This is a collection of vampire stories by Australians to 31 December, 2006*. Corrections and additions welcomed. Please contact me through this website. For stories and movies since 2006, see this page.
Short fiction
Baranay, Inez, 2004. “My Transylvanian Cousin”, Best Stories Under the Sun, eds: Michael Wilding and David Myers, Rockhampton: Central Queensland University Press.
: A Gold Coast based story in which Vlad arrives from Transylvania to offer a rellie the kiss of eternal life, and so take her out of the humdrum life of being a writer. The city serves as a backdrop to the seduction of their waiter and the passing of the gift to an unquestioning narrator.
Blackford, Russell, 2003. “Smoke City”, Gathering the Bones: Thirty-Four Original Stories From the World’s Masters of Horror, eds: Jack Dann, Ramsay Campbell, Dennis Etchison, Pymble, New South Wales: Voyager.
: a story with cyberpunk overtones in which the governments of the world unite to cull the barely tolerated vampires in their midst, but some go down harder than others.
Brown, Simon, 2001. “With Clouds at Our Feet”, Dreaming Down Under, Dann, Jack, and Webb, Janeen, eds, New York: Tor.
: Dairy-farming half-vampire brothers face their vampiric nature on a visit to the city with their human-hunting father.
Bursztynski, Sue, 2003. “Bytepals”, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 2/2 (August).
: a Melbourne high school student invites her vampire penpal over – as an email attachment. Alas, vampirism is a virus…
Butler, H., 1999. “Just 50 Words”, The Advertiser 13 February, Weekend (p.9).
: As the title suggests, a submission to a newspaper wanting 50-word stories, in which a sated vampire comes home to his graveyard.
Chandler, A. Bertram, 1946 (as Whitley, George). “And Not in Peace”, Famous Fantastic Mysteries vol.8 no.2 December, reprinted in Macabre: A Journey Through Australia’s Darkest Fears, Woodvale, WA: Brimstone Press, 2010.
: A writer discovers more to his compatriot than he ever expected during the London Blitz.
Congreve, Bill, 1998. “Boy”, Epiphanies of Blood: Tales of Desperation and Thirst, Parramatta NSW: MirrorDanse Books.
: a vampire hunts his son and a private detective on the tropical coast of Queensland
__________, “Turing Test”, ibid.
: more human than human… can it apply to the undead as well?
__________, “I Am My Father’s Daughter”, ibid.
: a PI is hired to find a man’s runaway daughter, but no one is telling the truth. The story serves as a conclusion, of sorts, to “Boy”.
__________, “Red Ambrosia”, ibid.
: a vampire prepares to move on from his suburban haven, but first he has to cover his tracks by suicide
__________, “The Mullet That Screwed John West”, ibid.
: a surreal tale involving a blood-drinking appendage, in which a reporter goes to Hell for an exclusive, and gets taken in, hook, line and sinker.
__________, “The Death of Heroes”, ibid.
: a mother tries to make a family for her boys, if only the neighbour would leave her alone. It ends in the dirt; blood is spilled. For some, there can be no happy endings.
Cox, Robert, 1999. “The Grandmaster’s Last Crusade”, Aurealis: Australian Fantasy & Science Fiction no.24 (pp.75-85) (nationality uncertain).
: A comedic travelogue in Malta recounted by a vampire’s familiar as they assist a Crusader vampire to achieve his final rest.
De Bortoli, Simon, 2001. “Street-Wise Sucker”, The Advertiser, 17 January.
: a lacklustre tale in which a guy is turned into a vampire over lunch at Glenelg.
Dedman, Stephen, 2005. “The Dance That Everyone Must Do”, Never Seen By Waking Eyes, Ohio, United States of America (USA): Infrapress (pp.85-92).
: A 1940s pied piper puts a vampiric slant on an old tale as he gives a Jew-hunting Nazi a lesson in occupied Denmark.
__________, “The Facts of Dr Van Helsing’s Case”, ibid, (pp.151-162).
: delving into Van Helsing’s childhood, with a detour to the US and the massacre of Native Americans at Wounded Knee Creek
__________, “The Ghoul Goes West”, ibid. (pp.107-117).
: Dracula’s Quincy Morris gets a lesson in vampire slaying in America’s Wild West.
