Vampires In Christian Fiction

One of my blog readers was surprised that I’d mentioned Twilight on this blog because Twilight is about a vampire. Well, coincidentally, I was reading this article yesterday, and discovered that Thomas Nelson, a large, well-known Christian publisher, has a Christian vampire series called Jeruselum’s Undead Trilogy by Eric Wilson. How in the world do you Christianize vampires? I haven’t read these books because, as I stated on this post, I don’t read many vampire/creature-of-the-night novels. If you’ve read this series, I’d be interested in knowing if they’re good, riveting stories? Do the plots draw you in? Here are the book covers and the summary of one of the novels from this series. The covers look pretty scary to me! I’m not sure if I’d want to read this before going to bed at night! I might have nightmares. If you like scary stories with a message, then I think you might want to read these. I might read one of them and then decide if I want to read the other two:




Field of Blood – Jeruselum’s Undead Trilogy Book One
From Barnesandnoble.com
Synopsis

Judas hung himself in a place known as the Akeldama or Field of Blood.

But what if his death didn’t end his betrayal?

What if his tainted blood seeped deep into the earth, into burial caves, causing a counterfeit resurrection of the dead?

Gina Lazarescu, a Romanian girl with a scarred past, has no idea she is being sought by the undead.

The Collectors, those released from the Akeldama, feed on souls and human blood. But there are also the Nistarim, those who rose from their graves in the shadow of the Nazarene’s crucifixion–and they still walk among us, immortal, left to protect mankind.

Gina realizes her future will depend on her understanding of the past, yet how can she protect herself from Collectors who have already died once but still live?

The Jerusalem’s Undead Trilogy takes readers on a riveting journey, as imaginative fiction melds with biblical and archaeological history.

Forever Knight, The Trilogy Part Two

Haunt of Jackals – Book Three

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I watched the Twilight movie On Demand yesterday. Surprisingly, I wasn’t intending to watch it. I was going to watch another movie – a foreign film about a cult, but the movie I was hoping to see wasn’t listed On Demand anymore. I’m off from work this week, my husband and child were both out of the house, so I was guaranteed watching a movie with no interruptions. I’d already made my popcorn, and was bummed when I couldn’t find the movie that I wanted to watch. So I decided not to let this movie-watching opportunity to pass me by, so I chose to watch Twilight. It pretty much stayed with the story-line in the novel with a few exceptions.
1. Bella, the main character, is a vegetarian in the movie and her and her dad eat at the diner every night. In the novel, Bella cooked for her and her dad. I don’t recall any scenes at a diner. I kind of liked how they had her cooking meals for herself and her dad. I guess the scriptwriters made her a vegetarian because Edward, the hero, eats animals instead of people, which kind of makes him a vegetarian vampire? This makes both Bella and Edward to have a common bond?
2. The trio of evil vampires don’t appear in the novel until about half or three quarters of the way into the story; when Edward, Bella, and his family are playing a baseball game. In the movie, they added a thread where the evil vampires are killing people in town, eating them. This thread of murders is not included in the book.
3. In the movie, Edward’s family are foster kids to the doctor and his wife. In the book, I don’t recall their being known as foster kids. Everybody was under the impression that they were a natural family?

Those are the main differences that I can recall. I preferred the book over the movie, though. The book drew me in more, and I guess that’s because reading leaves more to the imagination.

If you saw Twilight, and read the novel, which did you prefer, the book or the movie? If you had a preference, could you tell me the reasons behind your preference?

This blog post about vampires has got me to thinking about stories I’ve read in the past that had vampires, but, I’ve come up empty! Vampires and creatures of the night just don’t make my regular list of reading material! Maybe it’s because I used to get scared when I was a little kid when people mentioned vampires! My father, if he came home from work early enough, used to watch a soap opera about vampires called Dark Shadows. I used to cringe when he’d watch it and I hated it when he came home early enough to watch! I wanted to watch The Flintstones, but he’d turn the channel to Dark Shadows! Barnabas Collins (not sure if that’s spelled right) was a vampire in Dark Shadows. This show was on a long time ago, back in the early seventies. I was about four or five at the time.

I also read a novel called Frankenstein by Mary Shelley several years ago. That novel wasn’t very scary, and I recall that the writing was strong, and it’s considered a classic. Frankenstein isn’t a vampire, though, he was a monster.

That’s about all I can say about vampires. The other things about vampires that I’ve been exposed to is stuff you see on TV and in the movies; like using garlic to ward off vampires – weird stuff like that…
~Cecelia Dowdy~

18 thoughts on “Vampires In Christian Fiction

  1. Ty

    A long time ago I used to be really into vampire movies. That all changed as well as quite a few other things when I became a Christian. I’ve been wanting to read Eric Wilson novel for some time now. My first read was “Field of Blood.” I LOVED it!

    Eric’s writing is so vivid and well-researched. There are scenes where vampires do their thing, but the storyline is so much deeper than about the vampires. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

    Reply
  2. wilsonwriter

    Thanks for the support, Ty.

    My novels are not “Christian vampire” stories. They are stories from a biblical worldview that deal with the evil nature of vampires and their counterfeit method of finding life in blood (as opposed to our finding life through the blood of Jesus).

    I wish more would give the series a chance, because such concepts are widely explored in the mainstream market. As Christians, we too often surrender the battle instead of dealing with the issues head-on.

    Reply
  3. wordlily

    I just read Field of Blood this week. I should have a review up on my blog soon. This was my first read with vampires in it; I saw Twilight the movie, but I haven’t read the book.

    Reply
  4. ban

    hello – saw your thread on the CF2 site and decided to ck out your blog. i have always had a thing for vampires, not sure why but being a christian, i’ve always wanted to write a story about them from a believer’s standpoint. (it’s not my main wip but one day i’ll flesh out my outline) anyhoo – i liked the book better than the movie and the main reason is … the book had so much internal dialog. it really showed the tension between the two characters and while the movie was good (better than i expected even) it couldn’t help but fall short. as for the earlier scenes with the other three vamps – i feel, for a movie, it was necessary. thanks for the introduction to eric’s works btw – gonna have to check them out !

    Reply
  5. Chandra

    This is the review I wrote for Field of Blood for Thomas Nelson Books:

    Wow! This is the first book by Eric Wilson I have read. I guarantee it will not be my last. What happens when a storyteller combines history, legend, faith, and truth? He creates a masterful tale of vampires and werewolves that rings so true it will cause you to ponder. Eric Wilson takes a flawed heroine, Gina Lazarescu on a journey from Romania to the USA and back to Romania. His cast of characters both alive and undead and gives his readers an entirely new perspective on the legend of vampires. Field of Blood outdoes the romance of the Twilight series with suspense and thrills. The battle between the Collectors and the Nistarim in the spiritual realm crosses over into the physical realm. Gina Lazarescu finds herself in a battle to save not only her future, but also that of mankind. This is a powerful book and will cause you to think about many things like the fly on the screen that appears to be staring at you, or the mosquito that flew at you like you were its target all along, and, maybe even that little wound that is taking forever to heal. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good thriller that causes you to rethink history and legends. It may not necessarily be a good bedtime read, unless you like vampires invading your dreams.

    Reply
  6. Anonymous

    No matter how
    resplendent the “vampire” is portrayed in mythology and fiction, in Scripture blood drinking and
    creatures of darkness are judged as despicable by God. Distortion of the purpose of blood is a
    satanic mockery of God’s intent for the sacredness blood represents. Scripture teaches, “Only
    be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life…” (Deut. 12:23) and in the shedding
    of blood is the remission of sins. Meyer “received” the story of Twilight in a dream on June 2,
    2003. The vision compelled her to start writing the story immediately. She says she had an
    additional dream after Twilight was finished when her vampire character Edward came to speak
    to her. Her latest novel, The Host, is about demon possession

    Reply
  7. Denise Hughes

    I never read horror or anything related to it. But I read the Twilight series because my 14-year-old daughter was begging to read them, and I wasn’t sure if they were appropriate. So I read them first and then decided to give her the green light.

