It's October this week, and that means that it's officially vampire season. Not that I don't think about vampires all year long. I write vampire romances. Among other things. And that's what I've been thinking about all week. I've written about witches/saints in Dark Age Britain (with Viking heroes who must find a way back from losing the one thing they value--physical prowess). I've written about sexy Artificial Intelligences who need a body in order to find their final humanity (and romance). And I write vampires for St. Martin's Press in the Companion series, now at seven books and counting.

One thing I've noticed about my fans is that those who read the vamps often won't wander into my other interests, and there are those who approach me at every book signing, looking interested, who end up saying, "Vampires? I don't read vampires." It seems readers are either vamp-chicks or not, but rarely cross the line. I've been thinking about that, because I love vampires and I also read many other sub genres of romance. Am I weird? And what is it about vampires that both attracts and repels?

To me vampires are the ultimate tortured heroes. They have a past (often a really looooong past). They've done things they aren't proud of (to say the least). They have been given the gift of eternal life with some very big downsides (like having to drink human blood). My vampires have a paras ite in their bloodstream (the Companion) that gives them unusual properties. It isn't their fault but they have to live with the consequences. Some go spectacularly mad with the boredom and the repetition of human cruelty and ignorance. That makes for great villains. And some try very hard to find what we all try to find--our best selves--in spite of everything they've seen. So for me, vampires are an extreme example of the human condition--exactly the same things I try to explore with witches who might be saints and computer-generated entities looking for love.

I guess what they all have in common is being able to be redeemed by finding new innocence through love. When you've seen everything, how do you find the courage to trust someone enough to love them? And if you find you're in love with a vampire, the quintessential myth of evil, how do you have the courage to join him in his altered state? In most of my books,the subtext is that only by embracing what you fear most can you become whole.

This makes it all sound more philosophical than fun. Not good. I believe in throwing in a whole lot of danger and a page turning-plot. In my latest time travel romance, TIME FOR ETERNITY, a modern day vampire bartender goes back to the time of the French Revolution to kill the man she thought she loved before he can make her into the monster she thinks she is. Oooh! Vampires and the French Revolution! Guillotines and the Scarlet Pimpernel. Of course, the path of true love does not come easy. She goes back and merges into the innocent she once was and starts falling for the wicked Duke all over again. But this time, her experience allows her to see that he has secrets she never imagined. I had a great time with this and I'm proud to say that Publisher's Weekly gave it a starred review (and they don't like romances much.) Now here's the trick. The next in my time travel series--won't have a vampire in it. A TWIST IN TIME is about a timid rare bookseller who accidently brings a very alpha Viking warrior forward in time to modern day San Francisco. I loved writing this story. But will the readers who loved my vampires stay for a story with the same resonance and fun but without the vamps? Can I ever convince readers who haven't yet read a book with a vampire hero/heroine, that it isn't JUST about blood sucking?

So cough it up, readers, and tell me--if you're a vampire fan, would you read the next in the series without the vampire? And for you non-vamp-chicks, what would it take for you to read a book with a vampire hero?
http://www.susansquires.com/