Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism - Joseph Laycock (Academic)

[Merticus]

http://wiccanweb.ca/article-24096.html

Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism
Posted by: Makarios on Monday, July 27, 2009 - 08:05 AM

"Vampires Today" was written for scholars of religion and cultural trends who are writing and approaching those who identify as vampires. Laycock provides a careful appraisal of the community, revealing, among other things, that these are not frightening people. Despite some very entertaining warnings, Laycock describes his interactions as being relatively mundane; certainly no more unusual than one would expect from other groups outside the mainstream.

The central point of the book is that the Vampire Movement cannot be understood as a religion, at all, but rather a culturally significant identity. Laycock's arguments are direct and rational, and his conclusions are highly convincing.

Laycock's exploration delves into the subcultures, organizations, and religions of the "real vampire," as well as their portrayal in the media. Laycock refuses to speculate on the validity of the vampires' claims: like any good scholar, he is observing, not judging.

While the book seems to have been written for academics, it has far greater appeal. Judging by the movement's positive reaction, it seems likely that many in the vampire community will purchase "Vampires Today." In addition, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the supernatural and history of the occult movement.


*****


http://www.outofthecoffin.com/ep43

Episode #43 - My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1988)
Submitted by ElderDaniel on July 11, 2009 - 9:51 PM

// NEWS
* An excellent interview with Joseph Laycock, author of VAMPIRES TODAY: The Truth About Modern Vampirism.


*****


Vampire Zilchy:

Link to Dr. Laycock's book "Vampires Today" (http://www.amazon.com/Vampires-Today-Truth-Modern-Vampirism/dp/0313364729/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247647687&sr=8-20)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/d2VMiL5NoB8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/d2VMiL5NoB8</a>

[Merticus]

Compliments of SoulSplat for distribution at DragonCon or elsewhere:

[Merticus]

Now featured on Vampires.com - August 22, 2009:

http://www.vampires.com/vampires-today-the-truth-about-modern-vampirism/

Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism by Joseph Laycock is a new book that has been getting fantastic reviews for it’s unbiased look into real modern vampires. The book poses the questions… What does it mean to be a vampire? Is it a medical condition? Is it a fantasy? Is vampirism a religion?

Joseph Laycock interviews members of the Atlanta Vampire Alliance and others within vampire communities throughout the United States. The books introduces you to “life style” vampires, who are those that have adopted the look and feel from vampires of art and legend.  Then it goes into “real vampires”  who feel that they need to consume blood and/or psychic energy in order to survive. In this book the Order of the Vampyre, the Ordo Strigoi Vii, and the Temple of the Vampire are also looked into and explained.

To go ahead and quote the book jacket itself…

    “Throughout the world, untold numbers of people are identifying as “vampires” and following the ways of “vampirism.” In the past two decades, modern vampirism has come under increased study, yet most scholarship has portrayed the vampire as a cultural phenomenon and at worst as a religious cult.

    Having interviewed many vampires across the country, both “lifestylers” and “real,” even those “reluctants” who try not to be vampires, Laycock argues that today’s vampires are best understood as an identity group and that vampirism has caused a profound change in how individuals choose to define themselves. As vampires come “out of the coffin,” either as followers of a “religion” or “lifestyle” or as people biologically distinct from other humans, their confrontation with mainstream society will raise questions about the definition of “normal” and what it means to be human. Here, readers will find the details of real vampire life—including vampire role-playing games, grimoires, “vampyre” balls, vampire houses like House Sahjaza and House Kheperu, the vampire “caste” system, and other details—utterly fascinating.”

Every review I have read on this book gives it major props. Reviewers are lined up to compliment Laycock on his intellectual yet unbiased explanation of this fascinating world of real vampires.

Library Update:

July = 58 Libraries
August 22, 2009 = 77 Libraries
September 1, 2009 = 88 Libraries
September 8, 2009 = 94 Libraries
September 25, 2009 = 104 Libraries
October 14, 2009 = 111 Libraries
SEE UPDATE AT END OF THREAD

* Please request your local library to purchase this title if you haven't already done so.  Thanks!

Current Holdings:

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Title:     Vampires today :
the truth about modern vampirism /
Author(s):    Laycock, Joseph, 1980-
Publication:    Westport, Conn. : Praeger,
Year:    2009
Description:    xi, 200 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
Language:    English
Contents:    What is a vampire? : or the varieties of vampiric experience -- Why vampires? -- The vampire milieu -- Initiatory vampire groups : vampirism as apotheosis -- The vampire community -- Vampirism and religion, a dialogue -- Out of the shadows -- Vampires and the modern.
Standard No:    ISBN: 9780313364723 (alk. paper); 0313364729 (alk. paper) LCCN: 2008-51652
   SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor:    Vampires -- United States.
Note(s):    Includes bibliographical references (p. [187]-192) and index.
Class Descriptors:    LC: BF1556; Dewey: 398/.45; 133
Responsibility:    Joseph Laycock.
Vendor Info:    Baker and Taylor YBP Library Services Blackwell Book Service Coutts Information Services (BTCP YANK BBUS COUT) $39.95
Document Type:    Book
Entry:    20081205
Update:    20090719
Accession No:    OCLC: 277118414
Database:    WorldCat

[Merticus]

Additional Amazon Reviews:

Simply the Best, October 14, 2009
By Michelle Belanger "author, lecturer, and avid reader (NE Ohio)

I do not have enough words to laud this book. Joseph Laycock has produced a fascinating, insightful, and exhaustive study of the modern vampire community from a perspective that has been sorely lacking: that of the detached academic. If you have ever wondered why some people find vampires fascinating, or even if you haven't, this is a book you should seek out and read. Laycock not only sheds light on the modern appeal of the vampire; his insights into the evolution of the modern vampire community have far-reaching ramifications for all identity groups. His thoughts on the technology of self are revolutionary and may feasibly change the way people look not only at self-identified vampires but at identity groups in general. In addition to all of that, Laycock manages to make what is essentially a scholarly treatise vastly entertaining to read. Highly, highly recommended!

[Gray]

I am currently in the grips of this book as well as the Psychic Vampire Codex by Michelle Belanger. I feel very lucky to be surrounded by such appropriate literature!

[pier]

Merticus, you sell your self too short?  Think on that...

[Merticus]

What's that supposed to mean and how is it related to this thread?

[Thought]

Of all the places who have this title, Kentucky won't touch it.  Considering what you know about what I've been trying to do...are you surprised Merticus?  I'm not...it's just so sad and kinda sickening.  Maybe Time will make a difference...

[Merticus]

@Thought - Yes, no KY on the list (see update below) and that's not surprising - perhaps one of the universities will pick up a copy.  The good news is that it continues to be carried in more and more libraries throughout the world.

Library Update:

July 1, 2009 = 58 Libraries
August 22, 2009 = 77 Libraries
September 1, 2009 = 88 Libraries
September 8, 2009 = 94 Libraries
September 25, 2009 = 104 Libraries
October 14, 2009 = 111 Libraries
November 14, 2009 = 139 Libraries
December 1, 2009 = 155 Libraries
January 29, 2010 = 211 Libraries
February 11, 2010 = 227 Libraries

* Please request your local library to purchase this title if you haven't already done so.  Thanks!

Current Holdings:

See Update At End Of Thread

[Merticus]

http://mizzdizz.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/joseph-laycocks-vampires-today-a-review/

Joseph Laycock’s “Vampires Today” - A Review By Diss
January 26, 2010

So a few days before the winter solstice i finally got my copy of “Vampires Today” by Joseph Laycock [1], and read it during the winter break. You might remember that i’ve already written about the book several times before, from the original book announcement via interview links to speculations about identity and ontology. After all that i feel that i owe a proper review of the book, not to mention that writing one will hopefully help me get a clearer understanding of the book as well.

(If all this is too long, here’s the short version: if you’re interested in the vampire community and only have time for one book, this is the one to read.)

First impressions, as others have pointed out the cover is marvellously garish, making me rather reluctant to leave it lying around. I’d be less bothered if it had a more restrained, academic-looking cover. There are a small number of illustrations which i could take or leave, and unfortunately a number of typos which shouldn’t have passed editing. Extensive notes and a very complete bibliography are included as is to be expected from a scholarly work, and the addition of an index does not come amiss. The writing is pleasant and lucid and mostly devoid of jargon, and as such should be accessible to most readers (though i might have missed some jargon in as much as i use it myself).

So what’s in the book? In the first chapter Laycock gives us an overview of the various types of vampires. He does a review of previous attempts at categorisation, which he rejects as being unhelpful in understanding modern vampires. What he proposes instead are three axes along which to sort self-identified vampires. The first is between lifestylers and real vampires, while the second axis goes between feeding types (psi and sang). The third distinguishes between awakened and initiated models of vampirism. Most of my involvement with the vampire community has been with groups and individuals who follow the awakened model, where there is a strong tendency to reject initiatory models out of hand, so Laycock’s inclusion of these made me hesitate for a bit. However in a later chapter he returns to the initiatory model at length, which led me to understand that segment of the vampire community much better.

In the second chapter Laycock asks why and how people come to identify as vampires. He examines better and less known popular theories such as the porphyria myth, “renfield syndrome”, “clinical vampirism”, but also the idea of pathological narcissism or that it’s an escapist fantasy taken too far (or roleplaying taken too far). He quickly shows that the clinical and psychiatric models don’t actually match the experience described by vampires, and also rejects the escapist fantasy theory. Instead he proposes to distinguish between the vampire milieu which is formed of the collective cultural concept of vampires on one hand, and on the other hand the vampire community which is formed of those people identifying as vampires. The vampire milieu then functions as a toolkit (one of many) with which people in our hyper-individualistic society create a more or less coherent and meaningful identity and narrative of the self. With this theoretical framework in place he can avoid the ontological question [2]. Instead he can look at how the vampire milieu evolved to the point where it could become an identity toolkit, and how in the last decade or so the vampire community has become strong enough to feed into and become an actor in the development of the vampire milieu.

With this in mind it becomes evident that the next chapter needs to examine the vampire milieu. In other words this is where Laycock describes the toolkit out of which vampire identities are constructed. This is the second longest chapter and to me one of the most interesting, but i must say that i know relatively little about vampires in literature and film and so on (at least for a member of the vampire community [3]). Somebody who’s more deeply fascinated by how vampires have been represented over time will probably not learn that much, but it should still be a good and thorough recapitulation. A long section is dedicated to vampires in literature, film and tv, from the very earliest offerings in the 19th century right up to the near-present. He pays particular attention to the moments when the image of the vampire changes, becoming aristocratic with Bram Stoker’s (and then Bela Lugosi’s) “Dracula”, and in particular the first tragic vampires in the sixties. Richard Matheson’s “I am Legend” is significant as the first work interpreting vampirism as the effect of a virus [4]. Further sections are dedicated to vampires in occult writing and in metaphysics/holistic health, and again Laycock traces the development over a century and more. For those of us who follow an awakened model of vampirism the inclusion of these occult subjects might be a bit off-putting, but they have also shaped the vampire milieu significantly, and have helped me understand certain parts of the vampire culture better. The last section in this chapter considers the part of role-playing in shaping the vampire milieu, while being itself influenced by the vampire community. Here as well as in other places he makes the important point that the vampire community is now an important factor in shaping the vampire milieu.

The fourth and fifth chapter are dedicated to the two main directions in the modern vampire community: the later titled “The Vampire Community” considers awakened vampires, who form a large part of the publicly visible community today; the former examines the initiatory vampire groups. This last one is particularly interesting. I have a tendency, which i seem to share with a large segment of the awakened vampire community, to dismiss the religious crowd as delusional and to ridicule them. If you want an example of that you might consult the transcripts of the VVC global community chat on vampirism and religion [5]. Considering that awakened and initiatory groups give significantly different meanings to being a vampire it is not really surprising that they are a bit antagonistic; this chapter at least gives an understanding of the internally quite coherent place where initiatory groups come from. I would recommend this chapter in particular for anybody coming from an awakened model who has business with initiatory groups.

Though the fifth chapter isn’t dedicated exclusively to awakened groups, they do make up the majority of the visible community, both because they are more numerous and because initiatory groups are often quite secretive (even more so than other vampires). Laycock calls this a “speculative history”, as much is only vaguely documented and/or relies on oral histories. Very interesting is the concept of womb communities: communities which aren’t directly related to vampirism, but in which early self-identified vampires were more or less at home and could learn to express themselves and form their identities. These created protected environments in which the first vampire communities could form. The current community is described fairly well, though i didn’t find much new for somebody already involved in the community. For an outsider this would certainly also be very informative.

Laycock is a scholar of religion, and thus the sixth chapter is a discussion of vampires and religion. He points out that when talking to his peers most of what he does is show how vampirism is not a religion, which is what he does here too. I do find the sociology of religion to be fairly interesting, but for me the concept of “real vampires” has never been crossed with religion anyway. So for me reading this chapter was more of a “people really say that?” experience, and sometimes it felt like Laycock was building up the arguments just to have something to demolish. I’m not saying that he did that on purpose, but it was the least interesting chapter for me.

Unfortunately the next chapter was only slightly more interesting. It is unfortunate that vampires mostly appear in the media when they are the subject of scandal, but i’m frankly just not that interested in rehashing old scandals and celebrity news. He does make the point, with which i wholeheartedly agree, that the vampire community is at a point where it is being made public whether we want to or not. As a community we have written too much and our forums are too public and open for it to be possible to crawl back into the coffin. The vampire community is out – it is now up to us to decide how to present ourselves.

Concluding, Laycock speculates about what the emergence of vampire as an identity signifies for the rest of society. As i’ve also previously done in this blog he makes a comparison with the trans community, which just like the vampire community claims a socially disputed ontological identity. He makes another comparison to the autistic community, which like the vampire community has done a lot to define itself from the inside, instead of having a definition imposed on it from the outside. An interesting point Laycock makes is that as vampires (and therianthropes and otherkin [6]) emerge into the public view, this gives others the identity of “non-vampire” (or “non-kin” or “non-therian”). Unfortunately i think that this is a rather idealistic view; the privileged identity-group tends to ignore the non-privileged groups, and assume that by default everybody is like them (white, male, heterosexual, cisgendered, healthy, wealthy… you get the idea). In contrast, members of non-privileged groups are almost constantly made aware that they are different, and cannot forget it. A ciswoman [7] does not have to worry about her identity as a woman (though she can’t forget that she is a woman, while a man can readily equate “man” with “human”), but she will hardly ever think about being a ciswoman. It is easy for her to assume that her experience as woman applies to all women. On the other hand a transwoman can hardly ever forget that she is trans, and not cis. Similarly most people who become aware of vampires as an identity group will rarely consider how that puts their identity of human into question. We, the vampires and therians and otherkin, we can’t forget that we are different from the mundanes.

It is tricky to write about an identity as an outsider, there is a big danger of telling people what and who you think they are. This doesn’t only risk affronting your subjects, but in a foundational work (and i think this could be such a work concerning vampirism) you also risk prejudicing future researchers. In this regard i think Laycock did good work, he seems to have approached the subject with a very unprejudiced mind. Perhaps it was lucky that he had his first contact with vampires at the AVA (Atlanta Vampire Alliance), one of the most down to earth vampire groups currently active. If his first encounters with real vampires had played out in the courts of Gotham [8] or with one of the religious groups we might well have been left with a very different book.

By concentrating on the vampire as an identity group Laycock also deftly avoids the ontological question: are modern real vampires actually “real”, do they really have this need for psi-energy or blood which other humans don’t have? Are the symptoms described by vamps who haven’t fed enough based on an actual need, or are they perhaps “only” [9] psychosomatic? Unfortunately we can’t answer these questions. Assuming psi phenomena were real, we still have no tools to examine them with, nor even have a theoretical framework in which to place them. The experience of sanguinarians would be accessible to modern medicine, but the hope of anybody investing the kind of resources needed for that kind of research seems fanciful at best. With this in mind Laycock’s approach is excellent, but i remain convinced that the ontological question will raise it’s head again sooner or later [10].

As expected he hardly writes about donors, and when he does it is about what vampires do with donors. Vampires feed from donors, they have relationships with donors, and so on; the donor in there is entirely passive and denied any agency. Of course this is a donor blog, and i’m a donor, so i’m certainly a bit biased, but i remain convinced that by overlooking donors and our identities so thoroughly he and others are missing an important aspect of the community. The vampire identity would hardly be what it is today if there were no donors. Even with the central question of the book being how vampires have evolved from eastern european monsters to a valid identity group and how the vampire milieu functions today as an identity toolkit, disregarding donors so completely is problematic. While reading it occurred to me that this critique might be extended to the larger community. The diverse vampire communities are made up not just of vampires, nor just vampires and donors. Most of the vampire groups i’ve seen contain large numbers of non-vampires, and in writing about vampire communities it might well be illuminating to consider who besides vampires forms the communities.

But even with this lack i can only repeat that i consider this to be an excellent book, and wholeheartedly recommend it to any interested readers. It should be required reading for any outsiders involved with the vampire community or doing work on the community. Many vampires would also profit from reading it, at least for an understanding of the different currents and interpretations of “vampire” and for the roots of those differences in the community.

[1] Laycock, Joseph; Vampires Today: the Truth about Modern Vampirism, 2009, Praeger
[2] More on the ontological question later.
[3] I’ve been accused of having read too much vampire fiction. If that accusation had come from outside the vampire community, i might have agreed. But compared to most of the vampire community i find myself relatively uninterested in vampire fiction.
[4] You might have seen the recent movie adaptation, but i’d heartily recommend the book. I think a point could be made that Matheson’s vampires have more in common with modern zombies than vampires. It’s also interesting that the protagonist in “I am Legend” – the only human in the story – is much more monstrous than the vampires. But i’m getting sidetracked.
[5] I just noticed that the transcripts aren’t yet posted. They will be available on the site of the VVC.
[6] Laycock has said in interviews that he is doing work on therians and otherkin, and that he’d planned a chapter on us for this book which was removed for editorial reasons.
[7] “Cis” is a prefix gaining use in the trans community for men and women who were assigned the gender which they still identify with. Their gender identity is just as constructed as that of trans people, and the prefix cis allows us to talk of them without having to refer to them as “normal” (i’m speaking as a transwoman here).
[8] Otherwise known as New York.
[9] It is petty to say that something is “only” psychosomatic. The suffering experienced is just as real whether the need is “real” or in the sufferer’s head. I’ve witnessed both the suffering of thirsting vampires and the relief brought by feeding often enough to affirm that both are real.
[10] The ontological question will eventually rear its head and require some kind of answer anyway, but there’s nothing we can do about it for now.

[Merticus]

July 1, 2009 = 58 Libraries
August 22, 2009 = 77 Libraries
September 1, 2009 = 88 Libraries
September 8, 2009 = 94 Libraries
September 25, 2009 = 104 Libraries
October 14, 2009 = 111 Libraries
November 14, 2009 = 139 Libraries
December 1, 2009 = 155 Libraries
January 29, 2010 = 211 Libraries
February 11, 2010 = 227 Libraries
March 9, 2010 = 254 Libraries

* Please request your local library to purchase this title if you haven't already done so.  Thanks!

Current Holdings:

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   US,IN                INDIANAPOLIS-MARION CNTY PUB LIBR                                       IMD     
   US,IN                IVY TECH COMMUN COL  LOGANSPORT                                         XXWLO   
   US,IN                IVY TECH COMMUN COL KOKOMO                                              XXWKO   
   US,IN                LA PORTE CNTY PUB LIBR                                                  IMQ     
   US,IN                LAKE CNTY PUB LIBR                                                      ILC     
   US,IN                MARION PUB LIBR                                                         XMP     
   US,IN                MICHIGAN CITY PUB LIBR                                                  IMY     
   US,IN                MISHAWAKA PENN HARRIS PUB LIBR                                          IMP     
   US,IN                NEW CASTLE-HENRY CNTY PUB LIBR                                          XNP     
   US,IN                PLAINFIELD-GUILFORD TOWNSHIP PUB LIBR                                   RGP     
   US,IN                UNIV OF NOTRE DAME                                                      IND     
   US,IN                UNIV OF SOUTHERN INDIANA                                                ISE     
   US,KS                LAWRENCE PUB LIBR                                                       KSA     
   US,KS                NORTH CENT KANSAS LIBR                                                  KKM     
   US,KS                OLATHE PUB LIBR                                                         KOP     
   US,KS                WHITE CITY PUB LIBR                                                     AD9     
   US,MA                BENTLEY UNIV                                                            BET     
   US,MA                BOSTON PUB LIBR                                                         BRL     
   US,MA                BOSTON UNIV                                                             BOS     
   US,MA                BRIDGEWATER STATE COL                                                   BDR     
   US,MA                BRISTOL COMMUN COL                                                      BRC     
   US,MA                C/W MARS                                                                CWJ     
   US,MA                HARVARD UNIV, HARVARD COL LIBR                                          HLS     
   US,MA                MASSACHUSETTS INST OF TECH                                              MYG     
   US,MA                MERRIMACK VAL LIBR CONSOR                                               MRQ     
   US,MA                MINUTEMAN LIBR NETWORK                                                  MLN     
   US,MA                NOBLE, INC                                                              NOG     
   US,MA                OLD COLONY LIBR NETWORK                                                 OCD     
   US,MA                SPRINGFIELD COL, BABSON LIBR                                            NKT     
   US,MA                WELLESLEY COL, MARGARET CLAPP LIBR                                      WEL     
   US,MI                BAKER COL LIBR                                                          EUF     
   US,MI                EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIV                                                   EYE     
   US,MI                KELLOGG COMMUN COL                                                      EEK     
   US,MI                LAKELAND LIBR COOP                                                      LKR     
   US,MI                LIBRARY NETWORK, THE                                                    EOW     
   US,MI                MOTT COMMUN COL LIBR                                                    EUL     
   US,MI                PUBLIC LIBR OF SAGINAW                                                  ZS3     
   US,MI                UNIV OF MICHIGAN LIBR                                                   EYM     
   US,MI                WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIV                                                   EXW     
   US,MN                CROWN COL LIBR                                                          SPB     
   US,MN                INVER HILLS COMMUN COL                                                  MIH     
   US,MN                MINNESOTA STATE UNIV, MANKATO                                           MNM     
   US,MO                CHRISTIAN CNTY LIBR                                                     MO3     
   US,MO                KANSAS CITY PUB LIBR                                                    KCP     
   US,MO                MUNICIPAL LIBR CONSORTIUM ST LOUIS CNTY                                 ZAG     
   US,MO                ROLLING HILLS CONSOLIDATED LIBR                                         MZ3     
   US,MO                SAINT CHARLES CNTY COMMUN COL LIBR                                      MZ5     
   US,MO                SAINT LOUIS COMMUN COL                                                  ZAD     
   US,MO                SAINT LOUIS PUB LIBR                                                    SVP     
   US,MO                UNIV OF MISSOURI, KANSAS CITY                                           UMK     
   US,MO                WASHINGTON UNIV                                                         WTU     
   US,MS                UNIV OF MISSISSIPPI                                                     MUM     
   US,NC                BAKER & TAYLOR INC TECH SERV & PROD DEV                                 BTCTA   
   US,NC                CARTERET COMMUN COL                                                     NQJ     
   US,NC                CUMBERLAND CNTY PUB LIBR & INFO CTR                                     HQB     
   US,NC                DUKE UNIV LIBR                                                          NDD     
   US,NC                MEREDITH COL                                                            NMC     
   US,NC                UNIV OF N CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL                                         NOC     
   US,NC                UNIV OF N CAROLINA, GREENSBORO                                          NGU     
   US,NC                WAKE FOREST UNIV                                                        EWF     
   US,NE                CREIGHTON UNIV                                                          OCA     
   US,NE                DOANE COL                                                               NBD     
   US,NE                FALLS CITY LIBR AND ARTS CTR                                            NLZ     
   US,NE                GRAND ISLAND PUB LIBR                                                   GIP     
   US,NE                SUMP MEM LIBR                                                           PPP     
   US,NH                NHSL CATALOG                                                            HSA     
   US,NH                YBP LIBRARY SERVICES                                                    YDX     
   US,NJ                ATLANTIC CITY FREE PUB LIBR                                             ACP     
