Vampire/Zombie books

[Zeewolf]

Hi guys,

I really want to read some vampire & zombie genre books, could you help me out and recommend me some please? Many thanks, I appreciate your help.
I imagine there are a quite a few vampire books out there but I've never really heard of any zombie genre books.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ravenus]

I'm not sure if Zombies feature very prominently in novels...you could look for The Giant Book of Zombies, a decent short story collection (edited by Ramsey Campbell if I'm not wrong).

As for Vampires, here's a few...

Dracula - Bram Stoker
I am Legend - Richard Matheson
Fevre Dream - George RR Martin
Salem's Lot - Stephen King

 

[Princess Ivy]

Anne rice for vampires

 

[PurpleDragon]

If you're going to read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, start with 'Interview' and read them in order. I picked up 'Blood & Gold' and put it straight back down again as it was littered with referenced to other characters and events in the other books. I then read 'Interview,' then 'Lestat' and the next few and now I'm hooked.

 

[ravenus]

Anne rice for vampires

if you want to get your fill of effeminate gay vamps who, oh occasionally, like to take a drop of blood...

 

[Space Monkey]

I love Anne Rice's vampires, and agree that you need to read at least the first five chronicles in order to get to know the main 'crew'.
Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake series has its fill of vampires and zombies (as well as were-creatures of all varieties) and they're quick, fun reads if you can deal with Anita's constant cynicism and point proving attitude. Drives me crazy personally, but something has to be said for it because I've read about the first seven books...

 

[Circus Cranium]

I love the Anita Blake series for vamps.

For zombies and fun like that, there's a new collection out that I reviewed that's really good. It's called Madmen's Dreams. Here's the link.

http://www.rockcrown.com/permuted/madmensdreams.php

 

[LadyFel]

Necroscope series by Brian Lumley for vampyres definitely...they're amazing...no other word for it, I don't really like that genre, but this is...amazing...

 

[warlock]

Simon Clark's Blood Crazy - it features zombies (to all intents and purposes). For a more fantasy approach to zombies, Tim Powers' On Stranger Shores is a good mix of pirates, magic and zombies

 

[Disnatured]

Have to agree about Lumley his vamps are horrific. Total lack of care and compassion just the way they should be. None of that wimpy vamps in love garbage that Rice seems to prattle on about constantly. His vampire world trilogy is awesome either read alongside the necroscope series or as a series by itself. Rich history and also provides an interesting take on some of the myths about vampires.

 

[Culhwch]

Have to agree about Lumley his vamps are horrific. Total lack of care and compassion just the way they should be. None of that wimpy vamps in love garbage that Rice seems to prattle on about constantly. His vampire world trilogy is awesome either read alongside the necroscope series or as a series by itself. Rich history and also provides an interesting take on some of the myths about vampires.

I've been wanting to read the Necroscope books for awhile... Where do I start?

 

[terryweide]

When I was a kid, I liked the Dracula series by Robert Lory. Some of the titles were The Hand of Dracula, The Witching of Dracula, The Drums of Dracula, etc.

Terry

 

[Disnatured]

The Necroscope series is as follows

The Necroscope
Wamphyri!
The Source
Deadspeak
Deadspawn

The Vampire world series fits in about here but can be read seperatly without reading the previous five.

Blood Brothers
The last aerie
Bloodwars

Necroscope the lost years years books come next

Necroscope the lost years volume 1
Resurgence necroscope the lost years volume 2

The latest in the saga are the E-branch series

Invaders
Defilers
Avengers

Hope that sorts it all out for you.

 

[Oxman]

I can heartily recommend "Salem's Lot", Stoker's "Dracula" and the first 5 "Necroscope" books. I think "I am Legend" is a bit overrated, but not a bad read.

Also, try "The Mammoth Book of Vampires", a collection of short (and very good) stories by a lot of well known authors. It's by "Robinson publishing" and is Edited by Stephen Jones.

There's also a "Mammoth book of Terror"; same publishers, same editor. This is also very good, for the most part. I think there's one or two zombie-ish tales in there. Reanimation and the like.

 

[Culhwch]

Cheers, Disnatured. Will get onto my library's website post-haste.

 

[j d worthington]

There's also an older anthology, edited by Bill Pronzini, which has been published in slightly different editions: 1) The Arbor House Necropolis; 2) Tales of the Dead. Both contain three earlier anthologies: Voodoo, Mummy, and Ghoul. Each has a nice blending of older (Doyle, Woolrich, Stevenson, etc.) and modern (King, Lansdale, Grant, etc.) writers on the subject. For things strictly on voodoo and zombies of one type or another, Hugh B. Cave has done several novels on the subject, though I personally find Cave more than a little formulaic. But, yes, it's difficult to find much in written form (even short stories) that are worthwhile on the subject of zombies. They seem to be used more in film than writing. On vampires, I'd add my vote for J. Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla". Richard Dalby also did a nice anthology of shorter vampire tales, Dracula's Brood; and even HPL had a rather unusual sort of vampire in "The Shunned House" (inspired, incidentally, by an outbreak of vampirism in Rhode Island in the 1890s).

Any other zombie pieces I come across that I think are worth bothering with, I'll pass 'em on.

 

[hugo]

Here's some ideas for you Dark Dance by Tanith Lee
A Taste of Blood Wine by Freda Warrington
The Saint Germaine novels by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro all vampire novels but all a good read

 

[Lirineth]

the books recommended are great, specially the Warrington's, but let me give you a word of warning regarding Freda's, they are a trilogy (see below) and the middle one (A Dance in Blood Velvet) is only available through independant sellers in the web and the prices range from £600 to £1,300.

1. A Taste of Blood Wine
2. A Dance in Blood Velvet
3. The Dark Blood of Poppies

 

[Jason_Taverner]

Necroscope series by Brian Lumley

 

[NorseDude]

For vampires, "Vampire: The Masquerade". It's based on the game with the same name, but is surprisingly good.