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Great Vampire Stories
This collection of 50 horror stories includes stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, Edith Wharton, Robert Aickman and J. Sheridan le Fanu.
538 pages, Paperback
First published December 14, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 5, 2024
3.0 - the worst thing about this book is that the title is false advertising.
As with most short story collections, there are going to be some that you really like and some that you don’t, which I found to be true of this collection. I enjoyed half or the stories and didn’t like the other half (usually for stylistic reasons, although there were some content choices that also pulled me back from some of them), but mostly what was disappointing was that a majority of the stories featured in this collection are not vampire stories. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few, but I feel as though ghosts, the undead, and doctors don’t really qualify for what I think of when I hear the word “vampire.”
That being said, it was fun to read some classic genre writers who may not be spotlighted in the literary canon, but it did also make it difficult since a lot of them felt like they had such a similar writing style, that although my brain was trying to reset to prepare for a new story, the next story felt stylistically similar so that it was just an overload.
If you’re looking for a collection of solely vampire stories, this isn’t the one for you, if you’re looking for something that’s just supernatural (most of the time) stories in general, then you might have better luck with this than I did.
As with most short story collections, there are going to be some that you really like and some that you don’t, which I found to be true of this collection. I enjoyed half or the stories and didn’t like the other half (usually for stylistic reasons, although there were some content choices that also pulled me back from some of them), but mostly what was disappointing was that a majority of the stories featured in this collection are not vampire stories. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few, but I feel as though ghosts, the undead, and doctors don’t really qualify for what I think of when I hear the word “vampire.”
That being said, it was fun to read some classic genre writers who may not be spotlighted in the literary canon, but it did also make it difficult since a lot of them felt like they had such a similar writing style, that although my brain was trying to reset to prepare for a new story, the next story felt stylistically similar so that it was just an overload.
If you’re looking for a collection of solely vampire stories, this isn’t the one for you, if you’re looking for something that’s just supernatural (most of the time) stories in general, then you might have better luck with this than I did.
October 24, 2024
Firstly, despite the title, this is not a book of vampire stories. It contains SOME vampire stories. However the collection also contains: ghosts, ghouls, murder, body-snatching, possession and other supernatural influences. This in no way detracts from the great storytellers featured in this collection. It is simply to point out that anyone expecting 50 vampire stories will be disappointed.
That being said there are enough chills and thrills in this book to appeal to anyone who enjoys the goosebumps of a good atmospheric horror. With stories from Bram Stoker, Mary Bradden, Edith Wharton, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan-Doyle, Edith Nesbit, and many more.
Irish readers will be pleased to find Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street" contained in this volume.
That being said there are enough chills and thrills in this book to appeal to anyone who enjoys the goosebumps of a good atmospheric horror. With stories from Bram Stoker, Mary Bradden, Edith Wharton, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan-Doyle, Edith Nesbit, and many more.
Irish readers will be pleased to find Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street" contained in this volume.
September 1, 2024
This is a huge collection of short stories with some excellent suthoris, e.g. Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edith Wharton, Rudyard Kipling, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, H.P. Lovecraft, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Not all of the stories are vampire-related. Frankly, I was grateful for that as it would have been difficult to create any surprises after 500-odd pages of vampire-related short stories! This was entertaining, amusing and chilling in turn. Very enjoyable.
April 30, 2025
540 pages
May 2, 2013
I liked these stories but it does not do what it says on the label. It is 538 pages of 47 short stories, claiming to be great "vampire" stories.
However, only about 5 of these stories are actually about vampires. If you stretch 'vampire' to mean 'walking corspe' there are about 2 more, and one story of a doctor who blood-lets charges in his patient's care.
The rest are ghost stories, or tales of supernatural and spectoral events. If you stretch 'vampire' to its loosest description, ie: revenant, then I guess you could count all the 'returned' ghost stories, but if you were expecting purely vampiric accounts, you will be disappointed by this book.
However, only about 5 of these stories are actually about vampires. If you stretch 'vampire' to mean 'walking corspe' there are about 2 more, and one story of a doctor who blood-lets charges in his patient's care.
The rest are ghost stories, or tales of supernatural and spectoral events. If you stretch 'vampire' to its loosest description, ie: revenant, then I guess you could count all the 'returned' ghost stories, but if you were expecting purely vampiric accounts, you will be disappointed by this book.
August 3, 2019
Authors include: Bram Stoker, Edgar Allen Poe, Edith Wharton, Sheridan Le Fanu, Arthur Conan Dooyle.
I read about half of the book, before I lost interest. The stories aren't bad, but they all feel very musty and antiquated - and I don't mean the classic ones only. I was basically bored.
I read about half of the book, before I lost interest. The stories aren't bad, but they all feel very musty and antiquated - and I don't mean the classic ones only. I was basically bored.
January 12, 2024
A superb collection of vampire tales, mixing classic fables with modern stories from the subtle chilling to the outright terrifying. This collection will appeal to all readers whether they're new to the genre or old hands that have read it all.
December 31, 2014
The first story intrigued me but then after reaching the rest of the short "great" stories I found it dragging. I expected more bloodbath though not just implying fear onto the readers mind.
February 10, 2018
While there are more than a few individual stories in this collection that are very much worth reading, the single biggest issue I had with this volume was the title itself.
Literally only the first few stories in the book are vampire-related. The rest of the content is MOSTLY ghost stories, but even then there are also multiple stories which would largely be considered to be satire with a bit of a spooky theme.
Also, the copy editing is far from top notch with multiple, glaring spelling and spacing issues present in several stories.
Reading this collection from cover to cover is incredibly exasperating as there is no system whatsoever to the order of the stories.
Were you interested in checking out this collection of short stories, I would recommend hopping around within the content, not burning yourself out by plodding on through many stuffy unremarkable, dated ghost stories in a row.
Literally only the first few stories in the book are vampire-related. The rest of the content is MOSTLY ghost stories, but even then there are also multiple stories which would largely be considered to be satire with a bit of a spooky theme.
Also, the copy editing is far from top notch with multiple, glaring spelling and spacing issues present in several stories.
Reading this collection from cover to cover is incredibly exasperating as there is no system whatsoever to the order of the stories.
Were you interested in checking out this collection of short stories, I would recommend hopping around within the content, not burning yourself out by plodding on through many stuffy unremarkable, dated ghost stories in a row.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews