Sweetblood

"Sweetblood" is a novel written by Pete Hautman. It was first published in 2003.

Plot summary

:"There are only two races that matter: the Living and the Undead.:"And with every year that passes, the numbers of Undead grow. It is inevitable."

So says 16-year-old Lucy Szabo. She has a theory: hundreds of years ago, before the discovery of insulin, slowly dying diabetics were the original vampires. Lucy, a diabetic herself, counts herself among the modern Undead. As Sweetblood, Lucy frequents the Transylvania room, an internet chatroom where so-called vampires gather. But Draco, one of the other visitors to Transylvania, claims to be a real vampire--and Lucy's not entirely sure he's kidding. As Lucy becomes more involved with the vampyre subculture, the rest of her life comes to seem unimportant. Her grades plummet, her relationship with her parents deteriorates, and her ability to regulate her blood sugar worsens dramatically. Then she meets Draco, face to face, and he invites her into his strange world. Lucy realizes that she needs to make some difficult choices--if it isn't already too late. [http://petehautman.com/sblood.html]

Trivia

*Lucy's theory is based on author Pete Hautman's own ideas on diabetes and vampirism which he first wrote down in 1978. [http://www.petehautman.com/sbloodessay.html]

*Pete Hautman himself has type 1 diabetes. [http://www.petehautman.com/sbloodessay.html]

*Many vampire forums actually exist.