Bestselling author Stephen King, whose vast body of work includes Salem's Lot, has some strong opinions about vampires. So it comes as little surprise that he would voice those views in an interview promoting the hardcover collection of American Vampire, the Vertigo series whose initial story arc he co-wrote, and in his introduction to the first volume.

"A traditional vampire is always a taker, and that's the story of American expansion and laissez-faire and the rise of industrialism," King tells USA Today, referring to his Western outlaw Skinner Sweet. "The idea that he wants to come back and get his vengeance and he wants to get it as fast as he can and as harshly as he can, that's a very American desperado thing."

In the collection's foreword, reprinted at EW.com, King takes aim at the likes of Twilight and True Blood: "Here’s what vampires shouldn’t be: pallid detectives who drink Bloody Marys and only work at night; lovelorn southern gentlemen; anorexic teenage girls; boy-toys with big dewy eyes. What should they be? Killers, honey. Stone killers who never get enough of that tasty Type-A. Bad boys and girls. Hunters. In other words, Midnight America. Red white and blue, accent on the red. Those vamps got hijacked by a lot of soft-focus romance."

Read the full introduction at EW.com. American Vampire, Vol. 1, by King, Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque, is in stores today.