"Vampires have been popular in literature since 1897, when Bram Stoker's Dracula received overwhelming praise upon its publication. Over the more than a century that has followed, hundreds of writers have turned to vampires to tell stories, each focusing on the particular aspect of the legend that interested them; religion, sex, death, romance, violence, eternal life.
It could be argued that the huge renaissance in vampire fiction over the last ten years, fuelled by Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, represents the high water mark for the popularity of the supernatural species. But writers, artists and filmmakers have been telling stories with brilliant vampire characters for far, far longer than that. Here is my selection of the very best."
Will Hill grew up around the North East of England, moving from Skegness to Gateshead and Tynemouth. The area is steeped in vampire mythology and, after studying history at King's College in London and working as a non-fiction publisher, Will turned his fascination with vampires and horror into a young adult thriller, Department 19, followed by its sequel, The Rising.
Buy Department 19 at the Guardian bookshop
Buy The Rising at the Guardian bookshop
1. Count Dracula (Dracula by Bram Stoker)
Sorry to be obvious, but there's really nowhere else to start than with Bram Stoker's legendary creation. Everything that you think of when you hear the word vampire – drinking blood, stakes through the heart, holy water, sleeping in coffins, bats, Transylvania – was set in stone by Stoker in 1897. Dracula wasn't the first – The Vampyre's Lord Ruthven and Varney The Vampire preceded him, among others – but he was, is, and will always be the standard by which all other bloodsuckers are measured. Every subsequent vampire lurks in his shadow.
2. Claudia (Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice)
Living forever is one thing. Living forever in the body of a six-year-old is quite another. And that's the future that faces Claudia, a young girl orphaned by the plague in 18th century New Orleans and taken in and transformed by Lestat and Louis, an ancient vampire and his recently-turned companion. Together they form the vampire "family" that lies at the heart of Anne Rice's gothic classic. But her desperate desire for independence and control over herself, even as she remains tragically, eternally young, gradually threatens to tear the family apart.
3. David (The Lost Boys by Janice Fischer, James Jeremas and Jeffrey Boam, directed by Joel Schumacher)
Long before Jack Bauer saved the world for the first time, Kiefer Sutherland flew through the California night as the leather-clad, bleached-blonde leader of a gang of thoroughly 80s vampires in Joel Schumacher's gloriously ludicrous brat pack horror movie. Sutherland's David and the rest of The Lost Boys use their vampire abilities to party all night and stay young forever, and want brooding Jason Patric as the new member of their gang, leaving it up to The Two Coreys (80s icons Corey Feldman and Corey Haim) to try and save the day.
4. Danny Glick ('Salem's Lot by Stephen King)
Toddler Ralphie Glick is the awful sacrifice that marks the arrival of the ancient vampire Barlow in Stephen King's classic novel. When his older brother Danny dies shortly afterwards from a mysterious blood disease, new boy in town Mark Petrie is devastated by his friend's death. Until one night he hears a gentle knocking on his bedroom window, and is confronted with the terrible, seductive evil that is spreading through his small town home. Danny is the quintessential vampire victim, his innocence gone and replaced with something sinister – the need to feed at all costs…
5. Count Duckula (created by Cosgrove Hall)
Don't laugh, Or rather, do. A lot. British production company Cosgrove Hall followed their classic animated series Dangermouse with the charming adventures of Count Duckula, a classic Transylvanian vampire in every way. Well, apart from being a vegetarian (his favourite food is broccoli sandwiches), having no fangs, being squeamish about blood and openly cowardly, and hating living in his dark, dingy castle, that is. The latest in a long line of vampires, he was resurrected using tomato ketchup instead of blood, leading to him being just a little bit different to his blood-sucking ancestors. Smart, subversive, witty and endlessly funny, he starred in his own cartoon for only 65 episodes, all of which are well worth seeking out.
6. Eric Northman (The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris)
One of the endlessly compelling things about vampires is the idea of living, if not forever, for longer than any human being ever could. Eric Northman embodies this, having lived for more than a thousand years by the time he is introduced in Dead Until Dark. Born a Viking in 11th century northern Europe, he is incredibly handsome, arrogant, flirtatious, dangerous, untrustworthy and has quite literally seen it all before. Eric rules over area five of Louisiana (in Harris's books, the vampire society in the US is run as a collection of feudal states) a position that brings the series heroine Sookie Stackhouse to his attention time and again throughout the series.
7. Eli (Let The Right One In by John Avidje Lindqvist)
It's difficult to know exactly what to make of Eli, particularly given that some information that is made explicitly clear in John Ajvide Lindqvist's brilliant novel is left ambiguous in Tomas Alfredson's equally brilliant film adaptation. Is she a lonely immortal girl, searching honestly for companionship, and possibly even love? Is she a ruthless monster looking for nothing more than the latest in a long line of servants? Is she even a she? I'll leave it for you to decide…
8. Cassidy (Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon)
Garth Ennis's epic, freewheeling Preacher is one of the greatest comic series of all time – an outsider's examination of the myths and realities of the American Dream. At its heart are a Texan priest with the word of God, his assassin ex-girlfriend, and an Irish vampire called Cassidy. Who, even by the standards of the undead, has a few skeletons in his closet. Incredibly vulgar, irreverent and with a sense of humour as warped as they come, Cassidy is the classic vampire-as-immigrant, isolated and searching for somewhere to belong, but also hero, anti-hero and villain all rolled up into one incredibly foul-mouthed and drunken package.
9. Spike and Drusilla (Buffy The Vampire Slayer created by Joss Whedon)
Two for the price of one, I know – but what a pair these two are. Buffy The Vampire Slayer was, in my humble opinion, one of the very finest TV series ever made, peaking in season two when Whedon introduced Spike and Drusilla to the unfortunate town of Sunnydale, letting all hell loose in the process. Spike was a brilliantly sarcastic bleached-blonde monster, who became integral to the entire remainder of the series. But it was Drusilla, the vacant, damaged, tragically childlike vampire psychopath, who was the real stuff of nightmares, and one of the most genuinely unsettling characters ever committed to the small screen.
10. Blade (created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan)
Half-vampire, half-human, all badass, Blade has all the strengths of the vampires he hunts down every night without any of their weaknesses. Couple that with an array of hi-tech weaponry and vehicles, a classic grizzled old mentor who helps him in his quest, and you have one of the few characters who not only isn't scared of vampires but actively chases them down and hacks them to pieces with samurai swords. Which is clearly awesome…
