Vampire Horror Books To Sink Your Teeth Into
Nowadays, you can’t turn on your phone or scroll social media without someone mentioning vampires. It’s true, vampires are hot right now, which is a great accomplishment for horror fans and creators. Between blockbuster hits such as Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and and the upcoming Dracula: A Love Tale starting Christoph Waltz, there are enough vampire tales for everyone. Luckily for readers, there is a wide range of vampire reads you can start with.
To help you get started on your vampiric journey, here are some recommended readings to expand your bookshelf, including everything from vampire comics and manga to romance and historical fiction. It doesn’t matter if you have been curious about vampire stories or if you are a vampire horror junkie, this list has everything for everyone.
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Add to Bookshelf‘Salem’s Lot (Movie Tie-in)
by Stephen King
Sink your teeth into Stephen King’s second horror novel as he takes traditional horror elements and adds his now-renowned frightening prose that has made him one of the most recognizable and successful authors of all time. Inspired by the classic, Dracula, King starts his frightening tale in a small town in Maine, where a darkness is evident to the residents who live there. Now the remaining survivors in this town must rely on each other to fight the thirsty monsters that prowl in the dark. However, in true King fashion, readers will be stunned once they discover that the fanged beasts are closely related to the humans trying to remain alive in this ghostly town.
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$18.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Interview with the Vampire
by Anne Rice
No one has made vampires more titillating than the late, great Anne Rice. Her Vampire Chronicles, which is her most popular work, centers on the destructive relationships between the former French nobleman Lestat de Lioncourt, who turns into a bloodthirsty, lustful vampire and Louis de Pointe du Lac and the vampire Armand. Rice humanizes these creatures of the night by combining their “dark gifts” with internal conflicts that involve love, identity and survival. The first book follows the unreliable narration of Louis as he recalls his pre-vampire life and everything that he has experienced since turning.
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$20.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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So Thirsty
by Rachel Harrison
For a more feminist lens in vampirism, this book will influence you to evaluate your close friendships. Sloane, like a lot of people, dreads the reality of getting older. It also doesn’t help that her dismissive, unfaithful husband passively covers a trip with her partner-in-crime bestie, Naomi. Even though the friends are the complete opposite of each other, they seemingly enjoy each other’s company. However, this trip is different from their previous adventures as Naomi introduces Sloane to an alternative lifestyle that involves a walk on the dark side. This new group of strangers that Sloane has been introduced to will change both her and her friend’s lives forever.
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$19.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Dracula
by Bram Stoker
Where would vampiric lore be without Stoker’s masterpiece, Dracula? Despite the numerous interpretations and remakes of his work, nothing truly compares to the original. Stoker doesn’t romanticize vampires like his contemporary counterparts. Instead, he relies on epistolary storytelling to deliver the impressions others have of Dracula. This vampire is less slasher and more refined, like Anne Rice’s Lestat. Dracula sips blood from a cup, but that doesn’t stop the locals from wanting to execute him for taking the blood of women without their explicit consent. In this classic, vampires are not heroes, however, they are not all-out villainous, either.
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$11.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
by Grady Hendrix
You will not look at book clubs the same after feasting on the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for the reader’s favorite horror. Set in a small Southern town, Patricia Campbell, who was once an aspiring nurse, has found herself trapped in the suburban life of being a stay-at-home mom. As she tries to find herself outside of her responsibilities, she finds solace in her true crime book club with other local women. After Patricia endures a vicious assault by her elderly neighbor, she becomes acquainted with his handsome nephew, James, whom she finds herself developing feelings for. But when children go missing and the police don’t bat an eye, she turns to her book club for guidance.
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$18.99Buy from Other Retailers:
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Fledgling
by Octavia E. Butler
It was almost a decade before Butler published her vampire horror, which further solidified her influence in the science fiction genre. Her unique and fresh take on vampires also tackles racism, sexism and mental health themes. A young girl named Shori awakens but realizes she doesn’t have any memories. However, slowly but surely, she begins to piece everything together and concludes she is a vampire that is almost 60 years old, despite still looking like a girl. Butler uses vampires as a vehicle to explore philosophical topics such as free will while reinventing Gothic vampire lore into something that is truly her own.
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$27.95Buy from Other Retailers:
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House of Hunger
by Alexis Henderson
Oftentimes, vampires can take pleasure in the misery of humans, such as the case in this depraved, sapphic vampire tale. Marion is down on her luck and is tired of struggling to have her basic needs met. She stumbles across a job ad in the newspaper that is seeking to hire a bloodmaid. With nothing to lose, Marion travels north to her prospective employer to apply for the job. Days later, she is offered a position and when she arrives at the House of Hunger, she meets the charismatic, yet mysterious Countess Lisavet, who is also the head of the hedonistic court.
