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Dracula's Guest: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories
Michael Sims brings together the very best vampire stories of the Victorian era-from England, America, France, Germany, Transylvania, and even Japan-into a unique collection that highlights their cultural variety. Beginning with the supposedly true accounts that captivated Byron and Shelley, the stories range from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Oval Portrait" and Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" to Guy de Maupassant's "The Horla" and Mary Elizabeth Braddon's "Good Lady Ducayne." Sims also includes a nineteenth-century travel tour of Transylvanian superstitions, and rounds out the collection with Stoker's own "Dracula's Guest"-a chapter omitted from his landmark novel.
Vampires captivated the Victorians, as Sims reveals in his insightful introduction: In 1867, Karl Marx described capitalism as "dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor"; while in 1888 a London newspaper invoked vampires in trying to explain Jack the Ripper's predations. At a time when vampires have been re-created in a modern context, Dracula's Guest will remind readers young, old, and in between of why the undead won't let go of our imagination.
Vampires captivated the Victorians, as Sims reveals in his insightful introduction: In 1867, Karl Marx described capitalism as "dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor"; while in 1888 a London newspaper invoked vampires in trying to explain Jack the Ripper's predations. At a time when vampires have been re-created in a modern context, Dracula's Guest will remind readers young, old, and in between of why the undead won't let go of our imagination.
467 pages, Paperback
First published June 22, 2010
92 people are currently reading
3726 people want to read
About the author
Michael Sims
53 books69 followersMichael Sims is the author of the acclaimed "The Story of Charlotte's Web, Apollo's Fire: A Day on Earth in Nature and Imagination," "Adam's Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Form," and editor of "Dracula's Guest: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories" and "The Dead Witness: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Detective Stories." He lives in western Pennsylvania.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
March 19, 2011
I'm very late getting back to this. Horror anthologies are usually mixed bags, but this one, while not cover to cover great, is definitely worth seeking out. To be honest, I'm kind of burned out on vampires, due to all the current Twilight crap. What caught my attention here, was the blurb from Maria Tartar praising editor Michael Sims for his effort. Tartar is a professor and noted author who specializes in folklore and fairy tales. That, to me, signaled something about Sims' approach. And I was not disappointed. The first hundred pages or so, are foundational and not Victorian, but more the product of the Romantic era. The first two "stories" ("They Opened the Graves" and "Dead Persons in Hungary") are more like journalistic fragments. Fragments that seem modern and matter of fact tone. And pretty damned creepy as a result. I believe these pieces were written as reported fact -- as the writers understood it. What follows next is a strange, and well done, story by Lord Byron, "The End of My Journey." The "vampire" in this story, doesn't follow the current definition of vampire (he moves around in daylight). He's more like Hawthorne's "Ethan Brand" with his unpardonable sin eating him up. Some of these early stories within this collection are fascinating due to the fact that official vampire rules have not yet set in. As a result, the authors follow their imaginations rather than a creature checklist.
Next up is Polidori's "Vampyre," which kind of sucks (and rips off Byron's effort), but Sims threw into the collection for Vampire history's sake. But the next story, "Wake Not the Dead," attributed to Johan Ludwig Tieck, is one of the winners in this collection. The story is a vampire story, but it's also a piece of Germanic high fantasy that reminded me a bit of Tolkien. Outstanding in every way. "The Deathly Lover," by Theophile Gauthier, is also worth a look. It's about a horny novice priest, tempted by a rich (and hot) vampire. Well done story that's very Gothic (think Melmoth or The Monk). What follows these two is "The Family of the Vourdalek," by Aleksei Tolstoy (he was related to Leo). "Vourdalek" is one of the best vampire stories that I've ever read. You have the classic vampire elements starting to coalesce into a recognizable (to the modern reader) pattern. It's about a young aristocrat and dandy traveling through eastern Europe, who stops and stays for a while with a Serbian family. The patriarch has gone missing while hunting a bandit, and there's great concern as to just what he will be like when he returns. The aristocrat also has his eyes on a young woman in the house. This one has it all. Folklore and culture through good descriptive writing (remember those opening scenes in the old Dracula move?), sexual attraction, and lots of dread. Read this story!
At this point in the collection, my interest began to wane a bit. Oh, there are some good stories, but you do feel a rigidity and sameness start to set in. Normally, when I do these short story anthology reviews, I try and touch on all the stories, but since some time has past I'll just briefly mention a few more high points.
"Death and Burial -- Vampires and Werewolves," by Emily Gerard. Not a story, but an excerpt from a travel book on Transylvania. Stoker reportedly relied on this book for vampire details. Fascinating reading.
"Let Loose," by Mary Cholmondely. A long sealed (for good reason) tomb is opened by an architect wanting to study it. One of the better stories in this collection (though one could argue it's more a ghost story than a vampire one). This one could of easily been written by M.R. James (and that's high praise from me). Excellent find by Sims. I've never heard of this author before.
"And the Creature Came In," by Augustus Hare. Brief, brutal, and surprisingly (for the Victorian era) straight to the point story about something at the window. Remember Danny Glick?
"The Tomb of Sarah," by F.G. Loring. Another long sealed tomb is opened. This one has a very M.R. James feel to it, and it's also pretty good. Not quite as good as "Let Loose," but in the top tier of what's in the collection.
"Luella Miller," by Mary Wilkins Freeman. Coming late in the collection, this story came as a nice surprise, since it's a kind of vampire story, but not in the conventional sense. Luella wants and needs someone to take care of her. Set in a small town in the U.S., this story is one that I would classify as modern as opposed to Victorian. It's also one of the best stories in the collection. Highly recommended.
"Count Magnus," by M.R. James. To be honest, I'm not sure I thought about Magnus specifically as a vampire, but it's there, no doubt. Whatever the case, I feel this one of the great horror stories of all time.
"Darcula's Guest," by Bram Stoker. Our wild and wonderful boy closes things up with a really cool prequel story to "Dracula."
Next up is Polidori's "Vampyre," which kind of sucks (and rips off Byron's effort), but Sims threw into the collection for Vampire history's sake. But the next story, "Wake Not the Dead," attributed to Johan Ludwig Tieck, is one of the winners in this collection. The story is a vampire story, but it's also a piece of Germanic high fantasy that reminded me a bit of Tolkien. Outstanding in every way. "The Deathly Lover," by Theophile Gauthier, is also worth a look. It's about a horny novice priest, tempted by a rich (and hot) vampire. Well done story that's very Gothic (think Melmoth or The Monk). What follows these two is "The Family of the Vourdalek," by Aleksei Tolstoy (he was related to Leo). "Vourdalek" is one of the best vampire stories that I've ever read. You have the classic vampire elements starting to coalesce into a recognizable (to the modern reader) pattern. It's about a young aristocrat and dandy traveling through eastern Europe, who stops and stays for a while with a Serbian family. The patriarch has gone missing while hunting a bandit, and there's great concern as to just what he will be like when he returns. The aristocrat also has his eyes on a young woman in the house. This one has it all. Folklore and culture through good descriptive writing (remember those opening scenes in the old Dracula move?), sexual attraction, and lots of dread. Read this story!
At this point in the collection, my interest began to wane a bit. Oh, there are some good stories, but you do feel a rigidity and sameness start to set in. Normally, when I do these short story anthology reviews, I try and touch on all the stories, but since some time has past I'll just briefly mention a few more high points.
"Death and Burial -- Vampires and Werewolves," by Emily Gerard. Not a story, but an excerpt from a travel book on Transylvania. Stoker reportedly relied on this book for vampire details. Fascinating reading.
"Let Loose," by Mary Cholmondely. A long sealed (for good reason) tomb is opened by an architect wanting to study it. One of the better stories in this collection (though one could argue it's more a ghost story than a vampire one). This one could of easily been written by M.R. James (and that's high praise from me). Excellent find by Sims. I've never heard of this author before.
"And the Creature Came In," by Augustus Hare. Brief, brutal, and surprisingly (for the Victorian era) straight to the point story about something at the window. Remember Danny Glick?
"The Tomb of Sarah," by F.G. Loring. Another long sealed tomb is opened. This one has a very M.R. James feel to it, and it's also pretty good. Not quite as good as "Let Loose," but in the top tier of what's in the collection.
"Luella Miller," by Mary Wilkins Freeman. Coming late in the collection, this story came as a nice surprise, since it's a kind of vampire story, but not in the conventional sense. Luella wants and needs someone to take care of her. Set in a small town in the U.S., this story is one that I would classify as modern as opposed to Victorian. It's also one of the best stories in the collection. Highly recommended.
"Count Magnus," by M.R. James. To be honest, I'm not sure I thought about Magnus specifically as a vampire, but it's there, no doubt. Whatever the case, I feel this one of the great horror stories of all time.
"Darcula's Guest," by Bram Stoker. Our wild and wonderful boy closes things up with a really cool prequel story to "Dracula."
April 4, 2020
Vampire stories aren't just for angst-ridden teenagers who fantasize about guys breaking into the bedrooms to watch them sleep. They are - consistently, from Polidori to Twilight - about sex: more specifically, our weird sexual hangups. This collection makes that clear, shedding a light on the 19th century's obsession with women and their increasing (and, clearly, terrifying) insistence on owning their sexuality. Oh, and loads of repressed homosexuality. My favorite, though, is Mary Elizabeth Braddon's "Good Lady Ducayne," which happens to be the exception that proves the rule; that one's more about mothers than fucking.
The big hit here is "The Vampyre" by Polidori, though. It's known as the first English vampire story; its claim to fame is that it's the other famous story made up during the infamous Villa Diodati weekend in which Byron and Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley had a ghost story contest that Mary won. Polidori was Lord Byron's "personal physician," which I'm pretty sure is just "my bro Poli's gonna come to the party, cool?" "ugh, fine, whatever," and he ripped The Vampyre off from Byron to some degree or other. If nothing else, he ripped off Byron himself: Lord Ruthven is modeled on Byron, who had the sort of dark and brooding sexuality one usually finds in Bronte novels.
They dug up Byron's corpse once and his dick was still hard.
Wherever it came from, The Vampyre is a decent story inexpertly told. It hits and codifies several vampire tropes: Byronic men with secrets, stormy woods at night, swooning virgins. It's maybe the first time vampires have been defined as aristocrats, rather than savage monsters - one big reason for their enduring success. The story ends like a cat pushing a glass off the counter, abrupt and unsatisfying. Up until then, though, it's decent. It's no worse written than Dracula, if we're being honest. It's not really worse than Byron's own contribution back at the Villa Diodati, "The End of my Journey," which is also in this collection; it's just one scene devoid of context, but it's evocative.
The big hit here is "The Vampyre" by Polidori, though. It's known as the first English vampire story; its claim to fame is that it's the other famous story made up during the infamous Villa Diodati weekend in which Byron and Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley had a ghost story contest that Mary won. Polidori was Lord Byron's "personal physician," which I'm pretty sure is just "my bro Poli's gonna come to the party, cool?" "ugh, fine, whatever," and he ripped The Vampyre off from Byron to some degree or other. If nothing else, he ripped off Byron himself: Lord Ruthven is modeled on Byron, who had the sort of dark and brooding sexuality one usually finds in Bronte novels.
They dug up Byron's corpse once and his dick was still hard.
Wherever it came from, The Vampyre is a decent story inexpertly told. It hits and codifies several vampire tropes: Byronic men with secrets, stormy woods at night, swooning virgins. It's maybe the first time vampires have been defined as aristocrats, rather than savage monsters - one big reason for their enduring success. The story ends like a cat pushing a glass off the counter, abrupt and unsatisfying. Up until then, though, it's decent. It's no worse written than Dracula, if we're being honest. It's not really worse than Byron's own contribution back at the Villa Diodati, "The End of my Journey," which is also in this collection; it's just one scene devoid of context, but it's evocative.
March 3, 2021
I recently picked up this anthology again after a hiatus of three years and finished reading it over a weekend. To be honest I can’t really explain why I had lost interest midway through it the first-time round, because this is a highly readable anthology of vampire tales.
The book’s subtitle – A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories – gives a good indication of what lies buried between its covers. I’m not too sure, however, whether it is helpful to describe the works within as “Victorian”, which suggests that the stories are exclusively by English authors of (more or less) the 19th Century. Although the Victorian era is the main source for the material in this anthology, editor Michael Sims casts his net much wider. He starts, for instance with two accounts of purportedly real-life vampiric manifestations, by 18th Century French authors Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d’Argens and Antoine Augustin Calmet. There follow Lord Byron’s “The End of My Journey” and Polidori’s “The Vampire”, generally considered the prototypes of English vampire fiction. Again, they precede the Victorian era. On the other hand, M.R. James’s classic story “Count Magnus” and Alice and Claude Askew’s “Aylmer Vance and the Vampire” are probably too late to be considered “Victorian”.
Alongside British authors, Sims includes works by Continental (Johann Ludwig Tieck, Gautier, Aleksei Tolstoy) and American (Mary E. Wilkins Freeman) authors. For greater variety, the anthology also features “vampires” of a figurative nature – indeed, whilst all tales feature the supernatural, some of the ‘monsters’ within are not always of the bloodsucking type.
