I haven't actually read the Twilight series yet, but I think one of the reasons that the vampire stories are so popular is that they're such an escapist genre, and thus can really draw people in and let them escape from the realities of the day for a while. Sometimes it's nice to get sucked in like that and get away from thoughts of bill-paying, dinner-making, house-cleaning, etc. for a while. Not only that, but there are so many elements - mystery, sex, adventure, etc.

Eternal youth and beauty forever, and vampires are always portrayed as sexy. I mean, there are the few that aren't like Nosferatu. But, Edward Cullen and Angel? Yum.

I just started reading Twilight, my first Vampire series, and for me its all about Meyer's writing ability. She's very romantic

That's a good question...I don't know that Twilight is so appealing because of the vampire aspect. The focus is really on forbidden love. These two people are madly in love, but there are things driving them apart. And the story is told in a way that really makes you feel like you're the one obsessively in love.

That's what makes me re-read the books. Edward could be something besides a vampire but if his character was the same - unaging guy who's never experienced love - you'd be unable to resist him. To the reader and Bella, he's this extraordinary being in love with an ordinary girl (who we can all relate to).

I think the dark and strange world that vampires live in is a draw for the reader/viewer. I wouldn't say I'm a big vampire fan - I love Twilight, but haven't read any other vampire books.

I've always loved vampire stories - i think for me its the fact that the two characters (Bella and Edward, Buffy and Angel, Sookie and Bill, etc.) love eachother so much yet fate and the entire world is keeping them apart! I love a forbidden love story!!!

356UIK - Yes, Stephenie writes in a way that makes the romance really sizzle!

FYI - She also wrote The Host, which is not about vampires or anything, but also really a great read!

I only heard of Twilight about 3-4 months ago, but when I started reading the first book, I was hooked. What I love about it was the book did remind me of Romeo and Juliet or Jane Eyre, where these two people have feelings for each other, but their circumstances shouldn't be together.
Plus it's that whole thing where the girl likes the bad boy. Edward and Bill might be reformed vampires, but there's still this twinge that they might revert to their old habits.
I also have to agree with tlsgirl that's an escapist genre. Who wouldn't want to cross paths with a sexy vampire that won't kill you?
I can't wait for the interview with Rob!

I'm a huuuuge vampire fan-- it's basically all I'll read, and for me, it's less about the forbidden love, more about the escapism. The twilight series doesn't really appeal to me, because I don't really see the excitement in teenage vampires (would you really want to be a teenager forever?? Gag!). I prefer the whole, sex+violence+adventure thing, which is why I am an avid reader of Kim Harrison's Hallows series (seriously, no lie, her books are mind-blowing), and to a lesser extent, the Sookie Stackhouse novels, and Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series (though the last several books have all just been... tripe). The Twilight series doesn't really appeal to me-- I like a strong female protagonist, and from what I gather, that series' female's greatest struggle is trying *not* to kill herself via pregnancy? Lame.

B\c they have old souls and are from the era that men were very cordial and respectful to their women. And the romance just oozes from their pours!! I love them.. I wonder if they are real. ha

It's the attraction to the bad boy! Women love bad boys, myself included. Twilight (the book) was so thrilling and fantastic. I can't wait for the movie.

I was actually not looking forward to the movie from the teasers and posters. It just seemed so corny once it was being acted out. (And I loved the Twilight series, even though I strongly disagree with Meyer's direction on the characters and am bothered by her idealization of motherhood.)

The latest trailer made me enthused again, though. The big problem, to me, is that in the book, nearly half the book is the mystery that Bella is solving as to Edward's identity. I don't know if they speed that up or just skip it, but they give away *so* much of the book in the previews, even the battle scene that is at the end. For people who haven't read it yet, I feel like they're ruining it.

I've never been "into" vampire stories. True, Buffy is probably my all-time favorite show EVER, but it's because it was funny and well-written, with good, interesting storylines, not because it was about vampires.

Don't know if it's so much the vampires, or the fact vampire stories are all about tormented hot dudes. Women seem to love these people.

I'm not sure its the whole vampire thing, but Twilight is primarily a romance - and that is what draws women. I mean guys love vampires as much as girls as long as the subject matter is right (i.e. not romance)

Shleebs, have you evere read Anne Rice's novels? I love her vampire/witch saga.

I love vampire stories, I guess it's the secret society of it. The hidden in the shadows kind of thing. Outcasts, yet way more powerful. I love the Sookie Stackhouse series, and Anne Rice etc. I haven't read Twilight but I think I'll pass on the movie, it looks really cheesy and teeny bopper.

From Gary Oldman as Dracula to Alex O'Loughlin's Mick St. John...vamps are pure sensuality and mystery...they have strength and danger...they are always at the high end of emotions. Edward Cullen's ability to push away a skidding van from someone he cars about...to being able to fly through tree tops...it's all amazing stuff and yet they have the bodies of humans. They once were human. In the end things come and go BUT vampires and vampire lore will always be interesting. Now if only someone would write a book about pirates that are vampires.

I've always enjoyed vampire stories, but I first started with Anne Rice. Honestly, I can't think of exactly why it always appeals to me. It's got to be eternal youth and beauty, tortured souls, forever love sort of thing I guess...and what can I say, I've got a neck thing

I'm a guy and I LOVE Buffy and True Blood, but I don't really think it's about the Vampire stuff.
I loved Buffy because she's a hero and it was written wonderfully.
I love True Blood because it's sexy and really fun and a mystery.

I think girls who like the "mysterious" or "bad boy" types like these kind of books. Myself, I prefer the guys from the J. Crew catalogue, lol. It should come as no shock that I never really dug the vampire thing.

I'm a HUGE fan of True Blood but I don't watch because it's a vampire show...I watch because it's a unique show. And sexy, to boot!

For me it is the dangerous, romantic, chivalrous male that gets to me. Nearly every female dreams of a man like that!

I love True Blood and the Twilight series.

I was a huge fan of buffy and I never really knew much about the twilight books until the movie was previewed. I bought the first book about a week ago and Im already on the third. They are incredible. To me the appeal has nothing to do with Edward (or Angel) being a vampire, its the forbidden love. I saw an interview with the girl who plays Bella in the movie and she said that alone neither Edward or Bella are that special, its them together thats so mesmorizing. Regardless of if he was a vampire or not, the love story is what captures the reader.

always have been a huge fan of vampires. for me, it's the fascination of an old era, forbidden love, lust, dark and mysterious... i wasn't too keen on interview with the vampire turned into a movie, and i definitely refused to buy into the twilight hype - but i got suckered into twilight (even though it's harry potter for vampires).

I cannot understand how anyone can even want to see this movie. The books were the most cheesy, Mary Sue pieces of dung I've ever read. They're basically in a relationship because they find each other really, really hot and each single character is contrived to the bone!

I think I need to read this book... I'd never heard of the series until yesterday.

Annalisa, I started with the Anne Rice novels, though I have not finished the series. Her writing is essential, I think, to understand the modern vampire story.

I have no attraction to vampire stories whatsoever. All my friends have read Twilight and loved it, except my best friend, who said it was poorly-written and lame. They all want to see the movie, though but I'm staying very far away from the theater next weekend!

OK I am getting really sick of hearing about these books! Everyone at my high school LOVES them and they are always shocked to hear that I haven't read them. All this annoying hype and cheesey-ness I have now attached to this book make me NOT want to read it!
Sorry rant over.

It's the allure of the story, one of my favorites as a teen was the Christopher Pike series, "The Last Vampire", its probably cheesy now but it was one of my favorites b/c of the story it told and you feel like you are a part of it. It's the same thing I experienced with Twilight, I resisted reading the series for so long but when I did, couldn't put it down.

I agree with Kiwitwist!!! The dangerous, romantic, forbidden love stuff gets me everytime!!!! *sigh* I always end up asking myself why isn't DH more romantic?

I like vampires because of they are often depicted as tall, dark, handsome, and romantic. Twilight is NOT my thing at all - I would've probably enjoyed it more as a preteen but the way that Edward and Bella speak to each other is way too cheesy and ridiculous.

vampire stories i love:
buffy/angel
underworld

vampire stories i loate with every fiber of my being:
twilight

Vampires are so erotic! That intrigue, the danger, the attraction, the chiqueness....vampires have a lot of fun

Vampires are entirely erotic, that's absolutely true. And while stories about vampires have existed for hundreds of years, the kind of stories we've come to know about vampires and our image of the vampire really comes from the Victorian era. Why is the vampire an important figure for that time? Because its a sexual being that recreates the sex act through the penetration of its teeth and the drawing of blood/fluids from its (usually female) victim. What's the best way to kill it? To penetrate it, by stabbing it in the chest with a wooden steak/phallus. For a sexually repressed society like Victorian England, the vampire is an outlaw erotic figure, a character through which readers/viewers can experience forbidden erotic desires by either identifying with the vampire or identifying with the victim.

Our modern vampires are based on that, and then layered with great metaphysical angst about the nature of the soul and the pros and cons of eternal "life." They're totally fascinating figures, which explains why I cannot stop watching Angel . . .

Because secretly chicks dig guys who are pale, gaunt, and unattainable. Okay, sorry. What they all said.

I thought I was the only one...Well the inmortality is obviously a factor, and the whole "he could kill you at any moment because of his bloodthirst" keeps you on your toes with adrenaline

I think the biggest attraction, like someone else commented, is that most of these vampire stories are just another version of the romance novel. I would be embarrassed to be caught reading a straight-out bodice-ripper ... but the vampire stories usually seem okay for some reason. I'm not sure why.

I'm a big fan of True Blood the show. There is something kind of mysterious, exhilarating, and dangerous about dating/falling in love with a vampire. I think I watch mostly because of that.

I have long been enthralled by vampire tales, starting from Anne Rice and Christopher Pike, moving to Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, MaryJanice Davidson and Stephanie Meyer. Of course, Buffy and Angel are included in the visual media. All I know is the danger adds spice to the ordinary. Every girl wants to be the special one that can tame such a ravening creature and make him thirst for them alone.

I was never a "fan" nor interested until I watched "True Blood." Once again, HBO delivers a fantastic series.

I never really got interested in those types of stories until I saw Buffy, and later Moonlight. I think one of the reasons is because it is something so different and dangerous but at the same time completely sensual.

I love vampire stories, but ONLY if they are the least bit "believable" within the vampire lore, Twilight? isnt, its candy coated YA crappola that I wouldnt let my child read if she begged me too!

I am on the second book in this series- I cannot stand the two characters but yet I am compelled to read because the books are so bad they are good. They are mindless drivel that you equate to reading celeb gossip or something equally mindless and unintellectual. Buffy and Angel are quality shows that show strong women and not weak always need rescuing types like the lead in Twilight. Despite this, I will probably watch the movie cuz it seems fun.
Anyway I do have a thing for vampires- but I can blame Buffy for that- no other tv/book has made me love vampires the way she did.

I have always adored vampire stories starting from my early teen days of reading Anne Rice. Vampires are generally portrayed as attractive erotic creatures and it's easy to be drawn into such a romanticized world. I think the Twilight series/movie would have appealed to me several years ago when I was in high school but not so much right now.

vampires are usually bad boys....and i don't know about you ladies...but i like "bad boys"! plus i've read lots of erotic vampire novels.....damn...the sex is good in those books...makes me wish i was the woman in them!

It's a fetish- fantasy, for all the reasons above.

I love SM's vampires, esp. Jasper, because they embody everything I dream of being, beautiful, immortal, kind, vegetarian (in the vampire meaning, not the vegetable eating one!), hot, super cool and heaps more reasons that i can't think of right now. TEAM EDWARD!

I love vampires because it's the idea of eternal love. I think it was first a human turned into a vampire because of the loss of a loved one. I forgot how because it's appealing. The vampire is immortable and when he loves it does not die. That feeling lingers on forever. Also, Vampires are wise. You have a young vampire but he's from 1918 hahaha. He's going to be romantic.