__________, “Never Seen By Waking Eyes”, ibid, (pp.196-221).
: This Alice probably shouldn’t show up in looking glasses at all, as she tells of her encounter with Lewis Carroll
__________, “A Sentiment Open to Doubt”, ibid, (pp.49-60).
: Malaysian vampire myths are utilised in the conservation fight by an unusual eco-warrior.
__________, “Waste Land”, ibid, (pp.33-36).
: There’s an I Am Legend overtone as vampire myths are expounded by humans-in-hiding in Undead-occupied Europe.
Dubois, Robert, 1997. “Requiem for an Editor”, The Australian Writers’ Journal, v7 No2, (spring-summer).
: a rather dull, mercifully short tale of a South Australian vampire writer who takes revenge on the Melbourne editor who rejects his short stories
Egan, Greg, 1998. “Mind Vampires”, Matilda at the Speed of Light: An Anthology of Australian Science Fiction, ed: Damien Broderick, North Ryde, NSW: Sirius
: an investigator faces a vampire clutch who have infested a US girls boarding house.
Flinthart, Dirk, 2004. “The Flatmate From Hell”, Encounters, eds: Maxine McArthur and Donna Maree Hanson, CSFG Publishing.
: A vampire moves into the cellar room and gives the skinheads next door their comeuppance. He’s a Gypsy, and in his mind, the skins wear jackboots.
Harland, Richard, 2004. “The Love-Vampires of Transylvania”, Aurealis: Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction no.33/34/35 (pp.182-197).
: an extract from Harland’s book, The Black Crusade. Here the party meet a group of vampires who believe it is more divine to give than to receive.
Harland, Richard, 2005. “The Souvenir”, Encounters, McArthur, Maxine, Hanson, Donna Maree, eds, Canberra: CSFG Publishing.
: tourists in a Transylvanian safari park are looking in all the wrong places for the elusive vampire.
Hemming, N. K., 1952. “Last of the Rocketeers”, Thrills Incorporated no.20 (March).
Hoge, Robert, 2003. “The Vampires Poodles of War”, Antipodean SF no. 62, August-September. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20030801/www.antisf.com/stories/story06.htm (20 December, 2006).
: Caesar lies dead, but it is a sign of a far more covert conspiracy utilising time travel and undead canines.
Hood, Robert, 2005. “In the Service of the Flesh”, Aurealis: Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction no.36 (pp.45-55).
: more zombie than vampire, perhaps, but the question of immortality arises as religious door-knockers are given a new perspective on the body of Christ… yummy.
Isle, Sue, 2003. “Catbones”, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 1/5 (Feb).
: a procurer of bodies has her business affected when someone – or some thing – starts killing people, and a vampire, in her neighbourhood. One for pet lovers, perhaps.
Isle, Sue, 1994. “Kill Me Once”, Alien Shores: An Anthology of Australian Science Fiction, eds: Peter McNamara and Margaret Winch, North Adelaide, SA: Aphelion Publications.
: a doctor finds her patient has the cure for what ails her, even as his vampiric nature makes her diagnosis somewhat awkward.
Kellings, Ashlei, 1992. “Paradise Discarded”, Aurealis: Australian Fantasy & Science Fiction no.8 (pp.60-67).
: A vampiric Lucifer recruits a new body for a fallen angel.
Lunn, Richard, 1987. “Giselle’s Admirer”, Storyteller: Short Stories by Australian Writers, No2.
: A vampire becomes obsessed with his victim, to the detriment of both. Set in a vague Euro-fantasy world and redolent in Victorian style.
Marriott-Watson, HB, 1899. “The Stone Chamber”, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0602431h.html, reprinted in Macabre: A Journey Through Australia’s Darkest Fears, Woodvale, WA: Brimstone Press, 2010
: vampiric action at an old English abbey.
McCreadie, Christie, 2006. “Harrison”, Antipodean SF no.101 October-November. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20061101/www.antisf.com/stordex.html (20 December, 2006).
: a vampires lures her prey to her chamber. A rose is a rose by any other name, even when it is bait.
McMullen, Sean, 1998. “Rule of the People”, Aurealis: Australian Fantasy & Science Fiction no.20-21 (pp.43-61).
: Where the gods walk the streets of Melbourne, 1865, being transformed by their experience in the colony. Among them walks the raptor Julia, who owes her long, long life to absorbing the lifeblood of vampires. This is the extent of the vampiric content.
Nahrung, Jason (as Jay d’Argo), 2003. “Night Watch”, Elsewhere: An Anthology of Incredible Places, Barry, Michael ed, Canberra: CSFG Publishing.
: there are vampires and there are pretenders in a vampire enclave off the coast of Queenland; it’s knowing the difference that counts.
Nahrung, Jason, 2002. “Prime Cuts”, Antipodean SF no.56 December. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20021230/antipodean-sf.com/stordex.htm (20 December, 2006).
: A meeting of blood drinkers in a supermarket goes badly for one when he meets the real deal.
Nisbet, Hume, 1900. “The Vampire Maid”, Stories Weird and Wonderful, F.V. White: London. http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0602481.txt (17 December, 2006).
: A weary artist finds sanctuary in an isolate Cumbrian cottage, only to be preyed upon the landlady’s vampire daughter.
Nisbet, Hume, 1900. “The Old Portrait,” ibid, reprinted in Macabre: A Journey Through Australia’s Darkest Fears, Woodvale, WA: Brimstone Press, 2010.
: A painting of a pale woman provides more than the purchaser bargained for.
Parry, Glyn, 2003. “Invisible Girl”, Invisible Girl Stories, Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press.
: Melody and Rudy are teenagers in love and on the run, heading for Bali after the death of a vampire. That man who kissed Melody on the neck four
years ago: he was a vampire, wasn’t he? He must have been, because that stake through the heart sure killed him. Of course, it’d kill anyone, wouldn’t it?
Patrice, Helen, 1998. “Hunters”, Four W no.9 (pp.33-39).
: A self-absorbed yuppie runs into a former conquest at a nightclub to find she’s a lot different to what he remembers. For his sins, she turns him into a vampire, but when he revels in his new nature, stronger punishment is called for.
Phillips, Emma, 1998. “Whether You Believe Me”, Lies, All Lies, eds: Lauren Bamberger et al, University of Western Australia.
: An Australian vampire tells his lover the truth of his being. A little bit like Interview with the Vampire, minus the interesting bits.
Pitchforth, Richard, 2003. “Vampire Express”, Antipodean SF no.61 June-July. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20030701/www.antisf.com/stordex.htm (20 December, 2006).
: An answer is offered for ye olde formula of exponentially increasing vampire populations based on the contagion of one bite.
Robson, Barbara, 2003. “Living Wage”, Antipodean SF no.64 September-October. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20030923/www.antisf.com/stordex.htm (20 December, 2006).
: Vampires put in a convincing wage claim.
Sherrington, Paul, 2006. “Bloodletting”, Antipodean SF no.94 March-April. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20060401/www.antisf.com/stordex.html (20 December, 2006).
: A man with blood disease finds a vampire offers a treatment better than any hospital.
Stephenson, Robert N., 2004. “Desires of the Hunted”, We Would Be Heroes: and other stories, Stephenson, Robert N. Blackwood, South Australia: Altair Australia Books and Magellan Books (pp.141-149).
: nanotech and wetwear offer new modes of vampiric immortality.
Sussex, Lucy, 1990. “God and Her Black Sense of Humour”, My Lady Tongue and Other Tales, Melbourne: William Heinemann Australia.
: in which a feminist reporter finds two heroines in the form of vampire sisters who thrive on the creative juices of men.
Twaddle, Ron, 1983. “Confessions of a Neck Man”, Quadrant vol.27 no.6 June (pp.58-59).
: no details available.
Walters, Trent, 2004. “Dracula Makes House Calls”, Antipodean SF no.71 April-May. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20040415/www.antisf.com/stordex.htm (20 December, 2006).
: Obscure, comedic turn about a worker coming home early to find his partner apparently enjoying the ministrations of a vampire in an upstairs room.
Wander, Waif, 1912 (originally published 1867). The White Maniac: A Doctor’s Tale, http://gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca/whtmanic.htm (29 December, 2006); reprinted in Macabre: A Journey Through Australia’s Darkest Fears, Woodvale, WA: Brimstone Press, 2010.
: a quasi vampire story set in 1858 London, and the first ‘vampire’ story by an Australian.
Westwood, Kim, 2005. “Tripping Over the Light Fantastic”, Year’s Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy, Congreve, Bill, Marquardt, Michelle, eds, Parramatta NSW: MirrorDanse Books (originally published 2004, Orb #6)
: a potential dancer finds the price asked by the instructors is a little too high – and a little too red.
Whitley, George. See Chandler. “And Not in Peace”.
Wilder, Cherry, 2003. “Finishing School”, Gathering the Bones: Thirty-Four Original Stories From the World’s Masters of Horror, eds Dann, Jack; Campbell, Ramsay; Etchison, Dennis Pymble, New South Wales : Voyager (pp.281-291).
: The late Wilder, a New Zealander who spent much of her life in Australia and Germany, provides a story about a 20-year-old vampire sent to a German girls finishing school where initiation is a Harkering and Trad Vamp describes the classes and décor.
Novels
Arthur, Keri, 2002. Chasing the Shadows, Canon City, Colorado, USA: ImaJinn Books
: Third book in Nikki and Michael series.
Arthur, Keri, 2001. Dancing with the Devil, Canon City, Colorado, USA: ImaJinn Books.
: Vampire romance set in a thinly drawn Melbourne introducing Nikki and Michael.
: Nikki is a psychic detective who finds herself falling for the vampire Michael who, like her, is trying to bring a rogue vampire to justice. But is the enemy of my enemy truly my lover?
Arthur, Keri, 2006. Full Moon Rising, New York, New York, USA: Bantam Spectra.
: Book 1 of the Guardians series. Riley is part werewolf, part vampire, on the trail of her missing brother, like her an operative in a shadowy organisation meant to protect society from paranormals, and vice versa. An erotic action tale.
Arthur, Keri, 2001. Hearts in Darkness, Canon City, Colorado, USA: ImaJinn Books
: Continuing the story of Nikki and Michael.
Arthur, Keri, 2004. Kiss the Night Goodbye, Canon City, Colorado, USA: ImaJinn Books: Book 4 of Nikki and Michael.
Dedman, Stephen, 2001. Shadows Bite, New York: Tor
: Dedman pits his magician and stunt man against a family of vampires in LA.
Deitz, Milissa, 1999. Bloodlust, Milsons Point, New South Wales: Random House.
: A Sydney student falls hard for a vampire who finds in him her perfect blood-drinking soulmate… or so she thinks.
D’Ettut, 2000. Vampire Cities, Sydney London Turkey: Abbott Bentley.
: not really a vampire book, though a shadowy group called the Vampire Club seem to be pulling strings in the background. To what purpose, however, remains unclear throughout the course of this travelogue roughly centred around Sydney’s 2000 Olympics.
French, Jackie, 2001. In the Blood, Pymble, New South Wales: Angus and Robertson.
: in a post-apocalyptic Australia peopled by village-like Utopias, genetically engineered vampires cause concern for an exile from the big city.
Harland, Richard, 2004. The Black Crusade, Mount Waverley, Victoria: Chimaera Publications.
: Darkly comic story set in Europe, including a chapter starring ‘love vampires’.
Keegan, Mel, 2004. Nocturne, dream-craft.
: a gay-themed ebook set in 1892 starring adventurer Vince Bantry.
Kelleher, Victor, 1999. Into the Dark, Ringwood, Victoria: Viking.
: Kelleher revisits Dracula from the perspective of Renfield.
Lovell, Marc, 1974. An Enquiry into the Existence of Vampires aka Vampire in the Shadows, New York: Doubleday.
: A newspaper advertisement seeking a vampire mate draws attention in the English moors.
Marillier, Juliet, 2006. Wildwood Dancing, Sydney, New South Wales: Pan.
: Set in Transylvania, in which a group of sisters are able to access the fairy world.
McMullen, Sean, 2004. Glass Dragons, New York: Tor.
: second in the Moonworlds series, a fantasy, and like its predecessor, Voyage of the Shadowmoon (Tor, 2002) stars a vampire character.
Mudrooroo, 2000. The Promised Land, Pymble, New South Wales: Angus and Robertson.
: final book in the Master of the Ghost Dreaming series, set on the WA gold fields.
Mudrooroo, 1999. Underground, Pymble, New South Wales: Angus and Robertson.
: continues the story of The Undying which much of the action taking place in an underground, once-volcanic cavern system as the Aborigines go head-to-head with the vampire Amelia.
Mudrooroo, 1998. The Undying, Pymble, New South Wales : Angus and Robertson.
: a schooner of Aborigines fleeing colonial Tasmania (as described in Master of the Ghost Dreaming, 1991) encounter a vampire who haunts their flight, and infects several of their number.
Praed, Rosa (Mrs Campbell), 1886. The Brother of the Shadow: A Mystery of Today, London, England: Routledge.
: no details available.
Praed, Rosa, 1891. The Soul of Countess Adrian, London: Trischler.
: an actress in London is possessed by a vampire, but the spirit is driven out by an exorcism.
Richards, Kel, 1997. The Vampire Serpent, Lane Cove, New South Wales : Beacon Communications.
: a Sherlock Holmes story about a vampire on the streets of London.
Ryan, Tracy, 1997. Vamp, South Fremantle, Western Australia: Fremantle Arts Centre Press.
: a vampire seduces a young woman after they meet in a Perth asylum. Thereinafter things devolve into a most unsatisfactory conclusion.
Waugh, Michael, 1955. Fangs of the Vampire, Sydney: Cleveland.
Waugh, Michael, 1955. Back from the Dead, Sydney: Cleveland.
Waugh, Michael, 1955. The Living Dead, Sydney: Cleveland.
: three novelettes reported in Sold by the Millions: Australia’s Bestsellers (Johnson-Woods and Sarwal, eds) to have ‘derivative and hackneyed’ plots ‘with no attempt to extend the boundaries of the genre or even to place it within a uniquely Australian milieu’.***
Westerfeld, Scott, 2006. Peeps, Camberwell, Victoria: Penguin.
: American writer Westerfeld, treated as an honorary Australian and a winner of the Australian Aurealis award, who divides his time between the US and Sydney, takes a scientific approach to vampirism in his New York-based YA novel in which he draws parallels between vampires and parasites, noting that not all parasites are bad for you…
Films
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own, 1974. Directed by Bruce Beresford. Stars Barry Crocker, Barry Humphreys and Donald Pleasance.
: Barry, reprising his role from The Adventures of (1972), must save Dame Edna Everage from European Count von Plasma.
Bloodlust, 1992. Directed by Jon Hewitt and Richard Wolstencroft. Stars Jane Stuart Wallace, Kelly Chapman and Robert James O’Neill. Windhover Productions. [Videorecording: VHS]
: A low-budget vampire heist flick with cult appeal (banned in the UK) in which vampires encounter gangsters and religious extremists on the streets of Melbourne.
Outback Vampires, 1987. Directed by Colin Eggleston. Stars Richard Morgan, Angela Kennedy and Brett Climo. Somserset Films. [Videorecording: VHS].
: A quasi-comic take along the lines of Rocky Horror Picture Show in which three travellers find themselves hosted by vampires in an isolated mansion near a decrepit outback town.
Ozferatu, 2008. Directed by Daryl White. Stars Brendan Jeffrey and Leilani Wyatt.
: Indie spoof shot outside Brisbane, Australia, in which three couples must survive a night in an isolated mansion inhabited by a ‘vampire’ couple.
Queen of the Damned, 2002. Directed by Michael Rymer. Stars Aaliyah and Stuart Townsend. Los Angeles: Warner. [Videorecording: DVD].
: An American movie adapting two Anne Rice books, The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. Shot in Victoria (substituting for the US and UK) with numerous Australians in the supporting cast.
Thirst, 1979, directed by Roy Hardy. Stars Chantal Contouri and Shirley Cameron. FG Films. [Videorecording: DVD, Umbrella].
: The descendant of Elizabeth Bathory is seduced by a blood-drinking cult using brainwashing techniques, causing hallucinatory footage.
Notes
* Why this date? Because this list was originally compiled as an appendix for my Masters thesis. An adaptation of the final thesis, an overview of Australian vampire Gothic fiction, was printed in Studies in Australian Weird Fiction vol2.
*** Thanks to Jim Pollock from Virginia for bringing these to my attention, and to Dennis Lien of the University of Minnesota Libraries for his Chandler input.
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