Also published as Harrison Denmark. Robert Weinberg (also credited as Bob Weinberg) was an American author. His work spans several genres including non-fiction, science fiction, horror, and comic books.
Weinberg sold his first story in 1967. Most of his writing career was conducted part-time while also owning a bookstore; he became a full time writer after 1997.
Weinberg was also an editor, and edited books in the fields of horror, science fiction and western. In comics, Weinberg wrote for Marvel Comics; his first job was on the series Cable, and he later created the series Nightside.
A collection of tasty little bite-sized stories about vampires and vampire lore (none more than 5 pages long).
Of course some of the stories feature your stereotypical cape-wearing, bat-transforming, "I vant to suck your blood" sort of vampire. *Yawn* (so overdone).
Others are not so typical: A rose bush that has what can only be described as a fatal attraction to the old man who cares for her... A high school student who drains the essense from books instead of her fellow classmates... A scarecrow planted in a desolate battlefield, waiting paitently... An after-hours plumber/jack-of-all-trades who trades his emergency services for a pint or two (plus the cost of parts)... A little boy who risks his closely-guarded secret to save the life of a young girl...
Whether evil or simply misunderstood, the vamps in these stories are sure to keep you reading...and wanting more!
Thank freaking goodness this book is finished! I was going to review every individual story, but that would just be a pain in the butt, and I would have taken even longer to read it that I already did.
It didn't take me so long to read this book because it was particularly difficult or anything. On the contrary, these stories were rather simple to read and to understand. It took me so long because the vast majority of the stories in this compilation were rather... terrible... or uninteresting.
Some of the stories were good, many the last two with a few others here and there, but for the most part, this book was difficult to read because the stories weren't that great.
Because there were a few goodies in this, I'll give it two stars; otherwise, I would have given it one.
This is just a little impulse buy I picked up many years ago at B&N but it has turned out to be one of my favorite books/compilations. I love me some vampire lore. And even though all the stories are not the most excellent writings ever, the compilation makes it fascinating. It's an opportunity to get all these different interpretations of blood suckers, from traditional to far out, all in one place.
I almost hate to confess that re-reading this anthology from my high-school days has me wanting to keep it instead of donate it but there's quite a range of stories depicted. Written before the sparkly vampire silliness of Twilight, this is a solid collection of vampire stories reflecting various concerns of the 1990s, especially AIDS and the rise of technology. Two stories librarians will love are "And By a Word, Immortal" by Kreighbaum and "Paying the Fine" by Morgan though the library monitor in the latter is sort of worthy of being eaten based on his attitude to patrons. The rest run the gambit from gothic romance to hi-tech (for the 90s!) infiltration and defense via modem entrapment. Definitely something for every vampire enthusiast to love (unless you favor sparkly romantic ones).
I am savouring this book. The short stories, for the most part, are delicious. They are especially scrumptious in this period of literature when a vampire is injected into any plot to make a book sell. Released 15 years ago, this book has stories from largely unknown authors. The stories range from clever to hysterically funny, but never range into sparkly, romantic or ho-hum vampires. It was coming off of the successes on Anne Rice rather than the thinly veiled harlequin romances (with guns) peppering mass markets at the moment. If you like sparkly vampires, you will hate this book. If you hate sparkly vampires, you will enjoy this book.
This book is perfect for campouts or sleepovers where your telling scary stories. None of the stories are long but most of then were fantastic. It didn't get a higher rating because I simlpy don't have high opions of short stories, I like my plots to be long and interesting. Pick it up and let your kids use it next time they have friends over as I loved nothing better than sitting by the light of candles with my friends trying to scare each other with stories such as these.
I have not actually finished this, but I have read enough to make a few notes. This book contains a hundred short vampire stories, and I read a few every Halloween season. Like any anthology, it is a mixed bag. Some tales are intended to frighten, a few make you laugh and there are too many Dracula riffs, but it is fun stuff and the stories are short, requiring no great time investment.
Includes tales by Manly Wade Wellman, Karl Edward Wagner, Ramsey Campbell, Norman Partridge and more.
This collection of short stories is one you can really sink your fangs into -- pun intended. It's meaty! There are 100 shorts to choose from and some creative spins on the vampire theme. Recommended for serious vampire readers and not-so-serious as well.
Check back later for a link to a detailed review on my blog.
I liked it. Some of the stories were intersting, funny and cute. Nothing that will scare you enough to keep you up all night, but enough to keep you interested. Since there are a lot of short stories you can pick it up and stop anytime without feeling compelled to read it through, even though you may want to anyway.
Good short stories about vampires. I picked this out of my bookshelf the other day. I am not too sure who it belongs to but I can tell you that I will not be reading it in the dark anymore!
I like reading short stories, so this collection of them about vampires was a very interesting read. Some stories were really confusing while I liked some of the others. A very nice read.
Believe it or not, I actually liked this anthology more than some of the other volumes in the set. Maybe it’s just that in general I don’t care about vampire stories one way or another. That might have meant that I was less familiar with the clichés of the sub-genre. Or maybe I just didn’t go in expecting much of anything, which made it easier not to come away disappointed. Objectively of course this is probably the same mixed bag that the other “100” books are, with some solid writing, some wretched doggerel and some snoozefests. But overall I’m not sorry I picked it up, though I concede I did so mostly just to complete my collection of the non-mystery entries in the series.
a long time ago i saw this on the bookshelf at barnes and noble and on a whim picked it up. there were so many stories for weird wanna be goth me to flip through and some were fantastic while others fell flat. most of the time people would see it on my shelf and roll their eyes because OF COURSE i'd have this book. if you like vampires this is the book for you. if you don't like vampires this is also the book for you. there are a 100 different kinds of blood suckers in this book and i delighted in meeting each one.
As with any collection, some good and some not so good. It's great for a quick read if you don't have much time and you're in the mood for some blood suckers 🧛
"Crucifixion" by Adam-Troy Castro - A vampire longs for death but as long as any blood remains it resurrects him so he designs a chamber where he hangs from the ceiling by hooks that wring the blood from his flesh to drop onto a hot plate below him. Once all the blood is wrung from him the corpse will drop onto the hot plate to burn for an hour then the chamber will fill with acid.
"Supernaturally Incorrect" by Tim Waggoner - A vampire attempts to eliminate a conservative radio host that has been making trouble for supernatural denizens attempting to co-exist with humans unaware that he is a parasitic creature that feeds off the negativity he spews over the radio waves.
"The Last Victim" by Jeff Gelb - Webb tries to avoid the police after one breaks his nose by hiding in the Los Angeles Garlic Festival. After having a bad reaction to some garlic ice cream he is apprehended. The cop in jail tells him that the woman he bit was dying from leukemia.
"Cradle" by Alan Brennert - A wealthy vampire attempts to use science to give herself a son but since she has implanted an embryo with her DNA into the surrogate when the surrogate's water breaks during the delivery it produces a stillbirth.
"The Magnolia" by Remy de Gourmont (Translated by Francis Amery) - Arabella is betrothed to a dying man. After he expires she hears him calling to her beneath the magnolia tree at night and she goes to meet her death in the arms of the vampire.
"Cross Examination" by Brad Strickland - A lawyer who wins a case against a vampire for not getting consent for biting the plaintiff on the neck is contacted by a woman who wants to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against Dr. Jekyll.
"Miss Vampire New Mexico Meets Her Dream Date" by John Gregory Betancourt - A vampire is disappointed to learn the Miss Vampire New Mexico he sees on tv is merely an actress so he bites her to turn her into a real vampire.
"Bar Talk" by Joe R. Lansdale - The narrator is a Martian vampire that victimizes the man sitting on the bar stool next to him as he describes why he's there and the reason he requires human blood.
"Forever Young" by Martin R. Soderstrom - A child vampire fears his friend's reactions when he transforms into a bat to save one of them from an oncoming train but they think his ability is cool.
"Revival" by Richard Parks - Miss Powers is chosen by the congregation to be the sacrifice to their beloved Reverend Blacksen who was bitten by a vampire long ago.
"The Blood Ran Out" by Michael A. Arnzen - Vampires tear apart the vampire who located the last human in order to feed on the only remaining blood on Earth.
"Family History" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman - A dying woman gives her family album to her identical twin who was bitten by a vampire while still a young lady.
"Prince of the Punks" by Karl Edward Wagner - A vampire hunter's plan to stake his prey during daylight hours is thwarted by the vampire's insomnia.
"The King's Return" by Charles Garofalo - A vampire visits Dracula's tomb in order to assume his identity as the prince of the people.
"Charity" by Adam Niswander - A vampire is asked to donate blood to children who have been injured when their bus overturned.
"Aqua Sancta" by Edward Bryant - A priest sanctifies his own urine in order to dispose of a menacing vampire by peeing on it.
"Hunting the Vampire" by C. Bruce Hunter - A vampire hunter survives an attack by breaking its fangs with a mallet.
"Exodus" by Lawrence Schimel - A vampire is enjoying the easy pickings during the Biblical Egyptian plagues.
"Angels, Strange Angels" by Peter M. Spizzirri - A vampire encounters a fallen angel in a bar.
"Binge" by Greg Cox - This story explores the idea of a bulimic vampire.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.