What do you mean by queer vampires?
The term 'queer vampire' is a hard one to exactly define. In general, vampires are considered to be creatures of legend who drink the blood, vitality, energy or some other 'essence' of mortals. While the most popular type of vampire drinks blood, there are others that may feed off of sexual energy, psychic energy, youth, fertility, or even mother's milk.
With how imprecise the term vampire is, queer is even more so. In general, queer refers to those who have a sexual or affectional preference for those of the same sex, or who have personal characteristics that cross gender boundaries. However, due to the nature of many vampire movies and books, we may not know what exactly the characters are thinking. Because of this, some of the items mentioned in this site may only have strong homoerotic appeal.
The purpose of this site is not to 'out' characters, nor to define what is and isn't queer. If items are included because of implied interest or homoeroticism, that will be stated. It is then up to the individual viewer/reader/surfer to decide whether or not it is a queer item.
This is a constant source of debate among queer vampire fans. The idea is that after so many hundreds of years most vampires would either become asexual or bisexual. Mortal passions would become less important as the vampire leaves the mortal world behind. While this may be true, the case still stands that most writers and producers tend to show heterosexual sensuality with vampires, but rarely (if ever) show homosexual sensuality.
One of the arguments I subscribe to is that during a vampire's formative (mortal) years, sexuality shapes them. Sexuality not only defines with whom you'd have sex, but also which people you notice first and in what context. Sex is often associated with a predatory attitude. People may go out on the prowl to find someone to sleep with, while many others enjoy the thrill of the hunt. Due to these factors, after being transformed into a vampire, a person is still likely to hold these associations and attitudes. Therefore, at least in the immediate sense, a queer mortal transformed into a vampire should be far more likely to notice, and desire, a same-sex victim.
Whether or not the sexual orientation affects the vampire's preferences over time may depend strongly on how much a vampire considers feeding to be an 'intimate experience'. If it is strongly coupled with a sexual desire, it is unlikely that a vampire will change orientations. However, if feeding becomes separated from their own sexual desires, or if the only sexual part of the experience is in entrancing their prey, a vampire may appear to become asexual or bisexual.
Having said this, vampirism is often likened to being queer. Both conditions bring the person outside of the norm, they do something seen as predatory and/or evil, both are seen to convert others to be like them and both are ostracized and hunted by those who hate and fear them. Because of this, many theorists point out vampirism as a metaphor for being queer, but they are not saying that the vampires are queer themselves.
Wow. I'm new in my interest in vampires/queer vampires, what should I start with?
The most common starting places in queer vampire culture seems to involve reading Anne Rice's 'Vampire Chronicles', and watching 'The Hunger' or 'Lost Boys'. The books 'Daughters of Darkness', 'Brothers of the Night' and 'Lost Souls' are also heavily recommended by many as must read books. Please take a look at my queer vampire books and movies pages for more recommendations
For general (non-queer) vampire lore, you'd do best to read Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (of course). Other recommendations include both fiction:'I am Legend' and Jody Scott's 'I vampire'; and nonfiction: Raymond McNally's 'Dracula Was a Woman', Paul Barber's 'Vampires, Burial and Death', Pam Keesey's 'Vamps', Katherine Ramsland's 'Piercing the Darkness'. In movies, 'Buffy, the Vampire Slayer', 'Fright Night', 'Nosferatu', and many of the classic Dracula movies.
What is the history of queer vampires?
For those that are interested, I've put together a short overview of the history of g/l/b/t vampires.
Where can I find the books/movies you talk about?
This question answered in the general Queer Horror FAQ
I know of a book or movie you haven't listed, how do I let you know?
First off, are you sure I don't know about it? If you can't find it, please verify it in my search engine. Unless you are an avid vampire fan, your book or movie is probably already here. With that said, we have created a list of information we need about this item. Literally hundreds of different references have come from fans all over the world.
I let you know about a book or movie, why isn't it on the site?
When I created this site, I wanted to make sure it was as accurate as it could be. Since even honest people forget or misremember things, I need to have a new book or movie confirmed before I add it to the site. This process can take a while. Generally I have between 20-30 books on my 'to read' shelf and 4-5 movies on my 'to-watch' shelf. So, the process of finding the item, obtaining it, reading/watching it, verifying content and adding the information can take a very long time depending on what else I'm doing.
This isn't to say that I need to read or watch everything. But, before I can take a peron's word for the content of an item, I'd prefer to see that the person has some knowledge in the genre so that they can accurately crique something, and that they have a passing familiarity with writing. The best way to do this is to become a member and rate some of the existing items.
Finally, as I've explored this genre, I've discovered that it grows and grows. So, in order to keep my sanity, and in order to help keep the site useful, I've had to start limiting what gets listed. The following are general guidelines.
- All items must have queer vampire content, however subtle. Being written by a gay man isn't enough.
- Items created after the 1940s has to have fairly obviously queer characters or a fairly obvious queer theme.
- Items created after 1990 must have openly queer characters portrayed in a non-homophobic way (in this genre, being a killer isn't negative, but being a 2-D stereotype is), have a strong queer theme or be remarkable in some other way.
- Story collections created after 2007 are no longer included if they do not focus on both the queer and the horrific (or horror-related). Collections with a subset of gay or lesbian horror or vampire stories are no longer accepted.
Are there any rules I should know of when getting involved in the vampire/vampyre community?
Just like getting involved in any community, learn how they work before you blunder in. Be respectful of other's beliefs. Many people have devoted dozens of years or thousands of hours reading, watching and discussing the subject. Listen and you may learn quite a bit. Many in the community are strange, but few are scary and very few are dangerous. But be careful, enter slowly and learn along the way.
If you are going to aim for the online community, there are a few additional rules to learn. With e-mail, you have the ability to read what you've written, reflect on it, and decide if you should reword it or send it. Use that to your advantage. Don't send messages that exist only to incite anger (flame). Why bother? Plenty of self-centered newbies will do that anyway. And PLEASE check your grammar, spelling and capitalization. For some reason, many newbies (and I am speaking to a large number of AOLers) have decided that it is correct to use contractions, bad spelling and no capitalization. A moment's reflection will help you realize that your word choice, spelling and sentence structure IS your first appearance. Using them correctly is exactly the same as dressing, showering and primping before you go out to meet people. u tak like this and u get wat u deserve
In general, belief in vampires is just that, a belief. Because of this, I have chosen to not answer this question. In general, messing with people's beliefs is a good way to get staked (whether you're a vampire or a mortal). I will say this though; if vampires are real, they do not fall into normally understood physics, biology or physiology. This doesn't mean that they don't exist, it just makes it less likely.
Another question I will tacitly sidestep. Answering this question is a good way to meet vampire hunters, the desperately lonely and the vampire wannabes. I'm not sure that's something I want to encourage. Besides, if I confirm or deny this, people who need to believe one way or another will still believe what they want to believe: which makes people either believe me to be a liar or insane. I'll just stick with slightly odd and mysterious!
You're no vampire, you can't possibly understand us. Why do you act like you are?
The above answer seem to cover this one too. Believe what you want, revel in your beliefs.
Many have said so... Yes, I am gay. One of the few who score a perfect 6 on the Kinsey scale.
C'mon, I know you're a vampire, will you make me one?
I will say this. If you are one of the people pining out into the dark, praying with all your soul to meet a vampire and be given 'the dark gift', you should talk to a counselor. This much of a desire to meet vampires isn't healthy. Take a look at yourself and figure out why you want to become a vampire. If you don't enjoy life now, why do you think you'd enjoy endless life? Do you honestly think that being a vampire would stop self-doubt, uncertainty or vulnerability? As a vampire, you'd still have enemies, fights, jealousy, betrayal and fear.
If you really still want to become a vampire, please read the next answer too.
The generally accepted method is to become bitten by, or exchange fluids with, a vampire. Historical methods are much more fun and include: having a vampire step on your shadow, having a cat jump over your dead body, being the seventh son of a seventh son, committing suicide, being born with teeth or a caul, having red hair, or following the forces of darkness.
Very few people accept that the bite of a vampire will turn the victim into a vampire. Simple mathematics shows that if each vampire has to kill fairly often to stay alive, and each bite turns the victim into a vampire, then mortals would have stopped existing long ago. If we start with one vampire, and he has to kill one person each night to survive, who turn into vampires in turn, then in 5 days, only 32 people are dead. In 10 days, a thousand people are dead. In two weeks, sixteen thousand are dead, and in 1 month (well, 33 days), the entire world has been consumed. (Ahh, geometric growth).
However, if you still believe a vampire can convert you, then common sense says you will need to find and attract one. To attract a vampire you will have to be someone that the vampire would be willing to spend centuries with. This means that if you are moody, brooding and suicidal, a vampire will likely consider you to be a burden. Trust me, you would not be the only one willing to fall on your knees and swear eternal allegiance, you'll have to do more than that to stand out. And think about it, would you really want to associate with someone that expects you to worship them?
My advice... deal with your problems, learn to enjoy life and how to deal with people, take on a project that will get you noticed, become personable and a joy to be around. This is the most likely way to get anyone to want you around and to do things for you. If you decide to still seek out vampires, please be careful. It will be much easier to meet humans who want to believe that they're vampires (and may not like their mortality pointed out to them) or to people who want to hurt or abuse you, than it would be to find a vampire.
Also, pay attention to details. A vampire will have to be constantly aware of their surroundings in order to defend itself against a vampire hunter, other vampires or humans bent upon capturing one. Almost by definition, they are preditors and are wary and alert. If you are a person who is desperately trying to find a vampire by writing an offhanded note stating that "u want 2 b a vamprie", I guarentee that you'll fail to meet one. Why would a vampire want to hang around someone that doesn't even try?
I think drinking blood is sick. You're an instrument of Satan!
Technically this isn't a question. And really, I'm not all that concerned, nor interested in what you think. Obviously the subject of vampires holds interest to me and not to you. Isn't diversity exciting.