   US,NJ                ATLANTIC CNTY LIBR                                                      ACN     
   US,NJ                BERKELEY COL                                                            BRK     
   US,NJ                BROOKDALE COMMUN COL LIBR                                               BCC     
   US,NJ                GLOUCESTER CNTY LIBR                                                    GLO     
   US,NJ                LIBRARIES OF MIDDLESEX AUTOMATION CONSOR                                LMX     
   US,NJ                PRINCETON UNIV                                                          PUL     
   US,NV                UNIV OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS                                               UNL     
   US,NY                ADELPHI UNIV                                                            VJA     
   US,NY                CORNELL UNIV                                                               COO     
   US,NY                FARMINGDALE STATE                                                       YFM     
   US,NY                GENESEE COMMUN COL                                                      YJA     
   US,NY                MID-YORK LIBR SYST                                                      ZTM     
   US,NY                NIAGARA CNTY COMMUN COL                                                 YKU     
   US,NY                NIAGARA UNIV                                                            VVN     
   US,NY                ONONDAGA LIBR SYST                                                      YVO     
   US,NY                ROCHESTER PUB LIBR                                                      YQR     
   US,NY                ROCKLAND COMMUN COL                                                     VVR     
   US,NY                SUNY COL OF TECH AT ALFRED                                              ZAM     
   US,NY                SUNY COL OF TECH AT CANTON                                              ZCM     
   US,NY                WESTCHESTER LIBR SYST                                                   VVW     
   US,OH                AKRON-SUMMIT CNTY PUB LIBR                                              APL     
   US,OH                CLEVELAND PUB LIBR                                                      CLE     
   US,OH                CUYAHOGA COMMUN COL                                                     CUL     
   US,OH                HIRAM COL LIBR                                                          HIR     
   US,OH                MIAMI UNIV                                                              MIA     
   US,OH                OBERLIN COL LIBR                                                        OBE     
   US,OH                OCLC TRAINING & ILLIAD PARTICIPANT                                      TRN     
   US,OH                OHIO STATE UNIV, THE                                                    OSU     
   US,OH                OHIO UNIV, LANCASTER CAM                                                OUL     
   US,OH                SEO AUTOMATION CONSORTIUM                                               OSD     
   US,OH                TIFFIN UNIV, PFIEFFER LIBR                                              UXC     
   US,OH                UNIV OF CINCINNATI                                                      CIN     
   US,OK                EASTERN OKLAHOMA DIST LIBR                                              OEA     
   US,OK                SOUTHEASTERN PUB LIBR SYS OF OKLAHOMA                                   OKI     
   US,OR                BLACKWELLS BOOK SERV                                                    BWX     
   US,OR                MT HOOD COMMUN COL                                                      MHD     
   US,PA                BEAVER CNTY LIBR SYST                                                   BFJ     
   US,PA                BLOOMSBURG UNIV                                                         PBB     
   US,PA                BUCKNELL UNIV                                                           PBU     
   US,PA                CHESTER CNTY LIBR & DIST CTR                                            PWC     
   US,PA                PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV                                                 UPM     
   US,PA                SWARTHMORE COL                                                          PSC     
   US,PA                UNIV OF PENNSYLVANIA                                                    PAU     
   US,PA                UNIV OF PITTSBURGH                                                      PIT     
   US,PA                WESTMORELAND CNTY COMMUN COL                                            WJY     
   US,RI                NEW ENGLAND INST OF TECH                                                NLY     
   US,RI                OCEAN STATE LIBRARIES                                                   RIOSL   
   US,SC                COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON                                                   SBM     
   US,SC                HORRY-GEORGETOWN TECH COL LIBR                                          ZJW     
   US,SC                UNIV OF S CAROLINA                                                      SUC     
   US,SD                ALEXANDER MITCHELL LIBR                                                 AML     
   US,TN                PELLISSIPPI STATE COM COL                                               TNW     
   US,TX                SAN ANTONIO PUB LIBR                                                    SAP     
   US,TX                SAN JACINTO COL, LEE DAVIS LIBR                                         SJY     
   US,TX                SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIV, CENT LIBR                                      ISM     
   US,TX                SOUTHWESTERN UNIV                                                       TXX     
   US,TX                TARLETON STATE UNIV                                                     TTS     
   US,TX                TEXAS A&M UNIV                                                          TXA     
   US,TX                TEXAS TECH UNIV                                                         ILU     
   US,TX                UNIV OF N TEXAS                                                         INT     
   US,TX                WACO-MCLENNAN CNTY LIBR                                                 TXW     
   US,UT                BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIV LIBR                                                 UBY     
   US,VA                CENTRAL RAPPAHANNOCK REG LIBR                                           RR1     
   US,VA                JOHN TYLER COMMUN COL                                                   PZN     
   US,VA                NEWPORT NEWS PUB LIBR SYST                                              PEQ     
   US,VA                NORTHERN VIRGINIA COMMUN COL                                            VAN     
   US,VA                TIDEWATER COMMUN COL                                                    TWJ     
   US,VA                UNIV OF VIRGINIA                                                        VA@     

[Merticus]

   US,VT                LYNDON STATE COL                                                        VLD     
   US,VT                VERMONT TECH COL                                                        VTC     
   US,WA                EVERETT PUB LIBR                                                        UAI     
   US,WA                NORTH SEATTLE COMMUN COL LIBR                                           Z35     
   US,WA                SEATTLE CENT COMMUN COL                                                 S1C     
   US,WA                SEATTLE PUB LIBR                                                        UOK     
   US,WI                APPLETON AREA SCH DIST                                                  WDG     
   US,WI                EASTERN SHORES LIBR SYST                                                WSD     
   US,WI                INFOSOUP (NE WI PUB LIBR)                                               WIQ     
   US,WI                MARQUETTE UNIV RAYNOR MEMORIAL LIBR                                     GZQ     
   US,WI                MILWAUKEE CNTY FEDERATED LIBR SYST                                      GZD     
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   US,WI                UNIV OF WISCONSIN, PARKSIDE                                             GZP     
   US,WI                UNIV OF WISCONSIN, STOUT                                                GZS     
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   US,WY                GOSHEN CNTY LIBR                                                        G@W     
   US,WY                NIOBRARA CNTY LIBR                                                      W8N     
   US,WY                ROCK SPRINGS LIBR                                                       W7R     
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   US,WY                TETON CNTY LIBR                                                         W8T     
   Australia            BAYSIDE LIBR SERV                                                       ATVBA   
   Australia            CAIRNS LIBR                                                             ATQCC   
   Australia            FRANKSTON PUB LIBR                                                      RQ#     
   Australia            GLENELG REG LIBR CORP                                                   ATVGL   
   Australia            HUME GLOBAL LEARNING VILLAGE LIBR SVC                                   ATVHU   
   Australia            IPSWICH LIBR & INFORM SVC                                               ILICP   
   Australia            KU-RING-GAI MUNCIIPAL COUNCIL LIBR                                      ATNKM   
   Australia            LIVING CITY SVC                                                         ATNSP   
   Australia            NEWCASTLE REGION LIBRARIES                                              ATNPL   
   Australia            SOUTH COAST CO-OP KIAMA LIBR                                            ATONC   
   Australia            STATE LIBR OF NEW S WALES                                               ZP1     
   Australia            UNIV OF WESTERN SYDNEY BANKSTOWN                                        ATUWS   
   CA,BC                SIMON FRASER UNIV                                                       SFB     
   CA,BC                UNIV OF VICTORIA, MCPHERSON LIBR                                        VT2     
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   CA,NL                MEMORIAL UNIV/NEWFOUNDLAND, ELIZABETH II                  QE2     
   CA,ON                COUTTS LIBR SERV                                                        CDX     
   CA,ON                YORK UNIV LIBR                                                          YOU     
   New Zealand          TAURANGA DIST LIBR                                                      NTAUP

[Merticus]

http://doaav.blogspot.com/2010/05/laycocks-modern-vampires.html

Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Laycock's Modern Vampires

First off, I'll say I'm not big into vampire "subculture". You know, the whole so-called "real vampires" biz. More on that, later.

But, I gotta say, I'm impressed with Joseph Laycock's interview for John Morehead's TheoFantastique. Specifically, this bit:

    The connection between modern vampires and “re-enchantment” was first made by Christopher Partridge. In his theory of re-enchantment, Partridge points out that as traditional religion is declining, new belief systems are proliferating. Furthermore, the distinction between deviant and legitimate religion has begun to narrow. Re-enchantment then argues that religion is not fading away so much as changing. The metaphysics of vampirism, as well as emerging new religious movements and popular occultism are all evidence of this change.

Joseph Laycock is the author of Vampires Today: The Truth about Modern Vampirism (2009). The reference to Partridge most likely concerns his work, The Re-enchantment of the West: Alternative Spiritualities, Sacralization, Popular Culture and Occulture, 2 vol. (2004, 2006).

It's good to see such sociological scholarship incorporated into a realm, primarily lorded over by sensationalists, propagandists, apologists, sympathisers, etc. Here's another interview he's done. You'll see what I mean.

I know I might be jumping the gun a bit, as I haven't read his book yet, but it's certainly on my to-get list.
Posted by Anthony Hogg at 2:53 AM

[Merticus]

Posted On Facebook

Highpoint Public Library
901 N. Main Street
High Point, NC, 27262
http://www.highpointpubliclibrary.com

Yesterday at 8:31am
Come to the second floor to check out the newest additions to our Non-Fiction collection!

[ClawOfBastet]

No San Fran? I'm disappointed.

I doubt Fremont will take my request though.