Lili Reinhart, whose credits include starring in Riverdale and Love Hypothesis, has shared that she wants to adapt a lesbian vampire novella. “People are too afraid to make that,” she said on Hits Radio. “If you work at a studio and are watching this video, I don’t know why you wouldn’t make that in this day and age. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Lesbian vampire book fans (we are many) immediately began trying to guess what book Reinhart was referencing. Up at the top of the list is the 1871 book Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu (you can do a read along of it with Reactor’s commentary here). Other top contenders include 2018’s Carmilla and Laura by S.D. Simper, which is a retelling of the 19th-century tale, and 2020’s Just My Type by Lucy Bexley and Bryce Oakley, where a 2,000-year-old vampire has a meet-cute with a doctor in a hematology lab.
There are other possibilities if Reinhart’s definition of novella includes books with a much higher word count. Many fans were hoping she was referencing V.E. Schwab’s Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, which follows several queer lady vampires in different timelines, including present day. 2021’s A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson, which centers on bisexual vampire named Constanta, is another title floating around, as is 2025’s Hungerstone by Kat Dunn, which is another Carmilla retelling with a longer page count.
The possibilities are many, and while we might not ever find out what book Reinhart is referencing (though here’s to hoping we do!) we at least have a solid list of lesbian vampire books to keep us occupied this October.
