Vampires: Dead, Undead, or Something Else
by Roxanne Rhoads
In most myths, legends and even in plenty of popular fiction vampires are described as either dead or undead, sometimes referred to as walking corpses. No heartbeat, no need to breathe, no need to eat food or drink anything other than blood.
Honestly all that doesn’t make a whole helluva lot of sense to me.
For me vampires are different and extraordinary creatures- and not dead at all. Just different.
I see being changed into a vampire as a transformation, not necessarily death though in a way it is but not like what it is often described as. Changing from human to vampire can be a death of human life and rebirth as a vampire, but not a true death.
I can’t wrap my head around the concept of a vampire being dead because of several things.
One they need to feed to “survive”. If you need to survive then obviously you’re not really dead, are you?
Another thing- rapid healing abilities. If you can change and heal, how can you be dead? Dead things don’t heal.
Other things I don’t agree with are the cold skin and lack of heartbeat and breathing. I think vampires are evolved and don’t need to breath as often as humans and their hearts don’t beat like ours- and the slowness of their heartbeat and breaths has something to do with the whole immortality thing.
And the cold skin… when they get cold that just means they need to feed, if they are fully fed their skin is just as warm as ours.
That brings me to the need for blood. As I mentioned I see vampirism as a transformation, kinda like a disease that changes the body. It changes the metabolism and the higher functions of the body but to keep these processes going the body burns up its blood supply and constantly needs to be replenished.
The other powers of vampires- the glamour and mind control and all that, even the teleportation and shape shifting that some can do…well that goes into the magic slot.
I think vampirism is one part disease two parts magic.
In many of my stories the vampires defy the normal vampire conventions. They eat, they walk in daylight and they have heartbeats, and they breathe. I try not to describe them as dead or undead and I don’t stick them in coffins or in the ground.
Mostly I make my vamps pretty appealing, but they’d have to be since I mainly write erotic romance and erotica. No one would want to be getting sexy with something grotesque, would they?
Want to check out my newest vamp tales? I have two new erotic vampire short stories now available. “Cemetery Seduction” is in Dark Tales Digest released by MidnightShowcase.com and “A Last Goodbye” appears in Like That Spark released by Circlet Press.
Description of “Cemetery Seduction”
All half witch half vampire, Abigail wanted to do was go out and have a little fun but when her powers go awry in a nightclub she has to run from the guards. Something strange has been going on in town so the Others are policing all human/magick interaction. The last thing Abby wants is to end up in a jail cell created for Others. On the run she ends up in a cemetery and jumps behind a bush to hide from the guards. She never expected to land right on top of a very sexy ghost hunter
Read an excerpt at or purchase at: http://www.midnightshowcase.com/midnight/DarkTales.htm
Description of “A Last Goodbye”
New witch Marissa is learning the ropes of being one of The Others. One of her mentors is vampire Deirdre, a tall beauty that really irritates Marissa. Marissa is extremely pissed when she shows up to Dante's Ball and finds Deirdre there with Marissa's recent ex-boyfriend, Jeff. The one she was encouraged to break up with because of his humanity. Deirdre explains her reasons for bringing Jeff and offers to help Marissa say goodbye to him in a way none of them will ever forget.
Warning: Contains F/F and F/M/F scenes
You can purchase Like That Spark at All Romance Ebooks, Fictionwise, Smashwords, and Scribd and for your Kindle on Amazon
Roxanne’s Realm I Fang-tastic Books I Facebook I Yahoo Group
*~Contest is now closed.~*
Today I am offering one reader a chance to win a pdf copy of each of the ebooks.
Just leave a comment including your email address and tell me what do you think about vampires? Dead, undead, or something else?
This contest is ages 18 & up and is international! Enter by June 25th. Winner will be chosen by random.org on June 26th.
*~Contest is now closed.~*
22 comments:
I agree with you... just different. Plus it is a nice change from the "norm" among vamp books!!!
Nedsped@verizon.net
Thank you for the opportunity to possibly win and read these books!!!
great post and its good to see when the vamp genera gets mixed up alittle bit
for me honestly i never believed they were undead but then i like the lore better then the fiction
I am with you Rox, I have read books about Vampires having 6 chamber hearts (if they are dead, why do they have a heart) and how can an undead feel emotions? So different, transformed, but not dead, not a corpse. A corpse can't feel.
beckalynn83@gmail.com
Great Question!!
I've always thought something else. Sort of inhuman, but not dead because dead flesh doesn't heal. Also, without a heartbeat, how does the blood they drink circulate and animate them?
I read the fiction, but I like the ones that incorporate the lore, not ignore it.
PolarisGreen[at]gmail[dot]com
It always has bothered me a bit how they're supposed be dead or undead but can heal, and feel, and are driven by basic needs. I've always just thought of them as inhuman rather than dead personally.
Thanks for joining us here today Roxanne!
Vampires = dead. Their bodies are animated but their souls are gone.
juliecookies(at)gmail.com
I am glad I am not the only one who ponders such things and feels that the descriptions are a little off.
I know orginal vampires were corpses that had risen from the grave to feed on the living- more of a zombie type deal than the sexy romantic vampire that fiction created. Over the years vampires have evolved but some of the myth and legends of orginal vampires remain even if they don't ring true or go with the added imagery or descriptions.
Julie- I wonder about your comment about the souls being gone so they are dead.
That bothers me too- if something is without a soul how they feel, love, want, yearn?
That is just another myth, a legend, a thing that no longer fits into many of the modern vampire stories.
Vampires are a mutation of the standard homo sapien.
I too think the average vampire as written has a soul. It makes us what we/they are.
acm05@juno.com
I agree that the original myths of the undead soulless, zombie-like vampires rarely hold true anymore. Every now and then you'll find an author who goes back to more of a traditional vampire, and sometimes there are different types of vampires to account for these soulless evil creatures.
I really never understood how you could crave life, love or anything but survival if you didn't have a soul.
just undead much.I mean, their form is still human right?
darlyn225 at gmail dot com
You make excellent points. I would have to go with other. I want my vamps human like...warm skin and all. With their powers, they are almost like advanced humans. How wouldn't want to heal fast, never age, and not gain weight....;)
heatwave96(at)hotmail.com
Just letting you know that you won an award over at my blog =)
the never gaining weight would be awesome- if you were able to eat whatever you want. Can you imagine having a strick liquid diet (blood) forever but not be able to eat yummy food. Ack. In my stories vampires get to eat. Cause seriously what would life be like without pizza or a fantastic cheeseburger...or OMG dark chocolate. LOL
I think vampires are something else - not dead or undead but like you said - transformed. And really I don't like thinking about the heroes in my favorite romances as dead reanimated bodies - :D
I agree vampires are not dead or undead simply different. I have always believed that vamps are simply a different species of human. I like discovering authors that feel that way. It is refreshing. I have come across several now who feel vampires are simply born that way and just genetically different Lynsay Sands for example.
Dwscarolinahoney@aol.com
Http://www.cattheredreaper.blogspot.com
I prefer not thinking of vampires as dead walking corpses, kills the mood in a sizzling hot kiss or make out scene :-) I prefer to think of them as something else, a bit different humans.
Thanks for the contest!
stella.exlibris (at) gmail (dot) com
Thanks for the award!
Yeah, the not gaining weight thing would be awesome, but pointless if you can't eat yummy food. I'd be so sad w/out pizza and chocolate and coffee!
I'm with those of you that thinking of vampires as reanimated corpses does just kill the mood in a smexy scene. Them being transformed makes things much less icky. lmao
Vampires, if they were considered diseased or just infected - then there is a possibility of a cure being discovered and are therefore given the opportunity to rejoin the human race. What I find interesting about this concept is that the cure may come at a price and not all vampires would want to be cured. Afterall, vampires to live forever and to be human and 'healthily alive'. Personally though, I prefer to consider them as an evolution or mutants if you like. Just another kind of being that exists outside of human.
ilovearevolution (at) live (dot) com
I don't like to think of them as dead or undead, just something else other than human - like shifters are something other than human. The terms dead and undead are not appealing to me.
Diana @ Book of Secrets Blog
bookofsecrets(at)yahoo(dot)com
Vampires are neither dead nor undead. They are just not human. Like shifters are not wholely human. If they move about they are not dead
great comments I am glad others think about these things too
I agree about the undead and dead thing being a total turnoff when thinking about the sizzling sex scenes
I don't think vampires are dead just something totally different. Please enter me in contest. Thank you. Tore923@aol.com
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