As for this being a “connoisseur’s collection”, I would say that this is a fair description. Editor Michael Sims cannily mixes the familiar with unfamiliar, with works by established authors of horror fiction (Bram Stoker, M.R. James) sitting alongside lesser-known pieces – such as an extract from Emily Gerard’s retellings of Transylvanian lore, which would exert a marked influence on Stoker’s Dracula. This should make this volume attractive both to newcomers to the genre and to more seasoned vampire buffs. A foreword to the collection and a brief biographical introduction to each story completes a captivating anthology.
https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...
The book’s subtitle – A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories – gives a good indication of what lies buried between its covers. I’m not too sure, however, whether it is helpful to describe the works within as “Victorian”, which suggests that the stories are exclusively by English authors of (more or less) the 19th Century. Although the Victorian era is the main source for the material in this anthology, editor Michael Sims casts his net much wider. He starts, for instance with two accounts of purportedly real-life vampiric manifestations, by 18th Century French authors Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d’Argens and Antoine Augustin Calmet. There follow Lord Byron’s “The End of My Journey” and Polidori’s “The Vampire”, generally considered the prototypes of English vampire fiction. Again, they precede the Victorian era. On the other hand, M.R. James’s classic story “Count Magnus” and Alice and Claude Askew’s “Aylmer Vance and the Vampire” are probably too late to be considered “Victorian”.
Alongside British authors, Sims includes works by Continental (Johann Ludwig Tieck, Gautier, Aleksei Tolstoy) and American (Mary E. Wilkins Freeman) authors. For greater variety, the anthology also features “vampires” of a figurative nature – indeed, whilst all tales feature the supernatural, some of the ‘monsters’ within are not always of the bloodsucking type.
As for this being a “connoisseur’s collection”, I would say that this is a fair description. Editor Michael Sims cannily mixes the familiar with unfamiliar, with works by established authors of horror fiction (Bram Stoker, M.R. James) sitting alongside lesser-known pieces – such as an extract from Emily Gerard’s retellings of Transylvanian lore, which would exert a marked influence on Stoker’s Dracula. This should make this volume attractive both to newcomers to the genre and to more seasoned vampire buffs. A foreword to the collection and a brief biographical introduction to each story completes a captivating anthology.
https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...
July 20, 2017
Before Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Hollywood shaped the image of the vampire into what it is today, vampires stalked the pages of nineteenth century literature. The Undead fueled the creative imaginations of countless writers. Edited by Michael Sims, this is an anthology of vampire stories from the Victorian era and it is quite a treat! I enjoyed it very much. It includes great stories such as: The Vampyre by John Polidori, Wake Not the Dead by Johann Ludwig Tieck, The Family of the Vourdalak which is a story about a family of vampires by Aleksei Tolstoy, Varney the Vampyre by James Malcolm Rymer, and Death and Burial-Vampires and Werewolves by Emily Gerard…Just to name a few. It also includes Dracula’s Guest the chapter that was “arguementably”, cut out of Bram Stoker’s Dracula by his publisher.
I really enjoyed reading this anthology. I think my favorite story in here was The Tomb of Sarah by F.G. Loring, which features a female vampire who is awakened from her tomb after she’s been sleeping for two-hundred years resulting in her evil rampage on the living. I also enjoyed Death and Burial-Vampires and Werewolves, which is actually a chapter taken out of Emily Gerard’s book, Land Beyond the Forest which contains the creepy beliefs and traditions of dealing with the dead and the Undead in Transylvania...and was also a major influence on Bram Stoker when writing Dracula. Some stories I did not care for, but of course you’ll find that with any anthology. However I found it extremely entertaining. I would recommend this book to the ultimate, die-hard vampire fan. You have to really love vampire stories to get truly savor this feast.
I really enjoyed reading this anthology. I think my favorite story in here was The Tomb of Sarah by F.G. Loring, which features a female vampire who is awakened from her tomb after she’s been sleeping for two-hundred years resulting in her evil rampage on the living. I also enjoyed Death and Burial-Vampires and Werewolves, which is actually a chapter taken out of Emily Gerard’s book, Land Beyond the Forest which contains the creepy beliefs and traditions of dealing with the dead and the Undead in Transylvania...and was also a major influence on Bram Stoker when writing Dracula. Some stories I did not care for, but of course you’ll find that with any anthology. However I found it extremely entertaining. I would recommend this book to the ultimate, die-hard vampire fan. You have to really love vampire stories to get truly savor this feast.
March 25, 2024
Okay, so you know how there are 5-star books? This is a 5-star book if I ever saw one!! When I went to my local library for the first time in ages, I saw this book on the shelf and thought: "That looks pretty fun. Let's give it a try". I never imagined I would get this much joy out of it. This collection of Victorian Vampire Stories is so unbelievably good. If you're into vampires, please do yourself a favour and find a copy to read.
The introduction to this book blew me away. Michael Sims, the creator of this collection, talks about many things that give the reader a great understanding of what this collection is all about. He explains why and how he was drawn to vampires in his childhood and continues to provide insightful information on what Victorian Vampire stories are. He discusses specific themes and symbols that often return in vampire stories, but he also speaks about different vampire legends and vampire folklore across the globe. The author also discusses different kinds of vampires, such as the psychic vampire (shout out to my boy Collin Robinson), but also how capitalism is a form of vampirism. The creator of this collection also shares interesting historical facts about what people believed to be a sign of vampirism. It was just an incredibly strong introduction with lots of facts and interesting information. Michael Sims really understands the topic and it shows.
As I said, the collection did not disappoint! There are some great stories in this collection, which are diverse and speak to the imagination. They are eerie, they are gruesome, they are sad, they are entertaining. Of course, some stories were better than others. That's what happens in a collection. The book started very strong, but towards the end, there were a few stories which kinda let me down? It didn't ruin the experience though!
What I also loved, was that there was a short introduction (1 or 2 pages) about the author(s) of each story. That way, you got to know a bit about who wrote the story before diving into it. It provided insight into the circumstances under which it was written and what kind of person wrote the story. It added something to the reading experience! There are lot's of female authors included in this collection as well, which I simply adore.
I have written mini-reviews for each of the 22 short stories, but if I were to post them on here it would be a book on its own. So I'll just share the lists with the amount of stars I have given each of them.
5 stars
- They Opened the Graves (Jean-Baptiste de Boyer)
- Wake Not the Dead (Attributed to Johann Ludwig Tieck)
- The Family of the Vourdalak (Aleksei Tolstoy)
- Varney the Vampire (James Malcom Rymer)
- Death and Burial - Vampires and Werewolves (Emily Gerard)
- The Tomb of Sarah (F.G. Loring)
- Dracula's Guest (Bram Stoker)
- And the Creature Came In (Augustus Hare)
4 stars
-The End of My Journey (George Gordon)
- The Deathly Lover (Théophile Gautier)
3 stars
- Dead Persons in Hungary (Antoine Augustine Calmet)
- The Vampyre (John Polidori)
- What Was It? ( Fitz-James O'Brien)
- A Mystery of the Campagna (Anne Crawford)
- Let Loose (Mary Cholmondeley)
- Good Lady Ducane (Mary Elizabeth Braddon)
- Aylmer Vance and the Vampire (Alice and Claude Askew)
2 stars
- The Mysterious Stranger (Anonymous)
- A True Story of a Vampire (Eric, Count Stenbock)
- The Vampire Maid (Hume Nisbet)
- Count Magnus (M.R. James)
1 star
- Luella Miller (Mary E. Wikins Freeman)
I am so happy that I picked this book to read from the library! And as luck would have it, it's currently being reprinted! So, I ordered a copy at one of my local bookstores. Can't wait to own it, reread it and annotate!
The introduction to this book blew me away. Michael Sims, the creator of this collection, talks about many things that give the reader a great understanding of what this collection is all about. He explains why and how he was drawn to vampires in his childhood and continues to provide insightful information on what Victorian Vampire stories are. He discusses specific themes and symbols that often return in vampire stories, but he also speaks about different vampire legends and vampire folklore across the globe. The author also discusses different kinds of vampires, such as the psychic vampire (shout out to my boy Collin Robinson), but also how capitalism is a form of vampirism. The creator of this collection also shares interesting historical facts about what people believed to be a sign of vampirism. It was just an incredibly strong introduction with lots of facts and interesting information. Michael Sims really understands the topic and it shows.
As I said, the collection did not disappoint! There are some great stories in this collection, which are diverse and speak to the imagination. They are eerie, they are gruesome, they are sad, they are entertaining. Of course, some stories were better than others. That's what happens in a collection. The book started very strong, but towards the end, there were a few stories which kinda let me down? It didn't ruin the experience though!
What I also loved, was that there was a short introduction (1 or 2 pages) about the author(s) of each story. That way, you got to know a bit about who wrote the story before diving into it. It provided insight into the circumstances under which it was written and what kind of person wrote the story. It added something to the reading experience! There are lot's of female authors included in this collection as well, which I simply adore.
I have written mini-reviews for each of the 22 short stories, but if I were to post them on here it would be a book on its own. So I'll just share the lists with the amount of stars I have given each of them.
5 stars
- They Opened the Graves (Jean-Baptiste de Boyer)
- Wake Not the Dead (Attributed to Johann Ludwig Tieck)
- The Family of the Vourdalak (Aleksei Tolstoy)
- Varney the Vampire (James Malcom Rymer)
- Death and Burial - Vampires and Werewolves (Emily Gerard)
- The Tomb of Sarah (F.G. Loring)
- Dracula's Guest (Bram Stoker)
- And the Creature Came In (Augustus Hare)
4 stars
-The End of My Journey (George Gordon)
- The Deathly Lover (Théophile Gautier)
3 stars
- Dead Persons in Hungary (Antoine Augustine Calmet)
- The Vampyre (John Polidori)
- What Was It? ( Fitz-James O'Brien)
- A Mystery of the Campagna (Anne Crawford)
- Let Loose (Mary Cholmondeley)
- Good Lady Ducane (Mary Elizabeth Braddon)
- Aylmer Vance and the Vampire (Alice and Claude Askew)
2 stars
- The Mysterious Stranger (Anonymous)
- A True Story of a Vampire (Eric, Count Stenbock)
- The Vampire Maid (Hume Nisbet)
- Count Magnus (M.R. James)
1 star
- Luella Miller (Mary E. Wikins Freeman)
I am so happy that I picked this book to read from the library! And as luck would have it, it's currently being reprinted! So, I ordered a copy at one of my local bookstores. Can't wait to own it, reread it and annotate!
July 28, 2024
I'm doing a deep dive into old vampire fiction, so I am digging into this collection of Victorian era stories.
It is an interesting collection, not just for the fiction, but also for the context. The stories are in chronological order, and each includes a piece about the author, their inspiration, and their literary life.
If you read the stories in order, you can see how vampire lore grew over time into the modern vampire we all recognize today. (A few non-fiction accounts of "real life" vampires kick off the collection. You can see how they would have inspired gothic fiction writers.)
I was originally drawn to this book because I love reading stories that are also made into movies. This collection includes Tolstoy's "Family of the Vourdalak," which was made into Boris Karloff's "The Wurdulak" in 1963's Black Sabbath horror anthology movie, and the recent French film, "The Vourdalak."
But I stayed for the other stories, like "Wake not the dead" by Johann Ludwig Tieck, "Varney the Vampire" byJames M Rymer, and "The Tomb of Sarah" by FG Loring. Yes, you can find all of the stories in this collection on line, somewhere, in the public domain, but having them all in one place, in order and in historical context is kind of awesome.
(We also get to see how hard Lord Byron phoned it in during the weekend monster story writing contest that gave us Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Yeah. He blew it.)
It's definitely worth checking out if you are a next-level monster geek like I am. Just beware. Some of the earlier stories are so flowery and overly wordy that it can be hard for a modern reader to stick with them.
Important to note: This one has a lot of shorter works, but only has single chapters and introductions to the longer ones like, Varney the Vampire. That's a bummer if you are expecting the full work of larger stories, but really good if you want to see what it's all about before you commit, or want the big picture of the history and evolution of vampire stories.
It is an interesting collection, not just for the fiction, but also for the context. The stories are in chronological order, and each includes a piece about the author, their inspiration, and their literary life.
If you read the stories in order, you can see how vampire lore grew over time into the modern vampire we all recognize today. (A few non-fiction accounts of "real life" vampires kick off the collection. You can see how they would have inspired gothic fiction writers.)
I was originally drawn to this book because I love reading stories that are also made into movies. This collection includes Tolstoy's "Family of the Vourdalak," which was made into Boris Karloff's "The Wurdulak" in 1963's Black Sabbath horror anthology movie, and the recent French film, "The Vourdalak."
But I stayed for the other stories, like "Wake not the dead" by Johann Ludwig Tieck, "Varney the Vampire" byJames M Rymer, and "The Tomb of Sarah" by FG Loring. Yes, you can find all of the stories in this collection on line, somewhere, in the public domain, but having them all in one place, in order and in historical context is kind of awesome.
(We also get to see how hard Lord Byron phoned it in during the weekend monster story writing contest that gave us Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Yeah. He blew it.)
It's definitely worth checking out if you are a next-level monster geek like I am. Just beware. Some of the earlier stories are so flowery and overly wordy that it can be hard for a modern reader to stick with them.
Important to note: This one has a lot of shorter works, but only has single chapters and introductions to the longer ones like, Varney the Vampire. That's a bummer if you are expecting the full work of larger stories, but really good if you want to see what it's all about before you commit, or want the big picture of the history and evolution of vampire stories.
