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Classic Tales of Vampires and Shapeshifters
Dear reader, you are about to enter the realm of the vampire, that blood-sucking creature that fascinates our senses yet fills us with dread. This unique collection contains classic stories and extracts by established masters of horror such as Bram Stoker, M R James and Sheridan Le Fanu. So prepare to be thrilled, and chilled, as their bloodthirsty imaginations take you on a journey of unimaginable terror.
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First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
June 15, 2022
3.5 Stars
Loved the illustrations and the soft shiny pages. I didn’t love the stories as much as I would have hoped and it could be my mood. I’m in a weird place. So, I am keeping the book on my bookshelf and see if I feel the same a little later.
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Loved the illustrations and the soft shiny pages. I didn’t love the stories as much as I would have hoped and it could be my mood. I’m in a weird place. So, I am keeping the book on my bookshelf and see if I feel the same a little later.
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
July 10, 2012
I thought that this was a very well done book. The pictures were brilliant, and that made the stories even scarier. Althought the stories were sometimes a tad predictable, I really, really enjoyed it.
October 15, 2020
The short stories were all great. The illustrations are beautiful. Most of all I love the paper and the binding of the book.
January 7, 2018
Wow, I didn't realise what a heavy book this was - it was slightly exhausting carrying this around, but kind of worth it.
The stories collected here include some absolute classics - many I've read before, like the extracts from Dracula and Carmilla, but some I'd not heard of, like those from Rudyard Kipling, Saki and Robert E Howard. Some were pretty scary, even by today's standard, and I seriously enjoyed having a shiver over them.
Sadly, with any collection like this, the stories do become a bit the same and the 'twists' are no longer shocking as you know that they are going to have some supernatural monster in them. So better to dip in and out of rather than read in one go.
I'm also a bit ambivalent about the illustrations. Some are very good and others seem a bit cartoonish. I can see the publisher is trying to make them appeal to a wider audience, but I found many of them distracting and not actual representations of what is going on in the text. Still, only aminor gripe.
Overall, a really good read with some new favourites and new authors discovered for my wishlist!
The stories collected here include some absolute classics - many I've read before, like the extracts from Dracula and Carmilla, but some I'd not heard of, like those from Rudyard Kipling, Saki and Robert E Howard. Some were pretty scary, even by today's standard, and I seriously enjoyed having a shiver over them.
Sadly, with any collection like this, the stories do become a bit the same and the 'twists' are no longer shocking as you know that they are going to have some supernatural monster in them. So better to dip in and out of rather than read in one go.
I'm also a bit ambivalent about the illustrations. Some are very good and others seem a bit cartoonish. I can see the publisher is trying to make them appeal to a wider audience, but I found many of them distracting and not actual representations of what is going on in the text. Still, only aminor gripe.
Overall, a really good read with some new favourites and new authors discovered for my wishlist!
November 9, 2017
A great anthology with 25 truly classic horror/fantasy stories of vampires, werewolves and other creatures of the night. The haunting tales are either short stories or extracts from classic novels of the genre, from the forefathers of the genre themselves, with such authors as Lovecraft, Kipling, Bram Stoker, or the French Théophile Gautier and Maupassant. It's a big volume but easy to pick up to read a story here and there, as each tale goes from 10 to 30 pages on average, with original illustrations for each story. The book hosts some of my personal favorites, as well as some tales I had never found before, so I was not disappointed by the selection!
Would recommend to any fan of the genre.
Would recommend to any fan of the genre.
September 14, 2025
This anthology made up short stories, exacts of novels and exacts of short stories. It's quiet frustrating that it doesn't tell you that some of the stories are abridge. This is aimed at teens and it seems random the ones they abridge. The illustrations are good. They break down the stories into different stories.
I probably would recommend this anthology unless you find it really cheap or in the library.
İn THE DARK OF THE Night
Count Maganus by M R James - This is not really a vampire story or shapeshifter. It involves vampire tropes so I get why they included it but it was a choice have it be the first story.
VARNEY THE VAMPYRE by James Malcolm Rymer - Woman faint a lot in this. A random exact from the Penny Dreadful's.
The Horror From the Mound by Robert E Howard - A Spanish Vampire in America. Sadly a white man does not get his comeuppance and instead gets a Mexican man killed. 3/5 stars for spur-rowel.
The Death of Lucy by Bram Stoker : Random exact of Dracula. - Looked at the illustrations. Frankly, random choice especially as Bram Stoker does have a short story prequel to Dracula. I guess they wanted to be original. Also should have brought up Lucy's three boyfriends.
THE BEAST WİTHİN
GABRiEL-ERNEST by Saki - I was expecting this story to be here. Basically don't trust random teen boys.
A TRAGEDY OF THE FOREST by Stanley Waterloo - Set at Christmas eve and ends on Christmas day at lumbermen's camp. The lession here is not to stare in the eyes of a wolf.
THE GREY WOLF by George Macdonald - On one of the Shetland Islands, an English guy gets attacked by the wolve. Another sad ending.
THE MARK OF THE BEAST by Rudyard Kipling - A white man gets what he's deserves on New Year's Eve.
THE White WOLF OF HARTZ Mountain by Frederick Marryat - This is extract involving an evil step mother.
NAMELESS HORROR which was actually mostly Vampires. A few werewolves.
CROGLİn GRANGE - From Archdeacon Hare's Autobiography - Interesting tad bit which is meant to be from someone's true life a.k.a. autobiography.
THE OTHER SİDE: A BRETON Legend by Eric Stenbock - Werewolves are fun and autism is hard to be. Not actually that autistic but the protagonist can be that if you want. 3/5 stars for Blue Flowers.
THE ROOM in THE TOWER by E.F. Benson Benson is haunting me like a recurring nightmare which is a theme he loves apparently. Recently listened to an adaption of The Face by him. I only skimmed the actual story but nightmares being the warning of something bad is definitely there. No explanation of how his friend ended up with the house. This was a re-read. I think I read it from some random horror story site back my early days of the internet. What does in evil memory mean? No one says in good memory. 3/5 stars for Bloody hands.
THE Hound by HP Lovecraft - I think I've seen an adaption this, where of course something a lot more interesting happenings. Lovecraft's story are incredibly boring and tedious for being the foundation in which American Horror stands on the shoulders of. This is not his best.
DRACULA'S GUEST by Bram Stoker - Look its the story I was talking about earlier. It's here. I think this edited down so I went and read it online to be sure. I wish they would just say its the abridge version they putting into these books. It says it's an extract and the only that's true if they have deleted chunks in the middle. I have read this story before because it's in a lot of vampire story collections. I do think it would be a bad start to the Dracula novel since it's so in your face about something supernational going on with Dracula before we even meet him. Johnathan does get a hickey from a Wolf and if Dracula is controlling that wolf, that is incredibly gay.
Fatal Woman
The Vampire Cat of Nabéshima by Anon - Sad ending.
Mrs Anworth by E.F. Benson - Like I said I'm being haunted by Benson. I do enjoy middle-age woman being the supernational threat. Okay, she meant not be middle age and a young widow but the vibe is middle-age. Turns out Benson is homosexual. Vampires really be for the gays and men who have intense things going with other men which might not actually been homosexual in nature but still obsessed with each other. 3.5 stars for Old Bachelors.
CARMİLLA by Sheridan Le Fanu - It's exact that cuts off the start of the novelle a.k.a. the best and gayest parts. It's mostly the hunt that's left.
The Vampire Maid by Hume Nisbet- I was expecting a house keeper but it was virgin girl way. 4/5 stars for Drugged Drink.
CLARİMONDE by Theophile Gautier: God or sexily vampire that's gonna eat you is the choice apparently.
THE CAPTURED SOUL
THE HORLA by Guy de Maupassant - Cosmic Horror that apparently inspired a famous racist. This was exacted in such a way to be confusing and I should probably read the actual full version.
THE WEREWOLF by Eugene Field -Sadly, your man is werewolf and you gonna have to kill him.
AYLMER VANCE AND THE VAMPİRE by Alice and Claude Askew - Sherlock Holmes but psychic apparently. Who doesn't love a vampire curse?
VAMPİRE by Jan Neruda - A nickname for a guy who paints portraits of the dead. So minor, barely anything. 2/5 stars.
THE FREEING OF LUCY by Bram Stoker - Another exact. So what every decided to include the turning and slaying of Lucy. Basically the parts of Lucy that don't show her as a character and about the trauma of the men.
