'Eleven fresh vampire stories from young adult fiction’s leading voices!
'In this delicious new collection, you’ll find stories about lurking vampires of social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out―and going out for their first kill―and other bold, breathtaking, dangerous, dreamy, eerie, iconic, powerful creatures of the night.
'Welcome to the evolution of the vampire―and a revolution on the page.
'Vampires Never Get Old includes stories by authors both bestselling and acclaimed, including Samira Ahmed, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Julie Murphy, Mark Oshiro, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, and Kayla Whaley.'
Vampire fiction has always been popular, even before Bram Stoker released Dracula there were countless stories and folk tales involving the bloodsuckers across the globe, and following the publication of that book the public's love and fascination with the creatures has only grown. Like the title of this book says, vampires never get old. There are always new and interesting things to do with them, new lenses through which to view the vampire mythology; and this book aims to do that.
Featuring a host of great name, Vampires Never Get Old is packed with positive own-voices representation. There are Black characters, Indian stories, Native tales, Queer love, fat rep, disabilities, trans characters, Latinx representation. There is more diversity and inclusion in this one anthology than most long running vampire series will ever try, and for that alone it's worth your attention.
The first story in the book, 'Seven Nights for Dying' by Tessa Gratton, sets out a lot of the themes and ideas of this collection, with a story that encompasses a lot of different themes that are often overlooked in vampire fiction. The story follows a teenage girl who's been selected to be turned into a vampire. Rather than it being a quick bite, or a simple exchange of blood, to facilitate the change the process takes a week, allowing our narrator time to really consider if this is something that she really wants. Whilst this alone is different enough to make it stand out, the fact that she's overweight, sex positive, and is open to relationships with both men and women, really shows that this is more than your average 'turned into a vampire' story. It also features a trans vampire and poly relationships, so it really shows the variety this book will showcase.
'The Boys From Blood River' by Rebecca Roanhorse is quite a spooky story, and seems to inject a new sense of the supernatural into its vampire proceedings. Set in a small town and following a young, queer, Native teen named Lukas, it tells the story of the Blood River Boys, a local legend about a group of spectres that can be summoned if their song is sang. The last time this happened an entire family were found drained of their blood. If that wasn't spooky enough, Lukas is working late one night in the local diner when the jukebox starts playing the song all on its own. What will happen if Lukas decides to finish the song and summon the Boys from Blood River? I really liked how this story had a bit of ghostliness mixed in too, with the idea that the vampires needed to be summoned by their song before they turned up, it made it a more unique addition to this book, and one that had a ton of atmosphere.
'Senior Year Sucks' by Julie Murphy is a tale that sees a young vampire slaying cheerleader, Jolene, as she travels back to her home town with a bus full of students after a high school football game. Along the journey we discover that not only is there a family of vampire hunters in her town, but that there's also a rehab centre for vampires; something that leads to a lot of work for Jolene and her family. When her bus comes across another from their town that's broken down they take on extra passengers, and Jolene finds herself sharing her ride home with a vampire. I really liked the set-up for this story, of the town with slayers and vampires living in an uneasy peace, and how Jolene was having to deal with certain preconceptions when she finds a vampire sitting next to her on the bus. Sadly, this is one of the stories in the book that left me wanting to read more, and as such ended on something of a down note for me as it felt like there was a lot more to come.
'The Boy and the Bell' by Heidi Heilig is the first historically set story in the collection, and follows a young man who's trying his best to become a doctor. Because of the era its set, however, it can be hard for doctors and medical students to find bodies to learn from; so he decides to go on a bit of a grave robbing trip. However, when one of the bells at a grave starts to ring, indicating that someone has been buried alive he discovers more than he expected when he exhumes the coffin. I loved this story for both its historical setting, and for being centred around a trans man, who not only had to fight to become a doctor because of his station in life, but because of how others perceive his gender.
'A Guidebook for the Newly Sired Desi Vampire' by Samira Ahmed is one of the more unusual pieces in this collection because it doesn't actually tell a story. It doesn't feature any plot or characters, but still manages to make a unique and clear depiction of a vampire world outside of what we normally see. Written as a guide for Desi people who have woken up having been turned into vampires, it gives them handy tip and tricks for adapting to their new life. I really liked this story, especially how the guide encouraged the new vampires to try and target British tourists to feed upon, though warned them to be careful not to make any British vampires so that they don't end up getting colonies by the British again.
Kayla Whaley's 'In Kind' is probably my favourite of the entire book, and is a story that I'd have loved to have seen across an entire novel so that we could have spent more time with these characters. The story begins with a news report telling us about a seventeen-year-old girl Grace Williams, a disabled girl, has been killed by her father. Because of the level of her disability it's being seen as a 'mercy' killing, and her father has not only not been charged, but has been given the sympathy of the rest of the town. Fortunately for Grace, her body was found by Seanan, a vampire, and is turned before it's too late. Now Grace is out to confront her father and get the justice that the rest of the world seems to want to deny her. This story was fantastic for one big reason, even though becoming a vampire helped Grace, made her stronger and fitter, it didn't 'cure' her of her disabilities. Vampire stories are often used as magical cures for illness and disability, and can be quite nasty towards disabled readers because of this; but this story kept Grace disabled, kept her needing to use her wheelchair, and it never made it a weakness for her. She is powerful, strong, and she's disabled. It was absolutely wonderful to see a writer understand that being disabled doesn't have to be seen as something awful, and that characters can still be amazing and well rounded even with a disability.
'Vampires Never Say Die' by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker and tells the story of a young Instagram influencer, Theo, and the online relationship she strikes up with a woman who turns out to be a vampire. One day Theo decides that it's time that she finally meets Brittany, the woman she's been pouring her heart out to online for years, and arranges a special vampire themed party for her at a New York night club. Using her internet skills, Theo is able to invite a load of Brittany's friends, little realising that she's just filled her underground club with hungry vampires. Whilst there were parts of this story that I really enjoyed, such as Theo's slow realisation that not only were vampires real, but she was about to be killed by them, but because of the sapphic romance that took centre stage. That being said, I never felt completely comfortable with the story because it felt a lot like grooming at times. Theo originally started talking to Brittany when she was just fifteen, and the dynamic of an adult having deep and personal conversation online with a child felt a little icky to me, possibly because it was a little too close to real world grooming and online paedophilia for me to be completely okay with what I was reading. That being said, I never got the impression that Brittany was trying to lure Theo in at any point, and I'm sure that there will be people who enjoy this story.
'Bestiary' by Laura Ruby tells the story of a young vampire who works at a zoo during a difficult time, where water is scarce and the animals are at risk. Thanks to being a predator herself, she has a special connection with many of the animals in the zoo and is able to feed them by hand, and even nap amongst the lions. Sadly, I found this to be one of the weaker stories in the collection, and didn't really get super invested in events.
'Mirrors, Windows, and Selfies' by Mark Oshiro centres on a young teen called Cisco. Cisco, unlike most vampires, wasn't turned, but was born a vampire; something that puts him and his parents at great risk from the rest of their kind. As such they've been travelling around the US, looking for remote locations to settle down in for a short while before moving on again. Having been raised under his parents strict rules, which they claim are for his protection, Cisco feels like he's been suffocated and just wants to break free. But one thing he wants more than anything else is to just finally see his own face, to know what he looks like; and this will set him down a path that could change his family forever. This story is written in a series of blog posts, complete with comments from readers, and is basically a series of diary entries as the teen tries to break away from his parents as get a glimpse of his face. It also has some gay romance thrown in for good measure, because why not eh?
'The House of the Black Sapphires' by Dhonielle Clayton is one of the stories that I really enjoyed, but was left a little angry with once it was done, because it felt like the introduction to an amazing world and characters, and I wanted a lot more than what we got here. The story is about a family of Black vampires who move to New Orleans, though a version of the city that's very different to the one we're familiar with. These young women, each with their own unique powers, get to go to a ball with their powerful mother, where they begin to discover an even bigger world than they thought possible, and love might be in the air. I really liked the mythology Dhonielle Clayton was establishing here, and hope that it's something that we will get to see more of in the future.
The final story in the book, 'First Kill' by Victoria 'V.E.' Schwab, tells two intertwining stories that make one wonderful tale. We meet two teenage girls in high school, both of whom are harbouring a huge crush on the other, but have even bigger secrets that they're hiding. Secrets that will put them both at risk, and could end up with them either in love, or dead. I'm not going to really spoil what happens in this story, and am leaving the description pretty vague because I think a lot of the fun of this one is discovering it as it unfolds. But as you'd expect from Schwab, it's a lot of fun.
The stories in Vampires Never Get Old are a great mixture, featuring a huge range of styles, characters, and little used groups that all work so well alongside vampires. I loved getting so see these authors trying something new in the genre, and hope that we continue to get more books like this in the future.
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