Vampires are in. So are faerie, werewolves, skinwalkers, shapeshifters of all kinds. There has been a veritable onslaught of books with vampiric and other supernatural characters in local libraries this year, and I must admit that I have succumbed to their lure.

I have long been a devotee of Laurel K. Hamilton’s series about Anita Black, properly called a necromancer since she has control of the dead, raising them from their graves for a living. Along the way Black has become the human servant of the local vampire lord in St. Louis as well as being part of a ménage à trois with the leader of the local werewolf pack.

If this sounds confusing already, I have to add that Hamilton has set up a parallel United States where vampires and other supernatural kind have legal status as long as they do not kill anyone. Since that is what vampires do, fans of Hamilton’s books must adopt Coleridge’s old adage about “a willing suspension of disbelief” for her series to work.             

That, of course, is the case for all vampire books from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” which set up the basic parameters of the genre, to Anne Rice and her vampires of New Orleans. One must accept that such beasties exist, at least in a made-up world. 

Hamilton at least accepts the fact that vampires are inherently inimical; they drink blood, human blood. She also recognizes that there would be humans who would willingly give themselves to a vampire for the rush and passion that goes with the feeding. I suspect it is this tacit acknowledgement of hidden ecstasy that makes vampires so alluring on the printed page. In movies they generally are disgusting and besotted with clotted blood.

The Anita Blake series is fun to read for not only the doom and violence that surrounds such supernatural fare but for the emotional turmoil of Blake’s love life, which is graphically described. Anais Nin would have lusted for the graphic descriptions of coupling allowed today if it is cloaked in a fantasy. 

If one wants a more sedate vampire book to read, try the Stephanie Meyer series about chaste vampires, an oxymoron of great humor. I must admit that I tried to read “Twilight” and found it to be a kinky Harlequin romance. All hot breathing, fangs bared, and no consummation of any kind.

This is appropriate, I guess, with vampire books for teens written by a Mormon mother, but another Romeo and Juliet story along with troubles in a new high school are old themes. I have been told that young female readers love Edward, who wants to put the bite on Bella Swan. I was much less smitten. 

I prefer the supernatural books of Jim Butcher in his Harry Dresden series. Here we have a wizard in Chicago who advertises his abilities in the Yellow Pages to make a living. He is cocky, awkward in personal matters, and lucky in his friends as he goes against both Mab and Titania, Queens of Winter and Summer faerie, white and red vampires, and various other creatures from human folklore who exist in Dresden’s world.

Like Anita Blake, Dresden lives in a U.S. where the occult is truly real. Behind the daily news is a war between the White Council of Wizards and the Red Court of vampires. The latter are the creatures we are used to, true monsters who use people as food.

There is also a White Court, vampires who feed from psychic energy, slightly less deadly than the Red Court. In the nine books of the series so far, Dresden befriends one White vampire, a pack of werewolves, and a Knight of the Cross. The last wields a sword with a nail from the True Cross in its pommel, and he hunts the Fallen Angels who reside in the 30 pieces of silver of Judas. 

The complications continue with Dresden owing Mab, Winter Queen, three favors, one of which involves Dresden in trying to escape the four Billy Goats Gruff, servants of Titania, Summer Queen. Dresden survives, of course, but how is always a surprise and due usually to his friends and his innate abilities. As you can probably tell, I think the books are fun to read.

The fourth series of these modern-day occult books that I am familiar with (and there are many more) is set in Spokane. Patricia Briggs’ protagonist, Mercy Thompson, is a shapeshifter. She changes into a coyote, due to her Indian blood.

The first book, “Moon Called,” deals with her relationships with a pack of werewolf neighbors. The second, “Blood Bound,” involves vampires on a reservation in Idaho. Both are told in the first person, and sometimes Mercy’s attitude is a bit cute, but the other characters are firmly realized, and the action is typically frantic for this genre.

I really liked the third in the series, “Iron Kissed,” as I was introduced to Siebold Adelbertsmiter, Mercy’s mentor, who may be a kobold from Europe. Unlike most faerie, he is immune to iron, and he is falsely accused of murder. Mercy must spring him from jail and at the same time resolve her complicated love life.

Ralph Mohr taught English and Latin at Marshfield High School for 31 years. He welcomes comments regarding the column at rmohr1565@charter.net.