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Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies Compendium Monstrum: From the Papers of Herr Doktor Max Sturm & Baron Ludwig Von Drang

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The situation is grave. Vampires are vamping. Werewolves are shape shifting. And zombies are lurching into the garden. Is this modern-day ferment of paranormal activity, ah, normal? Learn all about it in this nifty new guide to man's best VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, Compendium Monstrum.

Collected from the papers of 19th-century monstrologists, this intriguing book

* ''Notes and sketches,'' arranged with some updating
* Transylvania travel section
* Maps
* ''Tracking the Beasties'' visual aid
* ''For Further Investigation'' resource list
* Index

Fascinating facts revealed in the book include documented ''sparkling vampires'' in 19th-century folklore, why wolfsbane is sometimes known as ''Dumbledore's Delight'', and much more.

Illustrated by Bruce Waldman, cartography by David Lindroth, additional historical images throughout.

Four

* There Will Be Blood
* A Vampire Hunter's Guide to The Land Beyond the Forest
* What Big Teeth You Have!
* They. Are. Coming.



* Vampires Around the World
* Transylvania
* Were-creatures of the World
* Zombies Around the World
* Additional in-text maps

168 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2010

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Profile Image for Angela Blount.
Author 4 books694 followers
March 10, 2014
This charming little book is exactly what it says it is--a compendium on three of the most famous (er...infamous) monsters known/unknown to man. A collection of maps, sketches, vocabulary, and make it an engaging overview and introduction, while furthering the knowledge base of those already familiar (if you'll excuse the pun. The authors certainly would--this book is giddily littered with them >.>).

The tone is dark and morbidly witty, yet still manages to take itself seriously everywhere it counts. The sheer variety in literary presentation keeps the more heavily educational aspects from becoming a slog.

You won't find an extensive amount of info on each report/sighting/incident, but you're given enough to let you decide if you'd like to research further. The provided history on Vlad is somewhat thorough--this reader likely learned the most there, historically speaking. I also walked away with a different impression of how werewolves were generally regarded. The section on Zombies was the least extensive, to be sure, but I already expected their lore to be more limited.

All in all, a worthwhile addition to any paranormal fan's collection.
Profile Image for Isaac.
503 reviews
January 8, 2019
Un libro maravilloso para el aventurero que se encuentre en un bosque oscuro por la noche, siendo este pequeño manual una gran ventaja ante las amenazas de las criaturas incomprendidas de la oscuridad.

En esta era de la información es vital poder separar con rapidez a un vampiro sediento, un zombie hambriento y un licantropo con pulgas antes de que acabe contigo
Profile Image for Cleah.
287 reviews3 followers
July 9, 2023
This was a gift meant to be just silly fun - and that it was, but it just could have been easily so much more if the writers had just fully commited to e.g. a consistent rather than on-and-off mock-olde-worldy-scholarly tone; any kind of buildup or structure; sources, references or even just depth & precision for their factoids; their use of foreign languages; etc. etc. etc.

As is, sadly, the texts in this booklet feel rough and rather half-arsed, if you pardon my Klatchian. The illustrations are lovely, though - though even there, I wish we had gotten more, especially of the subcategory and examples of creatures that are less known to the Western target audience.
10 reviews
August 1, 2017
If your bored it's good. If your waiting for a kid at the dentist or on the train. It's small enough to pack around in a jean pocket and it's filled with fun facts about monsters and creatures of the night.
Profile Image for Crow NoYami.
Author 1 book15 followers
May 3, 2019
This is both a fun book and full with small historical "facts" about vampires, werewolves and zombies. I would recommend!
Profile Image for OpenBookSociety.com .
4,177 reviews139 followers
April 10, 2010
Brought to you by OBS staff member Katie
http://forum.openbooksociety.com/book...

Summary-
Who can keep track of whether or not vampires burn or sparkle in the sun and how many zombies there has to be before you’ve official got a horde on your hands? Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies: Compendium Monstrum is a collection of 19th century papers by monstrologists with notes and sketches, fold-out maps and a Transylvania travel guide. Get lost in the mythology with old world styled maps, hand-written notes, Gothic/Victorian style endpapers and one of those old school red ribbon bookmarks.
Via coolmaterial.com

Review -
I've been an active supernatural reader for over two years now. And with each book I read the authors have their own take on the supernatural world. While some things could have been researched, many authors choose to make up their own worlds. That's why the Compendium Monstrum is a great guide to have around the house. It's small and compacted, but filled to the brim with facts, maps, quotes and even
some need to know phrases. With witty titles this compendium discusses interesting vampire, werewolf, and zombie facts, sightings, and even a in depth guide to Transylvania. The illustrations are amazingly done and the pages are thick and sturdy (So even if your attacked by zombies it will hold up). While some things may be a little cheesy like the tracking page, that includes the foot prints each monster leaves behind and the sighting record pages that allow you to write down when you see a supernatural being. The over all book is very insightful and can be very helpful if your ever planning on writing a report about the Supernatural world. I know its helping me right now with mine.
Profile Image for Tah the Trickster.
Author 6 books3 followers
April 27, 2013
Note: I bought this book solely to read the werewolves section, so this review only pertains to that part.

Surprisingly enough, not a bad little book! As someone who enjoys reading about historical cases of "werewolves" and "lycanthropy," I've grown to acknowledge that, in most werewolf history books I pick up, I'm likely to only learn one or two facts that I had not already known of.

Not the case with this book! While, as expected, it did contain many of the historical werewolves I was already familiar with, it also contained a wealth of other werewolves and cases of lycanthropy that I'd never heard of before! It was a nice change from coming away from informative books feeling like I'd spent several dollars on two new facts.

The only disappointment I had with this book was that, while covering an incredibly wide range of tales, it didn't ever go deeper into any of them. Most of the "werewolves" mentioned were merely glanced over; kind of a "hey, yeah, this happened" acknowledgement, but instead of explaining further, the book was already jumping to the next one. If you're a massive nerd like I am, you'd see it as a jump-off point for new research, but while you're reading, it's kind of disappointing to find your interest piqued by one specific case only to switch to a completely different case.

Beyond that, it's an excellent resource for its size, particularly with the inclusion of the two "sighting" maps, so I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking to lay down a foundation of knowledge of werewolf/lycanthropy history.
Profile Image for Jessica (a GREAT read).
1,922 reviews105 followers
August 6, 2011
Suzanne Schwalb's Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies: Compendium Monstrum is actually just a small little fun read that I picked up on one of my many trips to Borders. I saw it just before checking out and threw it into my basket! It's a cute little book that has info about vampires, werewolves and zombies.

There's actually some pretty interesting facts in it. It's not all joke book kind of thing. There's small sections with bits of history, like a paragraph on Vlad. There's also accounts of vampire and werewolf attacks in certain parts of the world. One or two I might have recognized even!

I'm not sure how much of it's accurate, but the historical facts do sound about right. Of course there's other sort of fun nonsense, like translating some zombie speak! As well as a language or two that vampires and werewolves would be most familiar with. So you'll know how to say Help me! or Run!

The maps and other illustrations were also remarkably done! Very detailed maps and other drawings really helped make it complete!

So for a fun little read with some interesting facts this is definitely something you might want to check out if you're looking how to survive from a zombie apocalypse or looking for tell tale signs that someone is on of the fanged or furred!

Overall rating 5/5 stars
Profile Image for Jesse.
647 reviews57 followers
August 29, 2010
A pocket sized book about monsters in time for Halloween. Each section provides history, literary and cultural mythos, kill methods, and a geographic map with likely locations.

For something that billed itself as a guide to vampires, werewolves, and zombies, it was extremely one-sided toward vampires. The section on werewolves was lacking and the zombie section borrowed from the vampire section. Whether this is due to the lack of history or literary mythos, the latter two sections were disappointing after all the detail that went into the vampire section. Overall, I’d give it a meh. It was OK but I’ve read more detailed spoofs
Profile Image for Jocelin.
2,065 reviews48 followers
March 14, 2011
Interesting little book of facts about Vampire Werwolves and Zombies. Most of the information in the book was standard nothing really ground breaking or shocking. I did think that one interesting fact about the author who first popularized the Vampire legend Jon Polidori was inspired to have written the novel during a roundtable discussion with Percy & Mary Shelley(Frankenstein fame) and Lord Byron. Supposedly Lord Byron was the inspiration for Dracula. But of course, Bram Stoker was the one that really put the story of Dracula into the literary scene. Interesting little book.
Profile Image for meghann.
1,084 reviews1 follower
October 27, 2013
Very entertaining. I love all the fold out maps and drawings. The book itself is beautifully done. Great use of historical accounts to back up modern mythology.
14 reviews1 follower
January 23, 2015
This book was a fun read, though a little too stereotypical for my liking. But definitely good for just passing the time!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews