Bitter Things

Andrew Valentine has an erotic vampire novel out - Bitter Things.

I listened to his radio interview today, and I thought it was interesting. The actual interview can be viewed here.

The interview was pretty interesting - a little bit scattered, but I think that's quite normal with radio interviews.

Early vampire myth and culture was talked about, religion, psychology, and Western though was discussed.

It was interesting to hear the theory that vampires are vessels for our fears and concerns; Dracula was for xenophobia, True Blood for minority groups, etc. Vampires often become what the culture is concerned with.

Being a Jung fan, I was delighted when he was mentioned as well. Referencing Jung's Modern Man in Search of a Soul, what people can't find in religion, they turn to fiction - which may be why vampires are so popular right now. It was mentioned that in times of turmoil, confusion, and conflict, and interest in the paranormal peaks.

Towards the end of the interview, the feminization of the vampire myth also came into discussion. According to Valentine, 22% of household have women bread-makers, 1/3 of married households include women who are better educated and only 40% of college grads are men. It was theorized that vampire novels are somewhat of a rejection of what choices of men women have.

The interview touches on some old vampire tales and myths, talks a bit about certain vampire fiction and cultural implications, and discusses a bit about why our culture is so interested in vampires.

I would recommend listening to it. The commercials are pretty horrible though. I believe one ad for a flower shop used the description "very great" or something odd. The ads were oddly description. And the hardware store jingle sounded like it belonged on some of my old cassette tape radio recordings. It seemed like the radio host also kept calling Valentine's book "Bitter Rites" (or rights?).

I hope to get my hands on the book soon. Apparently Valentine has a Masters in Psychology from the New School of Social Research. That right there makes me a bit intrigued.