Whiny vampires

I've been hearing a lot about angsty vampires but I don't feel like I run into them very often, so I asked someone at Scalzi's site if they could name any names. They did and named Stephenie Meyer's Twilight and Interview With a Vampire, although they said they can't really say anything negative about Anne Rice since she started the trend.

I was surprised by these names. I was going to leave a comment over there but I didn't want to sound argumentative. I think the last time I had an argument with someone online was on Miss Snark's site when I felt someone was trying to make someone else feel bad for not writing enough.

So here are my thoughts, such as they are.

I think Louis is kind of whiny in Interview With a Vampire, but I think he got a bad deal (murdered so his "friend" can take over his estate) and since he's telling the story of his life he includes the good and the bad.

Twilight - I don't see it. The protagonist is not a vampire and I just don't remember Edward as being angsty. He's trying awfully hard not to eat Bella, who is his perfect prey with the intoxicating odor that overpowers him every time he gets near her, and that fight takes a lot out of him and makes him run away from her the first few times he encounters her, which confuses the hell out of Bella. She's having a hard time adapting to her new town and living with her dad but I thought she was less whiny than many other YA heroines I've encountered. But yanno, being a teenager is kind of an angsty time anyway, so I sort of expect a certain amount of it in YA.

Twilight seems to be one of those love or hate it series. Last year virtually everyone in my youngest son's drama club was zipping through the books and talking about nothing else but at the same time someone went to the trouble of putting together panels at two different local cons so he could complain about how the heroine was too timid for him.

I think Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake character is pretty angsty and annoying (especially the way she praises herself all the time "It was the bravest thing I've ever done") but again she's not the actual vampire. (Despite this I've enjoyed some of the series. I think the one that took place in New Mexico (?) was my favorite.) Maybe I'm being too literal here. It wouldn't be the first time.

My two favorite paranormal romance writers are Kelley Armstrong and MaryJanice Davidson, as any readers of my column could probably figure out. They're very different writers with vastly different stories and characters but I would have a hard time figuring out which one I like more.