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Spooky Season is finally upon us! For eleven months out of the year, horror is a genre I don’t think about that much. It’s not that I dislike it; it’s just not usually my go-to genre. That all changes come October. As soon as the clock hits midnight, I drag out all my ceramic pumpkins and smoking cauldrons and turn into a full-on horror fiend. I’ve carefully saved up every creepy, crawly, atmospheric horror read I can find all year, and now is the time to break them out. My semi-repressed love of all things creepy and crawly comes out in full force. Whether it be books about witches, haunted houses, family curses, monsters, or vampires, I’m game. I want all the Halloween-themed reads.
I still tend to avoid books that are scary just for the sake of being scary, but horror —especially gothic horror — is just the thing. That’s where vampires come in. Aside from ghosts, it doesn’t get much more gothic than vampires. Dark passageways, plucky heroines, villainous rogues, and dangerous secrets — that’s what gothic fiction is made of! A good Vampire story is all that and more. My love of gothic horror is probably why I’m also especially drawn to historical vampire stories.
If you also have a dark desire for more gothic fiction and vampires this season, here are six vampire historical fiction books to satiate your hunger.
Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris
The daughters of the man who killed Dracula and Sherlock’s greatest opponent must team up in this supernatural mystery. Samantha Harker is a researcher hiding a dangerous secret: she has the power to channel the minds of monsters. It’s an ability no one at the Royal Society for the Study of Abnormal Phenomena can ever learn about. It might also be the key to solving a string of gruesome murders plaguing 1900s Paris. Teaming up with Dr. Helena Moriarty may be the other key. But that doesn’t mean trusting a woman whose every previous partner has died under suspicious circumstances. Working with Helena could help Samantha find a murderer — or it could be the biggest mistake of her life.
Now Comes the Mist by Julie C. Dao
It’s Lucy Westenra as you’ve never seen her before in this reimagining of Dracula that not only gives Lucy fangs, but the ability to bite back. Vlad may have come bearing promises to help her cheat death during a dream, but when she meets him in real life, surrounded by corpses, she begins to see him for the monster he truly is. Lucy may have a dark side, but even she has limits. Now, in order to end his obsession with her, she will have to become a monster herself.
Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
Nena knows more about monsters than most. As a child she was attacked by one, barely escaping with her life. But she lost more than just her sense of peace that day. She also lost her childhood sweetheart, Néstor, who believed her dead after the attack. Now, Anglo settlers encroach on their territory in Mexico, bringing with them an even more sinister threat — one that Nena and Néstor are all too familiar with. When the United States declares war, it brings the two back together. Their reunion is short-lived, though, because soon they’re thrust into a fight for their home and their very lives.
The Vampire of Kings Street by Asha Greyling
Having a vampire for a butler or housekeeper is the thing to do for the upper crust of nineteenth-century New York. These vampire servants are tolerated by society, if not accepted. Radhika, a daughter of immigrants, understands that feeling all too well. Nonetheless, the new lawyer wasn’t expecting a vampire to become her first client. But when Mr. Evelyn More is accused of murder, he knows it will take more than a few simple legal arguments to prove his innocence.
Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, edited by Carmen Maria Machado
I don’t usually consider books written in the distant past to be historical fiction, because they were contemporary in their time. In the case of this edition of Carmilla, however, Carmen Maria Machado has edited and annotated the text, lending an entirely new perspective to the original vampire story. (Yes, Carmilla was published before Dracula.) Whether you’ve read the original version or this is your first introduction, this is the version of Carmilla I will always recommend.
A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
You may know her as Dracula’s first bride, but in S.T. Gibson’s A Dowry of Blood, Constanta gets her own story. When Dracula saves her from the brink of death, Constanta goes from a medieval peasant to an undying bride of an immortal king. But when Dracula begins to bring more innocents into their web, Constanta realizes that the man who saved her may be more of a monster than the hero. Will she be able to save Dracula’s newest conquests? Or will defying the dark prince mean the end of them all?