Vampire Nation by Arlene RussoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Do you believe that there are vampires living among us, hidden in the general population hidden behind veils of secrecy? Define a vampire. What is your image of a vampire? There are many such images and your definition of a vampire might be different from the person sitting next to you. In fact the person next to you might well be a vampire.
Vampires are definitely the most popular of all cinematic monsters. Made famous by the suave count Dracula portrayed by Bela Lugosi. Vampires are viewed as sexy, seductive, aristocratic and cool. There have been a bajillion movies and books made about vampires or on their theme.
The folkloric version of the vampire is a revenant or a corpse of a dead person risen from the grave that drinks the blood of people and then goes back to it’s grave. Usually vampires are suicides, non baptized or buried in unhallowed ground. They come up as a rotting corpse and they are not at all considered attractive. In folk lore they do not have fangs, ain’t afraid of garlic and they cannot turn into bats. The movie version gives the vamp all of that and makes them look attractive. That started with Polidori’s story “The Vampire” and continued with Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” The peak of the Vampire craze started with Anne Rice’s “Interview with a Vampire” that made them super sexy and super cool.
Now the vampire scene is really thriving especially here in the states. There are different types of vampires and no they do not look anything like they do in the fiction. They are not immortal, indestructible and they cannot change into mist or bats. They are people like you and I.
Sanguniarians are the vampiores that drink blood. Usually if they are smart they get the blood from a donor who gives it willingly. They use sterile syringes and lancets. Donors are to be treated with respect. Psychic vampires feed off of excess energy. Liestyler know aht they are pretending to be vampires.
This book centers on the vamp scene in the UK and touches quite heavily on the vamp scene here in America. In America you are finding more outrageous examples o blood drinker and psy vamps. In the UK things are more subdued and most of the people involved in the vamp scene are life styler whop are aware that they playing a role.
The information might be somewhat dated as it appears to be writing at 2006 the latest. It covered some vampire crimes which hurt the movement, although I think the vampire movement has made a significant comeback. The book touches on organization for vampires, the code of ethics for these organization and some of the occult and religious organizations that cater to the spiritual needs of vampires. The author was a writer and found of a vampire magazine. If your into vampires then this book should be both an informative and interesting read.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment