The Parasite Strikes Again!

Readers may be familiar with a parasitic plagiarist who has tailed my online writings for several years. If not, read on. 

Not content with stealing my blog names, the parasite in question has now ripped-off my Facebook group's name, too. This shady character masquerades under several usernames, including "Demonologist", "Vampirologist", "Dennis Crawford", "The Overseer" (ripping-off a username I used to use), "Gothic", "Arminius Vámbéry", "B.O.S.", "British Occult Society" and "Vebjørn Hästehufvud". And those are just the usernames I can confirm. I'm sure there's many others.

For the record, I established and promoted my Facebook group on 25 June 2013. Hästehufvud's rip-off was formed on...26 June 2013. The shifty bugger doesn't wait long, I can tell you that!

As per usual with Hästehufvud's Facebook group rip-offs, it has three admins: himself, "Veritas Aequitas" and Bishop Seán Manchester—the unholy trinity of dodginess. His group also apes postings I make on my group. For instance, when I shared a link on Jewish vampirology, Aequitas did the same thing, shortly after.

My group's banner—wonderfully designed by David MacDowell Blue—was also ripped-off. Compare the original...

...with this mess:

Facebook

Pay close attention to the title fonts. Here's a close-up of the original:

Now here's the rip-off, close-up:

That's right: all he's done is cropped and copied my group's title and added some shitty filter to it. 

Naturally, the group's admins are banking on none of its members noticing their pathetic identity-thieving behaviour. Hopefully, with this exposé, they'll get a better appreciation for it!

The Vampirologist on Facebook

Soon after writing the previous entry, I decided to do something I've been holding off for a while: create a Facebook group spin-off of this blog. It's now set up and you can join it by clicking here.

David MacDowell Blue, editor of The Annotated Carmilla (2011) and author of Your Vampire Story (And How to Write It) (2012), created the group's banner:

Nifty. I've also created a Facebook page, too. Feel free to like that. Although there'll probably be a lot of crossovers, I'm aiming to feature different content on the group and the page. In the meantime, hope to see you on either of them!

Bite This!

I've been intermittently reading Kevin Jackson's Bite: A Vampire Handbook (2009). Bought it at a local book stall for $5 on the 10th. 

Anyway, there's a passage which caught my attention: "The word 'vampire' entered the English language in printed form in May 1732, in an article in the Gentleman's Magazine entitled 'Political Vampyres'" (p. 33).

No, it didn't. The article Jackson's referring to is actually an extract from another periodical. Indeed, if the author had actually consulted the Gentleman's Magazine issue, he would've seen its source writ large:

Google Books

Though the article in question is popularly titled "Political Vampyres", that wasn't its original name. It was the title Gentleman's Magazine bestowed upon it. It must've been for convenience, because the original article was untitled:

Eighteenth Century Collections Online

But most importantly, both sources point to an earlier source for the word: the London Journal's 11 March 1732 issue. This is the relevant portion of "Extract of a Private Letter from Vienna":

 

The issue incorporated a report from "Medreyga in Hungary [sic]" dated "Jan. 7, 1732", detailing a vampiric outbreak in the Serbian village of Medvedja, then under Austro-Hungarian rule. Savvy readers will recognise this as the famous Arnod Paole case.

So, to correct Jackson's assertion, The London Journal 's 11 March 1732 issue was actually responsible for the word's introduction to "the English language in printed form".

Who Is Peter Stan?

Al Giovine, a fellow Count Dracula Facebook member, posted a particularly impressive image on the group recently:

Facebook

Fans of the Stephen King miniseries, Salem's Lot (1979), will immediately recognise the riff on Kurt Barlow's Graf Orlok-like head, hovering over the Marsten House.

I was so impressed by the pic, I decided to do a search for the source. The "Peter Stan 2010" signature was the obvious starting point.

It turned out "Peter Stan" is actually Bulgarian artist, Peter Stanimirov. He's also famous for illustrating Stephen King's works. His illustrations appear Knowing Darkness: Artists Inspired by Stephen King (2009) and Черно-бели илюстрации, вдъхновени от Стивън Кинг (2011). You can view his other artworks here.

I'm a What?

While googling about, I came across an article on Smashing Lists, titled "Top 10 Real-life Vampire Hunters." Let's say I was quite surprised by the fifth entry:

Smashing Lists

Certain readers may recall my former blog, Diary of an Amateur Vampirologist. I stopped writing it in 2011. As far as I know, I never gave the impression that I hunted vampires. I don't. Never have. Hell, I don't even believe they exist—sorry to disappoint.

