VO Book List - Role Playing

In the early 1730s, a band of Austrian medical officers were summoned to the Serbian village of Medvegia. An investigation was underway concerning the strange deaths of several villagers. The locals claimed the deaths were caused by vampires. The first of these vampires was Arnold Paole, a man who had died several years earlier by falling off a hay wagon.

When an image enters the popular imagination, its origins can become difficult to trace. How many people can name the silent film in which a heroine was first tied to railroad tracks by a snarling evildoer? Or the western in which a lock-jawed hero first told the bad guys to Reach for the sky!?

Blood: Blood has been a symbol of life since very ancient times. The blood in our veins has always been iconic of our continuing life. To lose too much blood is to lose consciousness, breath, and eventually, our very lives. If a person or animal is already dead and is cut open, blood does not flow. Only the living have blood that flows. Blood has been used throughout the ages as a ceremonial sacrifice. In pagan times our forefathers worshipped their gods with blood sacrifice. And today, indeed, we are not so different.

Any broad exploration of pre-Industrial European society cannot help but touch upon the plethora of peasant tales that both served to entertain the populace and teach morality to the children of Europe. On surface examination, at least, this function of folklore seems apparent enough. It is a perfectly valid assessment of the function of common fable--but in many respects, it is inadequate.

A conversation with P.N. Elrod, author of the cult-smash series, The Vampire Files. Get the inside story behind her new novel, A Chill in the Blood.