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:
That looks WAY ambitious - like an all consuming commitment.
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