Blog Birthday

Today I am five… or at least Taliesin Meets the Vampires is five years old today, which is a bit of an achievement I feel. Together we have looked at vampires of all types, dark and brooding, brutal and vicious, occasionally kind and just, some happily sociopathic and others domestically violent with sparkles.

We have seen vampires who fly, who hop and who sleep in water with their lungs out of their body. Some leave their lower half behind and some turn to mist, some owe all to Le Fanu and some to Stoker and a thousand influences in between.

There has been garlic, holy water, running water and sprinkler systems. There have been crosses, stars of David, statues of Buddha, secular vampires who scoff at your ridiculous faith, vampires as the right hand of God and those who are Gods in their own right. Stakes have penetrated hearts, eyes and some unfortunate stomach staking where the filmmakers knowledge of anatomy seems to be lacking.

There has been world class cinematography and cack-handed efforts with cameramen wandering into shot. There has been dogme, Hollywood blockbuster and animation.

There have been graphic novels and prose, words crafted with the highest skills and the occasional hack who can’t string a coherent sentence together.

Then there has been you, the reader. Some casual visitors and some regular readers; indeed some becoming firm friends. There are too many to mention individually but you know who you are.

Here’s hoping that we get another five years of fang and claw together and that the genre continues to attract, excite, challenge and horrify each and every one of us.