Ten Years of TMtV: Some of the Best Bits of the Last Ten Years

I started TMtV almost by accident. I had wanted to post a comment on the blog The Mystery of the Haunted Vampire but I needed a blogger account to do so. I registered for Blogger and thought that I may as well do something with the account and posted up an essay I had just written… then a review I decided to write (of the Box of Blood DVD set).

At the time I never thought Taliesin Meets the Vampires would become what it is today. But starting that blog has opened several doors in my life, and more importantly I have met several friends through it. I had met some vampire fan virtual friends via a forum that used to be online (and I am still friends with a couple of people from there). However I have met some very good friends directly or indirectly through the blog – I’m not going to mention you by name, but you all know who you are.

A direct roll on from meeting new friends was becoming a long standing regular at the Bram Stoker International Film Festival and that has become an annual highlight for me – the organisers actually go out of their way to find vampire films I haven’t seen (and do succeed sometimes, as well). One favourite vampire film that isn’t included on TMtV, which I saw at the festival, is Vampire Guitar. Why isn't it here? Simply by dint of the fact that the film has not yet been made available. I have even contacted the director so that I could try and get a screener – but unfortunately never received a reply.

That is another thing I am grateful for, however, the opportunity that some authors/publishers and directors/distributors give me to look at their work. I am always honest and the book or film isn’t always necessarily very good – just have a look at my review of Predatoress for an example of that. Sometimes, however, what is sent is fantastic and a prime example is the massive – and excellent – the New Annotated Dracula. Of course streaming technology has moved things on over the ten years and I was honoured when director Bret Wood gave me access to a streaming screener of the Unwanted. It’s not just commercial things like this though. People I have met through the blog have managed to give me access to see things I never thought I’d get to see – like the Polish version of Carmilla, for instance.

The blog has led me to start doing reviews for the online magazine Vamped, a place where I had written a couple of articles, and even been Interviewed. Collaboration has certainly been a highlight and I have written a foreword for the Annotated Carmilla and the first English translation of After Ninety Years. I also became a regular on the old time radio podcast the Zombie Astronaut's Frequency of Fear, at first recording a regular “top three” segment and then morphing into a character on the show.

The blog is a labour of love – I used to post (for years) on a daily basis. I’ve cut that down to every other day but it is still a high output level. Through that time I have worked full time in the real world, throughout, attained a BA honours and even written a reference book (the second edition is being worked on even now) and yet consistently managed and produced this little old blog. To quote the grateful Dead, “What a Long Strange Trip It's Been” and long may it continue to be.