Shopping Basket

Behind-The-Books Blog

Vampires v Zombies

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Hear ye, hear ye! In the battle of vampires vs zombies, the bloodsuckers may have peaked in popularity in the past year or two, but zombies are proving to be the slow and steady burners.

Thanks to the Oxford English Corpus which tracks how language is evolving, we have at our disposal this handy graph illustrating the increased popularity and usage of the words ‘zombie’ and ‘vampire’ in the English language over the past 10 years.

Both are undoubtedly on the increase (unsurprising really given our obsession with things paranormal and macabre) but who will be in the lead next year? In the one corner we have Stephenie Meyer and Rachel Caine. And in the other Max Brooks and Dr Dale.

I’m so glad someone is taking this seriously.

Lara Crisp, Managing Editor

Jacob Black Says:


Serious vampire love here, I can’t get enough of them, reading as much up about them as I can so thanks for the information here.

Posted on January 18th, 2011 at 2:20 am

Leave a Comment

  • Currently we are...

  • …Liking

    Lesley: This charming blog by a Penguin book collector, A Prenguin a Week.

  • …Reading

    Going Too Far, by Catherine Alliott. Susie: I rarely read 'girly' books but came across Alliott a few years ago. I've read 3 of her books thus far, and was delighted to spot this one for 30p in a charity shop. I've not opened it as yet but am hoping for another witty, grown-up, middle-class romcom, with lots of 4x4s and country houses!

  • …Tweeting