Are vampires real? When I was six I saw the Easter Bunny. Two of them actually, across the street, then one transformed into a rabbit, came into my room and left a chocolate under my pillow. Years later, I started hearing demonic voices; after that it was alien abduction. I remember trying to scream and [...]
May 21, 2018
Derek Murphy
paranormal romance, vampire
I started this site when I applied for a scholarship to study vampire literature in Romania (Dracula’s castle is small and cramped on the inside, actually). Now I’m writing vampire fiction of my own, so I want to get your feedback – then offer you some epic vampire swag! These covers are for a project [...]
June 1, 2017
Derek Murphy
paranormal romance
I recently made a list of best YA mermaid paranormal romance books on my fiction site, UrbanEpics. There have been a bunch of them in the past few years. Sometimes the mermaids are evil and seductive, like Sirens. Sometimes it’s a merman who tempts a young girl to her death. Often moral rules are fluid: the [...]
I’m really excited for the Dracula Untold movie – for lots of reasons, but let’s start with the obvious. For over a decade, traditional heroes and monsters have been reinterpreted as misunderstood tragic heroes. Villains becoming heroes – not only in mainstream pop culture but even – and especially – in children’s movies like: Smashit [...]
I’m not a Dracula expert, but I am in the loop of a small group of scholarly vampire enthusiasts and as a PhD candidate in literature, I also know quite a bit about textual readings and the limits of interpretation. So the article that popped up on Slate a few days ago took me by surprise. [...]
September 3, 2014
Derek Murphy
Book reviews, Romania
România are o problemă de imagine. În Vest, oamenii asociază România cu regiunea cunoscută drept Transilvania – care trezeşte în minte imagini cu păduri înecate în ceaţă, creaturi supranaturale, castele antice, caleşti purtate de cai şi, desigur,vampiri. Dar în ciuda isteriei fanilor turbaţi iubitori de vampiri şi a valului de filme şi cărţi pe această [...]
July 24, 2014
Derek Murphy
Uncategorized
In October I’m going to launch the a Kickstarter campaign for 70million USD to buy Bran Castle (Dracula’s Castle) to host the world’s biggest and best Halloween party in history. I’m waiting till October to launch it officially, because I know media channels will be more likely to share the campaign closer to Halloween. But [...]
July 20, 2014
Derek Murphy
Romania
I underestimated vampires. I thought the trend was mostly dying down. I thought we, as an international culture, had decided to focus more on zombies, post-apocalyptic survivors, and dystopian, authoritarian governments. I thought Johnny Depp in Dark Shadows or Adam Sandler’s Animated Vampire Film Hotel Transylvania signified that the creative juices, the pathos and the [...]
July 20, 2014
Derek Murphy
Movies
On location in Romania and Transylvania outside Bucharest, Universal Studios shot “Werewolf: The Beast Among Us”. As paranormal fantasy playing off the trendy vampire/werewolf motifs that have their roots in Eastern Europe, this might have seemed like a natural move. And yet, the economic motivations and cultural implications of the movie make a statement that [...]
July 20, 2014
Derek Murphy
Movies
A decade ago I thought the vampire craze was dying down. But then we had Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Vampire Academy, Johnny Depp’s Dark Shadows, the artsy vampire flick Only Lovers Left Alive, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Byzantium and a ton more. And besides the TV shows and movies being cranked out by [...]
July 20, 2014
Derek Murphy
Book reviews, Romania