Vampire Nation

by Arlene Russo

From the revelation that Robin Hood was a vampire, to the startling discovery that Prince Charles is directly descended from Vlad the Impaler, Vampire Nation uses toe-curling true tales to show how vampire culture is taking the country by storm. Arlene Russo, the UK's foremost vampire expert, has interviewed dozens of real life vampires for this blood-curdling tome. She reveals the strange rituals and rites of vampire lore, and the grisly truth behind genuine vampire killings. Hold onto your crucifix and sharpen your fangs, this is the ultimate trip into the undead.

Genres: Vampires, Nonfiction

277 pages, Hardcover

First published December 30, 2005

About the author

The author is an active part of the vampire scene long before she ever thought of writing about it. She is a trusted member of the community. She obtained her MA Honours Arts Degree from the University of Glasgow in 1991 and set about teaching herself to be a journalist. Then in 1999 she taught herself to self-publish and launched Bite me magazine, single handedly.

Arlene Russo is editor and publisher of Bite me magazine, the UK’s only glossy magazine dedicated to vampires and the supernatural.

Arlene is a recognized journalist in her field and has written many ‘exclusives’ for national newspapers from tabloids like The Sun to quality broadsheets like The Sunday Times.

Arlene herself is the focus of extensive television, radio, and press coverage and is regularly contacted by the media to comment on related events.

She has excellent contacts with international Dracula organizations, including The Vampire Empire (membership 25,000).

She has forged strong relationships with many Dracula experts including authors, historians, actors and film makers. Several of these are strong candidates to write a forward for UK: Vampire Nation.

She is often the first point of contact for the world’s media on unusual events. Most recently, she was the prime contact with the ‘vampire’ killing in Germany by the murderers who claimed they learned vampirism in Scotland from ‘The Leopard Man’. The author was one of the few people granted an interview with ‘The Leopard Man’.

Reviews

[Christy Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

At times this was interesting, but most of the time skimmed the cream of the informational milk. If you don't know anything about vampires this will all be new to you...If you do (or are one) you'll be bored.

[reqbat]

in dire need of an editor. just unbearable to read, a total mess.

[Jenny Churchill · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far...absolutely brilliant book! Has helped me loads

[Steve Cran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you believe that there are vampires living among us, hidden in the general population hidden behind veils of secrecy? Define a vampire. What is your image of a vampire? There are many such images and your definition of a vampire might be different from the person sitting next to you. In fact the person next to you might well be a vampire.

Vampires are definitely the most popular of all cinematic monsters. Made famous by the suave count Dracula portrayed by Bela Lugosi. Vampires are viewed as sexy, seductive, aristocratic and cool. There have been a bajillion movies and books made about vampires or on their theme.

The folkloric version of the vampire is a revenant or a corpse of a dead person risen from the grave that drinks the blood of people and then goes back to it’s grave. Usually vampires are suicides, non baptized or buried in unhallowed ground. They come up as a rotting corpse and they are not at all considered attractive. In folk lore they do not have fangs, ain’t afraid of garlic and they cannot turn into bats. The movie version gives the vamp all of that and makes them look attractive. That started with Polidori’s story “The Vampire” and continued with Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” The peak of the Vampire craze started with Anne Rice’s “Interview with a Vampire” that made them super sexy and super cool.

Now the vampire scene is really thriving especially here in the states. There are different types of vampires and no they do not look anything like they do in the fiction. They are not immortal, indestructible and they cannot change into mist or bats. They are people like you and I.

Sanguniarians are the vampiores that drink blood. Usually if they are smart they get the blood from a donor who gives it willingly. They use sterile syringes and lancets. Donors are to be treated with respect. Psychic vampires feed off of excess energy. Liestyler know aht they are pretending to be vampires.

This book centers on the vamp scene in the UK and touches quite heavily on the vamp scene here in America. In America you are finding more outrageous examples o blood drinker and psy vamps. In the UK things are more subdued and most of the people involved in the vamp scene are life styler whop are aware that they playing a role.

The information might be somewhat dated as it appears to be writing at 2006 the latest. It covered some vampire crimes which hurt the movement, although I think the vampire movement has made a significant comeback. The book touches on organization for vampires, the code of ethics for these organization and some of the occult and religious organizations that cater to the spiritual needs of vampires. The author was a writer and found of a vampire magazine. If your into vampires then this book should be both an informative and interesting read.

[Heather Campbell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel the biggest issue with this book is it can' t decide if it's trying to be more anthropology/sociology or if it wants to just to pout at you that it is real. I feel it's an example of an author "going native," where they begin to heavily associate with the subculture as themselves. It becomes an extension of themselves and must be defended.
It failed to ask some important questions in my opinion, or to explore any other possibility as the reality of vampire existing: the psychology of it, and the structure of such groups. Maybe I'm harsh, but the author set up a scientific venture to me when he tried to include data and historical references
It did do an excellent job of dividing the vampire community from myth, but I found it no more enlightening than any number of documentaries on the subculture and folklore of vampires.

[Jansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does a good job of breaking down the different vampire cultures for the uninitiated: lifestylers, psi vamps, fetishists, religious practitioners, covens, blood drinkers, and vampire hunters. My only problem with it was a couple glaring factual errors I came across: Akasha, in the movie based on Anne Rice's "Queen of the Damned", is NOT the protagonist, but, in fact, the antagonist. Also, the author refers to Bram Stoker as an Englishman at one point. He was, in fact, Irish. One mistake in a book of this kind can be forgiven, but more than one just made me question the author's expertise and the validity of the rest of the book. Read with caution.

[S117 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had read A LOT of it elsewhere, at one point I thought that I might have already read the book before. The whole thing was more like an article with the same things over and over again. But I did like the ending of comparing vampires with extraterrestrial beings.

[Sarah Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

very informative, best book could find so far on the web that desribes psyhic vampires and the sangirure vampires

[Jp Vanir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Great insight of the Vampire community

[Ray Gates · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting insight into vampire life stylers in the UK, however seems a little narrow in its research and I'm left wondering how much is still relevant today.