Poll: Who wrote the coolest vampires?

[nerdsamwich]

I could go into my dissection of all of the options, but that's not why we're here, is it? The point is to sample the opinions of the masses, or at least the Escapist community. For the record, though, I like Hamilton. Her vampires are interesting, have individual flavor, and make sense within their own worldframe, unlike some I could mention.
EDIT: Please don't vote and run. Stick around and share the reasons behind your opinions. That's how a robust discussion gets going.
Edit edit: Didn't realize Stoker was so popular.

 

[TheLastCylon]

I'm gonna have to go with Bram Stoker.

 

[Armored Prayer]

Sorry, don't know any of those authors. (Well, except Meyer)

My vote goes to who ever wrote the classic Dracula.

 

[razbuten363]

Stoker. He kind of popularized the subject outside of Romania. And he's the only one (that I know of) that doesn't have a fanbase consisting of angsty cunts.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

whoever wrote the ORIGINAL I Am Legend.
if you've read it, you'll know why.

 

[Robyrt]

Bram Stoker's Dracula has only one key weakness: He isn't a total hottie. Other than that, his stuff is cooler and also better-written.

 

[Joshy8632]

Umm Steven King or Stoker in that order.

 

[Pandalisk]

vlad tepes IS the Original vampire

whoever made the original, is a god.

 

[littlerob]

Traditional folklore vampires are awesome. From the Romanian revenants who rise from the dead to haunt their living relatives to the crazy versions that have a detachable flying head and spine that hunt down children and eat them.

Other than that, there's Peter Watts' hard-sci-fi vampires. They're pretty cool, and very plausible.

 

[Xelt]

I think Darren Shan does vampires in an interesting way.
12 books about them too.

 

[AkJay]

Everyone vote for Stephanie Meyer, for the lulz.

 

[Torque669]

Old Wives tales and Folklore are the best source of inspiration for pretty much anything mythical like Vampires and their ilk. So Im going to go with them.

 

[Trivun]

I'd say Bram Stoker. However, although I say that I'm actually using certain elements (the acceptable ones) of Twilight vampires (no sparkling) and elements of Anne Rice vampires and more modern ones (such as the ones in the True Blood series and so on) for my own vampire novel. I prefer the modern vampire ideas that come up so much in popular literature, but Bram Stoker is pretty much the overall king of vampire fiction.

That said, the Hellsing vampires are cool too, which is why I use elements of them in my own fiction as well...

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

Stephanie Meyer.
Edward is just sooooooo hawt.

I am joking (gasp)

 

[dududf]

My vote goes to the guy who made the Dresden Files.

Like come ON Sex Vampires? Awsome.

 

[Fbuh]

I'm gonna have to go with Bram Stoker.

Agreed. Why is he not on the poll? His vamps were real, none of this sparkly mushy stuff. What people don't realize that, according to folklore, vampires were not nice, romantic creatures. There were horrible, decaying, blood sucking monsters that were not at all nice to hang around.

 

[Grayjack]

Brom Stoker. He wrote Dracula, which basically made Vampires popular.

 

[Macgyvercas]

I'm gonna have to go with Bram Stoker.

QFT. Although I would settle for anyone NOT named Stephenie Meyer. Twilight was absolutely horrible. It took all established vampire canon, said "Screw this, I'm coming up with some new crap" and threw the vampire canon into a fire.

 

[Caliostro]

Bram Stocker (Dracula) and Kohta Hirano (Hellsing). The first one created the damn genre (or at least popularized it as more than folklore) and the second one showed us you CAN write a "cool" vampire without making him a gigantic **** or pussy whipped angsty retard.

 

[Dapper Ninja]

I'm going to agree with the majority and say Bram Stoker. His vampires had none of the whiny, romantic elements of modern vamps and were just brilliant, evil monsters. Seriously, what happened to his vampires?

By the way, I really hope that Meyer is only in the poll for the incredibly sarcastic among us.