Customer Reviews

Dracula's Guest

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Even had Bram Stoker not penned the fabulously successful Dracula, efforts such as the stories in this book would more than qualify him as a gifted, masterful writer, with a special penchant for writing horror. The most prominent story in these pages is of course "Dracula's Guest," a story excised from the final manuscript of Dracula. This is an interesting, well-told tale, but its exclusion from the aforementioned novel seems to me to be rather inconsequential. The real jewel of this collection is "The Judge's House." I have read this story several times over the last decade or so, and I must say that this is my favorite horror story of all time. It somewhat chagrins me to make such a pronouncement, thinking of the masterful tales of Lovecraft, Poe, and King, yet I am compelled to make it. The ending may be somewhat cliched , but the dark, brooding, smothering atmosphere Stoker creates in this house is powerful and brilliant. The Judge's House may well be the most haunted house in literature.

The other seven stories are less noteworthy but eminently readable. Again, there are some cliches to be found among them, but they all "work." "The Squaw" is my least favorite--it is, to some degree, silly n terms of its characters and ending. I should also add that animal lovers such as myself may well be somewhat traumatized by one incident in the story--I certainly was. "The Secret of the Growing Gold," "The Gypsy Prophecy" and "The Coming of Abel Behenna" are pretty standard fare. "The Burial of the Rats" presents a thrilling, well-thought-out story of danger and escape (as well as a grim portrait of some of society's underbelly). "A Dream of Red Hands" is a sort of moralistic story that puts me in mind of some of Hawthorne's work. Finally, "Crooken Sands" is a good doppelganger tale whose presentation and overall air seem different, if not unique, from the other tales in this book. If you love old Scottish dialogue, you will reap some benefits from this story--for the rest of us, though, it makes for some slightly harder reading (but I think the story would be much less effective without it).

All in all, Stoker was a more than capable short story writer, even though he did sometimes stick too closely to the classic form; cliches and predictable plot points do diminish the quality of a few stories but by no means do they seriously hamper the effectiveness of them. It is unfortunate that many people think Stoker wrote Dracula and nothing else. The selections in this book are classic horror stories that only help to grant legitimacy to the genre.

This "short story" was originally part of "Dracula." It was left out at the behest of the publisher and published after Stoker's death by his wife. I've read "Dracula" many times in my life, and enjoy "Dracula's Guest" as a "lost chapter". It is obvious where the account fits into the book because it builds up to the letter from D. to the innkeeper which *is* in the book.

In defense of the original publisher's ax to the chapter, the story is much more rapid paced and has less of the "haunting realness" that rest of "Dracula" has - it is more in the pulp style of Stoker's "Lair of the White Worm".

SPOILER >> It adds a little depth to Jonathan Harker's journey to the castle in the form of a foreshadowing encounter with another vampire. << SPOILER

I consider this to be one of Stoker's best books. I would rate it right up there with "Dracula" and "The Jewel of the Seven Stars". The short stories in this collection are great. I especially liked the stories `Dracula's Guest' (which is supposed to be an exercised chapter from Dracula) and `The Judge's House'.

The nine stories in this collection are:

Dracula's Guest
The Judge's House
The Squaw
The Secret of the Growing Gold
A Gipsy Prophecy
The Coming of Abel Behenna
The Burial of the Rats
A Dream of Red Hands
Crooken Sands

If you enjoyed "Dracula" you should definitely read this book.

An intrepid English traveler will let no superstition stand in his way, even when he is warned most strenuously by the locals. Indeed, to show how unafraid he is, he walks down to a village that was disserted when it became to home of the living dead. In the center of the old cemetery he finds a massive old tomb, and seeking shelter from a storm he goes inside. What he finds inside will shake his modern rationalism to its very foundations!

This short story was actually written by Bram Stoker as the first chapter to his magnum opus, Dracula. The editor apparently decided that the chapter was superfluous to the rest of the book, and cut it. Well, I don't doubt that the chapter was unnecessary to Dracula, but the fact is that even cut off as it is, it makes a very good short story!

Indeed, as a fan of the old Dracula, I must say that I was quite pleased to find another Bran Stoker story that involved the great vampire. I found the story to be scary and very entertaining. If I have one thing against it, it is that it is too short. But, nonetheless I really enjoyed reading it, and think that you will as well!

Bram Stoker is an author that should be remembered.This book is even better than Dracula!

Dracula's Guest is a collection of short stories by Bram Stoker which includes: Dracula's Guest, The Judge's House, The Gipsy Prophecy, The Coming of Abel Behenna, The Burial of the Rats, A Dream of Red Hands, Crooken Sands, and The Secret of Growing Old. In Dracula's guest, you follow a young Englishman who is in a town and on Walpurgis Night leaves his carriage to wander off and see an abandoned village. The village was deemed unholy which sparked his interest to begin with. While there, he sees a tomb and tries to take cover in the doorway while there is a terrible storm. Later he is found by some military men. They say they went to search for him because they had received word from his host Dracula that he may have been lost. It is rumored to have been Jonathan Harker before his visit with the count, but that is not certain.

My next favorite was the story of the Judge's House. It has a young scholar who is seeking some peace and quiet and rents a house that locals feel is bewitched. It is mostly infested with rats. However, when I read it and got to the end I had goose bumps! It was great. I completely recommend this to Stoker fans!

This collection of short stories from Bram Stoker gave me a greater respect than I already had for the man who created Dracula. This anthology showcased Stoker's range as a master of the supernatural. Though I could not get into "The Lair of the White Worm," I could definitely get into these stories, which include:

Dracula's Guest (actually made me feel I was walking right along side him)
The Judge's House
The Squaw
The Secret of the Growing Gold
The Gypsy Prophecy (nice twist and not as depressing as could have been)
The Coming of Abel Behenna
The Burial of the Rats
A Dream of Red Hands
Crooken Sands (might be the longest, and some parts hard to understand, but another great twist at the end)

Even if Bram Stoker hadn't created one of the most iconic figures in horror, I think he would have still been famous (though realistically maybe not as much) if this anthology were published while he was alive. I truly believe these stories still hold up today and would go so far to say that in the realm of suspense, horror, and the supernatural, Stoker is definitely a precursor to the anthologies and short stories of Richard Matheson and Stephen King.

Not that I should be nit-picky considering this kindle edition was free, I just wish that there were a table of contents to easily jump between the stories. This did not affect the rating, but wanted to mention it so you're aware that the first one or two, you might think you're reading additional chapters to the preceding story.

I thought I was reading a sequel of the original Dracula book, but was surprised to find a collection of chilling and poignant stories. I have since quoted several of these to friends and co-workers due to their very modern message and the fears they still exploit.

A great find for the Kindle!

I was amazed when I listened to "Dracula's Guest" and "The Secret of the Growing Gold" on this cassette. I am a fan of classic stories, horror films and Victor Garber, but I had never owned an audio cassette of a classic story until now. While the possibility of "listening" to these stories thrilled me, I was concerned if I would enjoy them. My fears were very quickly laid to rest. Victor Garber is a wonderful stage-trained actor who has a very understated and unforced vocal delivery. So, I can only describe these recordings as "classy". The way he changes his voice with each character is very effective although it is clearly his own all the way through.

Some of you may prefer reading over listening but don't overlook buying this cassette. For one thing, it is more fun to listen to these stories than reading silently, and, probably, reading aloud. Both stories are fairly easy to follow, but "The Secret of the Growing Gold" is the hardest. Despite that, I strongly feel that this audio cassette is a must-hear. I recommend this to all fans of classic stories and audio books.

Too many TWILIGHT ZONE endings for my taste: when you can predict them, the writing gets tedious & boring. Still, interesting to see this side of the master of horror who created the vampire story all contemporary writers strive, unsuccessfully, to emulate.