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Southern Vampires: 13 Deep-Fried Bloodcurdling Tales
Presents a 13-story collection, which is a concoction of real-life vampire tales. The author spent a year traveling the South compiling data on our resident bloodsuckers (past and present).
132 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 6, 2016
A collection of 13 Southern folktales involving vampires of all sorts. From a charming lady who collects husbands, to a Texas family haunted by psychic vampires, to a vampire who "assists" the elderly, these tales are filled with Southern charm. This is a truly enjoyable collection of Southern folksy horror. Spooky and yet not grossly so. A charming way to spend a dark rainy night.
October 14, 2024
The author tells in her preface how she put this book together. She writes: "Twelve of the stories included here are based on fact". She had gathered up old tales from across the American South and written them up, using her imagination to fill in some details, changing some names to avoid embarrassment to actual persons or families. Not all of them are a literal drinking of blood. But in general, as you read through the 13 stories in this collection, the gorier they tend to be. Some of them take place in modern times. some of them are set in the antebellum South before the Civil War ("Marrying Fool"). Another (Madame Lalaurie") in New Orleans. Another of them, ("Spearfinger"), is set in a Native American Indian tribe in what is now North Carolina. It's a quite interesting collection.
September 11, 2019
Some stories about vampires. Some are just ghost stories. Not what the title suggests and the writing is average at best.
August 3, 2016
Southern Vampires: 13 Deep-Fried Bloodcurdling Tales could have easily been called Southern Attempts at Horror: One or Two Vampire Tales, Three or Four Tales Interchangeable With Vampires & Any Other Monster You Want to Name, Plus Some Other Weak Attempts. Sound harsh? Well, I guess there was a reason this 21-year-old paperback was in the clearance section at a major bookseller.
Zweifel's book is an ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults. Either the librarians who chose this book were bored or they didn't read the book and just assumed since it was vampires that young adults would like it. At least it's pre-Twilight so the vamps don't sparkle or whine, especially since the majority of Zweifel's vamps and semi-vamps operate in daylight hours with no ill-effects. As a matter of fact there seems to be no ill-effects at all for the bloodsuckers in this book with the exception of one vampire tasting a cracker with garlic on it and he simply sets it down and nothing else happens. There's also no suspense, very few battles against the undead (everyone who dies just simply is overtaken and gives in), no real action and nothing that really makes the reader give a damn if the people or the vampires live or die.
Zweifel seems to know some locales in the South, which at least makes it seem like some research was involved. That being said, stories such as "Spearfinger" has descriptions about tadpoles (spring), blackberries (late summer/early fall) and chestnuts (winter) all in the same short span of time (like one week) of events. So her knowledge of nature doesn't match her adjectives, lengthy descriptions and settings, or exposition, some of which if edited out would make some of these short stories no more than flash fiction.
Or there is the lame "Interview With a Vampire or Two" which really feels like an interview with a couple of bored goth kids who really aren't vamps. I have plenty of goth friends that I have good jobs, tastes, personalities, etc. These two, plus their buddy, are really just a bunch of losers and more nihilists than anything.
The last three stories of the book are about the best of the bunch: "Georgia Dreams," "Marrying Fool" and "Lost Soul," although the last story craps out in the last two paragraphs.
So, if you find this for $1.00 like I did, you might be fine with spending your Washington and a couple of hours of your time on this book. Otherwise you should steer clear of adding this to your vampire collection.
Zweifel's book is an ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults. Either the librarians who chose this book were bored or they didn't read the book and just assumed since it was vampires that young adults would like it. At least it's pre-Twilight so the vamps don't sparkle or whine, especially since the majority of Zweifel's vamps and semi-vamps operate in daylight hours with no ill-effects. As a matter of fact there seems to be no ill-effects at all for the bloodsuckers in this book with the exception of one vampire tasting a cracker with garlic on it and he simply sets it down and nothing else happens. There's also no suspense, very few battles against the undead (everyone who dies just simply is overtaken and gives in), no real action and nothing that really makes the reader give a damn if the people or the vampires live or die.
Zweifel seems to know some locales in the South, which at least makes it seem like some research was involved. That being said, stories such as "Spearfinger" has descriptions about tadpoles (spring), blackberries (late summer/early fall) and chestnuts (winter) all in the same short span of time (like one week) of events. So her knowledge of nature doesn't match her adjectives, lengthy descriptions and settings, or exposition, some of which if edited out would make some of these short stories no more than flash fiction.
Or there is the lame "Interview With a Vampire or Two" which really feels like an interview with a couple of bored goth kids who really aren't vamps. I have plenty of goth friends that I have good jobs, tastes, personalities, etc. These two, plus their buddy, are really just a bunch of losers and more nihilists than anything.
The last three stories of the book are about the best of the bunch: "Georgia Dreams," "Marrying Fool" and "Lost Soul," although the last story craps out in the last two paragraphs.
So, if you find this for $1.00 like I did, you might be fine with spending your Washington and a couple of hours of your time on this book. Otherwise you should steer clear of adding this to your vampire collection.
January 22, 2016
Southern Vampires: Thirteen Deep-Fried Bloodcurdling Tales by Karyn Kay Zweifel (Sweetwater Press 1995) (398.45). Silly. This is just a collection of ghost stories unrelated to any part of the South. My rating: 1.5/10, finished 2003.
November 2, 2010
Creepy fun!
November 7, 2014
A nice collection, some based on southern legends and Native myth - it held my attention even though I am fairly sick of vampires (thanks a lot Twilight and your ilk.)
November 1, 2015
I might go so far as to give this 2.5 stars. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. Some of the supposed vampires didn't seem to be vampires at all.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews