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Girl's Night Out: Twenty-nine Female Vampire Stories
When it comes to a capacity for passion and evil, women are every bit the equal of men. This collection of nearly 30 stories features vampire villainesses whose taste for blood and lust propel them into the dark corners that define the world of the undead. Spanning the spectrum from dramatic to satiric, these stories give the predator/prey relationship that underlies all vampire literature sharp and original little Supernatural thrills meet sexual politics in inventive tales like Chet Williamson's "...To Feel Another's Woe," Fritz Leiber's "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes," Barb D'Amato's "I Vant to Be Alone," and Joanna Russ's "My Dear Emily."
542 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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About the author
Martin H. Greenberg
910 books163 followersMartin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and speculative fiction anthologist. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel.
For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.
For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.
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December 31, 2024PLACEHOLDER REVIEW - read "The Canal" for work and, since I have it in this "yet to be read" anthology (inherited from my sister's vast Vampire book collection), figured I'd note my thoughts. Also, I'm reading a bunch of Manly Wade Wellman so I pulled this off the shelf to do a pre-read of "The Last Grave Of Lill Warran."
"The Canal" by Everil Worrell - a young man with a melancholy bent for late-night, lonely wanderings finds himself at the edge of town, near the hobo shacks and a stagnant canal, which holds a half-sunk barge on which is a beautiful girl who communicates to him but refuses to come to shore and meet him during the day, at least not until the water in the canal stops moving. Giving where this story is found (and even its original source, WEIRD TALES), I don't imagine I'm giving anything away by noting that she is a vampire, stuck on the half-sunk barge until the water stops flowing. I originally ran across this story as "Death On A Barge" in the third season of NIGHT GALLERY oh-so-many-years-ago (I went back and rewatched it after reading this - it's a dreadful adaptation), and it was interesting to read the original. WEIRD TALES has a reputation for both launching great careers and fillings it pages with repetitious, sub-par material, but this Worrel story strikes me as nicely middle of the road, effective but not amazing. Some points to note - the stagnant canal in the run-down industrial section of town, out by the disreputable hobo shacks and drug dens, seems to precursor the urban horror subgenre as worked by Fritz Leiber and expanded by Ramsey Campbell. The protagonist's morbid/poetic sensibilities and worldview seem a hold over from the Decadent movement, and a precursor of goth (or at least the 50s "sick humor" phase). Finally, the ending kind of cheats in the writing of a full-blown vampire attack by many dozens of bloodsuckers (previously imprisoned in the subterranean) on a hobo village (a "pleasure camp"), eliding the action for a "next day in the news" approach. But even given that, it was still kind thrilling. A fun little story from the late 1920s.
"The Last Grave Of Lill Warran" - John Thunstone - one of Wellman occult detective characters - travels into the backwoods to hunt down local stories of a witch who was killed. He comes upon a lonely man who loved her, and is determined to respectfully bury her (although every morning her body is found out of its grave). This was a nice little surprise - Thunstone is pretty par-for-the-course as these things go (although wielding a blessed silver sword-cane is pretty bad-ass) and the story hits all of its expected pulp-action monster-hunting notes, but Wellman is careful to make the secondary note one of grief and anguished loss. Lill Warran may have been a witch (and on her death, something even worse) but Pos Parrell, a simple man, loved her from afar (not because of any enchantment) and now suffers mightily at her death. Also, we get some rural folklore magic and a shout-out to Seabury Quinn's character Jules De Grandin. I could see someone like Tom Waits giving this a really sensitive reading.
Clark Ashton Smith's "The End Of The Story" is one of his Averoigne stories set in a mythical area in France. A document describes the travails of a traveler who, bedding one night at a monastery, discovers that the Abbot shares his interest in old documents - divulging some rare examples, including a slim transcription that he quickly hides, telling the traveler it is cursed and should not be read. This, of course, leads the traveler to a bit of subterfuge so he can get his hands on this rarity which, when read, proves to be an account of a meeting with a blasphemous satyr and directions for those who would follow the narrator into deeper mysteries. So, of course, our traveler follows the directions... Not bad, more in it's side details (the resolution, in which we realize that our rescued traveler fully intends to return to the amorous evil at the first opportunity) than in the main story.
"The Canal" by Everil Worrell - a young man with a melancholy bent for late-night, lonely wanderings finds himself at the edge of town, near the hobo shacks and a stagnant canal, which holds a half-sunk barge on which is a beautiful girl who communicates to him but refuses to come to shore and meet him during the day, at least not until the water in the canal stops moving. Giving where this story is found (and even its original source, WEIRD TALES), I don't imagine I'm giving anything away by noting that she is a vampire, stuck on the half-sunk barge until the water stops flowing. I originally ran across this story as "Death On A Barge" in the third season of NIGHT GALLERY oh-so-many-years-ago (I went back and rewatched it after reading this - it's a dreadful adaptation), and it was interesting to read the original. WEIRD TALES has a reputation for both launching great careers and fillings it pages with repetitious, sub-par material, but this Worrel story strikes me as nicely middle of the road, effective but not amazing. Some points to note - the stagnant canal in the run-down industrial section of town, out by the disreputable hobo shacks and drug dens, seems to precursor the urban horror subgenre as worked by Fritz Leiber and expanded by Ramsey Campbell. The protagonist's morbid/poetic sensibilities and worldview seem a hold over from the Decadent movement, and a precursor of goth (or at least the 50s "sick humor" phase). Finally, the ending kind of cheats in the writing of a full-blown vampire attack by many dozens of bloodsuckers (previously imprisoned in the subterranean) on a hobo village (a "pleasure camp"), eliding the action for a "next day in the news" approach. But even given that, it was still kind thrilling. A fun little story from the late 1920s.
"The Last Grave Of Lill Warran" - John Thunstone - one of Wellman occult detective characters - travels into the backwoods to hunt down local stories of a witch who was killed. He comes upon a lonely man who loved her, and is determined to respectfully bury her (although every morning her body is found out of its grave). This was a nice little surprise - Thunstone is pretty par-for-the-course as these things go (although wielding a blessed silver sword-cane is pretty bad-ass) and the story hits all of its expected pulp-action monster-hunting notes, but Wellman is careful to make the secondary note one of grief and anguished loss. Lill Warran may have been a witch (and on her death, something even worse) but Pos Parrell, a simple man, loved her from afar (not because of any enchantment) and now suffers mightily at her death. Also, we get some rural folklore magic and a shout-out to Seabury Quinn's character Jules De Grandin. I could see someone like Tom Waits giving this a really sensitive reading.
Clark Ashton Smith's "The End Of The Story" is one of his Averoigne stories set in a mythical area in France. A document describes the travails of a traveler who, bedding one night at a monastery, discovers that the Abbot shares his interest in old documents - divulging some rare examples, including a slim transcription that he quickly hides, telling the traveler it is cursed and should not be read. This, of course, leads the traveler to a bit of subterfuge so he can get his hands on this rarity which, when read, proves to be an account of a meeting with a blasphemous satyr and directions for those who would follow the narrator into deeper mysteries. So, of course, our traveler follows the directions... Not bad, more in it's side details (the resolution, in which we realize that our rescued traveler fully intends to return to the amorous evil at the first opportunity) than in the main story.
August 16, 2022
Oof. I've only read one other 1 star anthology. This one really bums me out. Having read my fair share of short story collections, I know you can't win 'em all. But can we at least win some? These were more like novella length, and told more horror/suspense than they showed. Info dump short stories are a huge pet peeve for me. Like, there was one that had such promise: two women in a tiny village are discussing a recent attack on the other's daughter. And they both know the attacker is a recently deceased girl turned vampire. But, seeing as no one would believe them, one of them makes it her mission to kill/at least catch Nellie (the vamp) in the act at night. And instead of showing/describing in Gothic detail how Nellie claws her way out of the grave/into the night, it's told in past tense, reminiscent of a clinical/detached eyewitness account. Again, in reference to the page count, these stories felt like they could've been scarier had they not gone on so long. But they meandered along out of ego or contractual obligation. There were interesting ones (Ex: "The Canal" by Everil Worrel, "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes" by Fritz Leiber, both of which were adapted into segments on Rod Serling's The Night Gallery (1972), as well as "La Dame" by Tanith Lee, and "Brotherhood of Blood" by Hugh B. Cave, which weaves together a generational vampire curse, romantic love, and a friendship turned toxic). But then there's "I Vant to be Alone", in which a reporter in 1969 interviews Greta Garbo... who apparently became a vampire in order to stay relevant in Hollywood(?), I guess... Yeah, people, it's Greta Garbo fan fiction. The bright side is, there's not too many stories in here, (given its heft, I kept thinking it had many vamp vignettes). But my dear, how they do go on.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 10, 2020
men shouldnt be allowed to write about female vampires. however some of the stories were good.
May 30, 2011
Very interesting to see different takes on what it is to be a vampire. Includes stories from multiple authors and multiple cultures. If you like the vampire mythos and you like horror (some of the stories are not "pretty"), I would recommend this collection.
July 13, 2012
Some stories were awesome. The Scent of Vinegar had an amazing twist of the vampire, the head being removable was great. I thought Revelations in Black was one of the best concepts of vampire lore I've ever read. For the main character to be ensnared by reading a book is genius!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews