Most Read This Week In Gothic Romance

[close] A group to discuss books by Maria Bernard

[close] Goodreads group for the on-going podcast series Horror 101, featured monthly on Tales to Terrify, charting the development and evolution of the horror genre, from its gothic roots to the present. And really - I'm just a writer, blogger, and reader - just a guy who loves books and reading - exploring the horror genre from its gothic roots, onward. I make no claim of authority, I'm no expert, I'm just reading and exploring and studying, like everyone else....

[close] A vampire is a being from folklore who subsists by feeding on the life essence (generally in the form of blood) of living creatures. Undead beings, vampires often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighbourhoods they inhabited when they were alive. They wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from today's gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th century. Although vampiric entities have been recorded in most cultures, the term vampire was not popularized in the west until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as shtriga in Albania, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to what can only be called mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism.

[close] A romance book club especially for young adults.