 1988 by Judy Oppenheimer called Private Demons- The Life of Shirley Jackson. She was a rebellious young woman who was a disappointment to her mother, and later in life was a reclusive slightly mad genius, plagued by vices of excess, such as smoking and drinking, ala Edgar Allan Poe, which led to her premature death. When you read her stories, you can't help but believe she is either a genius, or a madwoman. I believe she was both.

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UPDATED 3.20.2005

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