November 26, 2012
Review from Badelynge.
Victorian Vampire Stories! Well I don't know about you, but I'm sold already. Michael Sims begins his collection by making excuses. Not all of the stories are Victorian, either by era, locality or the holder of the pen that spawned them. I'm still sold. And this is despite Sims' efforts to shake me from my purchase with a stumbling beginning to the collection. To get to the good stuff we have to climb over the scattered rough debris of several supposed true accounts preceded by Sims' introduction, filled with personal asides and an unconscionable concluding paragraph, which seems to hold up Stephanie Meyer as some kind of guru and ultimate literary culmination of the genre.
Each story begins with a short essay from Sims that include some biographical information of the authors and an examination of their story's place within the literary development of the Vampire genre, particularly in how they might have influenced Bram Stoker.
Byron's incomplete effort, conceived on the same famous night that would birth Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, gives way to his friend John Polidori's story featuring his Vampyre, a bloodsucker hardly indistinguishable from Byron himself. The vampire as a seductive parasite is prevalent throughout the collection, the main plot being generally either the victim's struggle to free themselves from their wasting doom as in Tieck's Wake Not The Dead or Gautier's The Deathly Lover, or the same scenario featuring the victim's friends trying to break the spell as in Anne Crawford's A Mystery of the Capagna.
Limits of the genre aside, there are some excellent stories here, like the unattributed The Mysterious Stranger, without which Stoker's Dracula would surely have turned out differently; Mary Elizabeth Braddon's challenging atmospheric Good Lady Ducayne; M,R,James' Count Magnus, finding a more comfortable home here away from the ghosts and demons of his anthologies and Aleksei Tolstoy 's doomed Family of the Vourdalak. Sometimes it's just a moment in the story that sets it above other stories like the nightmarish slow invasion of the room by the long fingered blood sucker picking the lead from the window glass in Augustus Hare's And The Creature Came In.
Not all the stories are of such high standard though. The first chapter of Rymer's Varney the Vampire is included here, hugely popular in its day and even influential, but whose peculiar style reads often like an extended list of stage directions. Thankfully we are spared the remaining 108 instalments. Aylmer Vance and the Vampire by Alice and Claude Askew, a sort of supernatural investigator hybrid of Holmes and Watson crossed with John Silence but without much flare, wit or invention. Other stories score high on the creep-o-meter but are questionable as true vampire stories e.g. What Was it? & Let Loose.
The anthology concludes with the title story, billed as an omitted chapter from Dracula, though I would surmise that it was more of a false start by Stoker before he committed to the epistolary format.
I recommend this book for all connoisseurs of the vampire story and its literary evolution, vampire lovers or just seekers of chills before bedtime.
Victorian Vampire Stories! Well I don't know about you, but I'm sold already. Michael Sims begins his collection by making excuses. Not all of the stories are Victorian, either by era, locality or the holder of the pen that spawned them. I'm still sold. And this is despite Sims' efforts to shake me from my purchase with a stumbling beginning to the collection. To get to the good stuff we have to climb over the scattered rough debris of several supposed true accounts preceded by Sims' introduction, filled with personal asides and an unconscionable concluding paragraph, which seems to hold up Stephanie Meyer as some kind of guru and ultimate literary culmination of the genre.
Each story begins with a short essay from Sims that include some biographical information of the authors and an examination of their story's place within the literary development of the Vampire genre, particularly in how they might have influenced Bram Stoker.
Byron's incomplete effort, conceived on the same famous night that would birth Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, gives way to his friend John Polidori's story featuring his Vampyre, a bloodsucker hardly indistinguishable from Byron himself. The vampire as a seductive parasite is prevalent throughout the collection, the main plot being generally either the victim's struggle to free themselves from their wasting doom as in Tieck's Wake Not The Dead or Gautier's The Deathly Lover, or the same scenario featuring the victim's friends trying to break the spell as in Anne Crawford's A Mystery of the Capagna.
Limits of the genre aside, there are some excellent stories here, like the unattributed The Mysterious Stranger, without which Stoker's Dracula would surely have turned out differently; Mary Elizabeth Braddon's challenging atmospheric Good Lady Ducayne; M,R,James' Count Magnus, finding a more comfortable home here away from the ghosts and demons of his anthologies and Aleksei Tolstoy 's doomed Family of the Vourdalak. Sometimes it's just a moment in the story that sets it above other stories like the nightmarish slow invasion of the room by the long fingered blood sucker picking the lead from the window glass in Augustus Hare's And The Creature Came In.
Not all the stories are of such high standard though. The first chapter of Rymer's Varney the Vampire is included here, hugely popular in its day and even influential, but whose peculiar style reads often like an extended list of stage directions. Thankfully we are spared the remaining 108 instalments. Aylmer Vance and the Vampire by Alice and Claude Askew, a sort of supernatural investigator hybrid of Holmes and Watson crossed with John Silence but without much flare, wit or invention. Other stories score high on the creep-o-meter but are questionable as true vampire stories e.g. What Was it? & Let Loose.
The anthology concludes with the title story, billed as an omitted chapter from Dracula, though I would surmise that it was more of a false start by Stoker before he committed to the epistolary format.
I recommend this book for all connoisseurs of the vampire story and its literary evolution, vampire lovers or just seekers of chills before bedtime.
July 22, 2010
I've been a fan of vampire stories for a long time, ever since learning about my mother reading Anne Rice. Of course, I shy away from the more modern romantic vampire stories and find myself loving the old, We-Suck-Your-Blood-To-Kill-You vampires.
Michael Sims has created a magnificent collection of stories that Vampire Connoisseurs will know - and some that they might not! I applaud his leaving out of certain stories because of their already popular status (Le Fanu's "Carmilla" for one) in favor of those that may be a little less well-known.
I've read a few of them before (particularly "The Family Vourdalak" and "The Vampyre", and the title story) but I found some that I'd never heard of (examples being "Wake Not the Dead" and "What Was It?"). He also includes some "background" information in the first part which are more, for lack of a better words, "scholarly" than stories.
What's very interesting about this collection is that he not only includes blood-suckers, but a few psychic vampires. It's interesting to read how they're similar and how they affect their victims. And don't think this is all male vampire-female human relationships! You'll find a variety here.
Will I reread this? Yes, definitely. Do I recommend it? To anyone who likes vampires, be it the modern day incarnation such as Edward Cullen (though they may be disappointed; these vamps don't sparkle and aren't vegetarians and romantic) or the original, true, scary beast that is cursed with living off human life.
(Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC)
Michael Sims has created a magnificent collection of stories that Vampire Connoisseurs will know - and some that they might not! I applaud his leaving out of certain stories because of their already popular status (Le Fanu's "Carmilla" for one) in favor of those that may be a little less well-known.
