swirls's review
5.0
This is a wonderful selection of vampire stories that take you through a brief journey through the early English (and one French) language works about vampirism. I was left feeling nonplussed by the abrupt ending of the first one - it pays to sit and read about each story after listening. I had never read the Lord Byron story and this collection calls it "The End of My Journey," implying it's a complete story, but in reality, this is better known as "Fragment of a Novel," written that famous summer of 1816 in the Villa Diodati. However, John Polidori (also present at the villa) was inspired by Lord Byron's fragment and fleshed out his ideas in 1819's "The Vampyre." After that, we really get going with "The Family of the Vourdalak" (1839) which features an elderly Serbian peasant who slowly turns his entire family, much to the horror of a young French diplomat staying with them. This features an absolutely epic chase scene where the grandfather vampire flings his small vampire grandchildren at the Frenchman as he flees on his horse. Definitely one of the most exciting scenes of the collection!
Then we get the first chapter of the serialized Varney the Vampire, one of the most infamous penny dreadfuls, campy and fun in small doses. Then there's "Carmilla" (1872) by Sheridan Le Fanu, one of the absolute classics of the genre and one which inspired Bram Stoker. Of course, this novella is frequently on the banned books list due to its homoerotic undertones so naturally high school me had to find it and read it immediately. I enjoyed it even more today - it's a genuinely creepy and gripping story. The same is not true for "A True Story of a Vampire" (1894) which is almost hilariously melodramatic and dry, but interesting in that the vampire there feels genuine regret for having to devour the boy he loves and gives him a passionate kiss before his death.
The collection finishes with two stories published after Dracula, "Count Magnus," by the incomparable M. R. James and "Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker. I don't know if "Count Magnus" really counts as a vampire story, but since the monster there can suck a face off a skull, it's close enough, and the story is well paced and dread-inducing. These careless Englishmen really need to learn to run faster. "Dracula's Guest" feels like a deleted and incomplete chapter from Dracula, which makes the end of the collection a bit of an anticlimax.
Then we get the first chapter of the serialized Varney the Vampire, one of the most infamous penny dreadfuls, campy and fun in small doses. Then there's "Carmilla" (1872) by Sheridan Le Fanu, one of the absolute classics of the genre and one which inspired Bram Stoker. Of course, this novella is frequently on the banned books list due to its homoerotic undertones so naturally high school me had to find it and read it immediately. I enjoyed it even more today - it's a genuinely creepy and gripping story. The same is not true for "A True Story of a Vampire" (1894) which is almost hilariously melodramatic and dry, but interesting in that the vampire there feels genuine regret for having to devour the boy he loves and gives him a passionate kiss before his death.
The collection finishes with two stories published after Dracula, "Count Magnus," by the incomparable M. R. James and "Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker. I don't know if "Count Magnus" really counts as a vampire story, but since the monster there can suck a face off a skull, it's close enough, and the story is well paced and dread-inducing. These careless Englishmen really need to learn to run faster. "Dracula's Guest" feels like a deleted and incomplete chapter from Dracula, which makes the end of the collection a bit of an anticlimax.
bookslucyreads's review
3.0
A solid collection of vampire stories that I hadn’t read before. It had a good narrator. I liked them.
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