The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vampires

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining But Misleading
Review: I enjoy reading the "idiot's guides" series, and this one was no exception. it was a pleasant read, but i did have some issues with it.

Your personal beliefs will influence how seriously you take this book. quite a few parts were quite amusing, and hard to take seriously.

Also, quite often it groups "witches" into the "mythical" or "dark" types of creatures. I did NOT find this amusing. i am a pagan witch, and don't appreciate being referred to as practically subhuman. The author makes one tiny reference to wiccan witches, but this does not excuse the flagrant story spinning throughout the rest of the book.

Aside from that, i did enjoy the book. i learned some things that i didnt know, and i enjoyed my reading experience. i dont regret buying it.

Rating:
Summary: Serious omission in this book. Where is Lori Herter?
Review: I was so excited to see this book in the store. I have been a fan of vampire lore for as long as I can remember. I was even more excited to see the chapter entitled "Grave Plots and Toothsome Tales" and in this chapter on page 238 the heading "Passion Parasites". Here the author mentions the genre of vampire romances, along with many of the talented authors that write these great tales. I was however, very dismayed to see that, author LORI HERTER was left out of this list of writers. Ms. Herter's Obsession series, which included four titles, Obsession, Possession, Confession and Eternity pioneered the modern day vampire romance genre. The authors mentioned in Mr. Stevenson's book are all authors with their vampire romances still on the shelves, while Ms. Herter's series is out of print. But, I feel, with the proper research, Mr. Stevenson would have seen, that Lori Herter's name and contribution to the world of vampire romance literature would have been a "must mention" in his book. This omission leaves me to wonder, what and/or who else did Mr. Stevenson omit simply because it would have required more detailed research. Hopefully, in the future, other books and guides dealing with this subject, will not only mention and feature Lori Herter, but they will interview Ms. Herter and use that interview as their opening to the introduction of the world of vampire romance.

Rating:
Summary: Fangs for this fun book!
Review: I'm not a goth or a fan of a particular writer, I just wanted to learn something about vampires in history, culture, literature --beyond Dark Shadows and Anne Rice novels -- been there, done that. This is a great read -- fun, yet serious enough to give me the background I was searching for. I recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: Very, very detailed.
Review: Lets get to the facts - this book is large and filled with details about vampires in history, legends, movies and books. It talks about vampire fashion and lifestyles, TV shows, research into vapirism, vampire relationships with witches, werewolves and ghouls, vampires from around the world and much, much more!
It deals not just with Dracula (and his many spin offs) and Anne Rice, but the World Of Darkness, Dark Shadows and Forever Knight. It has a great index for a quick search and appendixs that list the "main" characters, help define terms and list nonfiction books.
But while published in 2002 it is already outdated. It talks about Buffy's death and the switching of networks (old news). Also, while you can find vampire authors such as P.N. Elrod, Lois Tilton, Richard Matheson and John Steakley, how about Kim Newman, Tanya Huff, Susan Sizemore, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Christopher Golden?
I don't think I'll worry about it as I'm sure new editions will be updated to cover them.
Don't forget to add Kerri Hawkins!

Rating:
Summary: Very, very detailed.
Review: Lets get to the facts - this book is large and filled with details about vampires in history, legends, movies and books. It talks about vampire fashion and lifestyles, TV shows, research into vapirism, vampire relationships with witches, werewolves and ghouls, vampires from around the world and much, much more!
It deals not just with Dracula (and his many spin offs) and Anne Rice, but the World Of Darkness, Dark Shadows and Forever Knight. It has a great index for a quick search and appendixs that list the "main" characters, help define terms and list nonfiction books.
But while published in 2002 it is already outdated. It talks about Buffy's death and the switching of networks (old news). Also, while you can find vampire authors such as P.N. Elrod, Lois Tilton, Richard Matheson and John Steakley, how about Kim Newman, Tanya Huff, Susan Sizemore, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Christopher Golden?
I don't think I'll worry about it as I'm sure new editions will be updated to cover them.
Don't forget to add Kerri Hawkins!

Rating:
Summary: A Vampire Book That Didn't Suck
Review: Starting with vampire lore and moving through modern vampires, vampire novels and vampire cinema, this book was a fascinating smorgasboard of vampire information. For someone who just likes general trivia and an interesting read, this book was a find.

The author's often light hearted style of writing made the read all the more enjoyable while not taking the vampire myths too seriously, yet still giving a dignified account of modern vampire lifestylers.

There were ommissions of some vampire authors and little depth into some things, but this book is for beginners, not for those looking for in depth vampire-nalia. For someone who is just curious about vampires, old and new, and perhaps wants to get a quick overview of Anne Rice, this is the book for you. Interesting, a light read, and really quite fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: Inaccurate information about goths
Review: While most of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vampires" is good for the neophyte vampire fan, some parts come pretty close to living up to the title. Take for example the section on the goth subculture: rather than go out and research the scene first hand, Jay Stevenson apparently relied completely on Gordon Melton's "The Vampire Book" for information. Stevenson describes Marilyn Manson as being a goth musician. Most goths hate Marilyn Manson. Citing Anton LaVey's ordination of Manson, Stevenson draws a parallel between the goth scene and satanism. For a "Complete Idiot" with little to no knowledge of goth, these parts of the book are damning and paint a false picture of the goth scene.

So, this book may be one to pick up for the collection. However, it is best to take what Stevenson says with a pinch of salt.