Hi everyone!  I'm new to paperbackswap.com.   I have built a library in my house, and I'm looking to stock the shelves with a collection of good vampire novels (memoirs by women of other cultures, post-apocolyptic fiction, and religions are also wanted, so i you have any suggestions for good books in those genres, please feel free to suggest them too).  ;)

I'm looking for good obscure vampire stories - I don't want romance/smut/chick-porn, or young adult, UNLESS it's really good YA, like PEEPS, The Silver Kiss, etc.  I don't want romance, unless it is done tastefully, and doesn't overtake a good plot.  I don't like reading books that are sex scenes constantly, lol!

I'm not looking for suggestions of the usual kind - Anita Blake, Twilight, Vampire Diaries, Evernight, etc.  I"m looking for stuff that's not so well known. 

The following is a list of lesser known vampire novels that I already have.  If anyone has any suggestions for me, it would be greatly appreciated! :)

Books I have READ already:

Fiend, Wounds, Voice of the Blood, A Drop of Crimson by Jemiah Jefferson

Vampire Winter & Darkness on the Ice by Lois Tilton
Night Inside, Blood and Crysanthemums & Terrible Beauty by Nancy Baker
Eternal Vigilance by Gabriel Faust
Bottomfeeder by B.H. Fingerman
The Vampire Memories series by Barb Hendee

Afterage by Yvonne Navarro

Of Saints and Shadows by Christopher Golden
Puncture by Lisa Proulx
Vrolok by Nolene Dougan
Forever David's by Shannon Bailey
The Vampire Files- P.N. Elrod
I, Vampire, The Vampire Papers, Vampire Princess, Vampire Virus-Michael Romkey
Lord of the Dead-Tom Holland
Raven-S.A. Swinirski
Rulers of Darkness-Steven Spruill
Diaries of the Family Dracul-Jeanne Kalogridis
Those Who Hunt the Night, Traveling with the Dead-Barbara Hambly
Children of the Night-Dan Simmons
Necroscope series by Briand Lumley
The Delicate Dependency by Michael Talbot
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Dsmodus by Steven Walker

Books on my TBR shelf:

Mina & Blood to Blood by Elaine Bergstrom
Curse of the Vampire by Geoffrey Caine
The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy Charnas
Vampire 1989 by Brett Contreras
Bitternest by Alan Draven
Darklost by Mick Farren
Nightlife by Jack Ellis
Vampire Bytes by Linda Grant
Stainless by Todd Grimson

The Vampire Journals-Traci Briery
Lost Souls, Drawing Blood-Poppy Z. Brite
Dawn of the Vampire-William Hill
Blood Secrets-Karen E. Taylor
Curse of the Vampire-Geoffrey Caine

Hollywood Vampires by Matt Jones
The World on Blood by Jonathan Nasaw
Insatiable by David Dvorkin
The Flesh, the Blood, and the Fire by S.A. Swiniarski

The Moth Diaries by Rachel Klein
Near Death by Nancy Kilpatrick
Eternally Yours by S.L. Juers
Malachi's Moon by Billie Mosiman
Less Than Human by Gary Raisor
Vampyrrhic by Simon Clark
The Vampire Odyssey by Scott Ciencin
Parliment of Blood by Scott Ciencin

That's quite a list!

 

I also really liked Peeps, and it has a sequel - The Last Days - so if you haven't read that I recommend it.

I also highly recommend Kim Newman's trilogy, Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron, and Judgment of  Tears.  They're well-written, and he puts lots of literary and historical references in them.  

Also, you might enjoy the manga or anime Hellsing, if you like that sort of thing.  

Hope that helps!

Oh, and I meant to include some post-apocolyptic ideas.  What have you read already?

 

Some of my favorites are:

Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

Parable of the Sower -Octavia Butler

The Slynx  -Tatyana Tolstaya

I have recently gotten into the House of Night series by P.C Cast and Kristin Cast. I put the first two on my wishlist at the recommendation of a friend and I really didn't think I would like the series at all. I love it!! My hubby bought me the rest of the books for Christmas to catch me up and the books just keep getting better and better.

I agree Nicole. I really enjoyed those books and I was surprised that I did! I went in with pretty low expectations. 

Now Peeps is a different story. I couldn't even finish that book. It was totally boring!

These may not technically be vampire novels, but I really liked I am Legend by Richard Matheson. I thought The Keep by F. Paul Wilson was entertaining when I read it a few years ago, but I don't know what I would think now. My wife liked The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

I recommend Stephen Dedman's two.  The Art of Arrow Cutting and Shadows Bite.  Weird Asian vamps.

I have Anne Billson on my TBR.  English horror.  No idea about it.  Suckers

I also liked Soulless by Gail Carriger.  Funny.  (But on the verge of romance.)  Sort of a steampunk werewolf / vampire Jane Austen mix.

There is a strange SF one by C S Friedman.  The Madness Season

The Sonja Blue stories by Nacy A Collins.  Starting with the first one, Sunglasses After Dark.   Reissued as part of Midnight Blue.  Also Midnight Blue.

My Soul to Keep  by Tananarive Due.  It's followed by The Living Blood and Blood Colony.

I really enjoyed My Soul To Keep by Tannanarive Due, and I have the following 2 books.  However, I'm not sure I'd class them as vampires, as they don't actually drink blood to live.  It's a wonderful story though :)

I have the first House of Night book, but I haven't read it yet.  I'm thinking it may be a little "young" for me, but I'm going to give it a go :)

Thanks for the recs guys! :)

I second Anthony's 'I Am Legend' recommendation. Vampire AND post-apocalyptic! 

Jim M:  I didn't mention I Am Legend, because I don't think of it as obscure, but I have read it and really loved it.  My 2 favorite fiction genres are vampires and post-apocalyptic :)

If you liked those genres, and liked I Am Legend, you should definitely check out:

Afterage by Yvonne Navarro

Midnight Mass by Paul Wilson

Vampire Winter (my favorite vampire novel of all time - AND my favorite post apocalyptic novel of all time!)

Also, Lois Tilton's Darkenss on the Ice, although not actually post-apocalyptic, has that feel to is since it is set in the Arctic with barely any people, trying to survive with a vampire stalking them...and, the vampire is a nazi, lol!

:)

Try Live Girls and Night Life by Ray Garton.  Those are some interesting vampire novels(Night Life is a sequel to Live Girls).

Or you could try Blood Red by James A. Moore.

Blood of the Impaler by Jeffrey Sackett

Never heard of Blood of the Impaler or Blood Red, I'll have to check them out, thanks!  I've read Live Girls and Night Life - I consider Live Girls as sort of a classic, it's a great book.  Night Life was pretty good, but definitely didn't live up to Live Girls. 

I'm currently reading The Tale of the Vampire Bride by Rhiannon Frater, and I've got to say, I think this is the BEST Dracula story I have ever read.  It's on par with Stoker's Dracula.  This book is so good, reading it brings tears to my eyes!

I recommend Pretty When She Dies by Rhiannon Frater! Great book. 

Thanks Coleen!  I actually have read Pretty When She Dies.  I really liked it, but I didn't really like the ending - it felt like she rushed it, and it felt fake (I won't go any more into detail, because I don't want to give the ending away for you).   I'd love to know what you think of the ending when you finish it.  :)   I'm still going to give the sequel a try when it comes out.

However, I just finished reading Rhiannon Frater's The Tale of the Vampire Bride.  Wow!  Now, that was an AMAZING book.

I did finish it...I wouldn't recommend a book I was in the middle of...haha

I really enjoyed all of it. Every bit. :) Including the ending. 

Hawkes Harbor - S.E. Hinson

Totally unusual twist to the vampire story, it is about a very co-dependent relationship between a vampire and its victim.

i was fascinated and disturbed.

I just got Hawkes Harbor from a Book Bazaar deal. I did not even know it was about a vampire. Love vampires...good to know it's good, lol.

Denise

I bet you would enjoy the Classic Vampires Revisited series from Dead Letter Press. They're chapbooks and IMO quite good. Just search for Dead Letter Press and you'll find their site. The owner was having a sale-Not sure if that's still ongoing.

Steven

I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire and I, Stradh: The War Against  Azalin by P.N. Elrod are both good reads!

A very obscure author - Patrick Whalen.  One of those pulp horror writers from the 80s - but a VG one.  He wrote 4 books total (I think) and three of those books are on my keeper pile.  Two are vampires.

The first vampire is Monastery which is rare & very HTF - also expensive to buy used (if you can find it).  The sequel is my personal favorite... Night Thirst.  Don't let the hokey cover art fool you.  This is a very good vampire apocylpse (I know that's not spelled right) pb.  I actually read the sequel first and loved it so much, that I hunted down all other books by the author - which only equaled 4.  If you only can find one, each ends in a way that will not leave feeling you missed something (which usually happens in series). 

My other favorite by this author is not vampire but a vg horror - Out of the Night.   Loved it and it's on my keeper pile and I still will pick it up and re-read it every once in awhile.

I am reading The Strain right now by Del Toro and Hogan. It is really good. Totally not a romantic vampire story. I am loving it.

Tara, I am with you, I want adult level books with no schmaltz, here is a list that includes vamp authors (and some other paranormal authors).  Some are coded.  Some of my favorites are Kim Newman (Anno Dracula is about an England where Dracula married Queen Victoria), Wm Mark Simmons (has some humor), Nancy Collins, Sherry Gottlieb,  Patricia Cacek (Night Prayers), Karen Taylor, Mick Farren, JF Lewis.   For books with some vamps, Jim Butcher is just great.  And new author Harry Connolly- Child of Fire, I really liked.  Also un-vamp but fabulous,  Richard Kadrey- Sandman Slim.  Hope you find something you like.   Terry

V (Vamp) W (Were) SH (Shapeshifter) AH (Alternate History)  (R means some romance)

Paranormal- Female heroines

Keri Arthur W R

Kelley Armstrong W R

Jenna Black V R

PD or Patricia Cacek W V

Karen Chance V R

Nancy Collins V

Mary Janice Davidson (very light, comic) V R

JOcelynn Drake V

Jeaniene Frost V

Sherry Gottlieb V

Laurell K Hamilton V SH W

Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse series) V W SG R

Kim Harrison V W R

Maria Lima W

Kelly Meding

Karen Marie Moning (Darkfever series) R

Chloe Neill

Jennifer Rardin V

Lilith Saintcrow (demons) R

Jeanne C Stein V

Sunny (sort of vamps) R

Karen Taylor V

Carrie Vaughn W SH R

Rachel Vincent W SH

Paranormal- misc. vamps, weres, sorcerers, etc.

Poppy Z Brite

Jim Butcher (wizard Harry Dresden series) V W

Harry Connolly

Joseph Curtin

Mick Farren V

M L N Hanover

Tanya Huff (the Blood series, and the Smoke series) V

J.F. Lewis V

T A Pratt

Alternate reality or alternate history

Steven Brust

Richard Kadrey (Sandman Slim)

Simon Green

Christopher Moore (fabulous) V

Kim Newman (with vamps) V

Kat Richardson

Maria Snyder