John Adams - By Blood We Live

(C) 2009

"Much at Stake" by Kevin J. Anderson. 1991 Kevin J. Anderson. Originally published in The Ultimate Dracula. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Twilight" by Kelley Armstrong. 2007 Kelly Armstrong. Originally published in Many Bloody Returns. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Finders Keepers" by L. A. Banks. 2008 L. A. Banks. Originally published as an e-book from Red Rose Publishing. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"House of the Rising Sun" by Elizabeth Bear. 2005 Elizabeth Bear. Originally published in The Third Alternative. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Lifeblood" by Michael A. Burstein. 2003 Michael A. Burstein. Originally published in New Voices in Science Fiction. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Lucy, in Her Splendor" by Charles Coleman Finlay. 2003 Charles Coleman Finlay. Originally published in Mars Dust. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Snow, Glass, Apples" by Neil Gaiman. 1994 Neil Gaiman. Originally published as a chapbook from DreamHaven Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.

" Sunrise on Running Water" by Barbara Hambly. 2007 Barbara Hambly. Originally published in Dark Delicacies II. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Abraham's Boys" by Joe Hill. 2004 Joe Hill. Originally published in The Many Faces of Van Helsing, and also in 20th Century Ghosts, copyright 2005, 2007 by Joe Hill, published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Blood Gothic" by Nancy Holder. 1985 Nancy Holder. Originally published in Shadows 8. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Ode to Edvard Munch" by Caitln R. Kiernan. 2006 Caitln R. Kiernan. Originally published in Sirenia Digest. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Vechi Barbat" by Nancy Kilpatrick. 2007 Nancy Kilpatrick. Originally published in Travellers in Darkness. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"One for the Road" by Stephen King. 1977 Stephen King. Originally published in Maine magazine, March/April 1977. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Wide, Carnivorous Sky" by John Langan. 2009 John Langan. Original to this volume.

"Hunger" by Gabriela Lee. 2007 Gabriela Lee. Originally published in A Different Voice. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Nunc Dimittis" by Tanith Lee. 1983 Tanith Lee. Originally published in The Dodd, Mead Gallery of Horror. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"For Further Reading " by Ross E. Lockhart. 2009 Ross E. Lockhart. Original to this volume.

"Foxtrot at High Noon" by Sergei Lukyanenko. 2009 Sergei Lukyanenko. English-language translation copyright 2009 by Night Shade Books. Original to this volume.

"Necros" by Brian Lumley. 1986 Brian Lumley. Originally published in The Second Book of After Midnight Stories. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"In Darkness, Angels" by Eric Van Lustbader. 1983 Eric Van Lustbader. Originally published in The Dodd, Mead Gallery of Horror. Reprinted by permission of the author, and Henry Morrison, Inc., his agents.

"Undead Again" by Ken MacLeod. 2005 Ken MacLeod. Originally published in Nature. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Hit" by Bruce McAllister. 2008 Bruce McAllister. Originally published in Aeon. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Infestation" by Garth Nix. 2008 Garth Nix. Originally published in The Starry Rift. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Do Not Hasten to Bid Me Adieu" by Norman Partridge. 1994 Norman Partridge. Originally published in Love in Vein. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Master of Rampling Gate" by Anne Rice. 1984 Anne Rice. Originally published in Redbook. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Endless Night" by Barbara Roden. 2008 Barbara Roden. Originally published in Exotic Gothic II. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Beautiful, The Damned" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. 1995 Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"A Standup Dame" by Lilith Saintcrow. 2008 Lilith Saintcrow. Originally published in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Peking Man" by Robert J. Sawyer. 1996 Robert J. Sawyer. Originally published in Dark Destiny III. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"This Is Now" by Michael Marshall Smith. 2004 Michael Marshall Smith. Originally published online in BBCi Cult Vampire Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"After the Stone Age" by Brian Stableford. 2004 Brian Stableford. Originally published online in BBCi Cult Vampire Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Under St. Peter's" by Harry Turtledove. 2007 Harry Turtledove. Originally published in The Secret History of Vampires. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Exsanguinations" by Catherynne M. Valente. 2005 Catherynne M. Valente. Originally published online at www.catherynemvalente.com. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Life Is the Teacher" by Carrie Vaughn. 2008 Carrie Vaughn. Originally published in Hotter Than Hell. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Pinecones" by David Wellington. 2006 David Wellington. Originally published as a limited edition chapbook. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Child of an Ancient City " by Tad Williams. 1988 Tad Williams. Originally published in Weird Tales. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Mama Gone" by Jane Yolen 1991 by Jane Yolen. First appeared in Vampires: A Collection of Original Stories edited by Jane Yolen and Martin H. Greenberg, 1991 by HarperCollins. Reused with permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.

How do we define the vampire? Are they barely animated corpses, of a horrific visage, killing indiscriminately? Or are they suave, charismatic symbols of sexual repression in the Victorian era? Do they die in sunlight, or does it only make them itch a little, or, God forbid, sparkle? Do crosses and holy symbols work at repelling them, or is that just a superstition from the old times? Are they born, or made by other vampires? And anyway, are these vampires created through scientific means, such as genetic research or a virus, or are they the magical kind? Can they transform into bats? Or are they stuck in the appearance they had when they were turned? Are we talking the traditional Eastern European vampire, or something more exotic, like the Tagalog mandurugo, a pretty girl during the day, and a winged, mosquito-like monstrosity by night? Do they even drink blood, or are they some kind of psychic vampire, more directly attacking the life-force of their victims?

Vampire stories come from our myths, but their origins are quite diverse. Stories of the dead thirsting for human life have existed for thousands of years, although the most common version we speak of in popular culture originated in eighteenth-century Eastern Europe. Why is the notion of the dead risen to prey on the living such an omnipresent myth across so many cultures?