Customer Reviews

Mammoth Book of Vampires

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

 

 

Great collection of stories by a variety of authors; Clive Barker, Robert Bloch, Kim Newman, Bram Stoker, to name a few. I liked "Midnight Mass," best, the story of a priest, a Jew, and vampires, as it brought up some interesting theology questions. I have wondered since I was a kid how Jewish people protect themselves from vampires. What a great story. The best stories, IMHO, were the novellas at the end, "Midnight Mass," "Yellow Fog," and, "Red Reign." There are shorter stories that are great, but the novellas made the book for me. There were only two stories that didn't interest me and I skipped. That's not bad for such a large book, and believe me, it lives up to its name, it is big!

Each one had at least one twist to the vampire lore that I had never seen before and enjoyed immensely. Unfortunately, while those four stories were exceptional, the remaining 25 were not. While none of the stories were bad, they all seemed to lack something new or different. They failed at grabbing my attention. 75 pages of some of the best vampire fiction I've ever read just isn't enough to carry the rest of this book.

This collection contains some of the best known writers in the genre: Clive Barker, Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell, Robert Bloch, Edgar Allen Poe, Richard Christian Matheson, Graham Masterton, Melanie Tem and Basil Cooper. Most of these tales are modern-day although there are a few classics peppered throughout. The Mammoth Book of Vampires represents the variety of tales and legends to its fullest extent.

Stephen Jones' collection of vampire fiction, "The Mammoth Book of Vampires" has a few really fun stories, but on the whole is just okay. Standouts in this collection are F. Paul Wilson's "Midnight Mass", Les Daniels' "Yellow Fog", and Kim Newman's "Andy Warhol's Dracula, Anno Dracula 1978-79". Some others provide their share of chills, but there are some real stinkers here. One particular disappointment was the offering "Vampire" by the son of Richard Matheson, which reads like bad poetry, having nothing at all to do with vampires. This might be just one to check out of the library.

This book is amazing. It is a prime example of the creative influence the vampire theme. I highly recommend this collection. They are not very scary but great stories.

A pretty decent collection of vampire stories. Chosen by Stephen Jones, these are mostly horror stories, not the girl lusts after nightclubbing vampire in tight pants type of thing. Well worth a look for both vampire and horror fans, as an impressive lineup of authors to be found.

Mammoth Book of Vampires : Human Remains - Clive Barker
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Necros - Brian Lumley
Mammoth Book of Vampires : The Man Who Loved the Vampire Lady - Brian M. Stableford
Mammoth Book of Vampires : A Place to Stay - Michael Marshall Smith
Mammoth Book of Vampires : The Brood - Ramsey Campbell
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Root Cellar - Nancy Kilpatrick
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Hungarian Rhapsody - Robert Bloch
Mammoth Book of Vampires : The Legend of Dracula Reconsidered as a Prime-Time TV Special - Christopher Fowler
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Vampire - Richard Christian Matheson
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Stragella - Hugh B. Cave
Mammoth Book of Vampires : A Week in the Unlife - David J. Schow
Mammoth Book of Vampires : The House at Evening - Frances Garfield
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Vampyrhhic Outcast - Simon Clark
Mammoth Book of Vampires : The Labyrinth - R. Chetwynd-Hayes
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Beyond Any Measure - Karl Edward Wagner
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Doctor Porthos - Basil Copper
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Straight to Hell - Paul McAuley
Mammoth Book of Vampires : It Only Comes Out at Night - Dennis Etchison
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Investigating Jericho - Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Dracula's Chair - Peter Tremayne
Mammoth Book of Vampires : A Taste for Blood - Sydney J. Bounds
Mammoth Book of Vampires : The Better Half - Melanie Tem
Mammoth Book of Vampires : The Devil's Tritone - John Burke
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Chastel - Manly Wade Wellman
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Der Untergang des Abendlandesmenschen - Howard Waldrop
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Red as Blood - Tanith Lee
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Laird of Dunain - Graham Masterton
Mammoth Book of Vampires : A Trick of the Dark - Tina Rath
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Midnight Mass - F. Paul Wilson
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Blood Gothic - Nancy Holder
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Yellow Fog - Les Daniels
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Fifteen Cards from a Vampire Tarot - Neil Gaiman
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Vintage Domestic - Steve Rasnic Tem
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Try a Dull Knife - Harlan Ellison
Mammoth Book of Vampires : Andy Warhol's Dracula - Kim Newman

Roman dead ringer.

4 out of 5

Summer lovin' cut horribly short.

3.5 out of 5

Humans rule, ok? With some AIDS, that is.

4 out of 5

Rita biter maid.

2.5 out of 5

Moth problem.

3 out of 5

Tiny monster.

3.5 out of 5

Drty woman.

3.5 out of 5

Media vampires.

3 out of 5

Crash recovery.

3.5 out of 5

Ship to shore, we need your blood and gore.

4.5 out of 5

Stakes are odd, legal, and useful.

3.5 out of 5

Footballers look tasty.

3 out of 5

Interloper redux.

3.5 out of 5

Lost finds tea and vampires.

3 out of 5

Past life passion.

4 out of 5

Bloody relative.

3 out of 5

Band candy.

3.5 out of 5

Deserted cars.

3 out of 5

Who cares about those small towns, anyway?

3 out of 5

Sleepy sucker.

3.5 out of 5

Post-op preservation diet change.

3.5 out of 5

Draining marriage.

3 out of 5

Blood music.

3.5 out of 5

Team-up actress takedown.

4 out of 5

Vampire bustin'. BYO wooden bullets.

3.5 out of 5

Witch Queen reflection.

3 out of 5

Bloodless noble.

4 out of 5

Packaged bloody dinner.

3 out of 5

Holy Pepsi a real Jolt for interdenominationally led anti-vampire fightback.

4.5 out of 5

Undeath requires child offering.

3.5 out of 5

Funeral a ripoff.

2.5 out of 5

Vampire shorts.

3 out of 5

Family's a bloody burden.

3 out of 5

Cut to bits life.

3 out of 5

Johnny Pop is a Romanian vampire come to the USA. He has had a bright idea, selling vampire blood as a drug, and Studio 54 makes a nice base for him, indeed.

However, all good things must come to an end. Vampire hunters have a job to do as well.

"The taxi driver stood over him. There were others, in a circle. A crowd of
Fearless Vampire Killers. The silent nun. The black man with wooden
knives. The black man with the crossbow. The cop who'd sworn to break the
Transylvania Connection. An architect, on his own crusade to avenge a
family bled dead by dhamps. The aging beatnik from the psychedelic van,
with his smelly tracking dog. A red-skinned turncoat devil boy with the
tail and sawn-off horns. The exterminator with the skull on his chest and
a flame-thrower in his hands. "

3.5 out of 5

original? please. uninventive. the vampire hunter. the vampires taking over. same old, same old. and if you don't have a story, don't write. a good story be chetwynd-hayes. not so bad by Barker. other than that..... Like to add that i don't hate vampires. i just hate recycling, vampire clans, so-called exciting intrigues, and melodrama.