The first book to explore the origins of the vampire slayer “A fascinating comparison of the original vampire myths to their later literary transformations.” —Adam Morton, author of On Evil “From the Balkan Mountains to Beverly Hills, Bruce has mapped the vampire’s migration. There’s no better guide for the trek.” —Jan L. Perkowski, Professor, Slavic Department, University of Virginia, and author of Vampires of the Slavs and The Darkling: A Treatise on Slavic Vampirism “The vampire slayer is our protector, our hero, our Buffy. But how much do we really know about him—or her? Very little, it turns out, and Bruce McClelland shows us why: because the vampire slayer is an unsettling figure, almost as disturbing as the evil she is set to destroy. Prepare to be frightened . . . and enlightened.” —Corey Robin, author of Fear: The History of a Political Idea “What is unique about this book is that it is the first of its kind to focus on the vampire hunter, rather than the vampire. As such, it makes a significant contribution to the field. This book will appeal to scholars and researchers of folklore, as well as anyone interested in the literature and popular culture of the vampire.” —Elizabeth Miller, author of Dracula and A Dracula Handbook “Shades of Van Helsing! Vampirologist extraordinaire Bruce McClelland has managed that rarest of feats: developing a radically new and thoroughly enlightening perspective on a topic of eternal fascination. Ranging from the icons of popular culture to previously overlooked details of Balkan and Slavic history and folk practice, he has rethought the borders of life and death, good and evil, saint and sinner, vampires and their slayers. Excellent scholarship, and a story that never flags.” —Bruce Lincoln, Caroline E. Haskell Professor of History of Religions, University of Chicago, and author of Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and Scholarship,Authority: Construction and Corrosion, and Death, War, and Sacrifice: Studies in Ideology and Practice

Buffy Summers is the Chosen One. Born with unnatural strength and instincts, she alone must fight off the vampires of the world to save humankind. Not to mention the fact that she mustalsodeal with the usualteen nightmares: dating, friends, and high school. Buffy, along with her best friends Willow and Xander, strugglesto save the world one fiesty vamp at a time. Halloween Rain ~ Even without a maniacal scarecrow, a Sunnydale Halloween is a truly horrific happening. There are enough zombies and vampires about, ready to party hearty and eat some brains, to keep the Slayer and her friends up all night. But then the rain starts to fall... Bad Bargain ~ All hell breaks loose when Sunnydale High is once again the focus for channelled evil - but is the infestation of strange demonic vermin a harbinger of something much worse to come…? AfterImage ~ A mysterious stranger has designs on Sunnydale as the town prepares for an all-night session of horror films at the Drive-in - and that's when things get very weird indeed.

In its seven years on television, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has earned critical acclaim and a massive cult following among teen viewers. One of the most distinguishing features of the program is the innovative way the show's writers play with language: fabricating new words, morphing existing ones, and throwing usage on its head. The result has been a strikingly resonant lexicon that reflects the power of both youth culture and television in the evolution of American slang. Using the show to illustrate how new slang is formed, transformed, and transmitted, Slayer Slang is one of those rare books that combines a serious explanation of a pop culture phenomena with an engrossing read for fans of the show, word geeks, and language professionals. Michael Adams begins his book with a synopsis of the program's history and a defense of ephemeral language. He then moves to the main body of the work: a detailed glossary of slayer slang, annotated with actual dialogue and recorded the style accepted by the American Dialect Society. The book concludes with a bibliography and a lengthy index, a guide to sources (novels based on the show, magazine articles about the show, and language culled from the official posting board) and an appendix of slang-making suffixes. Introduced by Jane Espenson, one of the show's most inventive writers (and herself a linguist), Slayer Slang offers a quintessential example of contemporary youth culture serving as a vehicle for slang. In the tradition of The Physics of Star Trek, Slayer Slang is one of those rare books that offers a serious examination a TV cult phenomenon appealing to fans and thinkers alike. A few examples from the Slayer Slang glossary: bitca n [AHD4 bitch n in sense 2.a + a] Bitch 1997 Sep 15 Whedon When She Was Bad "[Willow:] 'I mean, why else would she be acting like such a b-i-t-c-h?' [Giles:] 'Willow, I think we're all a little old to be spelling things out.' [Xander:] 'A bitca?'" break and enterish adj [AHD4 sv breaking and entering n + -ish suff in sense 2.a] Suitable for crime 1999 Mar 16 Petrie Enemies "I'll go home and stock up on weapons, slip into something a little more break and enterish." [B] carbon-dated adj [fr. AHD4 carbondating + -ed] Very out of date 1997 Mar 10 Whedon Welcome to the Hellmouth "[Buffy:] 'Deal with that outfit for a moment.' [Giles:] 'It's dated?' [Buffy:] 'It's carbon-dated.'" cuddle-monkey n [AHD4 cuddle v + monkey n in sense 2, by analogy fr. RHHDAS (also DAS3 and NTC) sv cuddle bunny 'an affectionate, passionate, or sexually attractive young woman'] Male lover 1998 Feb 10 Noxon Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered "Every woman in Sunnydale wants to make me her cuddle-monkey." [X]

An official guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer describes the mythology and influences behind the monsters, ghouls, and characters through interviews with the creators and details of the episodes.

As long as there have been vampires, there has been the Slayer. One girl in the all the world, to find them where they gather and to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. Around Sunnydale, they say a scarecrow saturated with Halloween rain will come alive and slaughter anyone in sight. (Lovely place, Sunnydale.) Buffy's best friends, Xander and Willow, used to think the tale was nonsense -- but after a few adventures with Buffy, they're not so sure. Even without a maniacal scarecrow, a Sunnydale Halloween is a truly horrific happening. There are enough zombies and vampires about, ready to party hearty and eat some brains, to keep the Slayer and her friends up all night. And then rain starts to fall....

From the bestselling authors of the critically acclaimed two-volume series The Fifty-Year Mission, comes Slayers & Vampires: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Buffy The Vampire Slayer & Angel. Two decades after its groundbreaking debut, millions of fans worldwide remain enthralled with the incredible exploits of Joss Whedon’s Buffy Summers, the slayer and feminist icon who saved the world...a lot; as well as Angel, the tortured vampire with a soul who fought against the apocalyptic forces of evil. Now, go behind-the-scenes of these legendary series that ushered in the new Golden Age of Television, with the candid recollections of writers, creators, executives, programmers, critics and cast members. Together they unveil the oftentimes shocking true story of how a failed motion picture became an acclaimed cult television series, how that show became a pawn between two networks, and the spin-off series that was as engaging as everything that came before. This is the amazing true story of Buffy and the friends, vampires, slayers, and demons who changed television forever. The authors talked to almost 100 writers, producers, directors, filmmakers, sociologists and stars from Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel in new and vintage interviews from their personal archives, among them: Joss Whedon Guillermo del Toro Felicia Day Anthony Stewart Head Charisma Carpenter James Marsters David Boreanaz Amy Acker J. August Richards Eliza Dushku Christian Kane Julie Benz And More! At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

As long as there have been vampires, there has been the Slayer. One girl in all the world, to find them where they gather and to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers... Night of the Living Rerun~ As if real life wasn't already overflowing with vampire-staking, Buffy is now dreaming about slaying! Night after night, it's the same thing... What could it mean? When Xander and Giles start acting like they have ancient alter egos, Buffy begins to realise what's going on. Can Buffy prevent the Master from escaping his supernatural prison before Sunnydale becomes history! Coyote Moon~ The seedy carnival looks like just the thing to give Buffy and her friends, Xander and Willow, a break from staking bloodsuckers. Some greasy food, a few cheap thrills - what more could a Slayer ask for? But then Buffy senses something evil behind this carnival. Could it be connected to the corpses that are turning up around Sunnydale. CanBuffyfind out what's going on in time to save her friends? Or has the Slayer become the prey? Portal of Time~ The Master, Buffy's nemesis, may be gone, but he is by no means forgotten. One of his devotees has set out to alter the past, killing off Slayers in order to change the future. With the Slayer line extinguished, there will be no Buffy. And without Buffy, no one will be able to prevent him as he resurrects The Master. Having opened a portal through time he is about to send his minions into the past to murder the most influential Slayers in history. Buffy is forced to follow them through the portal in a race against time and evil. But the problem is... you can't change the past without altering the present...

Twenty-three essays by young professional philosophers examine crucial ethical and metaphysical aspects of the Buffyverse (the world of Buffy). Though the show already attracted much scholarly attention, this is the first book to fully disinter the intellectual issues. Designed by Whedon as a multilevel story with most of its meanings deeply buried in heaps of heavy irony, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has replaced The X-Files as the show that explains to Americans the nature of the powerful forces of evil continually threatening to surge into our world of everyday decency and overwhelm it. In the tradition of the classic horror films Buffy the Vampire Slayer addresses ethical issues that have long fascinated audiences. This book draws out the ethical and metaphysical lessons from a pop-culture phenomenon.

An exciting and hilarious new middle grade story for anyone who likes (or doesn't like) vampires! Buffy Summers is just like any other student...except for the part where she's also a secret vampire slayer. In every generation, one girl is granted great strength to stand against the forces of darkness. Of course, power doesn't matter when it comes to eating lunch alone, getting picked on by the popular kids, or having way too much homework. Luckily, Buffy finds her way with a can-do attitude, a weird Watcher, and new besties, Sarafina and Alvaro--who might just have powers of their own. But will any of it be enough to turn the tide when an army of villainous vampires invade town? Can Buffy save herself, let alone the world? Like Star Wars: Jedi Academy and DC Comics' Secret Hero Society, this action-packed and fun-filled story is told through comics, journal entries, class notes, doodles, text messages, and other in-world artifacts.

Thess is all grown up, having taken up the mantle as the new Slayer! But with new responsibilities comes new enemies, and a mysterious clan will do anything to get to her, even if it means using her friends as bait. Fans won’t want to miss this brand new mini series from veteran Buffy scribe Casey Gilly, set after the events of Buffy The Last Vampire Slayer Special #1!