If vampires are fictional constructs, then why can’t they be good?
When I first began writing, I pondered the idea of a vampire novel. . . from a Christian perspective. The genre lends itself to great 
redemptive possibilities. Anne Rice, author of the Interview with the Vampire Chronicles, says as much. On her blog, in a post entitled On the Nature of My Earlier Works (you must scroll down on her page for this essay), she discusses the concept. Since publicly professing faith in Christ, Ms. Rice has been repeatedly asked to renounce her earlier vampire works. After tracing the history of “dark stories” — from Dante’s Inferno, to Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth, to Flannery O’Connor — she states her belief that many such stories are “transformative” in nature. According to the author, the gist of her popular series is the “near despair of an alienated being who searches the world for some hope that his existence can have meaning. His vampire nature is clearly a metaphor for human consciousness or moral awareness.”
I’ve not read the books and thought the movie was pretty gloomy. Nevertheless, the idea that the vampire figure holds a mirror to “human consciousness or moral awareness” is intriguing, and not at all new. Historically, the vampire motif is often used to portray Original Sin, wherein fallen man is viewed as an addict, thirsting after wickedness.
So I’m conniving this idea about a vampire who wants to break free from this infernal sickness, squelch the insatiable appetite. After all, people don’t willingly become vampires. It only stands to reason then that some would want to resist the impulses. So figure on a Christian vampire, wrestling within himself for a cure, persuading his cohorts to seek redemption, all the while dividing the dark community with the promise of redemption. Perhaps he starts a “monastery” of “abstinent bloodsuckers.” Add to the mix, 
Christian Van Helsing types, persecuting and exterminating vampires en masse. In this way, the protag embodies the misunderstood believer and the Pharisees seeking to drive theological “stakes” through the already wounded heart.
Okay, whaddya think? So far, so good?
Well, the storyline is not that original. Take the Confessor, a character in the comic book series, Astro City. According to Wikipedia, the throughline goes like this:
. . .the Confessor was a Roman Catholic priest who fell victim to temptation during construction of a cathedral in 19th century Astro City. He was seduced by a vampire, who bit him, causing his transformation. As penance, he fought crime in Astro City, eventually constructing the identity of a religious-themed costumed hero. Towards the climax of his career he began mentoring a sidekick, Altar Boy, who discovered his vampiric nature. The Confessor sacrificed his identity and life to expose masquerading alien invaders, but posthumously was nonetheless falsely blamed for a string of unrelated murders. The mantle of The Confessor was then taken up by Altar Boy.
Staying inside the church during daytime, the Confessor appears only at night, possessing the regular vampiric aversion to sunlight. He is almost always seen wearing an all-black costume with a large black cape, a high collar, and usually a ninja-esque mask over his face. On his chest there is a large, shining cross, which causes him sufficient pain to prevent his temptation to drink blood, and remind him of his mission. Although the original Confessor had traditional vampiric weaknesses, and was thus defeated by traditional methods (i.e. crucifixes, holy water, and a stake), his successor Altar Boy, not being a vampire, is immune to these methods, to his great advantage when fighting enemies who mistakenly view him as a vampire.
I’ve always wanted “. . .a large, shining cross, which causes [me] sufficient pain to prevent [my] temptation.” Anyway, the point is that people have been tweaking the vampire tale for a while now, making the night creatures conflicted, sympathetic, even good. So why not a Christian vampire?
However, the more I floated my idea, the more I discovered a great resistance within the Christian fiction community. We don’t do vampires, was the resounding response. Some suggest it is the horror genre in general that causes CBA publishing houses to hedge (although, there are positive signs that is changing). Others say that the vampire genre has become so laden with erotica and evil, it carries an automatic stigma that makes it beyond salvaging.
The forthcoming Coach’s Midnight Diner, of which my short story Polly’s Muse is a part, is subtitled The Jesus versus Cthulhu Edition. Cthulhu is a fictional creature, created by horror-Meister H.P. Lovecraft, 
one of the Great Old Ones, possessing a tentacled head and a grotesque scaly body. The ancient monster has become an icon of terror for horror / scifi fans everywhere and may even rival the vampire in terms of its rabid following (pun intended). Nevertheless, when the anthology was first announced, there was some discussion among Christian authors about the convergence of those characters. Jesus and Cthulhu? Is that really possible? Cthulhu stands for all that is evil. How can we even associate him with Jesus? Some disavowed the concept on the basis of its incongruence. But the answer that resolved it for me was this: It’s fiction, baby! God and Christ appear in many fictional settings. In fact, it could be argued that this is the central dynamic of all Christian fiction: God / Christ intervening in the affairs of hypothetical persons.
Anyway, I’ve since scrapped my idea about a Christian vampire story. But the question still remains: If vampires are fictional constructs, then why can’t they be good?
You know, I like the Christian vampire idea, redemption from original sin. I do have a question: would you offer real redemption to the vampire, a glorified non-vampire state, or would he be like a fallen angel?
I know, I know. It’s fiction!
Hmm. Good question, Heather. May I think out loud? The only redemption thus far offered in traditional vampire lit has been through death. The effects are never reversed. The vampire is freed from his unholy state only through execution. Perhaps “vampire redemption” (geez, that sounds weird) could parallel our own in that, while we are saved and transformed at conversion, we must nevertheless continue to battle our old nature. True redemption, for the believer, is not fulfilled until death; so life is a constant struggle against our “old nature.” Why not portray a vampire’s redemption the same way — as a continued confession of his evil and an ongoing struggle against it. Of course, the parallel stops there because when I stumble in sin it rarely involves blood sucking.
I like it, Mike.
I think the resistance you’re getting is based on the current accepted image.
Isn’t that what the publishers want. Writers who take the norm and put a fresh new twist on it.
I could be wrong, but I think Eric Wilson is publishing a vampire series. “The Jerusalem Undead trilogy”. Thomas Nelson might be the publisher.
I say Keep Going For It.
Mike, I just realized I didn’t answer your question.
I wouldn’t want to read about the modern representation of vampires. It’s just not my thing.
But if a talented author tears down and rebuilds the vampire construct, I’d be interested.
Can they be “good”? I did like Blade. Wesley Snipes’ character had something the others didn’t. It made him different. Injecting something into your vampire that seperates him from his born destiny is always interesting.
You could have the vampire character informing his mortal co-star “You’ve seen too many movies. Vampires aren’t what you think.”
I was never a big fan of vampire stories, but then I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and saw the possibilities. Isn’t that kind of what Angel is all about — a vampire seeking redemption?
I think you’ve got an interesting idea there.
By the way — I got my copy of the Diner over the weekend and I love your story! And for anyone wondering about the whole Jesus vs. Cthuhlu thing — just read the first story.
Dayle, I believe there are a few more attempts at the vampire genre by Christians that I am unaware of. Their titles escape me. And Linda, I also received my copies of the Diner. Haven’t got to digging in, but I’m glad you enjoyed my story.
I know of one that came through on a Christian Fiction Blog Alliance tour, Never Ceese by Sue Dent. I didn’t read it, but it seemed to have fine comments. It was from a “lesser/lower” publisher, not your Thomas Nelson/Zondervan types (and it showed in the cover quality).
So it has been done in the CBA!
Hey Mike, just FYI. I know some editors at major (not “lesser/lower”) houses that are looking for some good vampire fiction. Your idea has legs. 🙂
Okay, cool! So here it goes. I hope everyone is paying attention. First of all, thanks for the wonderful comments on the cover image of my book. I did the cover myself. Yes! I’m very proud of it. Not so proud that it looked like poo when my very small traditional publisher threw it out there with so little time and effort to make it look good. Despite this, I still get excellent comments on it. God is good.
Secondly, I did solicit CBA publishers AFTER I started receiving unbelievable reviews from Christian readers. I thought they might like the sequel. Nope and I had personal conversations with most of them. So this is what it comes down to. Until Dekker or someone they trust who has already written under the “strict” CBA guidelines comes along and presents a “vampire” story, you won’t see one published by a CBA publisher. They’re not going to take a chance with someone they don’t know. They let Dekker and Perreti and whoever break the little rules all day long because they know they can recover if someone little ol’ lady comes in and has a hissy.
Ironically, Eric Wilson of Thomas-Nelson will be publishing a vampire triolgy next year. It’s at the editors now as is my sequel and the two of us plan on doing signings together. You can bark at the CBA all you want but you can’t write good enough for them to pay attention UNTIL you’ve proven through another publisher that you can write a vampire story that doesn’t offend 95% of Christian readers. So fine. I’m using an Independent publisher for Forever Richard and can do just as much with them as I could with a CBA publisher AND I can turn out a good story because I’m not restricted by guidelines that strangle the story altogether.
