Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism

Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism by Joseph Laycock is a new book that has been getting fantastic reviews for it’s unbiased look into real modern vampires. The book poses the questions… What does it mean to be a vampire? Is it a medical condition? Is it a fantasy? Is vampirism a religion?

Joseph Laycock interviews members of the Atlanta Vampire Alliance and others within vampire communities throughout the United States. The books introduces you to “life style” vampires, who are those that have adopted the look and feel from vampires of art and legend.  Then it goes into “real vampires”  who feel that they need to consume blood and/or psychic energy in order to survive. In this book the Order of the Vampyre, the Ordo Strigoi Vii, and the Temple of the Vampire are also looked into and explained.

To go ahead and quote the book jacket itself…

“Throughout the world, untold numbers of people are identifying as “vampires” and following the ways of “vampirism.” In the past two decades, modern vampirism has come under increased study, yet most scholarship has portrayed the vampire as a cultural phenomenon and at worst as a religious cult.

Having interviewed many vampires across the country, both “lifestylers” and “real,” even those “reluctants” who try not to be vampires, Laycock argues that today’s vampires are best understood as an identity group and that vampirism has caused a profound change in how individuals choose to define themselves. As vampires come “out of the coffin,” either as followers of a “religion” or “lifestyle” or as people biologically distinct from other humans, their confrontation with mainstream society will raise questions about the definition of “normal” and what it means to be human. Here, readers will find the details of real vampire life—including vampire role-playing games, grimoires, “vampyre” balls, vampire houses like House Sahjaza and House Kheperu, the vampire “caste” system, and other details—utterly fascinating.”

Every review I have read on this book gives it major props. Reviewers are lined up to compliment Laycock on his intellectual yet unbiased explanation of this fascinating world of real vampires.

– Moonlight

By Moonlight

Moonlight (aka Amanda) loves to write about, read about and learn about everything pertaining to vampires. You will most likely find her huddled over a book of vampire folklore with coffee in hand. Touch her coffee and she may bite you (and not in the fun way).

12 comments

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  3. if they are real i mean the “monster” kinds it would be very cool. i (now) love Vampires and think they are very cool. my life i never had anything cool only bad things always happen but i would be very happy (and a little scard) to meet a vampire. anywways i will be looking for this book to read it sounds cool.

  4. I THINK IT WOULD BE COOL TO MEET A REAL VAMPIRE
    SINCE I HAVE SEEN TWILIGHT , TRUE BLOOD AND ON THE
    10TH OF SEPT THE MOVIE VAMPIRE DIARIES IS
    GOING TO BE ON AND I HAVE SEEN
    THE UNDERWORLD: THE RISE OF THE lYCANS IT WAS REALLY GOOD
    michael sheen was in it and now hes going to be in NEW MOON
    PLAYING ON THE HEAD VOULTI VAMPIRE COVEN.

  5. Vampires, just like lepers, are things that have always existed (Or at least, that is how I see it). However, the word and idea of vampires, a bit like lepers was, is a taboo. So taboo that they have become mysterious and sexy creatures to all but the vampires themselves (Okay, maybe they do find some mystique and sex-appeal in themselves and/or others, but no more than you or I would among those of our own ‘kind’).
    I personally would love to meet and maybe start a relationship with (and I’m talking friend/lover/whatever. Just any kind of relationship) a vampire/vampier/vampyre/vamp. Purely because I find them fascinating (Did I spell that right?) and because I think it would be an amazing experience.

    P.S. Where can I find a copy of the above mentioned book?
    x

  6. Well, everyone has their own fantasy which is true to the believer, but not necessarily true to others. Vampires do exist, but humans, imaginative and needy as they are, have always either feared, denied or animated them. Be assured that they are not always as you make them out to be. True enough, the vampire is perfection in his self without the makeup society has masked him with, so much so that humans have lost all comprehension of this marvelous race. Perfection is the corporeal existence named Vampire; humans are barely suited to look upon such beauty, hidden or not, let alone to touch him. The Vampire is above such blasphemous creatures.
    And is he not so wise as to roam in the Underworld, camouflaged to the human eye yet plain in sight to all those who understand and accept his world? You humans, accept that »vous ne connaissez pas les Vampires«, but believe they are true. Your stories are amusing, and I realize that is what you aim for alongside a pathetic desire for something more. But that is all the humans’ tales will ever be: amusement.
    If you should come across a Vampire, consider yourself the luckiest human alive. As it would appear, most die soon after contact or their recollection made faint. Why else, do you presume, could it be that you have not yet met a Vampire?
    Dear Moonlight, you have done a fine thing establishing this site. Much appreciated.

  7. IM A VAMPIRE LOVER I READ ALOT OF VAMPIRE BOOKS…SAW DEM TOO…EXAMPLE…TWILIGHT, BLADE,VAMPIRE WARS.QUEEN OF DA DAMNED, LOST BOYS,UNDERWORLD,BLOODRAYNE,ETC…….N IT DONT STOP THERE NOR WIT BOOKS….VAMPS R MY PASSION….I LUV JASPER N ALICE OVER EDWARD N BELL DO..

  8. Im really looking forward to reading this book. I am a sanguinarian vampire, and I hope to find some actual ‘truths’ within its pages.

    *on a side note: were really not all that special, the movies over-shoot things for amusement purposes. most of us go under the radar pretty well because we dont flaunt what we are. (making an exception to life-stylers *tips hat*) youve probably walked past us on the street or work with us, but you wont immediately know that. Were good at hiding ourselves.

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