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$19.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Fang Fiction
by Kate Stayman-London
If you prefer a more contemporary setting for vampires, you are in for a treat. When Tess is not working the late-night shift at her hotel, she is home reading her favorite vampire series, Blood Feud. She is so obsessed with her vampire books that she follows all the fan theories and the conspiracy websites. Some fans believe that the fantasy series is real, but Tess is far from convinced that’s true until one day, a vampire from her favorite fantasy series walks through her door seeking her help. Of course, Tess can’t pass up the opportunity to have a first-person experience in the world of her favorite fantasy books.
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$19.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Thirst
by Marina Yuszczuk
Here’s a dark, horror tale that incorporates a Latin American, sapphic twist. Bridging two timelines together, this queer and feminist Gothic explores the emotional side of two strange women, who find themselves as star-crossed lovers at a Buenos Aires cemetery. The vampire, however, has lived long enough to watch her once-village turn into a metropolitan city. Fast-forward to the future and another woman finds herself grieving over her late mother and how she will adjust to motherhood. When the two cross paths, an undeniable spark lights between them, causing them to make a deadly decision that cannot be undone.
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$18.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Road Trip with a Vampire
by Jenna Levine
In the third installment of the My Vampires series, Zelda, who is a witch, meets a handsome vampire named Peter, who shows up at her front door unexpectedly with a handwritten note from her friend Eddie. Peter has amnesia, and her friend believes Zelda can conjure something together to help him. Zelda is instantly attracted to Peter, and she believes the clues to his memories and his past life lie in his journal. But his entries are coded in such a way that neither of them can decipher. But the more Zelda tries to figure out his vague messages, the more she pieces together that her hidden secrets and his past are more intertwined than she realized.
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$19.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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A Vampire in the Bathhouse
by Niko Izuki
Add another comedic vampire tale to your TBR with this must-have manga. Luka is just like any other stereotypical vampire. He’s gorgeous, dark, charming, and enjoys the fast-paced nightlife of partying. He decides that the best thing he can do for himself is get some much-needed self-care sessions and relaxation at a human bathhouse. At Full Moon Baths, the owner’s grandson, Sakura, runs the day-to-day operations while taking care of his younger sibling. Luka used this opportunity to completely unwind as Sakura tries to juggle the family business and an eccentric vampire who also cooks!
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$13.99Buy from Other Retailers:
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The Vampire of Kings Street
by Asha Greyling
Blending historical speculative fiction as well as mystery, this paranormal read follows a South Asian lawyer in 19th-century New York. In this world, vampires are attached to humans as property and vampires rely on humans to survive. But the vampires in this world aren’t attached to just any humans – only the wealthy families and they receive low to little wages. As fate may have it, the wealthy Frost family wants their vampire permanently discarded. When no lawyer will take the case, a South Asian lawyer named Radhika Dhingra is willing to give him a chance when nobody else would after the vampire shows up at her door in grave despair.
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$29.99Buy from Other Retailers:
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A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire
by Sarah Hawley
Perhaps you want to entertain a different dynamic between vampires. If so, you are not going to pass up this sexy but slightly dark romantasy. Ben is a werewolf, but he is content with his life. After all, he is a single entrepreneur with a growing plant emporium. Despite all of his success, his family urges him to settle down to start his own family. However, after a long night of drinking and placing bets, he finds himself the new owner of a crystal he got from eBay. He now has to accept the fact that he has awakened a beautiful but vexed vampire.
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$19.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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American Vampire 1976
by Scott Snyder
Dive into the unbelievably frightening graphic novel by New York Times bestselling and award-winning comic book writer Scott Snyder. Taking place in America during the height of social and political change, the devil himself decides that this is the perfect opportunity to cause more chaos amongst mankind. That is the case with Skinner Sweet, a vampire who used to be a bank robber. But now, Skinner has spent the past decade fighting a new challenge. With the inability to no longer be immortal, Skinner will do just about anything to get his powers back. When his protege Pearl presents him with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to regain his powers, Skinner knows that if he accepts this mission, it could mean his death, and he happily accepts.
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$19.99Buy from Other Retailers:
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Vampires of El Norte
by Isabel Cañas
If you love historical fiction and star-crossed lovers and their journey, this vampire read needs to be added to your TBR, now! Set in Mexico during the 1800s, right before the events leading up to the Mexican-American War, both Nena and Nestor are childhood sweethearts who plan on marrying each other when they come of age. But their dreams come to a halt when Nena is attacked by a vampire, and Nestor is left to believe she is dead. Heartbroken, he leaves the ranch he grew up on, but returns almost a decade later to discover that his Nena is alive.
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$19.00Buy from Other Retailers:
