COUNT DRACULA
MASTER VAMPYRE
Bram Stoker created his master vampyre,
Count Dracula
in 1897 when he wrote
the first of two books about him.
The second, Dracula?s Guest,
was not published until later in 1937.
Bram?s Dracula was based
on a real prince of Romania
Vlad Tsepesh
who was notorious
for his demonic cruelty.
His sadistic behavior earned him
the nickname, Dracula,
which in Romanian means
~son of the devil~ .
According to the folklore
of Albania, Greece, Hungary, Romania
and other Eastern European countries,
a vampyre is the soul of a dead person
that quits its dead body at night
to suck the blood of living victims.
The vampyre must have a constant supply
of fresh blood to sustain itself.
Victims would lose strength, die
and become vampyres themselves.
Garlic and the Crucifix
were considered ample protection.
A vampyre could be destroyed
by driving a wooden stake into the heart,
severing the head,
and exposing it to sunlight.
From 1600 to the late 1800?s
people in Europe dug up graves
looking for vampyres.
They were said to have fresh bodies,
because of their ingestion of human blood.
Like most supernatural creatures
there remains to this day some belief
in the creatures of the night,
possession by demonic spirits,
ghosts and werewolves.
A lot of disbelievers
are never quite certain that
such things definitely do not exist.
Vampyrism is stuff and fare
for students of Demonology.
Individuals believing themselves
to be vampyres are not uncommon,
and many form cults in order
to share their manifestations.
The modern Romanian
is just becoming acquainted
with the Western version of
Dracula.
They are spurning
Bram Stoker,
his count in the long,
red velvet lined,
flowing black cape
and his 1897 novel.
Vlad Tsepesh, the Impaler,
was, in point of fact,
a 15th century Walachian prince
who is credited with
making human skewers
of his enemies.
He remains
the monster of preference
in his native land.
Romanian
history and folklore
have been badly mutilated,
according to Nicolae Paduraru,
president of the
Transylvania Society of Dracula,
which was founded in 1992
to correct any deception
that Romania
was ever ruled by
a fanged count.
He attributes the mistake
to a book by two American historians
who concluded that Stoker?s vampyre
was loosely based on their medieval prince,
Vlad Tsepesh alias Dracula.
His most infamous feat was
?the forest of the impaled?
created as Turkish troops
were about to attack in 1462.
Confronted by the sight
of over 20,000 corpses
of his invading Turks
slaughtered and impaled
on stakes,
the sultan
and the rest of
his full army
retreated in terror.
According to Romanian history
Prince Vlad Dracula Tsepesh
is considered a hero
for having saved his country.
The novel about
the fictional Dracula
was published in Romania
for the first time in 1992.
Historians
and budding capitalists
have embarked
on a campaign
to set the record straight.
At the same time
they are cashing in on
Transylvanian mythology
that was strictly forbidden
during the communist era.
Tracing
Dracula?s footsteps,
as it were,
remains one of
the more popular offerings
of Romanian toursist trade.
C. J. Williams
LESTAT de LIONCOURT
MOST SUPERIOR VAMPYRE
OF ALL TIME!
Anne Rice's masterpieces
The Vampire Chronicles
prove beyond any shadow of doubt
that she is the undisputed
mother of the true vampyre
especially her hero, Lestat!
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The Vampyre Lestat
is the main character
in all of the chronicles.
THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES
By Anne Rice
Interview With A Vampire ~ (1976)
The Vampire Lestat ~ (1985)
The Queen Of The Damned ~ (1988)
The Tale Of The Body Thief ~ (1992)
Memnoch, The Devil ~ (1995)
The Vampire Armand ~ (1998)
When I saw the movie
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
I was pleased to discover that
it was pretty close to the original book.
I was less than pleased
to see a mouthful of uneven fangs
instead of two sparkling incisors
set in rows of bright white teeth.
I like the precise wound neat
perhaps just a bit swollen,
no hickeys mind you,
or the offensive affect
of ripping and tearing.
However, it did represent
the still young
and yet unpolished creature
~ Lestat de Lioncourt ~
venting his anger, frustration
and inner torment
on each victim he brutalized.
The hesitant vampyre
~ Louis de Pointe du Lac ~
with a conscience,
was interesting, yet annoying.
Armand appeared as an adult
instead of the young boy
he was when Marius gave him
The Dark Gift.
Cruise as Lestat
Pitt as Louis
and Banderas as Armand
strutted their stuff
with all sorts of
pomp and dire circumstance,
but is was the beautiful, seductive
KIRSTEN DUNST
as Claudia
the golden curled child vampyre
who easily captivated the audience
and dominated the entire movie!
Claudia, whose mind and soul
became as immense
as those of an immortal woman
while her physical body
remained that of a precious,
all too perfect child,
after her first taste of human blood,
told us that she wanted ~
MORE
and made us want ~
MORE and MORE and MORE!
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and her companion vampyre
are executed in a tower of sunlight
by the vengeful vampyre pack
because Claudia attempted to destroy
Lestat, the vampyre who gave her
The Dark Gift.
Claudia was created by Lestat
when she was but a small girl
dying of the dreaded black plague
so she was forced to remain
at that stage of development
as long as she endured.
She aged and matured intellectually
and emotionally as a normal woman,
and was frustrated by the prohibitive
limitations imposed by her immature body.
Her adolescent size made it difficult
to manipulate and subdue her prey,
so Louis created a companion
of sufficient adult stature to overpower
victims for Claudia and herself.
My favorite book is
Akasha chooses Lestat
It is then that Lestat becomes
My least favorite book is
God, Jesus and Satan
Fortunately, he regains
THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED
for it is in this story that
Lestat meets
AKASHA
a beautiful and powerful queen
who willfully became
the very first vampyre
so many, many centuries ago.
for her consort,
teaches him the secrets
of absolute power
and makes him as powerful as she
. . . almost!
the most superior vampyre of all time
and decides that he must stop Akasha
before she succeeds in her plan
to destroy the males of the world!
Memnoch, The Devil
because it is here
that the invincible Lestat
shows fear!
shatter his magnificent confidence
and cause his nerve to waver.
his confidence by story's end
and becomes even more powerful
than anyone ever imagined
after confronting the other
great powers in the universe.
