Just occasionally, when one has wandered into a certain section of Waterstone's, one wonders what it must be like to be the sort of author who writes about hellish demons, throat-gouging werewolves, maggots emerging from corpses' nostrils and vampire bloodbaths. Darren O'Shaughnessy could tell you all about it.

July 1, 2007 (AP / New York) -- A peacock that roamed into the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant was attacked by a man who vilified the bird as a vampire, animal-control authorities said.

They were sitting in a little Italian restaurant where they had often, in the old days, lingered late into the night over a glass of Lacrimæ Christi. But no pale ghost of the past rose from the wine. Only a wriggling something, with serpent eyes, that sent cold shivers down her spine and held her speechless and entranced.

June 4, 2007 (Reuters / Helsinki) -- Global warming is bringing more warmer-climate creatures to Finland, including moths that feast on human blood, according to nature researchers.  Insect-watchers are spotting more and more calpe moths in the Nordic country, which used to be considered too cold for the insects from southeast Asia, Finnish nature magazine "Suomen Luonto" reported in its June edition.

June 12, 2008 (pink news / Sophie Picheta) -- An online group called Angry Lesbians has said it is outraged at a film that they say is derogatory to lesbians and women is being made. The film, Lesbian Vampire Killers, a "bloodthirsty romp featuring buckets of gore and plenty of bare breasts" is currently in production.