Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Dracula

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

 

 

When I first picked up the Ultimate Dracula, I wasn't sure what it was. I thought another collection on Dracula himself, but I was wrong. Anne Rice's "Master of the Rampling Gate" is a wonderful short story of hers. My other favorite is "The Tenth Scholar", a totally different look at the world of the vampire. If you're looking for some good short fiction, pick up this book. It won't disappoint you.

These are supposed to be some of the best Vampire stories around. However, I didn't find the quality of these stories to be as good as the stories in The Ultimate Zombie. I enjoyed them and found most to be very solid and entertaining stories. Maybe it is just because of the major flux of vampire stories and novels and movies that I'm just a little tired of them, especially when they don't vary widely from the standard vampire storyline. Try something different, make the story really stand out, that's what I was hoping for more of. At least the stories below gave me that difference.

"A Matter of Style" by Ron Dee - Dracula must take other forms in order to find food.

"Selection Process" by Ed Gorman - A hitman gets a strange job.

"Dracula 1944" by Edward D. Hoch - Dracula plays a part of World War II.

"Contagion" by Janet Asimov - Dracula enters a Sci-Fi world out of an Isaac Asimov novel.

"Sugar and Spice and ..." by Karen Robards - A brother suspects his baby sister is a vampire.

I'm a big fan of Anne Rice and this was a must....I lost all of my books during the flood of 2008...
So it is a real treat to build my books back at a much cheaper cost... I will be shopping with this seller
a lot.. Thanks for the fast service... and thanks for support to me and my family....
Any one who likes stories of the undead needs to get this one...very well done with many different writters
in this book collection....

With the current resurgence of vampires, if you're looking for a pretty decent set of vampire short stories this may be a good place to go. This relatively recent collection (I believe it was written in the 1990s) features notable sci-fi/fantasy authors such as Anne Rice, Dan Simmons, and Philip Jose Farmer. In my opinion it isn't so much a collection of "the very best of " - or classic vampire stories - as it is an attempt to update and/or further expand on the vampire myth. As opposed to old gothic castles and settings in the 1800s, these are generally set in more current times (and in some cases, the future) and portray vampires adapting and evolving into various forms beyond the old standards...but usually with the same goal of satiating the ole' blood lust!

I'd recommend this as a fairly creative and well written collection of vampire stories. But if you're looking for a more classic and comprehensive collection (and overall better stories, in my opinion) I'd more highly recommend "The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories."

A pretty mediocre collection of stories. A few are of the amusing variety.



Ultimate Dracula : The Master of Rampling Gate - Anne Rice
Ultimate Dracula : All Dracula's Children - Dan Simmons
Ultimate Dracula : A Matter of Style - Ron Dee
Ultimate Dracula : Selection Process - Ed Gorman
Ultimate Dracula : The Vampire in His Closet - Heather Graham
Ultimate Dracula : The Tenth Scholar - Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem
Ultimate Dracula : Nobody's Perfect - Philip José Farmer
Ultimate Dracula : Dracula 1944 - Edward D. Hoch
Ultimate Dracula : The Contagion - Janet Asimov
Ultimate Dracula : Sugar and Spice and... - Karen Robards
Ultimate Dracula : Vampire Dreams - Dick Lochte
Ultimate Dracula : Much at Stake - Kevin J. Anderson
Ultimate Dracula : The Name of Fear - Lawrence Watt-Evans
Ultimate Dracula : The Dark Rising - W. R. Philbrick
Ultimate Dracula : Los Ninos de la Noche - Tim Sullivan
Ultimate Dracula : A Little Night Music - Mike Resnick
Ultimate Dracula : Mr. Lucrada - John Lutz
Ultimate Dracula : In the Cusp of the Hour - John Gregory Betancourt
Ultimate Dracula : Children of the Night - Kristine Kathryn Rusch


Burning down the house as dead dad suggested a better move.

2.5 out of 5


Ceausescu Romanians not quick on the AIDS uptake, not even Vlad Tepes.

3.5 out of 5


Dracula finds being a hot chick useful for hunting.

3.5 out of 5


Flaming assasin recruitment test.

3 out of 5


Writer wakes vampire, gets to swap blonde for brunette.

3 out of 5


Drac only wants the kid for class, after the shagging.

3.5 out of 5


Escort hired by fundies as vampire assassin.

3.5 out of 5


The guards at much tastier at Bergen-Belson for Drac than the prisoners.

3.5 out of 5


Positronic shrink revives Drac in the future in the interests of telepathic robot research.

3 out of 5


Midget female vampire relatives are bad.

3 out of 5


Undead actor gets fed up with Hollywood types, goes over the edge with one.

3.5 out of 5


Lugosi and Tepes, temporal communication.

3.5 out of 5


Sneaking vamp thinks Vlad a good candidate for the ranks, after impressive death displays.

3 out of 5


In Haiti, vampire lord just full of disease, but isn't dead.

3 out of 5


Latino lore.

2.5 out of 5


Band booker signs Vlad and the Impalers.

3 out of 5


Sunscreen useful for old vamps.

2.5 out of 5


Overload of old people stuff.

2.5 out of 5


Vampire killers and little kids.

3 out of 5

I love dracula stories and I have to admit that I loved this book. I liked all the writers style and when I started to read it I could not put it down. I would recomend this book to those who enjoy vampire films and novels!

The books in this series--The Ultimate Dracula, Frankenstein, Werewolf, etc.--are striking for their cover art but disappointing in their story selection. They're eclectic enough--including stories by established writers and little-known authors and varying widely in tone. But none of them really stands out. There must be better collections out there.