I'll admit though, I used to fantasise about being one. When I was younger, I used to collect crucifixes. I once bought a special bottle from a $2 store, with the intent of putting holy water in it. One Hallowe'en—2006, I think it was—I  dressed as vampire hunter and walked the streets of Melbourne... but no, I've never tried to hunt them.

When I started this particular blog, I wasn't upgrading to Van Helsing expert-level. I just wanted to shrug off the "amateur" label: "The 'amateur' tag was a self-imposed albatross 'round my neck, which left me wanting to branch out into something a little more...professional." I didn't mean professional vampire hunting.

For the record, vampirologists study vampires. Not necessarily the real deal, but vampires as a subject. You don't have to believe in elves, pixies or fairies to be a folklorist—same deal for vampirologists.

I did find the article amusing. I've got no real beef with it—unless people take it seriously. I hope they don't! But as to wondering whether I've "indulged in a bit of vampire killing", it would've been nice if the author asked first!

I'm in a book!

Bite Me Really Hard

In the previous entry, I wrote: "I contributed a short essay to the upcoming edition of Vampire News . . . If it sees publication, it'll be the first thing I've ever had published in book form."

And lo, it's come to pass. Vampire News: The (Not So) End Times Edition!, vol. 2, is now available for download (9.20 MB pdf). It's free! A print version will be available soon. My contibution, "A Vampiric Proposal", appears on pages 56—59. 

Other essays include The Vampire Observer's "Giving Back the Vampire to Mythology", Angie Harp's "Vampires in Supernatural" and Matthew Banks' "The Road to Dracula" (props, buddy!).

As an added bonus, a Facebook group conversation between me, Kyle Germann, Stavros Cockrell, James Lyon, Andy Boylan, David Baymiller and Andy Parciorek features on pages 109—120. It was taken from the group I co-admin, Vampire Lore and Legends. 

There's a lot of goodies inside this thing, including a vampire retrospective for 2012 (I wrote a few entries for that, too). There's something for vamplovers everywhere. Download your copy today!

Update 3

From time to time, I like to write little updates (previous instalment)—when I neglect my blog too long. Sorry to leave you hanging. I've just been distracted with a bunch of things lately.

To make up for that, I'll share a few vampire-related things that've been going on. Thoughts, doings, events and whatnot.

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On February 14, Trystan Swale interviewed me for his podcast show, Fortean Radio. Give it a listen. It goes about half an hour or so—and it also happens to be the first podcast I've ever done! Be gentle. It was released on March 2. The episode's topic? The Highgate Vampire case. 

Readers may be familiar with my work on the case, via my other blog, Did a Wampyr Walk in Highgate?. I gave an overview of the case and briefly discussed my thoughts on vampires. The episode was reviewed by Nigel St. Whitehall.

Note: when the podcast was conducted, I was co-admin of The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Appreciation Society. I'm no longer a member of the group, however—I was booted off on February 28.

I have my own Highgate Vampire Facebook group, which you can join here. Its banner (above) was lovingly crafted by David MacDowell Blue, who edited The Annotated Carmilla (2011) and wrote Your Vampire Story (And How to Write It) (2012).

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I contributed a short essay to the upcoming edition of Vampire News (previous edition). If it sees publication, it'll be the first thing I've ever had published in book form. Prior that, I've had an article published in the Transylvanian Society of Dracula's newsletter, The Borgo Post. 

So, what's my essay about? A topic I've previously discussed on this blog—but expanded. I'll let you know more if it sees print. If not, I'll probably post it here.

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Speaking of contributions, when I get some free time, I'll be writing a guest entry Kyle Germann's blog, The Demon Hunter's Compendium. You'll see his blog in the "Reading List" on the right side of the page. It'll be a profile on the Highgate Vampire. 

Stay tuned for that, too! In the meantime, you can find Kyle and I discussing vampy things on the Vampire Lore and Legends Facebook group. I'm its co-admin. Drop by, say hi!

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I was at a local library on Monday and I came across a vampire book I'd never heard of: Megan Norris' True True Blood (2012). I'd probably never heard of it, because it's a local publication—those don't get much prominence on Amazon. Also, it's not my usual forte: it was in the true crime section. Yep, it's about vampire killings.