The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories
List Price:
Our Price: $9.98
You Save: $8.02 (45%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.84 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Editor: Alan RyanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1989-10-03
ISBN: 0140124454
Number of pages: 640
Publisher: Penguin
Book Reviews of The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories
Book Review: Wow, Vampires Used To Be Scary!
Summary: 5 Stars
In the last couple of decades, vampires have been emasculated and neutered. Modern sensationalist authors have turned vampires into forbidden lust objects and sensitive outcasts, rather than the embodiments of pure evil that they're supposed to be. If you're unhappy with the insufficient horror of current vampire tales, track down this collection or one like it. (At least some editions of this volume, originally from 1987, will be difficult to find, but you could also try to locate a different collection that features the old stories I will discuss here.) Enthusiasts will know that vampires were significant in medieval folklore, especially in Eastern Europe, and the earliest of the stories here reflect these true robust traditions. We get "The Vampyre" by John Polidori (1819) and "Varney the Vampyre" by James Malcolm Rhymer (1845), both of which were incredibly influential for all subsequent horror writing. Another early treasure in this book is a lost chapter from Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897).
After this, writers started to get creative with the vampire mythos, growing the literary tradition in fascinating and always frightening ways. This collection's greatest find is the stupendous "Shambleau" by C.L. Moore (1933), a terrifying early landmark for both horror and science fiction. Other old favorites include "Revelations in Black" by Carl Jacobi (1933) which explores the connections between vampires and insanity; and "Over the River" by P. Schuyler Miller (1941), a truly disturbing and upsetting tale of a man who has become a vampire against his will and is rejected by his loved ones. On the fun side, down miss the freaky supermodel vampire in Fritz Leiber's "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes" (1949) or Robert Bloch's actor who plays a vampire way too well in "The Living Dead" (1967). By the time we get to the 70s and 80s we get early goodies from excellent and still active authors such as Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Ramsey Campbell, and Tanith Lee. The emerging modern development of vampire literature can be seen in "Unicorn Tapestry" by Suzy McKee Charnas (1980), which is stronger than today's unscary schlock but is a chilling omen of the currently rampant vampire-as-forbidden-lover motif. Fans of real horror and real vampires must pick up this collection, or one with similar story selection, that compiles these important and truly scary old classics. [~doomsdayer520~]
Summary of The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories
They're lurking under the cover of darkness ? and between the covers of this book. Here, in all their horror and all their glory, are the great vampires of literature: male and female, invisible and metamorphic, doomed and daring.
Their skin deathly pale, their nails curved like claws, their fangs sharpened for the attack, they are gathered for the kill and for the chill, brought frighteningly to life by Bram Stoker, Fritz Leiber, Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, Charles L. Grant, Tanith Lee, and other masters of the macabre. Careful?they are all crafty enough to steal their way into your imagination and steal away your hopes for a restful sleep.
Anthologies Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Anthologies Books
Nebula Awards Showcase 2001: The Year's Best SF and Fantasy Chosen by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of AmericaMariner Books; Published: 2001-04-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.88
Price in other shops:
Nebula Awards 30:: SFWA's Choices For The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Of The YearHoughton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 1996-04-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.65
Price in other shops:
Vinyl Cafe Unpluggedby Stuart McLean
Penguin Books Canada, Limited; Published: 2006; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Ask the Bones: Scary Stories from Around the WorldPuffin; Published: 2002-08-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.70
Price in other shops:
Up the Down Escalator / Living on Thin Airby Charles Leadbeater
E-Penguin; Published: 2002-10-04; Hardcover; Book
Kiss Me, Judasby Will Christopher Baer
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2000-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Home From the Vinyl Cafeby Stuart McLean
Penguin; Published: 1999; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.97
The Portable Saul Bellowby Saul Bellow
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1977-07-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $38.12
Murder At the Vicarageby Agatha Christie
New American Library; Published: 2000; Paperback; Book
The Great Train Robberyby Michael Crichton
Ballantine Books; Published: 1994-07-02; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.50
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Norton Critical Editions)by Robert Louis Stevenson, Katherine Linehan
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2002-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.31
30 Days of Nightby Steve Niles, Ben Templesmith
IDW Publishing; IDW Publishing; Published: 2003-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.24
Price in other shops:
Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Realityby Paul Barber
Yale University Press; Published: 1988-07-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.65
Price in other shops:
Dracula (Dover Thrift Editions)by Bram Stoker
Dover Publications; Dover Publications; Published: 2000-04-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.60
Price in other shops:
I Am Legendby Richard Matheson
Tor Books; Published: 2007-10-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
Interview with the Vampire (Vampire Chronicles)by Anne Rice
Ballantine Books; Published: 1997-03-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampiresby Radu Florescu, Raymond T. McNally
Mariner Books; Published: 1994-10-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.46
Price in other shops:
Interview with the Vampireby Anne Rice
Ballantine Books; Published: 1991-09-13; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.10
Price in other shops:
Dracula (Norton Critical Editions)by Bram Stoker
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1996-12-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.83
Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality; With a New Prefaceby Paul Barber
Yale University Press; Published: 2010-04-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.13
Price in other shops: