often charming and attractive, dark and mysteri-
ous, or are described as living in tribes hidden
within human society, where they vary from good
to bad, very much like living people. Even at their
worst, the vampires of Anne Rice’s novels are not
wholly evil, and writers such as Les DANIELSand
Chelsea Quinn YARBROhave created entire series
of novels about vampires who are less evil than
their human companions. Fred SABERHAGENhas
even turned Dracula himself into a misunderstood
creature with noble qualities.
This change has developed comparatively re-
cently. Before the 1960s vampires were almost in-
variably evil. This 1944 short story by Bloch is
probably the very first that had a sympathetic vam-
pire as a narrator. Graham Keene awakens in a
grave and emerges with no memory of what hap-
pened to him. He is greeted by a mysterious figure
who insists they are both vampires and subse-
quently proves his point. The older vampire, who
died in 1777, has concocted an elaborate plan to
recruit more vampires and eventually seize control
of the world from the living, a plan that is ulti-
mately thwarted by Keene, who views his new exis-
tence with complete horror. He tricks his mentor
and confines him in a coffin from which he cannot
escape, where he will slowly rot away to nothing-
ness while still conscious.
There are two other extraordinary features in
the story. Most writers of vampire stories ignore
the obvious mathematical progression of vam-
pirism. If the victims all become converts, then it
would only be a matter of time before the undead
outnumbered the living. This is the pivotal point of
the vampire villain’s plot. Previously, vampires de-
stroyed most of their victims’ bodies in some fash-
ion to avoid discovery. Now they will deliberately
multiply. The premise that the world might be-
come the playground of vampires would later be
the basis of the classic I Am Legend(1954), by
Richard MATHESON, and the anthology Under the
Fang(1991), edited by Robert McCAMMON. This
story was also one of the very first to partially ratio-
nalize vampires as nonsupernatural. Vampirism is
characterized as a disease, not a curse, transmitted
like rabies through a bite. Although Bloch does
not follow through—his vampires do not cast re-
flections or shadows, for example—the interpreta-
tion that vampirism is a contagious disease has in-
fluenced many other authors.Baudino, Gael(1955– )
Although Gael Baudino published a couple of
marginally interesting short fantasies in the early
1980s, it was only after three novels appeared in
1988 and 1989 that she began to develop a follow-
ing. Dragonsword(1988) was the opening volume
of a trilogy that continued with Duel of Dragons
(1991) and ended with Dragon Death(1992). Al-
though a traditional fantasy in which two aca-
demics from our world find themselves in a typical
fantasy realm, there were some interesting twists,
including a universal form of amnesia that caused
the entire population to forget events more than a
few years into the past. We subsequently learn that
the villains are planning to conquer the fantasy
realm by using high-tech weaponry imported from
our reality, although their plans are ultimately and
predictably thwarted. Some of the imagery is quite
dark, and the contrast between the two cultures is
very well handled.
A second and more interesting series opened
with Strands of Starlight(1989), a historical fan-
tasy set during the time of the Inquisition, al-
though in a world where elves really exist. The
protagonist is a victim of rape, who is subse-
quently accused of witchcraft, who receives train-
ing as a warrior and is instrumental in defending
her village. The mood of the novel is very dark,
and that carries over into subsequent volumes.
Maze of Moonlight(1993) turns its attention to
the Crusades as the elves’ numbers begin to dwin-
dle, thanks in large part to persecution by the In-
quisitors in Shroud of Shadow(1993). Strands of
Sunlight(1994) transports the last of the elves
through time to the present day, where magic may
once again rise in the world. Several related short
stories were collected as Spires of Spirit(1997).
Although not strictly set in actual history,
Baudino provides a chillingly effective description
of the excesses of the Inquisition.
Baudino published one more trilogy, her best,
which includes O Greenest Branch!(1995), Branch
and Crown(1995), and The Dove Looked In(1996).
The setting is the “Three Kingdoms,” a worldBaudino, Gael 17