by Nancy M. Henkel

from Ready-Made Book Displays. Libraries Unlimited, 2011.

Vampires just don’t seem to be going away. There are novels about funny vampires, sexy vampires, literary knockoff vampires, and terrifying vampires. Many, many authors write in the vampire genre, so gathering titles is probably going to be fast and easy. Some of these writers include Mary Janice Davidson, Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Erin McCarthy, Anne Rice, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. And, of course, you can also include Bram Stoker. But there are also some stand-alone vampire novels and some that are written by novelists who just wanted to take their fangs on a test run. This is an easy and popular display to do, especially around Halloween, and you can resurrect it every time a new Twilight movie comes out.

Prop Ideas

Bats
Vampire cape
Plastic fangs

Related Dewey Subject List

Vampire myth and lore (398.21)
History of Romania/Transylvania (949.8)
Vampire movie history (791.4309)

Related Media

DVDs of vampire movies such as Dracula starring Gary Oldman, the classic version starring Bela Lugosi, or Interview with a Vampire starring Tom Cruise.

Booklist

Dakota Cassidy. Accidentally Dead. Berkley Sensation, 2008.
In this installment of Cassidy’s paranormal romances, dental hygienist Nina is turned into a vampire when she’s accidentally bitten on the job.

Christopher Farnsworth. Blood Oath. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2010.
Nathaniel Cade is the president’s secret weapon: a vampire who secretly defends the United States against unnatural threats.

Michael Thomas Ford. Jane Bites Back. Ballantine Books, 2010.
Elizabeth Jane Fairfax just happens to be Jane Austen incognito, just happens to own a bookshop, and just happens to be a 233-year-old vampire. She also wants to get her last manuscript published.

Seth Grahame-Smith. Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Grand Central Publishing, 2010.
Sure, our sixteenth president freed slaves and steered the United States through one of the most traumatic periods in our history. But did you also know he was a force for good against the undead?

Matt Haig. The Radleys. Free Press, 2010.
A middle-class British couple raising their teenagers must deal with midlife crises, vegan diets, and the fact that they are vampires hiding in plain sight.

Susan Hubbard. The Society of S. Simon & Schuster, 2007.
The first in Hubbard’s Ethical Vampire series is a twist on the usual vampire story set in a world where vampires coexist with humans.

Louise Marley. Mozart’s Blood. Kensington Books, 2010.
Teresa is a soprano vampire who carries the memories of victims past—including those of Mozart. A brilliantly conceived and executed tale that spans four centuries.

Robin McKinley. Sunshine. Berkley Books, 2003.
As the daughter of a sorcerer, Rae Seddon, known as Sunshine, is being recruited to become part of the Special Others Forces to combat a vampire takeover. Meanwhile, she is kidnapped by a group of vampires who intend to serve her up to their boss for dinner.

Terence Taylor. Blood Pressure: A Vampire Testament. St. Martin’s Press, 2010.
Clean Slate Global plots to rid the world of vampires, except for its own army of undead. With flashbacks to the Harlem Renaissance, performance art, romance, and a battle against cancer, this complex novel lives up to its prequel, Bite Marks.

David Wellington. 99 Coffins: A Historical Vampire Tale. Three Rivers Press, 2007.
As the survivor of a vicious vampire attack, Laura Caxton has no desire to tangle with them again. However, when an archaeological dig in Gettysburg unearths ninety-nine coffins containing dead vampires and one empty coffin, she goes on a deadly quest to find the missing vampire and save the town.

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