You don't know anything about vampires. Don't you know they all burn in sunlight / can't see reflections / fly / are queer / aren't interested in sex / ...?
*sigh* Newbies are so much fun. Listen, just because you've read Anne Rice 402 times and seen Dracula 14 times in a weekend doesn't mean that you understand vampire mythology. Even if you yourself are a vampire, you're not all of them and can't speak for all of them. Vampire mythology, both current and ancient, is excitingly varied. Ancient Chinese vampires hopped around because of rigor mortis. Japanese vampires are deformed, green, child-like monsters who carried water in an indentation on their heads. Vampires from Ghana had hooks for hands and feet, lived in trees and bit people on their thumbs. Ancient Grecian ones sat on top of houses during the day and banged the roof with stones.
Please don't assume that Anne Rice, Stephen King or Buffy define what vampires are or are not. It's exciting for you to have discovered one small piece of vampire mythology, realize that that's all that it is.
You sound great. I'd love to meet you.
Thanks. Cool. Show up at horror/sci-fi conventions and other similar things. If I'm there, I'd love to talk to you. Otherwise, catch my interest by discovering a gay or lesbian movie or book that I don't have listed! I'll fall to the ground and pledge my eternal allegiance... wait a second... :)
I love fan mail, and hate hate mail. I try to answer all e-mail I get and generally try to answer any question I can. I can get up to 20 e-mails a day, so I can't promise immediacy in response though.
But, I'm a vampire too, can't I meet you?
There's really no way for me to be able to tell who, or what, is contacting me, nor how dangerous they are. There are enough people out there who believe that they are vampires, and not in a healthy way, that I wouldn't feel terribly comfortable around. There are also a number of people out there who find queers, vampires, and queer vampires disgusting and evil that I wouldn't feel terribly safe around either. And, frankly, there are probably some vampires out there that I wouldn't want to meet.
I've written to you, and you didn't write back, what's wrong with you?
If you wrote to me telling me how stupid I am, please wait by your computer until I write. Don't leave for anything. No matter what.
Other than that, the biggest reasons I don't write back include:
- Cybersex with strangers is so 1997. I'm not new to the computer, I discovered online sex talk way back when it started. I prefer the real options. Besides, I've met a number of "Tall, blonde, muscular frat-boys with a gymnast's build" to realize that there is little truth in web advertising.
- You've written me a poor letter. Sorry to be a stickler, but if you don't spend the time writing properly, I'm not likely to spend time writing back. It's one of my interesting foibles (I am really into education). I'm not concerned with split infinitives or even sticking with the correct tense. But, for Lilith's sake, "dont write like u r ignorent uv how to rite. it isnt kute"
- You appear crazy. As much fun as it is meeting yet another Lestat online, the novelty wears off quickly. Not many people believe that a 600 year old vampire gets his jollies by trying to impress someone via e-mail.
- You're asking for too much. I'm glad you love my site. I'm thrilled you appreciate my knowledge. But, I cannot write your term paper for you, give a blow-by-blow account of all of Anne Rice's books, research Ancient Babylonian embalming techniques nor teach you how to make webpages. Exploring the web, while a long and tedious process at first, is essential to find information you need easily later on.
- I'm having a bad or busy week. For some strange reason, the collective subconscious does seem to affect the web strongly. Some weeks, I get far, far more e-mail than I can hope to reply to in a timely manner. If your message is well-thought and fair, wait a bit and try again. Sometimes mail doesn't go through, sometimes I miss it, but I usually try to respond to everything.
I've been looking for 'xyz' can I borrow it from you? Will you copy it for me?
No. But thanks for asking. I don't want to risk breaking a copyright law. If there is no copyright on something, it is possible that I'd be willing to trade. I also barter, buy and (possibly) sell.
I have a book/movie/tape/... that I think you'd be interested in. Where should I send it?
If you have something that I've been looking for high and low and haven't been able to find, wonderful! I'm extremely excited, and glad to take it off your hands. Please e-mail me about it though. It's possible that I have already gotten something that's on my wish list and just haven't updated the list yet. On the other hand I may know someone else who is looking for something that isn't on my wish list.
Are you planning on expanding your site?
Yes. I'm looking into expanding a number of different ways. I have extended Queer Vampires to include Horror, Werewolves, Ghosts and Demons, and may include other specific subsections. But, I'm also looking into expanding into other queer horror topics and into non-queer vampire minorities. I'm also constantly trying to add more interactivity to the site, most of which will be available to members. If you have additional ideas, please let me know.
Is there anything I can offer for the site?
Boy, I'm hoping more people will ask this. Here are things that you can contribute (see my wish page for more specific information)
- Help locate books and movies that I haven't yet found (either information or the actual item).
- Provide pictures of queer vampires.
- Encourage others to post messages regularly on the BBS. This is where I get a lot of ideas.
- Give me any information on any queer vampire events, groups, fanzines, or whatnot that exist.
- Send stories or articles. The more writers that contribute, the bigger the site will get.
