From extensive interviews with lifestyle, 'real,' and reluctant vampires in communities including the Atlanta Vampire Alliance, Laycock observes vampire life in historical, media, religious, and definition of what is normal contexts. Reviews'An independent scholar delves into the phenomenon of people who identify as vampires in present-day America. As vampires come “out of the coffin,” as followers of a “religion” or “lifestyle” or as people biologically distinct from other humans, their confrontation with mainstream society will raise questions, as it does here, about how we define “normal” and what it means to be human. In V ampires Today: The Truth about Modern Vampirism, Joseph 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.

Based upon extensive interviews with members of the Atlanta Vampire Alliance and others within vampire communities throughout the United States, this fascinating book looks at the details of real vampire life and the many expressions of vampirism as it now exists.

But vampires are not just the stuff of folklore and fiction. The interest has continued in more recent times with Anne Rice’s Lestat novels, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the HBO series True Blood, and the immensely popular Twilight. Long before Dracula, people were fascinated by vampires. This book, about real vampires and the communities they have formed, explores the modern world of vampirism in all its amazing variety.

Vampires Today by Joseph Laycock