Vampires

Gothic Dreams

by Russ Thorne, Anne Stokes (Foreword)

The launch of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books, followed swiftly by the blockbuster movies, brought a storm of interest in gothic art, films and fiction to the willing minds of an entire generation of young adults. The lure of the forbidden and the pale seductions of the fantastic, romantic imagination are boldy brought to life in this beautiful new book which features the art of Anne Stokes and Jasmine Becket-Griffith and many others, with a fascinating text on the history of the modern vampire in books, films and art.

Genres: Vampires

128 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 2013

About the author

As a boy, Russ Thorne loved reading Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, playing Hero Quest and poring over issues of 'White Dwarf', admiring the cover art in the process. Later he studied English Literature and got to know Homer's heroes and a bit of Beowulf, before beginning a career as a writer and editor. Since then he's published books on tattoo art, body piercing and vampires and writes regularly for national newspapers including the Independent.

Reviews

[Pinkaze · Rating 2 out of 5]

My low rating is because of the writing itself.

While I did learn something, I don't like the overall tone, style, and delivery. It's super bland and doesn't sound eloquent. It isn't deep or extensively researched either.

I might as well just googled "evolution of vampires in pop culture" 🤷‍♀️

To be honest, I would've DNF or rated this 1 star if it wasn't for the art, the glossy papers, and the overall nice look of the book.

There are a handful of good illustrations from Anne Stokes, but most are just okay. I didn't think them unique or spectacular.

The other half of the pictures are just snippets from popular vampire shows like Twilight, Vampire Diaries, Buffy the Vampire slayer, etc.

[Eliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice pictures, bought it on sale and as inspiration for my imagination for writing stories. There are some basic info about vampires in modern culture, nice shots from most popular vampire tv shows, movies, books and comics/mangas. If you are a vampire mythology fan this book is one to your collection.
4* because pictures are nice but not exactly my type.

[Naz_ Zarin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most thing i like about this books are the amazing arts and graphic of vampires and also a brief history of vampire cultures in fictions. I really hope this book is has more pages to explore.

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite) · Rating 4 out of 5]

While at a Half Price books, browsing the shelves, found a couple of books, one historical fiction, one werewolves, one witches and one vampires. This I found on random while looking for a good vampire book.

The cover is beautiful, look at that background, that dress and the colors. Well done.

Anyway, this one is basically vampires popular then and now, books to movies and shows, etc.

Recognize most of the titles, some I agree with or like and others I don't. Still, the art was good.

If you like vampires, then I guess you can add this to your collection.

[Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book on sale(£2 only at The Works), cover caught my eye. Got it really for artwork.
To be honest, there's nothing else to it than just pretty pictures. That little bit of text is so basic plus I found it quite boring.
A lot of movie photos in it. Author is concentrating only on a few most popular vampires.
To me it looks like a fan book of authors favorite vampires.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these pictures, i so wish I could draw figures like this! I just wish there was more Gothic Vampire Art to look at and less photos of vampire movies you could see in any "movie companion" book!