I've read a few of them before (particularly "The Family Vourdalak" and "The Vampyre", and the title story) but I found some that I'd never heard of (examples being "Wake Not the Dead" and "What Was It?"). He also includes some "background" information in the first part which are more, for lack of a better words, "scholarly" than stories.
What's very interesting about this collection is that he not only includes blood-suckers, but a few psychic vampires. It's interesting to read how they're similar and how they affect their victims. And don't think this is all male vampire-female human relationships! You'll find a variety here.
Will I reread this? Yes, definitely. Do I recommend it? To anyone who likes vampires, be it the modern day incarnation such as Edward Cullen (though they may be disappointed; these vamps don't sparkle and aren't vegetarians and romantic) or the original, true, scary beast that is cursed with living off human life.
(Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC)
Read
November 14, 2017Epic. The story -(Dracula's Guest)- was better than 'Dracula' itself, in my humble opinion.!!!
Long may he fang -I mean, Reign! Lolol 👄
Long may he fang -I mean, Reign! Lolol 👄
August 3, 2020
An interesting look at the sources of Vampire fiction, but I admit I found many of the stories dry and hard to read.
February 5, 2018
reading the tales in this book makes me wonder how writing ever made it as a career for anyone after the Romantic/Victorian ages... people used to work all damned day, so who had the time to read the exhaustingly long sentences, paragraphs, and stories of the times??? joking, obviously... but seriously, the endless goings on about a person, place, or idea is amazing to me... one either loves this type of writing, which i do, or one does not, which i do not not... hah! the bios as forewords are as much fun, and in some cases more fun, as the stories themselves... neat to see the progression of the vampire mythos and how similar it is across cultures, which could speak to a single origin or just that people fear the same things no matter where they live... the inclusion of many of the 'tropes' is fun too (garlic, pale skin, overt/covert sexuality, homoeroticism, etherealism, foggy/misty venues, stakes, anemia, curses, the Other).. if the reader knows their history, one is able to understand how something like a 'vampyre' comes to be, how different people's lives were just a century or so earlier... easy to forget the advances in medicine, the life sciences, anatomy, care of the dead, and our actual understandings about disease transmission and the like... not so long ago people were quite 'primitive' in their thinking and beliefs, huh? i LOVE vampire fiction, and though some of these stories were less 'traditional' vampire tales, they all share enough similarity and expound in their own way on the fear of the unknown... Dracula would be happy to know he can still incite fear and eros in equal measure...
May 8, 2012
Michael Sims' collection of vampire tales spans a wide range of authors and styles. He begins by setting the table, so to speak, with a helping of preVictorian tales and even some "factual" accounts of vampire activities reported by various individuals. The second section of the book contains tales from the Victorian era and the last section, tales from the years just following the Victorian era when the Victorian influence was still strong.
There were very few tales included in this collection that I did not like and even those I appreciated for their fit within the collection. Sims provides an excellent preface to each tale, providing us with a historical picture of the author and what made them or their tale important.
Overall, this collection is a fascinating exploration of the origins of the vampire in modern literature and should appeal to a wide array of readers from fans of vampire fiction to fans of Victorian literature to short story readers to history buffs.
There were very few tales included in this collection that I did not like and even those I appreciated for their fit within the collection. Sims provides an excellent preface to each tale, providing us with a historical picture of the author and what made them or their tale important.
Overall, this collection is a fascinating exploration of the origins of the vampire in modern literature and should appeal to a wide array of readers from fans of vampire fiction to fans of Victorian literature to short story readers to history buffs.
September 14, 2014
A superior collection. A good number of the stories in this anthology brush the level of the literary. "Mystery of the Campagna," for example, seems almost an experiment by Poe or Hawthorne in the genre of vampire fiction, leaving the reader to wish the baroness, Anne, had contributed more than one lone book to American literature. Well-edited, arranged, and introduced.
April 14, 2021
This is a competently curated book of vampiric Victoriana. As with most collections of its ilk, quite a few of the pieces here have been anthologized elsewhere.
The stories here are in chronological order. It's the earliest ones that excite the most interest. The subsequent pieces were still entertaining, though not as much.
The brief author sketches that precede each tale have a bracing, lighthearted tone that more often than not dispells the gloom and occasional terror of the stories they bookend. I do not always agree with Sims's appraisal of certain aspects of some stories though, like how he thought Wodehouse would have appreciated the depiction of the quaint outdated village in the Cholmondeley tale. The Vampire Maid is also not Hume Nisbet's sole vampire tale, as he also wrote The Old Portrait in 1890.
I warn readers who are sensitive to canine tragedies to steer clear of
The most memorable stories here are:
The Vampyre - regarded as the first major English prose dealing with vampires. It influenced the popular image of such, from the traditional uninspired village revenant to the aristocratic seducer that has since been in vogue.
Wake Not the Dead - a heedless Teutonic nobleman decides to sacrifice everything, including domestic and seigneurial bliss, to rekindle from its ashes the hungry passions of a dead lover.
The Deathly Lover - decadent tale about an ardent young priest whose weaknesses are preyed upon by a demonic courtesan using phantasmagoric dreams.
The Family of the Vourdalak - an old courtier fondly reminiscing his days as a lovelorn swain recounts the story of a Slavic patriarch who goes off to kill a notorious brigand, turns into a vampire, and targets his own family to sate his blood thirst.
And The Creature Came In - short and absolutely terrifying.
7/10; 3 stars.
The stories here are in chronological order. It's the earliest ones that excite the most interest. The subsequent pieces were still entertaining, though not as much.
The brief author sketches that precede each tale have a bracing, lighthearted tone that more often than not dispells the gloom and occasional terror of the stories they bookend. I do not always agree with Sims's appraisal of certain aspects of some stories though, like how he thought Wodehouse would have appreciated the depiction of the quaint outdated village in the Cholmondeley tale. The Vampire Maid is also not Hume Nisbet's sole vampire tale, as he also wrote The Old Portrait in 1890.
I warn readers who are sensitive to canine tragedies to steer clear of
The most memorable stories here are:
The Vampyre - regarded as the first major English prose dealing with vampires. It influenced the popular image of such, from the traditional uninspired village revenant to the aristocratic seducer that has since been in vogue.
Wake Not the Dead - a heedless Teutonic nobleman decides to sacrifice everything, including domestic and seigneurial bliss, to rekindle from its ashes the hungry passions of a dead lover.
The Deathly Lover - decadent tale about an ardent young priest whose weaknesses are preyed upon by a demonic courtesan using phantasmagoric dreams.
The Family of the Vourdalak - an old courtier fondly reminiscing his days as a lovelorn swain recounts the story of a Slavic patriarch who goes off to kill a notorious brigand, turns into a vampire, and targets his own family to sate his blood thirst.
