This book explores vampire narratives that have been expressed across multiple media and new technologies. Stories and characters such as Dracula, Carmilla and even Draculaura from Monster High have been made more "real" through their depictions in narratives produced in and across different platforms. This also allows the consumer to engage on multiple levels with the "vampire world," blurring the boundaries between real and imaginary realms and allowing for different kinds of identity to be created while questioning terms such as "author," "reader," "player" and "consumer." These essays investigate the consequences of such immersion and why the undead world of the transmedia vampire is so well suited to life in the 21st century.

Words, Worlds, and Narratives: Transmedia and Immersion offers an interdisciplinary discussion of the way in which narrative is transmitted, transformed and translated through the wide variety of technologies and media platforms available in the 21st century. This volume critically engages with the field of transmedia studies and addresses the significance of media to narrative and authorship to immersion. What emerges is a unique look at collaborative scholarship and storytelling which is both disruptive and immersive. Using a diverse archive of narrative forms, including video games, fan fiction, film adaptation and social media, the chapters in this volume explore the narratological, social, political and economic implications of transmedia narrative in the public and private spaces of the digital and the immersive media communities.

"This Transmedia Cultures Companion will show that Transmedia, and indeed Transmedia storytelling are fundamental to the human experience of being in the world and to creating the stories of who we are both as individuals and communities. Transmedia then is not just about the Star Wars or Harry Potter franchises or narratives that are exclusive to platforms and devices under the umbrella of New Media, but is anything that creates a believable, navigable space. As such this Companion will take a holistic approach broadening out the areas of everyday life that are implicated and entangled within Transmedia Cultures and world-building and the levels of engagement/immersion that they, purposely or otherwise, create. Of great importance within this are the ways in which Transmedia can facilitate or censor non-normative and individual identities both online or in terms of physical or economical access to technology. This volume then will not so much complicate the topic of Transmedia Cultures but reveal the ever increasing levels of entanglement it has within our real-lives and with those we experience in other more imaginative or creative ones bringing into focus exactly what is at stake in the 'worlds' we choose to call our own"--

“Simply put, there is absolutely nothing on the market with the range of ambition of this strikingly eclectic collection of essays. Not only is it impossible to imagine a more comprehensive view of the subject, most readers – even specialists in the subject – will find that there are elements of the Gothic genre here of which they were previously unaware.” - Barry Forshaw, Author of British Gothic Cinema and Sex and Film The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic is the most comprehensive compendium of analytic essays on the modern Gothic now available, covering the vast and highly significant period from 1918 to 2019. The Gothic sensibility, over 200 years old, embraces its dark past whilst anticipating the future. From demons and monsters to post- apocalyptic fears and ecological fantasies, Gothic is thriving as never before in the arts and in popular culture. This volume is made up of 62 comprehensive chapters with notes and extended bibliographies contributed by scholars from around the world. The chapters are written not only for those engaged in academic research but also to be accessible to students and dedicated followers of the genre. Each chapter is packed with analysis of the Gothic in both theory and practice, as the genre has mutated and spread over the last hundred years. Starting in 1918 with the impact of film on the genre's development, and moving through its many and varied international incarnations, each chapter chronicles the history of the gothic milieu from the movies to gaming platforms and internet memes, television and theatre. The volume also looks at how Gothic intersects with fashion, music and popular culture: a multi-layered, multi-ethnic, even a trans-gendered experience as we move into the twenty first century.

Famous for being deathly serious, the vampire genre has a consistent yet often critically overlooked subgenre--the comedic spoof and satire. This is the first book dedicated entirely to documenting and analyzing the vampire comedy on film and television. Various types of comedy are discussed, outlining the important differences between spoofing, serious-spoofing, parody and satire. Seminal films such as Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Love at First Bite, Vampire in Brooklyn, Dracula: Dead and Loving It and What We Do In the Shadows are featured. More importantly, this book demonstrates how comedy is central to both the common perception of the vampire and the genre's ever-evolving character, making it an essential read for those interested in the laughing undead and creatures that guffaw in the night.

This Handbook MRW will be a unique encompassing overview of the figure of the vampire. Not only covering the list of usual suspects, this volume will provide coverage from the very first reports of vampire-like creatures in the 17th century to film and media representations in the 21st century. The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire will show that what you thought you knew about vampires is only a fraction of the real and fascinating story.