Here’s the nice catch 22 though. Never Ceese did tour the CFBA blog tour because I had a traditional publisher. Those were the rules at the time, or so I was told. However, guess what! Rules have changed and the nice little CBA exclusivity has worked its way into the fold. CFBA will no longer tour any book that is not CBA published. So I hope you CFBA bloggers are happy with the not seeing good quality vampire stories. But then I guess you can all pray that Eric is able to talk them into bending enough rules so that his is successful. I know I’m praying for Eric. But it is representative of the same ol’ same ol’. Eric has already written numerous titles for CBA. They trust him. Someone like myself, despite the accolades of my first novel, ie .being short-listed for a Bram Stoker Award(despite crappy cover!) and being book club choice of the month of April 2007, is still not something they’re ready to take a chance on.
Take a chance on?!!!! Good greif.
The CBA restrictions my work for most genre’s but if you read the few that get out there despite CBA not letting anyone see all of them, you can see how difficult it is to write a story that really grabs a reader and means something. That’s got to be where the change comes.
So, there you have it. Just not sure anyone wanted it. LOL
Sue Dent
Also, sorry for the typos and errors in my post but I type a hundred miles an hour. No excuses, just apologies. Yes, I know I spelled grief wrong. I’m dyslexic too. 🙂
So to correct Jason’s assertion, NO! It hasn’t been done in the CBA! My publisher for Never Ceese was a traditional publisher, who could easily be described as small and new but not “lesser/lower” unless some other view of what a “real” publisher is has been applied, and not CBA. BTW the “lesser/lower” tag did ruffle my feathers a bit because I don’t know of any “lesser/lower” publisher who prints 5000 copies of a book on their first printing. Nor do I think “lesser/lower” should be used to describe any publisher who meets the criteria for a “real” publisher. It infers they somehow fall short of the mark which they don’t. They pay royalties, they ask for no money from the author and they have whoesalers and distributors and are listed on WritersMarket.com who list no one unless they’r a legitimate publisher.
Also Eric Wilson will be the first but it remains to be seen what the CBA lets him get by with. So far the title alone sounds like Zombies not vampires. Eric is the only one who is calling it a vampire trilogy and as far as I know that was only after I talked to him about it. To date, no one at Thomas Nelson has referred to it as such. It’s simply the undead trilogy. It’s obvious CBA lets authors of this genre slide when it comes to the CBA guidelines of acceptablity (ie. . Dekker’s Black that was pulled from Christian book store shelves because of graphic violence that they let him get by with)but so far only authors who are established with CBA are the only ones who’ve been able to get by.
So it’s going to be the Independent author route for many of us. And so what! Of we go!!!!
Thank-you Eric Wilson for all your support! I wish you well.
This is an old thread and I hate to repost but I so want to clear somthing up about what I posted earlier. I’m still in a learning mode about the Christian Publihsing Industry and it seems I learn something new everyday.
First off, at any point where I said CBA publisher, please read it to mean publisher affiliated with CBA. CBA is a Christian Booksellers Association not a publisher. They are a select group of Christian Book Sellers who publishers can affiliate with and they have content guidelines that must be met. ABA is the American Book Sellers Assoiation. A select group of Independent Book Sellers with no content guidelines. There are many Christian Publishers not affiliated with CBA. These are the Publishers who you need to market your vampire stories too should you have one. Unless you like beating your head against the wall. 🙂
The CBA content guidelines are not there to ensure quality. They’re simply there to state the kind of stories these books sellers will and will not accept in their stores.
There. I hope that’s clear as mud! LOL
I am reposting to this old thread, “resurrecting” it again.
When I wrote my comment above I just recalled Sue’s novel Never Ceese was pushed through the CFBA and it wasn’t one of the “big name” publishers, ie. Zondervan or Thomas Nelson. I said “lesser/lower” meaning smaller, but I didn’t research her publisher, and should’ve done so before making such a comment. I can see where this would cause feather ruflling. My apologies.
I’m sorry the cover didn’t come out to Sue’s expectations. Cover quality does make a difference, and I hope her new novel has better success in translation.
Sue’s contributed to a similar conversation over on my blog, and her clarifications on Christian fiction vs. CBA (Christian Booksellers Association) fiction are important. However, my feeling is that the CBA has kind of co-opted the label “Christian fiction”, fairly or not.
Anyway, old topic, yet relevant with the release of Eric’s Jerusalem Undead series, John Olson’s Shade, and the recent release of the Twilight movie. The market is hot Mike, better put your stake in it…
(groooooaaaan)