And The Creature Came In - short and absolutely terrifying.
7/10; 3 stars.
January 28, 2021
Normally it doesn't take me this long to finish a book. However, I think some of the stories were so painfully slow it put me off reading the book. Others I was really enjoying. I think it was interesting to read all of them to see the different perspectives of what makes a vampire.
There was one story that I swear was the basis of Louis and Lestat from Interview with a Vampire. I was reading through that story and that was what was going on in my mind as I read it.
Individual stories are rated below
They Opened the Grave 3/5
Dead persons in Hungary 3/5
The End of My Journey 2/5
The Vampyre 2/5
Wake Note the Dead 2/5
The Deathly Lover 3/5
The Family of the Vourdalark 4/5
Varney the Vampire 5/5
What was it? 2/5
The Mysterious Stranger 3/5
A Mystery of the Campagna 3/5
Death and Burial Vampires and Werewolves 5/5
Let Loose 2/5
A True Story of a Vampire 5/5
Good Lady Ducayne 5/5
And the Creature Came In 3/5
The Tomb of Sarah 3/5
Vampire Maid 2/5
Lella Miller 3/5
Count Mangus 1/5
Aylmer Vance & the Vampire 3/5
Dracula's Guest 5/5
There was one story that I swear was the basis of Louis and Lestat from Interview with a Vampire. I was reading through that story and that was what was going on in my mind as I read it.
Individual stories are rated below
They Opened the Grave 3/5
Dead persons in Hungary 3/5
The End of My Journey 2/5
The Vampyre 2/5
Wake Note the Dead 2/5
The Deathly Lover 3/5
The Family of the Vourdalark 4/5
Varney the Vampire 5/5
What was it? 2/5
The Mysterious Stranger 3/5
A Mystery of the Campagna 3/5
Death and Burial Vampires and Werewolves 5/5
Let Loose 2/5
A True Story of a Vampire 5/5
Good Lady Ducayne 5/5
And the Creature Came In 3/5
The Tomb of Sarah 3/5
Vampire Maid 2/5
Lella Miller 3/5
Count Mangus 1/5
Aylmer Vance & the Vampire 3/5
Dracula's Guest 5/5
July 7, 2024
Strong stories from this collection:
The Family of the Vourdalak
What Was It?
The Mysterious Stranger
Let Loose
Good Lady Ducayne
The Tomb of Sarah
Aylmer Vance and the Vampire
The Family of the Vourdalak
What Was It?
The Mysterious Stranger
Let Loose
Good Lady Ducayne
The Tomb of Sarah
Aylmer Vance and the Vampire
December 3, 2013
This book is a fantastic sampler of Victorian vampire fiction, plus a few non-fiction accounts, including the famous Vampire of Croglin Grange. I remember reading about that in a book of horror stories when I was a child. Weird thing to include in a kid's book, but then, I was a weird kid.
This book includes some true classics, including John Polidori's "The Vampire" and the first chapter of the notorious penny dreadful serial "Varney the Vampire". This latter is memorable for it's appallingly florid metaphors - "the hailstones sounded like the patter of millions of fairy feet." But it's enough that I really wish I could find all 109 chapters of its appealing awfulness.
Anyone looking for Twilight-style vampires, just don't bother. The stories in this anthology date from a period when vampire's were genuinely terrifying.
I would recommend "Dracula's Guest" to anyone who enjoyed good vampire fiction or Victorian stories in general.
This book includes some true classics, including John Polidori's "The Vampire" and the first chapter of the notorious penny dreadful serial "Varney the Vampire". This latter is memorable for it's appallingly florid metaphors - "the hailstones sounded like the patter of millions of fairy feet." But it's enough that I really wish I could find all 109 chapters of its appealing awfulness.
Anyone looking for Twilight-style vampires, just don't bother. The stories in this anthology date from a period when vampire's were genuinely terrifying.
I would recommend "Dracula's Guest" to anyone who enjoyed good vampire fiction or Victorian stories in general.
September 15, 2014
This is a little collection of Victorian vampire stories, all with short passages about the authors before you delve into a world full of mysterious smoke, fluttering bats, and sharp-toothed victims. Some of them are rather bland, but most of them are quite good. Several in particular have such romantic, poetic language that they are a joy to read. Ironically, Bram Stoker's short story finishes off the collection, despite being (in my opinion) one of its weaker offerings. The contrast between vampirism represented in different cultures and styles was interesting, from Russian folklore to English horror stories. Also included is a fascinating chapter on vampires in general, which was full of interesting information. Fun read!
August 30, 2010
I have to say I was disappointed with this book...disappointed that it wasn't bound in leather with gold rimmed pages because it's certainly the type of book that will have pride of place on my bookshelves. Of course, I wasn't expecting it to have a leather cover and gold leafed pages but that would be the treatment that a book as glorious as this one would deserve.
With a wide ranging collection of historical writings and stories 'Dracula's Guest' produces an atmospheric ambiance that many vampire collections can only aspire to. Very highly recommended.
With a wide ranging collection of historical writings and stories 'Dracula's Guest' produces an atmospheric ambiance that many vampire collections can only aspire to. Very highly recommended.
October 30, 2013
Limit this one to huge fans of both vampires and Victorian sensation stories. I can't really say that I'm either. A lot of the stories in this book fell flat to me, even when I could recognize that the quality of the writing was good. Simply not to my taste, at least not right now. And it seems that I'm losing patience with vampires in general, for some reason. Overexposure? That said, there are some good pieces in here, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who has more interest in vampires than I do. Provided that they also like Victorian horror, of course.
August 22, 2017
To be honest I was not interested much in the story. It wasn't the story that kept me reading and intrigued, it was the writing. The writing was thorough and the book was just so beautifully written. The vocabulary was very expanded and I even had to look up what some of the words meant. I wish the story itself held my attention, but it didn't. I actually found it pretty boring. But the writing had me hooked and I appreciate well-written stories.
August 20, 2016
I'd only read 4 of these before and was delighted with the selection of short stories. Each had a brief introduction to the author and offered a different perspective or an unexpected turn of events. It's entirely up my streetif you love Victorian vampire stories it'll be up yours too. I did get a bit worried about something coming through the window in the dark, so don't read it just before bed!
April 9, 2015
Review to come.
July 27, 2025
This is a collection of Victorian Vampire Stories that is, by the editor's own admission, neither in time nor place limited in scope to Victorian England. Rather, the primary goal is to get a well-rounded introduction to the history of vampire literature in the 19th and early 20th century.
