Text 
Love at first bite
By J. MICHAEL CALLVampires really suck -- or do they?
Not if you're talking about a teenage vampire hottie named Edward Cullen, who at the dawn of the 21st century has joined the pantheon of bloodsucking superstars including Carmilla, Varney, Nosferatu, Barnabas Collins, Lestat, Angel, Blade and the dark prince himself, Dracula.
Since they crawled out of their graves and onto the pages of literature, vampires have undergone an extreme makeover.
Edward Cullen, the latest literary incarnation, returns Saturday in "Breaking Dawn" (Little, Brown, $22.99), the fourth and final book of Stephenie Meyer's best-selling "Twilight" series. And later this year, Edward and his klutzy human girlfriend, Bella, will leap onto the silver screen in the movie "Twilight."
Edward defies traditional vampire conventions such as sleeping in a coffin, hunting humans (he only feeds on woodland creatures) and staying out of the sun for fear of a (literal) killer sunburn. He has seduced not only Bella, but millions of readers who see this Adonis-like creature as something much more than a vampire.
"Stephenie makes her vampires very sexy," said Jenn Northington, marketing and events coordinator at The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City. "They glitter in the sunlight and they're perfect. They all look like models, but more than that, it's this element of this impossible love."
Deborah Schroeder, manager at the Wisebird Bookery in Ogden, offers a similar assessment. While Edward is a vampire, he is first and foremost the perfect boyfriend. Sure, he has problems, like the never-ending urge to chomp down on Bella's neck and drain the life out of her, but he rises above those animalistic instincts.
"It's about love," Schroeder said. "It's about that ever-aspiring romantic platform that every woman wants in her life. She wants the perfect, mysterious, handsome, rich guy who can make her immortal and happy and lift her off her feet and save her from death a million times."
Whoa ... back up. He "glitters" in the sunlight? He has issues? That's a long way from the rotting, animated corpses with an unquenchable thirst for human blood that emerged during the Dark Ages.
Even Dracula, with all of his seductive poise, isn't someone who in his truest and terrifying form you'd want to take home to meet mom and dad. What's going on here?
From sinner to saint
Edward is by no means the first vampire with some moral boundaries. But how did we get from fiendish, morally bankrupt monsters to sympathetic do-gooders?
While he does not classify himself as an expert on vampirism, Scott Rogers has a few ideas. Rogers is an assistant professor of English at Weber State University, where he specializes in 19th-century British literature.
He credits Lord George Gordon Byron for the beginning of the vampire makeover. Byron authored "Don Juan" and completed John William Polidori's "The Vampyre," first published in 1819. It is considered by many experts to be the pof the romantic vampire genre.
Many modern vampires are anti-heroes, and Rogers said anti-heroes grew out of the "Byronic hero" of 19th-century literature.
Remember the brooding Heathcliff in "Wuthering Heights" and the tormented Rochester in "Jane Eyre"? Those are examples of the Byronic hero, although Rogers in no way asserts those characters were vampires.
"This is the kind of 'bad-boy' figure that has become a staple since then," Rogers said in an e-mail interview.
Byron got the biting-bad-boy ball
bouncing when it comes to vampires, but Irish writer Bram Stoker firmly nailed in the stake in 1897 with his classic horror novel "Dracula."
Donna Cheney, a professor at WSU specializing in Shakespeare and Milton, said that while the legend of vampires goes back to medieval times, it is Stoker's vampire that has served as a template for 20th- and 21st-century depictions of vampires. Although Dracula was hardly a sympathetic character, he was alluring.
"You've got a Victorian gentleman who is a vampire and that's the kind Bela Lugosi depicts in the films with the tux and the white ties," she said.
No longer the undead peasant bound to the gravesite with a bad case of carrion, the modern-day vampire took wing and then began to evolve as new authors emerged on the scene.
"We keep reinventing the rules for vampires," Cheney said.
Lestat and company
How many vampires can say they've made it onto Broadway in an Elton John musical? The answer is a blond, aristocratic rock star named Lestat, in the Broadway show of the same name, who first came to life on the pages of Anne Rice's 1976 novel "Interview With the Vampire."
Vampires took a leap forward when Rice not only reinvented the rules for vampires, but also brought them into the late 20th century. And Lestat takes a starring role as the brat prince, along with a legion of the undead in "The Vampire Chronicles" series.
Cheney said Lestat's cult following owes a debt of gratitude to "Dracula," but it also has a lot to do with the sexuality in the books.
"Anne Rice picked up the theme and has outstokered Bram Stoker," Cheney said. "She has appealed to a different audience."
Rice may have cranked up the sexuality in her novels, but sex and eroticism have always played a role in the genre. "Dracula" has its moments of sexual activity and Le Fanu's "Carmilla," written over 100 years earlier, is overtly sexual, Rogers said. Even the "Twilight" series, although it is geared toward younger readers, has a sexual undercurrent.
But not everything is about sex. Unlike other vampires who, once bitten, lose their sense of good and evil, both Northington and Schroeder said that Rice's vampires retained some of their human attributes and accompanying moral dilemmas. Part of Lestat's appeal has to do with his wisdom, wit and moral struggles.
"He's intense and intelligent," Schroeder said. "There's a little more than just blood and gore to him."
Rice is by no means the only modern writer who has tweaked the vampire. Octavia Butler, who wrote "Fledgling," published in 2005, is another author Cheney said has contributed to the modern-day image of vampires.
"The themes in it are a little different," Cheney said. "As a black writer, she always talks about racism and poverty and unequal opportunities ... because again, she is remaking the vampire."
Super vampires
Edward Cullen may be somewhat of an enigma when it comes to vampires, but so is his creator. A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and graduate of Brigham Young University in Provo, Meyer is often asked what a nice Mormon girl is doing writing about vampires.
The answer clearly resides within the pages of her books and her presentation of the "good" vampires. They have the choice to be good or evil.
"Stephenie Meyer's vampires are nice vampires," Cheney said. "There's the tension in it, but they remain nice to each other and nice to the people around them."
Edward and his family are not only vampires, they're also superheroes.
"They are kind of humanity taken up a notch," Northington said. "They're us, but extraordinary, and that is always a big draw for folks. They look just like us, but they are tweaked. They're faster, they're stronger, they're more evil sometimes and they are even more moral than we could possibly be -- the good vampires, that is."
While bad vampires do inhabit her books, Schroeder explains, Meyer's good vampires were created by an older vampire, who also happens to be a doctor with an affinity for healing people instead of killing them.
He created his vampire family from doomed individuals who otherwise stood no chance of surviving.
"Edward is definitely a vampire, but he is just a more evolved breed," Schroeder said. "It goes back to his creator and he was created by a positive vampire, so I think that totally affects who he is."
RELEASE PARTIES
Bookstores are celebrating the publication of Stephenie Meyer's "Breaking Dawn" with release parties on Friday night.
The book officially goes on sale at midnight, and most stores are taking preorders. Those who preorder will also be first in line to get the book at most stores.
Contact the individual stores for additional information or to preorder. The following is a partial list of activities.
Hastings, 340 E. 525 North, Harrisville, begins its celebration at 8 p.m. The evening will include trivia questions and prizes. The store's coffee shop will be serving speciality drinks named after characters in the series. There will also be a mini prom in which contestants should come dressed in the worst prom attire they can put together. Photographs will be taken, and a king and queen will be crowned.
Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 1780 N. Woodland Park Drive, Layton, also starts festivities at 8 p.m. Activities include a best Bella, Edward and Jacob costume contest, a "Twilight" art contest, a trivia scavenger hunt and a "Bite Mark" neck-painting station.
Customers will begin to line up outside for sales of the book at 11 p.m., and actual sales will start at midnight. Wristbands for a place in line will be handed out to those with reservations starting at 9 a.m. Thursday.
Wisebird Bookery, 4850 S. Harrison Blvd., Ogden, kicks off its celebration at 10:30 p.m. The night will include vampire trivia, a costume contest, an Edward vs. Jacob vote and more. There is a $3 entrance fee, but that fee is included in the cost of the book if it is preordered.
Borders, 1050 N. Main St., and Waldenbooks, 1300 N. Main St., in Logan, will celebrate with in-store parties beginning at 10 p.m. and culminating at midnight. The parties, themed "From Twilight til Dawn: A Night With a Bite," will include costume contests, "So You're in Love With a Vampire?" trivia contests, prizes and debates on themes from the series. Customers are encouraged to attend the free parties dressed as Twilight characters to participate in the "Supernatural Soiree" costume contest. Customers will also have the opportunity to decide whom Bella will choose as her true love during the "Love Is Perfectly Paranormal" debate.
At Hastings, 50 E. 400 North, Logan, the party goes from 10 p.m. to midnight. The celebration includes a prom and customers are encouraged to dress in prom attire or as their favorite character from the series. The evening will also include mask paintings, trivia contests, prizes and a character look-alike contest.
The King's English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City, kicks off its "Breaking Dawn Book Bash" at 10 p.m. Participants are encouraged to wear costumes and "dazzle the mortals with your supernatural finery." Goodies, games and prizes will be on hand.
There will also be a "Twilight Trivia Bowl" with questions from the first three books and a Jacob vs. Edward contest. Visit http://kingsenglish.booksense.com for more information.
Add Your Comment
OMG! I LOVE EDWARD SO MUCH!!! He's the perfect boyfriend.
Please read our posting guidelines before reporting a comment.