The Dungeon is a forbidding labyrinth, filled with dark corridors. Whips, chains, and handcuffs adorn the walls of narrow cells, while the dank air is lit by red torches.

I've never been able to fathom my Scribe's morbid interest in vampires. I always believed that vampires were dangerous monsters. For some reason, my good Scribe finds them fascinating and romantic. (!) The Scribe says that he's loved vampires for as long as he can remember, and even I must concede that he can look like one with his pale complexion.

When I started building this online Castle in 1995, I was surprised by the surprisingly large number of vampire resources on the Web. With the exponential growth of the Web in the time since, the number of sites concerning vampires have increased -- though many personal vampire-dedicated web sites have since closed down. Here are some of the best links:

Blood Ties is a television series based on the novels by Tanya Huff.

Buffy, the Vampire Slayer | Vidiot's Buffy Previews "I've had it. Spike is going down. You can attack me, you can send assassins after me, that's fine. But nobody messes with my boyfriend." - Buffy Summers. This is my favorite link in the dungeon, for on this show, the vampires are the villains! The show's themes of feminine empowerment, action, drama, and horror - mixed with a good dose of humor - made it an instant cult classic.

Carmilla "Don't start expecting heroic vampire crap from me, cupcake." Carmilla is a well-acted television series made for YouTube. Based very loosely on the novella by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, the writing features intermittent references to the original story. The series is notable for its high production values despite its low budget.

Carrie Vaughn's Virtual Playground "I went to the desk and fired up the laptop. I started a new page and wrote a title at the top: Ten Ways to Defeat Macho Dickheadism. Then I realized that most of the world's problems stemmed from macho dickheadism, and if I could defeat that I could save the world." - Kitty Takes a Holiday. I highly recommend this author's innovative series about a werewolf named Kitty.

Covenant with the Vampire "I heard the worlds contained within that single word. I heard his question veiled therein, and in my sigh, he heard consent." - Covenant with the Vampire. This page is dedicated to author Jeanne Kalogridis' Diaries of the Family Dracul trilogy. Kalogridis' books are an expansion on Bram Stoker's original Dracula and are superior even to the original.

Dark Side of the Net This is a complete guide to gothic and vampiric sites on the Web -- something great to sink your teeth into.

Dracula, the Novel "Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!" The tale that started it all: Bram Stoker's original novel, available on the Web. Although he did not invent vampires, Stoker drew on many legends to create the definitive vampire character.

Dracula's Homepage This web site is dedicated to Bram Stoker and written by Professor Elizabeth Miller, the world's foremost authority on him.

Forever Knight Home Page As you may have figured out by now, my Scribe's favorite television programs are those with a lot of imagination. Forever Knight is about a vampire who wishes to become mortal again... and enters mortal society as a cop. Two more vampire-as-detective shows followed in its footsteps: Angel and Moonlight.

Jim Butcher "Regardless of what I think about Islam or Wicca or any other religion, the fact is that it's a group of people. Every faith has its ceremonies. And since it's made up of people, every faith also has its assholes." - White Knight. Butcher's The Dresden Files series of urban fantasy novels pits a modern wizard against a host of lethal villains, including different types of vampires.

Julie Kagawa "No one who fights so hard to do the right thing is evil.” The Blood of Eden series features Allie, a strong heroine battling to survive in a world overrun by vampires.

Kat Richardson's Greywalker series stars a private investigator who can see into the world of ghosts and the supernatural.

Linda Robertson's Circle series stars a witch who might be able to unite the worlds of vampires and werewolves.

Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series features a human-vampire princess and her half-vampire bodyguard attending school while coping with dysfunctional politics and corrupt royal families... while brutal undead vampires lurk around the corner. The first book has been adapted twice: first into a very good but commercially unsuccessful film, and later into a mediocre television series.

Seanan McGuire "It was a really evil pie." - Chimes at Midnight. No vampires in this one, but McGuire's series about dark, powerful, and sometimes brutal faeries is climactic and intense.

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