Overall, I think this anthology was a success: I went into it as someone who is pretty ignorant of both the historical and modern vampire canon, and I came out feeling much more knowledgeable. It felt to me like a good diversity of tropes and author-origins were represented, though I think it's notable that the stories within are limited to the pretty short - there are 22 texts in about 450 pages (so about 20 pages on average). Each story is preceded by a very brief introduction to the author, the publishing context of the story, and any notes on significant tropes that are introduced or addressed.
Some highlights for me were:
The Family of the Vourdalak by Alexsei Tolstoy. One of the spookiest stories in the collection, in part because this version of the vampire preys primarily on family members and there's this element of dread and ambiguity about needing to confront your own ambiguously dead family members.
What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien. I was initially very confused as to why this was included, since the invisible monster within is not necessarily recognizable as a vampire. However, I think it the element of scientific inquiry to learn more about the monster after it has been apprehended is interesting and a fascination with scientific vs the paranormal is a through-line in the collection.
The Mysterious Stranger by Karl von Wachsmann - this is attributed only to Anonymous in the anthology, but it appears as though the authorship has been discovered in the years since publishing. This included and likely inspired Bram Stoker with some delicious tropes: the vampire requiring an invitation to enter the home, controlling wolves, and the friendship dynamic between Franzisca and Bertha. The worst part about it is the ending!
Luella Miller by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. Potentially my favorite of the collection, though quite non-traditional. I love the idea of weaponized incompetence as a sort of psychic vampirism.
Overall, I think this anthology was a success: I went into it as someone who is pretty ignorant of both the historical and modern vampire canon, and I came out feeling much more knowledgeable. It felt to me like a good diversity of tropes and author-origins were represented, though I think it's notable that the stories within are limited to the pretty short - there are 22 texts in about 450 pages (so about 20 pages on average). Each story is preceded by a very brief introduction to the author, the publishing context of the story, and any notes on significant tropes that are introduced or addressed.
Some highlights for me were:
The Family of the Vourdalak by Alexsei Tolstoy. One of the spookiest stories in the collection, in part because this version of the vampire preys primarily on family members and there's this element of dread and ambiguity about needing to confront your own ambiguously dead family members.
What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien. I was initially very confused as to why this was included, since the invisible monster within is not necessarily recognizable as a vampire. However, I think it the element of scientific inquiry to learn more about the monster after it has been apprehended is interesting and a fascination with scientific vs the paranormal is a through-line in the collection.
The Mysterious Stranger by Karl von Wachsmann - this is attributed only to Anonymous in the anthology, but it appears as though the authorship has been discovered in the years since publishing. This included and likely inspired Bram Stoker with some delicious tropes: the vampire requiring an invitation to enter the home, controlling wolves, and the friendship dynamic between Franzisca and Bertha. The worst part about it is the ending!
Luella Miller by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. Potentially my favorite of the collection, though quite non-traditional. I love the idea of weaponized incompetence as a sort of psychic vampirism.
January 27, 2019
Dracula’s Guest is the first in a long line of short story collections I’ll be reviewing. Some of the horror genre’s best work originated in this concise format, just long enough to be able to develop its characters and theme and just short enough to leave you wanting to stay in the story-world a little longer.
Of course, the way in which the stories are collected matters immensely to a reader’s ultimate takeaway. While I’ve read many a ghost story anthology and am very familiar with its conventions, I’m a little less schooled on the vampire short story. These were the perfect selections to help me understand the subgenre’s origins and its journey throughout nineteenth-century and post-WWI literature. Its 22 stories are divided into three tree-like sections: The Roots, The Tree, and The Fruit, so it shows nicely how these authors built upon and revised the tales of their predecessors.
To continue reading this review, please visit The Macabre Librarian at:
https://macabrelibrarian.wordpress.co...
Of course, the way in which the stories are collected matters immensely to a reader’s ultimate takeaway. While I’ve read many a ghost story anthology and am very familiar with its conventions, I’m a little less schooled on the vampire short story. These were the perfect selections to help me understand the subgenre’s origins and its journey throughout nineteenth-century and post-WWI literature. Its 22 stories are divided into three tree-like sections: The Roots, The Tree, and The Fruit, so it shows nicely how these authors built upon and revised the tales of their predecessors.
To continue reading this review, please visit The Macabre Librarian at:
https://macabrelibrarian.wordpress.co...
August 17, 2021
Pretty great anthology of early vampire stories. It takes patience to get through the first part-where honestly, some of the "stories" are not really stories, but rather just flat recitations of folklore and myths about vampires. A story by Byron is included, I think, just because it's Lord Byron although the story is so badly written one has to think it was unfinished or never intended for publication. And, of course, Varney the Vampyre is the crown jewel of terrible.
But later on there are real gems, many by forgotten authors, and women authors are nicely represented. Among the standouts - "Good Lady Ducayne", "A Mystery of the Campagna," and "The Vampire Maid."
Overall, a very well assembled collection, with nice editing and intros by the author.
But later on there are real gems, many by forgotten authors, and women authors are nicely represented. Among the standouts - "Good Lady Ducayne", "A Mystery of the Campagna," and "The Vampire Maid."
Overall, a very well assembled collection, with nice editing and intros by the author.
June 1, 2021
I wonder how many people, like me, came to this collection after thinking that since Dracula was so good maybe there are other Victorian vampire stories equally good waiting to be discovered. After finishing this collection, I can attest to what might have been plain to others all along, Bram Stoker’s Dracula has endured throughout the decades precisely because it was the best of the genre. While these stories were not bad per se, they all fall into such a similar template that they blur in the mind of the reader. Similarly, while they have great worth as providing the literary context and tradition in which Stoker wrote his novel they have, to my opinion, much lesser entertainment value.
June 11, 2021
I liked the short introductory essays; some short story collections skimp on giving much information about the author & their other work, but part of the fun of an anthology is being exposed to a lot of different writers, so it's nice to get a quick feel for them. For a relatively narrow scope, there was a fair amount of variety in the collection, and all of the stories were at the very least easily readable, while some were exiting to discover. Luella Miller was probably my favourite story of the lot, and I'd never heard of it (or the writer) before.
November 10, 2023
I had encountered the best of these before elsewhere, and as is often the case there were a few duds.
The Deathly Lover (known by other names but to me as Clarimonde) was a welcome surprise reread, as I had forgotten quite a lot of that story.
The travel guide documenting the vampire and werewolf traditions of Romania was also a welcome addition, bring informative to Bram Stoker who I think never went to the country of his famous creation.
The Tomb Of Sarah and The Vampire Maid were other favourites.
The Deathly Lover (known by other names but to me as Clarimonde) was a welcome surprise reread, as I had forgotten quite a lot of that story.
The travel guide documenting the vampire and werewolf traditions of Romania was also a welcome addition, bring informative to Bram Stoker who I think never went to the country of his famous creation.
The Tomb Of Sarah and The Vampire Maid were other favourites.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews