Books:
Dracula, of course. If you dig the epistolary format, I suggest you check The Historian. I am not the biggest fan of the “Stoker’s Dracula is Vlad III” theory/Florescu’s stuff, but the book is still beautiful and the characters are nice and good and very human. Then the “alternate international versions” of Dracula, like Powers of Darkness or Dracula in Istanbul.
Let the right one in. This one feels sad, dark and oppressive. I really loved it.
After 90 years. It’s a short novella, but you all should read it if you are into folkloric vampires over modern ones.
Movies:
Shadow of the Vampire, Byzantium… there’s also a load of good versions of Dracula to choose from. Then there’s Van Helsing, which is my guilty pleasure.
Tag Archives: vc adjacent recs

I’ve grown familiar with villains that live in my head
(x)
Drawn for my bro geneticghost on their suggestion of actual-vampire Damien :3;; hunter is the hunteddddd x-x ofc could all be part of Robert’s bullshit as usual 😉
I trust your judgment, so you have any vampire book recommendations that aren’t Anne Rice books? (Not that I dislike Rice’s work, it’s just that that’s everyone’s go-to when I ask this.)
Off the top of my head, and in no particular order:
- Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King
- Anno Dracula, by Kim Newman
- The Blood Opera trilogy (Dark Dance, Personal Darkness, Darkness I), by Tanith Lee
- The Blood Wine sequence (A Taste of Blood Wine, A Dance in Blood Velvet, The Dark Blood of Poppies, The Dark Arts of Blood), by Freda Warrington
- The Delicate Dependency, by Michael Talbot (the recently-published edition from Valancourt Books has a foreword by me!)
- Fevre Dream, by George R. R. Martin
- Lost Souls, by Poppy Z. Brite
- Midnight Blue: the Sonja Blue Collection, by Nancy Collins
- Still Life, by Michael Montoure
And, if you want super-sweet gothy YA vampires, the Vampire Kisses series by Ellen Schreiber are adorable.
-Sunshine by Robin McKinley
-The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
-From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury
-Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (where’s its cult following? because its really damn good for a vampire novel, lacking the over-sentimental-yet-emotionally-devoid clatter of a lot of YA books but not having the same levels of bitter cynicism that adult vampire novels have)
Do you have any book recommendations?
That is a very … broad question. What sort of books are you looking for?
However, some books I always recommend, in no particular order:
- Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury.
- The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman.
- The Bloody Chamber, by Angela Carter.
- The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson.
- Anything and everything you can find by Terry Pratchett, but especially the Discworld books about the Witches.
- The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern.
- Dracula, by Bram Stoker
- The “original” three of The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice (Interview With the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned).
I trust your judgment, so you have any vampire book recommendations that aren’t Anne Rice books? (Not that I dislike Rice’s work, it’s just that that’s everyone’s go-to when I ask this.)
Off the top of my head, and in no particular order:
- Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King
- Anno Dracula, by Kim Newman
- The Blood Opera trilogy (Dark Dance, Personal Darkness, Darkness I), by Tanith Lee
- The Blood Wine sequence (A Taste of Blood Wine, A Dance in Blood Velvet, The Dark Blood of Poppies, The Dark Arts of Blood), by Freda Warrington
- The Delicate Dependency, by Michael Talbot (the recently-published edition from Valancourt Books has a foreword by me!)
- Fevre Dream, by George R. R. Martin
- Lost Souls, by Poppy Z. Brite
- Midnight Blue: the Sonja Blue Collection, by Nancy Collins
- Still Life, by Michael Montoure
And, if you want super-sweet gothy YA vampires, the Vampire Kisses series by Ellen Schreiber are adorable.
Just out of curiosity, is there any books you recommend that have a similar humorous/ dark tone as VC?
Hey! Book reccs! Always a good topic.

It’s tough for me to answer bc I think it depends on every individual reader’s sense of humor,… even within “humorous/ dark tone as VC” there is a range*. So I can’t say definitively that these reccs are in line with what you’re looking for necessarily, but you can use this list as a starting point.
*Lestat dancing w/ Claudia’s mom’s corpse: Some ppl find this moment dark and hilarious and other ppl think it’s just disgusting, so… there is a range. Personally I find it pretty amusing.

(There are some duplicates on this list, sorry about that, but I wanted to list them by recc’er.) (And I added ** next to those that @gothiccharmschool just recc’d in two recent posts which I will reblog momentarily for you.)
In no special order:
- (Okay this is the first one bc it IS special, and the closest to the humor of VC I’ve seen in awhile) This is a mockumentary/movie but it sneaks onto the top of the list bc it is just SO good, courtesy of @theamazingdrunk for reminding me in a comment on an older rec post: WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS
- **Salem’s Lot – Stephen King, personally, I find several Stephen King books to be darkly humorous, this one is a good one. I find humor in the Shining and Firestarter, too, but less so.
- Vittorio – don’t forget Vittorio. Not sure if you read this one. It’s also by Anne Rice and technically not a VC book, he has a different origin story and is not part of the VC vampire group.
- Some short stories – @soyonscruels posted: those who dream only by night: the gothic short stories rec list – Not full-length books but still, short stories are good! There are 20 short stories listed, writers include @neil-gaiman, Roald Dahl, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, each of whom I’ve found to have some level of humor along w/ dark tones.
- More E. A. Poe is offered up here, from @keep-calm-and-heta-oni, which includes little capsules about each.
- @consultingcupcake said: “I really love the Cirque du Freak series, and **Lost Souls by Poppy Z Brite. Both have teenage protagonists
- @fantasticfelicityfox said: The Historian is very good
- @stitcheskitty said: Sookie Stackhouse novels
- @riverofwhispers said: Carmilla is good
Anita Blake and Sookie Stackhouse books, but only the early ones.
the Rachel Morgan series but again starts out good gets weird later and it’s not about vampires so much as there are vampires in it. - @bluestockingcouture said: ‘The Angel’s Cut’, sequel to ‘The Vintner’s Luck’, is very atmospheric and well worth reading. Not quite as moving and intense, but there are some excellent new characters.
- @sanguinivora said: Also, as to voice: IWTV opens in the late 1700’s/early 1800’s. Don’t know about either a southern American or French hinterlands-with-a-gloss-of-Parisian dialect, but for the grammar and vocabulary, one cannot go too far wrong looking to the novels of Jane Austen and Patrick O’Brian.
- @dragontrainerdaenerys said: I just read Fevre Dream, George R.R Martin’s own vampire novel, and while I didn’t liked much his vampire mythology the main characters are charming! Besides, it’s set on the late 18XX and goes on the Mississipi River, so it has similar scenarios to IWTV!
- @baroquebat said: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, while futuristic, has a loooot of lovely gothic set pieces in the anime movie, plus its just gorgeous and has the rare treat of having a dhampir lead!
@annabellioncourt’s Recs, and these are mostly her descriptions, too, compiled from other recc posts:
- The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories – Angela Carter
- Carmilla – Bunch of adaptations of this.
- A Taste of Blood Wine – Freda Warrinton, for romance and decadence.
- **Blood Opera Sequence (or “Trilogy”?) – Tanith Lee’s vampire series was out when Lestat was playing rockstar
- Historian – Elizabeth Kostova, for its worldliness
- **Fevre Dream (yes its spelled fevre) by George R. R. Martin (yes, its THAT Martin, and his take on vampires is Very Good.)
- Sunshine by Robin McKinley
- **The Delicate Dependency by Michael Talbot, also for romance and decadence. (the recently-published edition from Valancourt Books has a foreword by @gothiccharmschool!)
- The Hunger by Whitley Scriber
- **Dracula – Bram Stoker, for its stereotype-setting content
- Lord Ruthven – Byronic vampire, Lestat doesn’t catch the irony of John Polidori’s mockery of the foppish, arrogant, and well…Lord-Byron-y vampire
>>>>Moar recs from @annabellioncourt under Spooky Book Recommendations
>>>>Moar recs from @gothiccharmschool: here, here, and in her #vampire books and #vampire novels tags.
>>>>My #VC adjacent recs tag
Anyone is welcome to reblog/comment on this with other VC-adjacent book recs!
@hyperbeeb (<– is very well-read and took one for the team to read Blood Vivicanti!), @gothiccharmschool, @fyeahgothicromance, @thebibliosphere, (@annabellioncourt, too, but you are technically off the hook as I’ve already posted your recs!), got any recs for books w/ similar humorous/ dark tone as VC?
Idk if you ever heard about the CBBC show Young Dracula, but it’s brilliant. Yes, it’s originally for kids (at least the first few seasons) but it’s hilarious and so quotable. Also, Vlad, the main protagonist who was born a vampire, desperately wants to be normal and that feels very VC-adjacent. It’s a great show either way.
Definitely quotable in that cute child-friendly way! The fashion and general aesthetic seems to have a touch of VC.
Thanks for the rec, anon. I might give it a try 😉 Anyone else here watch/like it?

^Found Antonio!Armand’s wig…


^and Armand’s attitude age…

^Found a Lestatuesque line!
Dearest Lestat (I hope it is alright to use your first name?) Other than your own, what is your favourite vampire book or series?
//Sorry, my Lestat can’t answer this one 😛 Since I haven’t read many other vampire books or series, I can’t consider what his opinion would be on them!
He’d probably be more into the vampire movies and graphic novels/comics than novels and series. Lestat was into
Sam Spade
comics before it was cool to be a giant nerd! ;D
He does read books, he did a lot of reading to educate himself on the state of the world in 1984, but remember how he felt about Gabrielle’s bookworminess: “I hated the sight of her books; I hated her absorption in them.”

[X by @so-bad-its-effin-awesome]
However, I did ask around and got some recs from other ppl about other vampire books/series Lestat might like:
- The Historian (for its worldliness),
- Dracula (for its stereotype-setting content),
- Lord Ruthven (Byronic vampire, Lestat doesn’t catch the irony of John Polidori’s mockery of the foppish, arrogant, and well…Lord-Byron-y vampire)
- Tanith Lee’s vampire series was out when Lestat was playing rockstar
- The Delicate Dependency, for romance and decadence.
- and also A Taste of Blood Wine, also for romance and decadence.
@riverofwhispers:
- Carmilla is good
- Anita Blake and Sookie Stackhouse books, but only the early ones.
- the Rachel Morgan series but again starts out good gets weird later and it’s not about vampires so much as there are vampires in it.
Anyone can reblog/comment and add to this what you think Lestat might like to read! We’ll make this a recc post under #vc adjacent recs.
fandoms you’re in now?
Confession time: I don’t consider myself really ~in~ any other fandom. Just Vampire Chronicles.

[^X]
Here’s some of the other fandoms I like to watch from a distance. I put an * on ones I guess I might qualify to be in, and/or that I feel obligated to watch/read when I see them. I think what I like best about other fandoms is finding more excellent fanartists and shipping discourse.
[Oh! Just remembered, you might want to check out my huge recc list]
Media in no special order:
- Tom Cruise* – yeah I am a low-level Cruiser, throw in most of his 80′s and 90′s movies here in this bullet ^_____^
- Tom Hiddleston – *sighs*
- What We Do in the Shadows*
- Only Lovers Left Alive*
- Crimson Peak
- Sherlock Holmes* (RDJ movies, mainly)
- Hannibal* – primarily the TV series and secondarily the movies
- Marvel movies (w/ subcategories for ships: Stucky, Stony, ummmm I like all the ships, really!)
- Disney*
- Pixar too, but not as much as the 2D traditional Disney movies.
- The Shining*
- American Psycho
- Jurassic Park
- The Walking Dead*
- The Office
- Arrested Development
- Dr. Katz
- Home Movies
- Star Wars (movies only, not comics or novels)
- Lord of the Rings trilogy (movies only)
- South Park
- Attack on Titan/SnK
- Sailor Moon
- Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki
- the X-Files (the older series!)
- the Addams Family (I love the Adult Wednesday youtube person!)
- the Lost Boys
- Edward Scissorhands
Other stuff in no special order:
- CATS
- FASHION
- Goth goth
- Halloween stuff
- candles
- photography/aesthetic stuff
- glassware, handblown glass
- architecture
- animation in general
- concept art/behind the scenes info
- vintage portrait photography and art
- classical art and sculpture
- Places: Paris, New Orleans, France (<–duh), Greece, Rome, Italy, New Zealand, California, NYC.
I don’t think I have enough depth of knowledge* of other media to consider myself a real part of their fandoms, but I like other media, obviously, and I sometimes reblog it here under #Not VC along with other Not VC things. #VC Adjacent is for things that are evocative of a VC feel, even if only in the remotest way!
Admittedly, my standards are VERY high re: “depth of knowledge,” but the amount I do know about others might qualify me as being considered “in” some other fandoms. What even qualifies you to be IN a fandom? Just liking a thing? Or having headcanons about it? Enjoying discourse about it? IDK.
I absolutely love your blog! I’ve gone through all the VC cannon and so many of the wonderful fanworks, but now I’m having withdrawals! Is it strange that my solution is to watch Rise of the Guardians? I mean, Jack Frost IS a cheeky undead optimist who’s trying to find his purpose in the world :P My real question is, are there any Lestatesque/VC-esque books or movies you’d recommend? I agree that OLLA and What We Do in the Shadows are fantastic >:D
Merci beaucoup, glad you like this thing! You want more?

