So yesterday Draculaura and I gave you some adult fiction, movie vamps, history and teen fiction. Not a bad intro for covering off the competing … tastes in vampire fandom.

Today we carry on, starting with some 1980s horror fun!

E is for Evil Ed from Fright Night fame.

I remember Fright Night from my very early teen – possibly tween – years. I’m honestly not sure how I first saw Tom Holland’s 1985 horror film. Either way, I know the story. High school student Charley Brewster discovers his neighbour, the charming Jerry Dandrige, is a vampire. And no one believes him.

Ed – played by Stephen Geoffreys in the original film – is his best friend, nicknamed Evil because of his weirdness and morbid sense of humour. In the original film, he also doesn’t believe Charley, and even teams up with Charley’s girlfriend Amy to prove Jerry isn’t a vampire.

That goes poorly. He’s turned into a vampire and all sorts of mayhem ensues.

The film became a cult classic. A sequel, Fright Night Part 2, followed in 1988, and a 3D remake was done in 2011 with a pretty awesome cast that included Colin Farrell as Jerry and David Tennant as Peter Vincent. Christopher Mintz-Plasse took the role of Evil Ed.

That all said, I have always had a soft spot for Ed. Here’s two of his scenes from the original movie, which I think is enough to give you some good 1980s movie vampire … flavour.

Getting back to the more current fangdom, F is for the Four Hundred Ball.

Welcome to Gossip Girl, Undead.

That pretty much sums up the seven books in Melissa de la Cruz’s Blue Blood Series.

I use to joke that Glee would be better if they were all randomly vampires – like Tarentino’s From Dusk ‘Til Dawn, but with less gore and more fully-clothed dancing. This series basically does that, with enough mythology and vampire-lore to make it believable and completely enjoyable for any lover of the genre.

Please meet the vampires who came over with the other pilgrims on the Mayflower. They rose quickly to power in the new world and are ingrained in every part of society helping it along and are thriving in New York City.

They live in secret from most mortals in this world and their youth attend a prestigious private school in NYC where they come into themselves through their extra special wonder years.

But this generation’s blue bloods might pop that cork, so to speak, as they regain memories of their past lives and make choices that don’t align with those expected of them.

Heaven and hell hang in the balance.

And on top of all that?

There’s an annual dance!

The Four Hundred Ball – where they raise funds for charity and introduce the newly reincarnated Blue Blood spirits to the Four Hundred.

If I have piqued your interest, this video gives you more of the lore:

That said, the Mayflower sailed in, what, 1620? In vampire fiction “Go Big or Go Home” is all about going OLDER, right?

G is for Godric.

This is, in part, feedback from last year’s A to Z where I was told I should have included him.

Agreed.

In certain southern circles, he’s a vampiric big deal.

In Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries starring Sookie Stackhouse, he’s Eric Northman’s (we featured him on last year’s A-Z) maker.

Vampire’s are out of the coffin in Harris’ world and Godric is sheriff of Area 9, a designation for the area that includes Dallas, Texas. He’s 2,100 years old with the body of a teenager. Yay eternity.

Only not. Because: guilt. For all he’s done. He’s first depicted as being friendly toward humans, interested in their well-being, and supportive of a peaceful co-existence between vampires and humans. When he’s captured by humans, he reveals he went willingly, believing that allowing himself to be killed by anti-vampire fanatics will bring about some sort of reconciliation and atonement for his many crimes against humans during his long life.

I mostly remember him in this scene, where he “meets the sun”, which I think is beautiful:

I’d note this is the only video of the scene I could find that would play in my blog. It misses some of the text I love in the scene – where Godric speaks directly to Sookie about how wonderful it is to have a human with him at the end.

So there’s the next three. Here’s where’s we’re at:

Tune in tomorrow for H through K.

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Photo credits: Evil Ed joins us from here. The Four Hundred Ball is from here, and the cover of the second book in the Blue Blood Series, which I thought was gorgeous. Godric is visiting from the True Blood Wiki.