Carpe Jugulum

Carpe Jugulum is a comic fantasy novel by the English writer Terry Pratchett, first published in 1998. It is the twenty-third book of the Discworld series.

The title is Latin, taken from the same construction as carpe diem and meaning something closer to go for the throat. The novel is a pastiche of the traditions of vampire fiction, and it spends a good deal of its time playing with the archetypes.

Count Magpyr and his family come from Uberwald, and they are invited to the naming of the daughter of Magrat and King Verence. The priest performing the ceremony is an Omnian called Mightily Oats, who is not prepared for what he finds. The witches of Lancre have to decide how to answer an enemy that has removed its own weaknesses, and the answer is not a magical one.

The vampires in this book have trained themselves out of the usual weaknesses, and the result is a family who wear bright clothes, drink wine and stay up until noon. What happens to Lancre as a result is what the novel is about.