You do, I see >:}
I’d agree w/ you about Jack Frost, he’s forced into his immortal status by accident, too, and he’s orphaned and has to figure out what to do w/ himself, too. Jack and Lestat are definitely both
cheeky undead optimists! And yes, OLLA and What We Do in the Shadows are fantastic, that’s for sure! Those movies were very much the VC movie we had been waiting for, with different facets of VC-adjacentness. OLLA more for the aesthetic and WWDITS more for the comedy.
I don’t think that any ONE movie or book (or book series) has all the ingredients that make up that unique VC flavor but there are many that are adjacent. I knew this was going to end up being a masterpost, that’s why it took so long. Also I restrained myself from any Tom Cruise movies. He should have his own masterpost ;D
*cracks knuckles* Okayyy… SO,
VC-Adjacent is more doable than Lestatuesque, bc everyone’s headcanon of Lestat varies and we all know how attached I am to Tom Cruise So I’ll give you one Lestatuesque rec and the rest are VC-Adjacent.
Lestatuesque:
Blade Runner (1982) – this movie is mentioned in canon (QOTD). AR had wanted to cast Rutger Hauer as Lestat. But he was too old when they finally got IWTV into production D: so watch this and see her vision for Lestat.
Over and over [Armand] watched Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, fascinated by Rutger Hauer, the powerfully built actor who, as the leader of the rebel androids, confronts his human maker, kisses him, and then crushes his skull. It would bring a slow and almost impish laugh from Armand, the bones cracking, the look in Hauer’s ice-cold blue eye.
“That’s your friend, Lestat, there,” Armand whispered once to Daniel. “Lestat would have the… how do you say?… guts?… to do that!”
In no particular order*
(and @annabellioncourt helped me out here, so wherever there’s an *, those are her recs that I agreed with)(and there are other movies I love obviously, but I tried to limit this list to VC-Adjacent only; and I couldn’t think of any of my fave books that come close enough to fit in here).
Vampire movies:
- *Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) – Well this goes w/o saying, and it also shared movie!IWTV’s Michele Burke as head of the makeup dept ;D
- The Lost Boys (1987) – @skeletalroses is kind of my authority on this one, and >>>this movie is cited as a major inspiration for WWDITS.<<<
- What We Do in the Shadows (2014)- Including it on here bc of reasons, this is a very classy documentary of several vampires flatting together in New Zealand as a big coven ball approaches.
- Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) – Including it on here bc of reasons, this is a very classy film of several vampires visiting together in Detroit, Michigan, and Tangiers, Morocco, as the world is slowly taken over by the “zombies” (not actual ones, metaphoric ones). And there are alot of parallels between the married couple and
ClaudiaAva, who is thirsty all the time and above the law bc of course she is. - Shadow of the Vampire (2000) – It’s a behind-the-scenes fanfic of the filming of the legendary Nosferatu! Mostly horror w/ a dash of comedy. Bonus: Eddie Izzard.
- Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) – Yeah I love Leslie Nielsen, fight me. It’s a Dracula parody. This will never not be funny.
- Jennifer’s Body (2009) – well she’s not really a vampire but she eats ppl, so close enough. I love the dynamic between Jennifer and her best friend, how you’re not sure whether Jennifer wants to bring her into this, or just terrify her, but there is something kind of Akasha-esque about this creature.
- Let the Right One In (2008) – the original is better than the US remake (Let Me In, 2010) but they’re both worth watching. Child vampire! Choosing a new BFF! She has to respect the Being Invited In Rule, tho.
- The Little Vampire (2000) – a cuter child vampire, w/o much of the angst of being a child vampire, overall super cute and I had to include this bc of Jack Frost.
Other Horror movies/shows:
- *Crimson Peak (2015) – @annabellioncourt says: “would be a fair addition because of the atmosphere of it as well as its campy factor”
- Hannibal (2013-2015) – the TV series bc #murder husbands, like c’mon. One pushing the other into being more murdery and the other resisting it. @cloudsinvenice informed us that “Bryan Fuller was a huge IWTV fan growing up – there’s a Nerdist podcast in which he describes how, at the age of 13, he phoned Anne Rice because he wanted to work on the IWTV screenplay. The story is a gem and starts about 32 minutes in, but the whole thing is really great.”
- The Walking Dead (2010-current) – my new drug, group dynamics, fighting for supremacy, survival, romance, killing!
- Sweeney Todd (2007) – It’s pretty goth, it has some comedy, it has murder, it has ppl pining for each other. Also, a musical. My fave is the whole By the Sea song sequence bc Helena is trying so hard!
- The Witches of Eastwick (1987) – Jack Nicholson is the devil and wants to make his own harem of 3 powerful witches what could possibly go wrong? There is a hilariously awful scene in a church. Jack approaches Lestatuesque levels of charm as he courts these women, and then there’s supernatural stuff going on.
- The Addams Family (1991) – Gomez and Morticia have the kind of ship Lestat would kill for. He would probably dig their aesthetic to some extent, too. Also murderous kids, who are encouraged to be murderous. ONE HAPPY FAMILY.
- Black Swan (2010) – something about this, maybe the aesthetic, feels very Theatre Des Vampires.
- Beetlejuice (1988) – Alec Baldwin! Looked like this once upon a time! But mostly, ppl dealing with being dead and not having a very helpful ghost w/ the most trying to help them. When it works for him.
- Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) – campy, musical, murdery, I still don’t really know what it all really means but it’s fun. Dr. F can be compared to Lestat, in that he’s lusty, charming, glamorous, materialistic, bossy as hell, has a real mean streak, tries to make the perfect lover for himself and fails at it over and over… an essay could be written comparing them. @laurasking is my authority on RHPS.
Other movies/shows:
- Phenomenon (1996) – Telekinesis and someone dealing w/ acquiring it, and how his community treats him bc of it. THIS IS CUTE so like, yeah, much further away, I almost didn’t include it. Gonna lose my reputation over this rec OH WELL it’s your fault, Anon, bc Jack Frost.
Anime – recc’d by my best friend:
- Vampire Princess Miyu – “similar atmosphere"
- Witch Hunter Robin – “quite gothic”
- Otogizoushi – “very atmospheric"
Annbellioncourt’s Recs bc she is classier than me:
- Byzantium (2012) – Neil Jordan’s first vampire movie since IWTV
- Wolfman (2010) – “its cheesey, but its atmospheric, spooky, and bloody”
- The Hunger (1983) – “is one I always suggest to people wanting more”
- The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories – Angela Carter
- Carmilla – Bunch of adaptations of this.
- A Taste of Blood Wine –
Freda Warrinton
- Blood Opera Sequence –
Tanith Lee
-
Historian – Elizabeth Kostova
- Fevre Dream (yes its spelled fevre) by George R. R. Martin (yes, its THAT Martin, and his take on vampires is Very Good.)
- Sunshine by Robin McKinley
- The Delicate Dependency by Michael Talbot
- The Hunger by Whitley Scriber
Voice of Louis – or, “I’ve had to listen to that, for centuries.”
@annabellioncourt had cited the following as similar to Louis’ voice in IWTV:
- “Oscar Wilde’s era of the very late 19th century, which is what most people think of today when they think “Victorian writing.”
“Similar in voice (though not subject) would also be:
- Matthew Arnold (read some of his essays, and tell me that’s not how Louis talks),
- Wilkie Collins
- Henry James
Moar recs from her under Spooky Book Recommendations
Anyone can feel free to comment or reblog this with their own recs *u*