THE COLD EMBRACE by Mary E Braddon - Sort of classic vampire. Basically men aren't shit and don't date your cousins.
I probably would recommend this anthology unless you find it really cheap or in the library.
İn THE DARK OF THE Night
Count Maganus by M R James - This is not really a vampire story or shapeshifter. It involves vampire tropes so I get why they included it but it was a choice have it be the first story.
VARNEY THE VAMPYRE by James Malcolm Rymer - Woman faint a lot in this. A random exact from the Penny Dreadful's.
The Horror From the Mound by Robert E Howard - A Spanish Vampire in America. Sadly a white man does not get his comeuppance and instead gets a Mexican man killed. 3/5 stars for spur-rowel.
The Death of Lucy by Bram Stoker : Random exact of Dracula. - Looked at the illustrations. Frankly, random choice especially as Bram Stoker does have a short story prequel to Dracula. I guess they wanted to be original. Also should have brought up Lucy's three boyfriends.
THE BEAST WİTHİN
GABRiEL-ERNEST by Saki - I was expecting this story to be here. Basically don't trust random teen boys.
A TRAGEDY OF THE FOREST by Stanley Waterloo - Set at Christmas eve and ends on Christmas day at lumbermen's camp. The lession here is not to stare in the eyes of a wolf.
THE GREY WOLF by George Macdonald - On one of the Shetland Islands, an English guy gets attacked by the wolve. Another sad ending.
THE MARK OF THE BEAST by Rudyard Kipling - A white man gets what he's deserves on New Year's Eve.
THE White WOLF OF HARTZ Mountain by Frederick Marryat - This is extract involving an evil step mother.
NAMELESS HORROR which was actually mostly Vampires. A few werewolves.
CROGLİn GRANGE - From Archdeacon Hare's Autobiography - Interesting tad bit which is meant to be from someone's true life a.k.a. autobiography.
THE OTHER SİDE: A BRETON Legend by Eric Stenbock - Werewolves are fun and autism is hard to be. Not actually that autistic but the protagonist can be that if you want. 3/5 stars for Blue Flowers.
THE ROOM in THE TOWER by E.F. Benson Benson is haunting me like a recurring nightmare which is a theme he loves apparently. Recently listened to an adaption of The Face by him. I only skimmed the actual story but nightmares being the warning of something bad is definitely there. No explanation of how his friend ended up with the house. This was a re-read. I think I read it from some random horror story site back my early days of the internet. What does in evil memory mean? No one says in good memory. 3/5 stars for Bloody hands.
THE Hound by HP Lovecraft - I think I've seen an adaption this, where of course something a lot more interesting happenings. Lovecraft's story are incredibly boring and tedious for being the foundation in which American Horror stands on the shoulders of. This is not his best.
DRACULA'S GUEST by Bram Stoker - Look its the story I was talking about earlier. It's here. I think this edited down so I went and read it online to be sure. I wish they would just say its the abridge version they putting into these books. It says it's an extract and the only that's true if they have deleted chunks in the middle. I have read this story before because it's in a lot of vampire story collections. I do think it would be a bad start to the Dracula novel since it's so in your face about something supernational going on with Dracula before we even meet him. Johnathan does get a hickey from a Wolf and if Dracula is controlling that wolf, that is incredibly gay.
Fatal Woman
The Vampire Cat of Nabéshima by Anon - Sad ending.
Mrs Anworth by E.F. Benson - Like I said I'm being haunted by Benson. I do enjoy middle-age woman being the supernational threat. Okay, she meant not be middle age and a young widow but the vibe is middle-age. Turns out Benson is homosexual. Vampires really be for the gays and men who have intense things going with other men which might not actually been homosexual in nature but still obsessed with each other. 3.5 stars for Old Bachelors.
CARMİLLA by Sheridan Le Fanu - It's exact that cuts off the start of the novelle a.k.a. the best and gayest parts. It's mostly the hunt that's left.
The Vampire Maid by Hume Nisbet- I was expecting a house keeper but it was virgin girl way. 4/5 stars for Drugged Drink.
CLARİMONDE by Theophile Gautier: God or sexily vampire that's gonna eat you is the choice apparently.
