VAMPIRES, BURIAL, AND DEATH: FOLKLORE AND REALITY~
Paul Barber's book, VAMPIRES, BURIAL, AND DEATH: FOLKLORE AND REALITY, was something I picked up at the 2004 RWA national conference. A friend (academic) who is a vampire junkie told me this book is renowned as the bible of vampire research about a year later. Lucky me since I'm a research-book lover and buy books on impulse. 
I remember having a bit of an adrenaline rush and thinking I could finally see vampires more from a bio-archaeological slant (death and burial) to write a different type of vampire story. Silly me. The trend seems to be that publishers don't like "different" in the sense of major change. That's what got me with my Time Guardians. (I really must stop playing with major change. It's obviously anything but highly marketable.)
I don't recall actually using this book to round out my Time Guardian story world. One of my villains is a psychic vampire. But there is no blood sucking in my series. I didn't draw on this resource for ANCIENT MUSINGS. Although, I think I'll have to see what Barber says about the Greeks because my interest is peaked after researching death, Hades, and reincarnation for The Wild Rose Press's paranormal series, SONG OF THE MUSES being released summer 2008. Seriously, my story opens the series. It takes place in the Greek underworld. And I remember thinking "now I know where Kenyon's idea of Dark Hunters stemmed from."
What I found incredibly fascinating about Barber's book is his "forensic" approach to explaining the science behind "cultural" processes. What do I mean? How would a pre-Modern Westerner view a corpse that bleeds, a corpse's hand that pops up through the ground, or missing bodies from cemeteries in general? The cultural thought processes that rationalized these events may have worked rationally for their time period but weren't based on the science behind corpse decomposition, rigomortis, or wildlife scavenging for food. Barber takes what we have in myth (cultural ideas through time, i.e. cultural evolution--my favorite), looks at the science behind corpse decay, and draws conclusions about explanation for cultural thought for cultures from Egypt to the present by looking at what we know about these cultures already. I could not put this book down. But I'm a fool for cultural ideas, scientific breakdown of them, and death & burial.
~Skhye
www.skhyemoncrief.com
www.timeguardians.com
I remember having a bit of an adrenaline rush and thinking I could finally see vampires more from a bio-archaeological slant (death and burial) to write a different type of vampire story. Silly me. The trend seems to be that publishers don't like "different" in the sense of major change. That's what got me with my Time Guardians. (I really must stop playing with major change. It's obviously anything but highly marketable.)I don't recall actually using this book to round out my Time Guardian story world. One of my villains is a psychic vampire. But there is no blood sucking in my series. I didn't draw on this resource for ANCIENT MUSINGS. Although, I think I'll have to see what Barber says about the Greeks because my interest is peaked after researching death, Hades, and reincarnation for The Wild Rose Press's paranormal series, SONG OF THE MUSES being released summer 2008. Seriously, my story opens the series. It takes place in the Greek underworld. And I remember thinking "now I know where Kenyon's idea of Dark Hunters stemmed from."
What I found incredibly fascinating about Barber's book is his "forensic" approach to explaining the science behind "cultural" processes. What do I mean? How would a pre-Modern Westerner view a corpse that bleeds, a corpse's hand that pops up through the ground, or missing bodies from cemeteries in general? The cultural thought processes that rationalized these events may have worked rationally for their time period but weren't based on the science behind corpse decomposition, rigomortis, or wildlife scavenging for food. Barber takes what we have in myth (cultural ideas through time, i.e. cultural evolution--my favorite), looks at the science behind corpse decay, and draws conclusions about explanation for cultural thought for cultures from Egypt to the present by looking at what we know about these cultures already. I could not put this book down. But I'm a fool for cultural ideas, scientific breakdown of them, and death & burial.
~Skhye
www.skhyemoncrief.com
www.timeguardians.com
Interesting blog, Skhye!
I've always loved vampires and although I mainly write historical romance, I just sold my first vampire story. It was just so much fun that I'm working on another one and digging into research for the new story. Sounds like a great reference book.
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