Here’s the book that started the erotic vampire story trend. Released in 1994, at the height of the Splatterpunk trend, Love in Vein mixed vampires and sex in a new, explicitly adult way. Featuring fantasy and horror heavyweights like Kathe Koja, Gene Wolfe, and Charles de Lint, with an opening essay by Poppy Z. Brite who acted as editor, the anthology was a groundbreaker, inspiring many of the dark horror anthologies being published in small press form today (of which I am a contributor to, I’ll add.)
I’ll also give a shout-out to cover artist Mel Odom, whose distinct illustrations graced many of Guy Gavriel Kelly’s novels. Part Tamara Lempicke, part soft-porn artist Olivia, part Phillip LeDroit, Odom’s dreamy, understated, sophisticated creatures tempted you with knowing eyes to see what lurked inside the pages. In art school I was very impressed by his technique, all pastel colors and hard outlines, which was very different from the DAW look of fantasy paperbacks of the time exemplified by Rowena and Cark Lundgren. For Love in Vein it was a perfect match of cover artist and material.
Looking for a title for a Vampire book or short story of your own? Here’s a list of generated ones. One is there only for fun. Can you find it?
Vampire Novels
| The Bloody Embrace The Sanguine Lunch Glamor of the Vampire A Nest of Vampires Tasty Prey Dracula’s Burden Black Screams Savage Blood That Damned Kiss Blood Embassy Fangs of the Bat Belly of the Vampire Talons of The Vampire Midnight Blood Time of Blood Undead: The Lost Kingdom The Deadly Ones The Endless Grave Butchered Love Undead and Victimized Hungry Hell Sign of Blood Children of Doom Delicious Lure |
Scarlet Flesh Black Dimension Shadowed Mother Undead and Gone to Lunch Delicious Bait The Shadow Predators Thanatotonic Climb A Sweet Place for Vampires A Smothering Cage If Vampires Be Silent A Betrayal of Vampires My Titty-Monster The Darkness Inside Tentacle of the Vampire Fresh Corpses Battle, Blood, and Cigarettes Magically Intoxicated Faire Grave A Well-Seasoned Vamp Organ Crates Unabridged Vampire Tales Dark Light, Undead Sun Tower of the Hallowed The Crucible of Evil |