    The first one was engaging but only because of the clever dialogue that created good tension. The last three were tired re-runs of the same theme. The movie version botched the tension and spoon-fed the viewers. For example, when Bella walked into biology class on that first day, the reader wasn’t sure why Edward was so repulsed by her. It was great tension last lasted several chapters (if I remember right). But in the movie, as Bella enters biology class she walks past a large fan in slow motion. Then Edward is seen inhaling with ridiculous exaggeration, so the viewer already knows why he is repulsed by her before she ever even sits down. The movie version was a waste.

    I have never heard of “Field of Blood,” but I’ll buy a copy soon. I’m always curious to read what’s new in Christian fiction, and this one certainly doesn’t sound like the one-hundredth Amish love story that Christian publishers seem to love to sell.

    Just discovered your blog. I’ll have to check back for more recent posts.

    Reply
  8. Firelight Wink

    I googled “Christian Vampires,” as I have written a book, as well. I found your blog and linked it to mine. You have a lot of good information in it and given me some information to chew on. Thanks so much!

    Reply
  9. Sue Dent

    There are wonderful vampire stories out there published by general market Christian publishers that appeal to CBA readers like those who enjoy stories put out by affiliated houses like Thomas Nelson. I’ve had an overwhelmingly large number of readers from this exclusive market that has yet allowed vampires of lore to be written about. Do check my stories out if this is what you’re interested in. My Thirsting for Blood Series has been approved for distribution to the Christian market. You just won’t hear as much about it in the CBA Christian market becaue my Christian publisher doesn’t pay to belong to CBA. I do so love my CBA readers though. 😉

    Reply
  10. Mommy Lowry

    I have read all the Twilight books, as well as seen both movies. There are a lot of differences in them that I didn’t really care for. As far as Bella being a vegetarian, I don’t think they actually specified that in the movie, we just never saw her eat meat. Also, I hated that she didn’t cook, it was a part of her character.
    I felt that an important part they left out was the biology scene where it shows her intolerance to blood. I felt it was also a very important part of her character – it gave us a special insight to her, because in the end she WANTS to be a vampire (You know, a BLOOD SUCKER)..
    I have yet to read Eric Wilson’s book. Actually, I just heard about it today. I LOVED vampire movies growing up, and after becoming saved (2 years ago), I wasn’t sure whether to watch/read them anymore.
    I am actually an aspiring writer who is working on a vampire story – quite different than anything I’ve read or seen so far, so HOPEFULLY it’ll be a good one. And yes, it has great Christian morals, and the connection is more of a spiritual one – not that I can say more than that right now. 🙂

    Loved your blog posting, may be following you.

    Reply
  11. Mommy Lowry

    Yes, I did read Thirsty. I thought it was a really good book as far as Christian morals. The reason I got it was for the vampire aspect, which I ended up quite disappointed by, because there wasn’t REALLY a vampire story there. Other than that, it was a great book about real struggles we Christians face.

    Reply
  12. Anonymous

    The author of the Twilight series is Mormon, that’s why the books have a ‘wholesome’ quality. For example, Bella taking care of her father. Just thought you’d like to know.

    Reply
  13. Cecelia Dowdy

    Anonymous, I realize that the author of the series is a Mormon. It’s something that the media has highlighted a lot. I believe I mentioned I POSTED A LINK in another blog post which mentions that fact. Check out this link and feel free to comment if you wish:
    Here’s the blog post and the link for Christianity Today (which I also link in the blog post.):
    http://ceceliadowdy.blogspot.com/2010/02/breaking-dawn-secular-novel.html

    http://blog.kyria.com/2009/12/book_review_breaking_dawn_by_s.html

    Reply

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