60+ Special Vampire Book Series—from Anne Rice, L.A. Banks, Charlaine Harris, more
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Vampire fiction has captivated readers and audiences for more than a hundred years—in literature, on screen, in comics, and anywhere else you can plant your stake and tell a vampire story. Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula was not the first vampire tale, but the title character and his many imitators have enthralled generations of readers with their alluring malevolence.
Here are DOZENS of vampire book series that feature the undead and the people who love and/or kill them. Some of these vampire novels lean into the horror, others lean into the paranormal romance end of the spectrum—while others fall somewhere in between.
The list includes notable vampire authors like Anne Rice, Jessica Cage, Faith Hunter, Nalini Singh, Richelle Mead, L.A. Banks, Charlaine Harris, Kenesha Williams, Kim Harrison, Delizhia Jenkins, Stephenie Meyer, Kendare Blake, L.J. Smith, Laurell K. Hamilton, P.C. Cast, MaryJanice Davidson, and so many more!
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Click to jump to vampire novels by decade:
Vampire book series that started in the 1960s and 1970s
Vampire book series that started in the 1980s
Vampire book series that started in the 1990s
Vampire book series that started in the 2000s
Vampire book series that started in the 2010s
Vampire book series that started in the 2020s
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Vampire book series that started in the 1960s and 1970s
Dark Shadows by Marilyn Ross (1966)
Tomb of Dracula comic book series (1972)
One of the first movie blockbusters from Marvel Comics starred vampire-hunter Blade—who made his comics debut as one of the characters in the Tomb of Dracula comic book series. (We talk more about that here.)
Tomb of Dracula, published by Marvel Comics 1972-1979, revolved around a team of vampire hunters fighting Count Dracula and other supernatural threats. Most of the time, Count Dracula was the bad guy. But every once in a while, Dracula would help the vampire hunters against a common threat or battle other supernatural threats on his own.
“There was something about the Dracula book that I really loved working on,” comics writer Marv Wolfman says. “I would have written it forever, because I really loved it. The problem was that as comics go through cycles, the horror stuff started to sell fewer copies. Also, I wanted to leave Marvel at that time for various reasons. So, we worked out when I would be leaving, and I would bring the story to an end.”
Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice (1976)
With her 1976 debut novel, the gothic horror story Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice offered a take on vampires that inspired a whole lot of what we think about them today. The book was followed by many widely popular sequels—and inspired several media adaptations. The 1994 movie Interview with the Vampire starred Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. The TV show premiered in 2022. The novel has also been adapted as a comic three times.
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Saint-Germain Series (1978)
Vampire book series that started in the 1980s
Vampire Hunter D series by Hideyuki Kikuchi and Yoshitaka Amano (1983)
Vampire hunter D wanders through a far-future post-nuclear war Earth that combines elements of pulp genres—ranging from Lovecraftian horror to western, science fiction to dark fantasy, folklore to occult science. In this bizarre and deadly far future, the most dangerous thing of all is not a vampire, but the one who hunts them…
Vampire book series that started in the 1990s
The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith and company (1991)
High school girl Elena Gilbert is used to getting what she wants. But the boy she’s set her sights on—the handsome and haunted Stefan—is struggling to resist her. Stefan is a vampire, and Elena’s in danger just by being around him. What’s more, Stefan’s dark, dangerous vampire brother Damon has just arrived in town. And wherever Damon goes, trouble always follows…
The Vampire Diaries books by L. J. Smith (and other authors) captured millions of readers and inspired the hit TV show. Author Smith explains why her fiction includes strong female characters:
“Because I want to create role models for teenage (and even younger) girls who read my books. If you look at the books, just about every heroine has a future career or goal in mind.”
She points out that some of her characters are already immersed in their careers as vampire-hunters:
“Some of my characters don’t start out as strong girls. They start out as shy, introverted or gentle girls. Then the story is about how they become stronger, through their terrifying experiences and their concern for other people.”
The original Vampire Diaries books were written by author L.J. Smith—but the books that followed in the series were written by a ghostwriter (or ghostwriters).
Find all the Vampire Diaries books in order
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Anno Dracula by Kim Newman (1992)
Acclaimed novelist Kim Newman explores the darkest depths of a reinvented Victorian London in a rich and panoramic tale, combining horror, politics, mystery and romance to create a unique and compelling alternate history.
It is 1888 and Queen Victoria has remarried, taking as her new consort Vlad Tepes, the Wallachian Prince infamously known as Count Dracula. Peppered with familiar characters from Victorian history and fiction, the novel follows vampire Geneviève Dieudonné and Charles Beauregard of the Diogenes Club as they strive to solve the mystery of the Ripper murders.
Anno Dracula is a rich and panoramic tale, combining horror, politics, mystery and romance to create a unique and compelling alternate history. Acclaimed novelist Kim Newman explores the darkest depths of a reinvented Victorian London.
This brand-new edition of the bestselling novel contains unique bonus material, including a new afterword from Kim Newman, annotations, articles and alternate endings to the original novel.
Kim Newman is a popular and respected author and movie critic, known for his acclaimed alternate-history series, Anno Dracula. He has won the Bram Stoker, International Horror Guild, British Fantasy and British Science Fiction Awards and been nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and James Herbert Awards.
Find the Anno Dracula series on Amazon
The books in the Anno Dracula series
Anno Dracula (Anno Dracula series #1)—Acclaimed novelist Kim Newman explores the darkest depths of a reinvented Victorian London in a rich and panoramic tale, combining horror, politics, mystery and romance to create a unique and compelling alternate history. Buy Anno Dracula from Amazon (affiliate link)
Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron (Anno Dracula series #2)—It is 1918 and Graf von Dracula is commander-in-chief of the armies of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The War of the Great Powers in Europe is also a war between the living and the undead… Buy The Bloody Red Baron from Amazon (affiliate link)
Anno Dracula: Dracula Cha Cha Cha (Anno Dracula series #3)—Rome. 1959. Journalist Kate Reed finds herself caught up in the mystery of the Crimson Executioner bloodily dispatching vampire elders in the city. She discovers that she’s not the only one on his trail... Buy Dracula Cha Cha Cha from Amazon (affiliate link)
Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard (Anno Dracula series #4)—A young vampire boy leaves Transylvania for America. In the States, he attaches himself to Andy Warhol, inventing a new drug which confers vampire powers on its users... Buy Johnny Alucard from Amazon (affiliate link)
Anno Dracula: One Thousand Monsters (Anno Dracula series #5)—In 1899, Geneviève Dieudonné travels to Japan with a group of vampires exiled from Great Britain by Prince Dracula. They settle in Yōkai Town, revealed to be more a prison than a refuge. Geneviève and her undead comrades will be forced to face new enemies and the horrors hidden within the Temple of One Thousand Monsters… Buy One Thousand Monsters from Amazon (affiliate link)
Anno Dracula 1999: Daikaiju (Anno Dracula series #6)—After a century overshadowed by the malign presence of Dracula, the world is connected as never before by technology, and conquests have been made in cyberspace that mark out new nations of the living and the undead. But the party is crashed by less enlightened souls… Buy Anno Dracula 1999: Daikaiju from Amazon (affilate link)
Anno Dracula 1899 and Other Stories (Anno Dracula series anthology)—A brand new collection of chilling stories by master of horror Kim Newman, in which Jack the Ripper still stalks the streets, Frankenstein’s monster rises from the Arctic ice, and the terrifying legacy of Dr Jeyll and Mr Hyde haunts fog-shrouded London. Buy Anno Dracula 1899 and Other Stories from Amazon (affiliate link)
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Thirst Series by Christopher Pike (1998)
At 5,000 years old, the vampire Alisa thought she was smart enough to stay out of trouble. But when her creator returns to hunt her, she must protect herself by befriending Ray, the boy who may be her only chance at finding her maker. When she begins to fall in love with Ray, all of a sudden there is more at stake than her own life.
Kicking off the series that chronicles the life of Sita, The Last Vampire was published in 1994—and for some follow-up novels, the series was called “The Last Vampire.” In 2009, the series was renamed Thirst, with the first three novels repackaged in the omnibus Thirst No. 1.
On Facebook in 2020, Pike talked about wrapping up the series:
“I know everyone is still waiting for Thirst 6. As I’ve said before, I’ve written a draft of the novel. The book is very exciting, deeply moving, if I may be so bold; it is by far the best Sita book I’ve written. It doesn’t complete Sita’s story – there will have to be a Thirst 7. However, there will NOT be a Thirst 8. Her story will end with Thirst 7, and I know exactly how it will end. But I don’t know when I'll be able to release these books. Sorry! I’m working on another story, a very large and complex tale that’ll take several books to tell. I’ve never spoken about this story before, to anyone, but it’s been in the works for a long time.”
Vampire book series that started in the 2000s
Sookie Stackhouse AKA Southern Vampire Mysteries AKA True Blood by Charlaine Harris (2001)
Sink your teeth into the bestselling Sookie Stackhouse series—the books that gave life to the Dead and inspired the HBO original series True Blood.
The Southern Vampire Mysteries—AKA the True Blood novels—star Sookie Stackhouse, a cocktail waitress in small-town Bon Temps, Louisiana. She’s quiet, doesn’t get out much, and tends to mind her own business—except when it comes to her “disability.” Sookie can read minds—in a world that includes vampires, werewolves, fairies, and shapeshifters.
Harris explained the origins of her popular series:
“My initial thought on the series was I wanted to write about a woman dating a vampire. But to make them less frightening, to give them a reason for being out, I had to develop a theory that would let them look less vicious. So they would have to have another food source. So I read some articles about synthetic blood, which never has really worked out before now—though people have made the attempt—and it seemed to me like a viable synthetic blood would be the perfect answer to my problems. Vampires would say, Oh no, we’re not dangerous. We drink synthetic blood. We don’t want to grab you and bite you. And people could believe that because people are gullible.”
Find the True Blood books on Amazon
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Vampire Huntress Legend Series by L.A. Banks (2003)
There is one woman who is all that stands between us and the eternal night: A successful hip-hop artist by day—come nightfall, Damali Richards hunts vampires and demonic predators.
Author L.A. Banks (1959-2011) wrote the Vampire Huntress Legend series—in fact, she wrote more than 40 novels in various genres, including African-American literature, romance, women’s fiction, crime suspense, dark fantasy/horror and non-fiction. She won several literary awards, including the 2008 Essence Literary Awards Storyteller of the Year.
Ms. Banks once recounted one of her early influences—and the impact it had on her:
“I’ll never forget going into movies to see Night of the Living Dead with my cousins. This was the one movie to have a Brother in a heroic role. And he was tearing it up! All the way to the end! And at the last minute, they shot him—30 seconds out at the end of the flick and threw his body on the pile. I was traumatized. I was like, ‘When I grow up, I’m going to write something and this will not happen. My guys are gonna make it.’
Find the Vampire Huntress series on Amazon
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The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer (2005)
Fall in love with the addictive, suspenseful love story between a teenage girl and a vampire with the book that sparked a “literary phenomenon” and redefined romance for a generation (New York Times).
Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight kicked off a whole series of fantasy romance novels and one novella, Meyer’s books have won multiple awards. Translated into like 40 languages, the series has sold more than 120 million copies around the world. The books have been also been adapted into whole movie series The Twilight Saga.
The origins of the Twilight Saga
Meyer talked on her website about how she got started writing Twilight:
“I know the exact date that I began writing Twilight, because it was also the first day of swim lessons for my kids. So I can say with certainty that it all started on June 2, 2003…
“I woke up (on that June 2nd) from a very vivid dream. In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire. They were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that A) they were falling in love with each other while B) the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her immediately…
“I was so intrigued by the nameless couple’s story that I hated the idea of forgetting it; it was the kind of dream that makes you want to call your friend and bore her with a detailed description. (Also, the vampire was just so darned good-looking, that I didn’t want to lose the mental image.)
“From that point on, not one day passed that I did not write something…”
Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz (2006)
Set in Manhattan, New York, the Blue Bloods vampire novels are inspired by the biblical account of the rebellious angels thrown out of Heaven: The Blue Bloods are fallen angels forced to live on earth as vampires. The Silver Bloods are fallen angels who have remained loyal to Lucifer and have no desire to return to Heaven or to follow the Code. Half Bloods are the children of a Blue Blood parent and a Red Blood (human) parent.
The Blue Bloods books follow the characters through numerous adventures involving romance, loyalty, mystery, and war.
Find The Blue Bloods series on Amazon
De la Cruz has written two Blue Bloods companion novels, Keys to the Repository and Bloody Valentine. She has also written three spin-off series:
Mercedes Thompson AKA Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs (2006)
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Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead (2007)
Love and loyalty run deeper than blood as Rose dedicates her life to protecting her best friend Lissa from the dangerous undead Strigoi.
Love and loyalty run deeper than blood. St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger…
Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.
Mead told the Los Angeles Times that she doesn’t actually know why vampires are so popular:
“I would think by now I would have an answer. I don’t know. People have always had a fascination with the supernatural going back to the beginning of time and with vampires in particular. This phenomenon is not new. When I was in high school, it was Anne Rice. Go back farther, and it was Bela Lugosi and Bram Stoker. People like vampires because they’re kind of human like, but they’re still sort of dangerous and supernatural, so maybe it’s a relatable mix. I’m not sure. It’s something I would like the answer to as well.”
She also says that the success of Stephenie Meyer and ‘Twilight’—which came after the launch of Mead’s ‘Vampire Academy’—has been a help for pretty much all vampire fiction authors:
“People really want to set up these rivalries because there’s a lot of vampire books out there. People want to believe we’re all fierce rivals, and really there’s just so much camaraderie with authors. Everyone kind of boosts each other. If readers like one vampire book, they’ll want to read more, so ‘Twilight’ kicked it off, and it’s really helped my series, but I like to think it’s more than it being just a vampire book. I like to think it’s the characters and stories that appeal to readers.”
Jerusalem’s Undead Trilogy by Eric Wilson (2008)
Judas hung himself in a place known as the Akeldama or Field of Blood. But what if his death didn't end his betrayal? What if his tainted blood seeped deep into the earth, into burial caves, causing a counterfeit resurrection of the dead?
Gina Lazarescu, a Romanian girl with a scarred past, has no idea she is being sought by the undead...
The Jerusalem’s Undead Trilogy takes readers on a riveting journey, as imaginative fiction melds with biblical and archaeological history.
Guild Hunter series by Nalini Singh (2009)
USA Today bestselling author Nalini Singh introduces a world of beauty and bloodlust, where angels hold sway over vampires…
Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter novels take place in a world where archangels hold sway over both mortals and immortals—with the Guild Hunters caught in between, tasked with retrieving vampires who break contracts with their angelic masters. In an interview, the author shared her inspiration for the Guild Hunter series:
“I just saw this image in my mind one day of an archangel high in tower above New York and immediately wondered who he was, what he was doing there. And that’s how it began. I sat down and started writing and the story flowed from page to page to page.”
Find the Guild Hunter books on Amazon
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Vampire book series that started in the 2010s
High Arc Vampires Series by Jessica Cage (2012)
In urban fantasy author Jessica Cage’s vampire series High Arc Vampires, Alexa is forced back into the land of the living, where she is introduced to a world she had no idea existed. Even more shocking—she learns that she is the intended Queen of a hidden race of vampires. With Darkness coming, and Alexa must train, fight for her right as Queen, and protect her people.
When the author was a little girl, Cage wondered why there were no black vampires, werewolves, and fairies in the stories she read. Today, she’s an award winning, best-selling author who can do something about that. Her many series include Djinn Rebellion, the Siren series, the Alpha series, and Scorned by the Gods.
She counts among her influences L.A. Banks, Richelle Mead, P.C. Cast, and Rachel Caine. “All of these authors have influenced my writing today in some way,” Jessica tells Monster Complex, “because of the way that they created something entirely new. Their stories felt unique and true and I hope for all of my stories to feel the same.”
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Brookwater’s Curse by Steven Van Patten (2014)
Brooklyn native Steven Van Patten has written about everything from sleep demons to the Harlem Hellfighters of WWI. His critically acclaimed Brookwater’s Curse trilogy features an 1860s Georgia plantation slave who becomes law enforcement within the vampire community.
“I was drawn to horror because I needed it,” Van Patten told the Horror Writers Association. “I needed the distraction, the escape. The truth is, I was sort of an outcast and a latch-key kid until high school, where I would settle into just being awkward. I’m the quintessential late bloomer.
“With that, all that we now label ‘nerd stuff’ drew my attention and helped keep my little mind off some of the more challenging aspects of my life. Because of my strange interests, the other kids didn’t get me, and to be fair, I may have handled it badly.
“To give you a sense of how early my problems started, the first fight I ever had in school was over a Planet of The Apes action figure which I mistakenly brought to school only to have someone try to steal it. That was second grade.”
In that interview, Van Patten also explained that he wanted with his writing to end the Black tropes.
“These include, but are not limited to, the one Black character not making it past the opening credits and poor character development for the characters of color. I mean, I get it. In many cases, the death of the Black character in the early stages of a horror movie is to establish how lethal the monster really is, since many white people probably can’t imagine too many things more dangerous than us. And the poor character development and stereotypical behavior is usually a result of the writer not having been properly exposed to people of color, so the depictions are either one dimensional or episode of ‘70s sitcom level buffoonish. They don’t even understand that they’ve created a caricature and not a character because they’ve bought into a fabricated version of how Black people are supposed to operate from jump.”
Vampire Hunters Academy series by Delizhia Jenkins (2016)
Author Delizhia Jenkins told Monster Complex what inspired her unique take on the vampire mythos for the Vampire Hunters Academy:
“It began as a sort of homage to the late L.A. Banks. When she died, there was a hole in the (black) Sci-Fi community and I (at the time) was a new author and I loved her work so much I needed a way to thank her. I wish that I had been granted the opportunity to meet her in person because her work, is really what inspired me to go forward with fulfilling a dream of bringing my own characters to life.
[snip]
“So, long story short, The Vampire Hunters Academy started out as a Thank You to Ms. Banks. It was a way for me to keep her memory alive. But the characters I created are not based off of her. The storyline is a intricately woven web of everything that I know about vampires and their origins, mixed with everything I’ve learned about religion, spirituality and mythology.”
Find the Vampire Hunters Academy series on Amazon
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Vegan Vamp Mysteries by Cate Lawley (2016)
Dana McIntyre Must Die by SM Reine (2017)
Blood Vice by Angela Roquet (2017)
Blood Alliance by Lexi C. Foss (2018)
The Drake Chronicles series by Alyxandra Harvey (2018)
Heirs of Chicagoland by Chloe Neill (2019)
The Oracle Chronicles by Moni Boyce (2019)
Vampire Towers by Kelly St. Clare (2019)
Blood Magic series by K.A. Young (2019)
Call of the Night series by Kotoyama (2019)
Vampire book series that started in the 2020s
Buffy: The Next Generation series by Kendare Blake (2022)
Return to Sunnydale in a brand-new trilogy set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The author—who was already the bestselling novelist of her own worlds—is a big fan of the original Buffy show. Blake talked about the process of adding her own spin:
“My only job was to be a Buffyverse vessel, to recapture the tone and feel, to grab that nostalgia and hold tight. I tried to structure the book like a pared down season of the show, with episodic monsters of the week and smaller arcs tied into the overarching mystery. It was great fun cooking up a new Big Bad!”
Find this Buffy the Vampire Slayer trilogy on Amazon
Find more Buffy books on Amazon
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