Saturday, January 11, 2014

The Book That Never Was: The Vampire Book


Some people have been posting things lately about books and projects they worked on that got scrapped for whatever reason.

Here's one I was working on. I started a proposal but then books like The Everyhting Vampire Book hit the shelves and I decided I would be wasting my time trying to shop it around.

The Vampire Book
Sample TOC
By Roxanne Rhoads
Introduction:

Vampire myths, legends and folklore have existed throughout the ages all over the world. They have appeared in some shape or form in almost every culture and society. Yet it is mainly the 19th Century European vampire that comes to mind when we think about vampires.

The modern vampire myth was born in literature such as Carmilla and Dracula. These vampires were romanticized; they were the sensual, dark and erotic creatures that that indulged their needs and desires without the constraints and boundaries of humanity. Vampires have no need of  moral, religious and societal rules and restraints. The sexually repressed Victorian era turned the vampire into the embodiment of dark desires and sensuality that represented all the pent up sexuality of the times. The vampire became something not only terrifying but also highly attractive and alluring.

In today’s society the vampire is still the most popular of all paranormal creatures and definitely the most sensationalized and eroticized. Though our society is not as sexually repressed as it was in the days of Dracula we are still bound by human laws and morality, while the vampire is bound by nothing except perhaps their own conscience… if they retain one.

The vampire has become even more popular because of our youth and sex obsessed culture. How perfect… a creature that is immortal, retaining youth and beauty forever, forever able to indulge in the forbidden dark desires and sexual urges that we are taught to avoid.

Already a fan of paranormal tales and ghost stories, I was seduced by the vampire myth at 11 years old when I found a copy of Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire at a yard sale. After I read it I was hooked. Since then I have read every other book in her vampire series plus anything and everything else I could find on vampires.

By my teens I was deeply in love with vampire myth and legend. In my late teens and early 20’s I was into the Goth/vamp culture. My sleek and shiny, black and silver Regal even sported the personalized plate, VAMP.

Since then I’ve matured into a “normal” wife and mother, replaced the white make up with regular foundation and the blood red or sometimes black lipstick with regular pinks and reds.

Deep down I’m still a vamp at heart though. My love for vampires is still there. My darker side emerges from time to time and the vampire is a reoccurring theme in many of my stories and poetry. I love to twist and spin vampire myths and legends into scary, sexy, and sometimes erotic tales.

With this book I will examine the many aspects of the vampire, from history and mythology to the psychological attraction we have to them, what makes their appeal so everlasting? The vampire legend is retold over and over, yet we never seem to tire of these beautiful, horrifying and completely enthralling creatures.

Chapter 1: The Vampire
Creatures of Darkness
Inherently Evil or Completely Misunderstood
The Blood is the Life
Religion and Vampires

Chapter 2: Types of Vampires
Psychic
Life-force
Sexual
Sanguinarian
The Mindless Revenant

Chapter 3: Vampires in the Animal Kingdom
Mosquitoes
Bedbugs
Fleas and Ticks
Leeches
Vampire Bats

Chapter 4: Vampire Myths and Legends from Around the World
Ancient Greece and Rome
Africa
China
The British Isles
Eastern European
Victorian Era

Chapter 5: Vampire Gods and Goddesses
Lilith
Ancient Egypt
Aztecs
Blood Sacrifice

Chapter 6: The Lure of the Vampire
The Psychological Appeal
The Promise of Immortality
Connection Between Life and Death
Youth
The Appeal of Danger
No Restraint

Chapter 7: “Real” Vampires in History
Vlad Tepes, Vlad the Impaler
The Countess Elizabeth Bathory
John George Haigh
Geoffrey Dahmer

Chapter 8: The Beginning of the Romantic Vampire: 19th Century Vampire Fiction
Thinly Veiled Eroticism in Victorian Writing
The Vampyre
Carmilla
Dracula

Chapter 9: The Erotic Male Vampire
The Extreme Alpha Male
Ultimate Bad boy
Dangerous Sex Appeal
Power
Lifetimes of Sexual Knowledge

Chapter 10: Vamp: The Ultimate Femme Fatale
Early Vamps and Vixens
Sexually Dominant, Brazen, Desired, Free
Vamps of the Silver Screen
Television Vamps

Chapter 11: Evolution of the Vampire
Monsters
The Male View
Romantic Vampires
The Vampire Legend Basics
New Twists and Spins

Chapter 12: Popular Vampire Fiction of Today
They’re Everywhere
Vampires, Werewolves, Witches…Oh My!
Anne Rice: Gothic Queen
Laurell K Hamilton: The Genre Bending Success
Stephanie Meyer: The Twilight Phenomenon

Chapter 13: Early Vampire Films
Silent Films
Classics
The Draw of Cinema Vampires
The Many Incarnations of Dracula

Chapter 14: Vampires on the Big Screen
Actors on the Big Screen
            Bela Lugosi
            Christopher Lee
Mid 20th Century Classics
Modern Movies 80s and 90s
            The Lost Boys
            Bram Stoker’s Dracula
            Interview with a Vampire
21st Century Vampire Films

Chapter 15: Vampires on Television
Dark Shadows
Forever Night
Kindred the Embraced
Blood Ties
Moonlight
Buffy and Angel
True Blood
Vampire Diaries



Chapter 16: Today’s Vampire: A Cultural Icon
Ingrained into Modern Culture
Vampire Products
            Vampire Wine
            Vampire Publications
The Children’s Vampire
            Count Chocula
            The Count on Sesame Street
            Bunnicula

Chapter 17: Vampire Role Playing Games
Role Playing Online
Real World Vampire Role Play
Vampire: The Masquerade
Vampire: The Requiem

Chapter 18: Vampires on the Web
Vampire Communities
Vampire Meet Up
Darkness Embraced
All Things Vampire

Chapter 19: Youth Culture and Vampires
Melancholy
Depression
Goth
Emo

Chapter 20: Do They Walk Among Us?
Delusion or Reality
Real Accounts of Vampires Today
Real Psychic Vampires
Blood Drinking

Appendix A: Popular Vampire Fiction Books and Authors
Appendix B: Vampire Movies and Television Series



1 comments:

Steph from fangswandsandfairydust.com said...

That looks WAY ambitious - like an all consuming commitment.