Review Tuesday: IMMORTAL - VAMPIRE SHORT STORIES: The Best Horror Classics Edited by S.S. Wolff

IMMORTAL

VAMPIRE SHORT STORIES:

The Best Horror Classics

Edited by S.S. Wolff

• Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker
• Doom of the House of Duryea by Earl Peirce
• An Episode of Cathedral History by M R James
• The Cat by E F Benson
• The Yamily of the Vourdalak by A K Tolstoy
• Mrs Amworth by E F Benson
• Wake Not the Dead by Johann Ludwig Tieck

This was another book being a compilation of short stories on a particular horror topic. I haven't posted one of these in years, largely because I used to post my reviews here and on AMAZON at the same time. However, Amazon banned my reviews for no good reason provided, so I sat on this until I could I could. It hasn't happened, so, here goes. 

  

Like I said in the previous paragraph, this book is a compilation of vampire short stories that fall in the common domain. I don't remember which compilation I had read, as I have read many, but some of the short stories had funny little lines letting people know that it was stolen, likely, from some website. 

 

That's neither here nor there. 

 

Since these stories in common domain are pretty old, they weave very different vampire stories than we are used to now. In that way, I truly adored the compilation. It gives the reader a view into the various perceptions of vampire lore from another time. They aren't all great, but they are all interesting in their own way. Bear in mind that modern vampire folklore is largely based on the film NOSFERATU. Nosferatu was, basically, an unauthorized bootleg (as if a bootleg could be authorized) of Dracula and after a lawsuit all copies were ordered to be destroyed. Luckily, or maybe not, some copies were held in private collections and they shaped vampire canon going forward. 

 

In other words, don't be surprised when the vampires walk about in daylight without issue. That was added in Nosferatu! It really wasn't part of vampire lore before that movie.  

 

At any rate, if you find these old stories entertaining like I do, you should enjoy this compilation.

Find it HERE

http://mountaincitybooks.com/immortal/