Vampires, Werewolves & Moons, Oh my!

I have noticed a lot of clamor floating around the Internets about vampires, and how many people wish they would go away. “No more vampire books!” they cry. “Vampire movies–HATE!” and more things along that line.

There are also a lot of hilarious reviews of the Twilight saga movie New Moon. I love these review/recaps. They are SO true. I thought there was too much standing around looking angsty (though they might have been constipated–hard to tell.)

And yet…I enjoyed the movie. Really. (All the shirtless werewolf dudes helped a lot. Hey–past 50 does not mean dead. My eyes work just fine with the glasses.)

And I do understand how so many teen/tween girls (and their moms) can love the books and the movies.

Confession time. I am not myself a big fan of vampire stories. I read Interview With the Vampire way back when it came out–didn’t read any of the stories that came after. Most vampire stories I can take or leave. I do read a few vampire series, but only a few–most of which have a different mythology for their vampires: they’re different species (J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood), or they’re humans who caught a virus (Lynn Viehl’s Darkyn books). I also am addicted to Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake books (they are my crack!)(I like Hamilton’s Meredith Gentry books a little better–but it really doesn’t matter. Crack, I tell you, they are crack). Do not tell me how bad they are, and how bad they are for me. I do not care. I like them. And because I have this addiction, I Understand.

And to all those who wish to see no more vampire books, and no more sparkly vampire stories or movies or anything vampire (unless it’s related to blood & gore & violence), I say SHUT UP. You do not get to pick. You do not get to dictate to people what we should or should not read, watch or enjoy.

As long as people are buying and reading sexy/sparkly/emo vampires, publishers will keep publishing the books. As long as people are going to movies about sparkly/sexy/emo vampires, (and Hoo-boy! Are they!) Hollywood will keep making movies like that, trying to repeat the phenomenon.

And yeah, we do get a glut of them, and some of them aren’t as good as others. Some might be downright bad. In the Opinion of Some. But people are still buying them. When they get tired of them, they will stop buying them, and that will be okay too.

People (even pre-teen/tween people) are allowed to like what they like and read what they want to read.

I don’t like bloody, ultra-violent books where people get both hands cut off with a hacksaw. (Ick.) But I don’t go around saying “Publishers should stop publishing horror novels!” You can like what you like. You can even say that you don’t like vampire books. (Though I’ve found that most of those who say they don’t like vampires like them just fine when they’re bloody and violent and horrible, they just don’t like the sexy-sparkly ones.)

Just let me like what I like too, and don’t try to tell me what I Should like. I don’t care. I’m going to make up my own mind, thank you.

(Disclaimer: I resisted reading any of the Twilight books for a very long time, until after the fourth one came out. (They’re vampires. I’m not a fan of vampires.) I did not even know they existed, until my 27-year-old son, who read them and loved them, insisted I read them, and gave me his copy of Twilight. I did enjoy it. But haven’t got round to reading any more. I also liked Meyers’ The Host. And I liked the movies.)