Last Halloween I picked my favorite three vampire films. Today I figured I should pick my fave three vampire books. These are in order, but can be changed from emotion to emotion, or night to night. In lieu of my upcoming trip to New Orleans, Anne Rice’s brat prince comes in at numero uno vampiro. #3 is Bram Stoker’s Dracula . He is, after all, the king of vampires, the “Sacred Ancestor”. While werewolves and zombies have been trying to take a bite out of his omnipresent undead ass as the king of pop culture horror for years now, it’s still his and the children of the night’s party, this holiday we call Halloween. And no single book or character has been as influential in the deluge of Hollywood films and literature the past several decades as the daddy of them all. Dracula is absolutely as iconic as Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, or perhaps more appropriate, the Devil himself. #2 Vampire Hunter D Volume 2: Raiser of Gales is my Lord of the Rings, my Star Wars and Harry Potter all ro...

So I’ve spoken with Anne Rice. It was via email, but I was excited nonetheless. Anne was very nice, pleasant and respectful. She responded quickly to my email, too. Within hours… Before I realized that she no longer lived in New Orleans (somehow I forgot this important little fact) I asked her if it would be a possibility to have my original copy of The Vampire Lestat signed by her. I’m usually not one for autographs, but I figured while I was in her New Orleans, I would give it a shot. Now, I did not ask to meet her in person; no, I flat out said that I could place it in her mailbox or P.O. My intention was never to seem like another stalker-fan. Basically she said no, at the moment, but it was understandable. She is inundated with book-signing requests, and it apparently became out of control, the eBay enterprise. But she even requested that I contact her again in the near future, and that hopefully by then she would have a system in place to accommodate my request. Just the fact th...

So I’ve been re-reading The Vampire Lestat again, and I’m wondering how much this book in particular fashioned some of my ideas about the world and life, or if I simply enjoyed the character and the Vampire Chronicles so much because my attitudes towards death and Heaven and Hell are so similar to Lestat’s? I first read the book in 1997. That’s about the same time I was coming up with my own anti-God, anti-Christian musings. And you know, I’m actually kind of worse off for it all. I mean, like Lestat mentions before being turned, blue skies are never quite as blue since I began to question these things. Sure, I’m not always doom and gloom, but the world changed the moment I began to question everything, the moment I realized, if you will, that there isn’t anything after this. And that is the hardest thing to believe. This mentality empirically reveals that living is the hardest thing of all to do. We’re the ones with regrets and worry and anger, while those who pass are consigned to ...

We are headed to the Vampire Lestat Fan Club’s annual gathering, dubbed for 2009 Tru Blood and Gold Ball. Obviously there’s a nod to Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books and Anne Rice’s later Vampire Chronicles books. An ideal title considering that Charlaine will be at this year’s ball. Personally I’m stoked! I’ve tried for years to get to New Orleans for the ball, and I will finally be there this Halloween. This is a revelation. I've been re-reading The Vampire Lestat in anticipation, and I've started the sequel to Fat White Vampire Blues , called Bride of the Fat White Vampire . I will be costumed as one of Charlaine's characters, a simpleton undead Elvis Presley called Bubba. An Elvis wig, Elvis glasses and pair of vampire fangs are the gist of my costume, and my lovely hot-assed girlfriend will be a Merlotte’s-garbed Sookie. Wow, walking around New Orleans during Halloween. I pray for fog… This is going to be great. If you're interested check out the fan c...