THE CAPTURED SOUL
THE HORLA by Guy de Maupassant - Cosmic Horror that apparently inspired a famous racist. This was exacted in such a way to be confusing and I should probably read the actual full version.
THE WEREWOLF by Eugene Field -Sadly, your man is werewolf and you gonna have to kill him.
AYLMER VANCE AND THE VAMPİRE by Alice and Claude Askew - Sherlock Holmes but psychic apparently. Who doesn't love a vampire curse?
VAMPİRE by Jan Neruda - A nickname for a guy who paints portraits of the dead. So minor, barely anything. 2/5 stars.
THE FREEING OF LUCY by Bram Stoker - Another exact. So what every decided to include the turning and slaying of Lucy. Basically the parts of Lucy that don't show her as a character and about the trauma of the men.
THE COLD EMBRACE by Mary E Braddon - Sort of classic vampire. Basically men aren't shit and don't date your cousins.
September 3, 2014
Loved having this to read. It was so capturing and so much better than I expected. What I expected was a bunch of irrelevant stories thrown together for researches sake. What I got was vastly different. It was beautifully historical with so many various stand points and views of the darkness mankind has dreamt up.
November 2, 2017
Tan bonito como la primera vez que lo leí hace dos años.
April 14, 2020
Todella kaunis ja todella paksu antologia kauhutarinoita 1800-1900 luvun taitteen kauhukirjailijoilta. Mukana klassikkokirjailijoita, kuten Bram Stoker ja H.P. Lovecraft, mutta myös itselleni ihania uusia tuttavuuksia. Sivut olivat todella kauniisti koristeltu ja upeasti kuvitettu, todellinen lukunautinto kauhun ystäville. Hieman raskas vain kannatella, yli 500 paksua sivua. Voisin suositella tätä noin 5-luokkalaisista ylöspäin. Näkisin, että myös aikuiset kauhun ystävät saisivat tästä paksusta tiiliskivestä paljon irti.
July 27, 2023
"Por la noche cazo a cuatro patas."
-Historias Clásicas de Vampiros y Transmutantes
Siento que la principal razón de que no haya disfrutado el libro fue porque la mayoría de los relatos tenían un final abierto y yo aborrezco ese tipo de finales. Aunque las ilustraciones me parecieron muy buenas.
September 15, 2019
Man, these illustrations were just breathtaking! Also loved the creepy vibe throughout the whole book. If only I saved this for Halloween... 😅 Guess I just couldn't wait.
October 7, 2019
Love these bits of stories!! So much fun! The art is amazing. My husband got this for me at Dollar Tree. $1! You never know what you find. I've found so many great books there.
August 5, 2020
I looked the stories in this. Tig Thomas picked them well.
May 17, 2025
me lo leí en primaria, me encantó en ese entonces
April 1, 2015
Este libro es básicamente una recopilación de cuentos y relatos sobre vampiros, hombres lobos y muertos. Algunos si que me dieron un poco de miedo otros simplemente me aburrieron, pero no quiero decir que sea mal libro. Es estándar.
Tengo que mencionar la edición del libro que es preciosa, tiene tantas colores y dibujos muy bien realizados.
Tengo que mencionar la edición del libro que es preciosa, tiene tantas colores y dibujos muy bien realizados.
October 16, 2011
Scared the crap out of me! It was awesome!! :D
May 5, 2013
Todas las historias muy creepies... pero mi favorita fue El cuarto en la torre. :D
March 4, 2015
This book was amazing it is full of different kinds of tales, but almost all of them are classics and also very interesting.
July 16, 2015
Excelente :D
Un libro con ilustraciones perfectas y con historias muy buenas.
Un libro con ilustraciones perfectas y con historias muy buenas.
January 10, 2016
Enjoyable mix, with great pictures and some exquisitely lush and atmospheric writing.
January 11, 2016
If you are very easily scared, don't read this book. However, I recommend this book to everyone else. My favorite stories were those of Saki, Howard and Benson.
June 4, 2019
Me gusto mucho, cuenta con una amplia variedad de cuentos, algunos no tan conocidos, las ilustraciones están bien
July 28, 2014
Couldn't even finish it. I love me some vampire stories but these were so boring!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews