My Favorite Vampires (Anne Stuart)

First off, I'm guest blogging on Squawkradio on Wednesday.http://www.squawkradio.com/ Come and visit -- we're giving away free books.

In honor of Halloween, let's talk about vampires I have known and loved. We start with Frank Langella in his luscious prime. Not in that dreadful, bloody movie that's totally devoid a sense of humor, but on Broadway, with the Edward Gorey sets, sinuous and sexy and funny as hell I travelled down from Vermont to see it (already having a well-established passion for FL from "The Twelve Chairs") and sat in the first row, drinking it all in. Then I went home and wrote THE DEMON COUNT in his honor, dedicating it to him.
And then there's Gackt. Blogger is being annoying and not letting me upload pictures, but google images of him. Utterly divine.
For those of you who are still woefully ignorant, Gackt says he is a vampire born 450 years ago in Norway. His current incarnation is as a Japanese rock star, and he has a rich, beautiful voice, a puckish sense of humor, and is probably the most exquisitely beautiful creature on the face of the earth. He takes on a million personas, the butt-nekkid one being a personal favorite, and he writes, sings, dances (sort of) and is lusted after by most of the universe, male and female alike. And he's the only Japanese rock star older than me (by about 400 years).
There's Gerard Butler in Dracula 2000 (terrible movie but he's soooo pretty), and I just got to see Jason Scott Lee in a Dracula movie yesterday. .
For books I tend to veer away from the usual suspects -- I like Stephanie Meyer's YA book, TWILIGHT (though please, someone, get that woman an editor!), the JR Ward series despite its outlandishness (or maybe because of it).
But the best book of all, the one I loved so much I couldn't bear to finish it, and when I did I sat and hugged it for half an hour, is SUNSHINE by Robin McKinley.
I don't think I've loved a book that much in decades.
In fact, I write about vampires. My heroes are the modern day equivalent -- they're dark, deadly, a great black hole of despair and death, and a woman risks her life to go near them. But they're irresistible, worth courting death for.

So here's your assignment, and I don't want any of you to fail me. Get in your car and drive to the nearest Borders or Barnes and Noble (though they're currently on my shit list). Buy Sunshine (probably in the fantasy section) Stop for apple cider and ginger cookies on the way home. If you have a fireplace or woodstove build a fire, find the closest thing you have to a homemade quilt, and curl up and read. Don't stop until you're finished.

I promise you the best Halloween ever.