Vampires: Encounters With the Undead [Paperback]

David J. Skal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2006

The most wide-ranging collection of vampire tales ever features two centuries of spine-tingling writing, from John Polidori to Robert Block, Alexis Tolstoy to Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Henry Kuttner. Every page of Vampires features a column of commentary by the editor, expanding upon the stories and exploring the evolution of the vampire mystique in folklore, literature, and popular culture. More than 200 beautifully rendered black-and-white images of vintage engravings, film posters, and popular artifacts make this big book the “living end” of vampire fact, fiction, and lore.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Good evening.

According to legend. Vampires live forever - and our fascination with them seems equally enduring. Perhaps what springs to mind when you contemplate these elusive, terrifying creatures is a flickering, black-and-white image of Bela Lugosi in full evening attire, gliding down a towering staircase bidding his unwitting guests a civilized "good evening" or, with a swirl of his cape, metamorphosing into a bat and disappearing into the light of a full moon. But if the Hollywood version of Count Dracula is the one most indelibly etched in our minds, it is by no means the first or only incarnation of the vampire to haunt our dreams and capture our imaginations.

In this towering collection, featuring two centuries of spine-tingling literature, lore, ephemera, and history, noted vampire authority David J. Skal takes us on an unprecedented tour through this most captivating of subjects. From classics of the world's literature to pulp magazine serials to actual historical accounts, Skal has packed this volume with great, bloodcurdling writing. There's even an interview with a contemporary, self-confessed blood - drinker!

Every page of Vampires also features a column of commentary by Skal, expanding and reflecting upon the stories and exploring the evolution of the vampire mystique in folklore, Literature, and popular culture. Some 200 beautifully rendered black- and- white images, most from Skal's extensive personal collection and ranging from vintage engravings to film stills and posters to pop - culture artifacts, make this book a true Vampire's Feast.

Do vampires really exist? Says Skal in his introduction. "It should be obvious that vampires prowl the very fabric of modern consciousness.You will have to draw your on conclusions, but I hope this book will provide ample food for thought. And skeptics may be admonished to remember one of Professor Van Helsing's shrewdest observations: 'The strength of the vampire is that people will not believe in him.' Disbelieve, then, at your peril." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

David J. Skal’s many books include Hollywood Gothic, The Monster Show, Screams of Reason, and, with Elias Savada, Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning. With Nina Auerbach, he is co-editor of the Norton Critical Edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. He lives in Glendale, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers; 1 edition (October 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579124755
• ISBN-13: 978-1579124755
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,216,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the only thing missing is the rest of dracula..., November 8, 2004

By 

eric warren "eryk" (rochester,ny usa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vampires: Encounters With the Undead (Hardcover)

i recommend this book highly to anyone who has an interest in vampires. not only does it contain stories from classic gothic styling to present, the side bars provide very interesting information about vampires in general and the background of the stories and authors. this is like getting a well resarched "the vampire book" and a compilation of the greatest vampire stories ever written. aslo contains complete listing of vampire literature and cinema with author, year of publish or cinematic release. get this book. for the size and quality of the contents, the under $30 pricetag is well worth it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love Vampires?, August 22, 2011

By 

Sheri Newton (Ashville, AL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vampires: Encounters With the Undead (Paperback)

Vampires: Encounters with the Undead by David J. Skal is a large collection of vampire stories that have been collected over two centuries. The commentary by the editor includes additional information about the stories and vampires in general. It really makes you think about the myth and legends behind all of these tales.

This is a well written and compiled anthology of vampire stories. The stories included in this book are the best of the best when it comes to vampire tales. Having them all in one book is handy for late night reading. You could read it all in a weekend, or prolong it into reading one section each night, or at whatever pace you want to enjoy it at.

Aside from the actual vampire tales, I really enjoyed reading the editor's commentary and information about vampires that he researched. Even if you think you know everything about vampires, there is sure to be information included in the sidebars that you probably didn't know or haven't seen before.

If you have a fascination with vampires or just want to take a walk into the nightlife of the vampire lifestyle, this is seriously a must have book for you. I highly recommend it and am quite certain that you would also enjoy it.



* Thank you to the publisher of Vampires: Encounters with the Undead, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for What It Includes, but Format Will Give You Headaches, January 29, 2009

By 

Mark Alfred "http://markssuperblog.blogspot.com/" (Oklahoma City, OK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vampires: Encounters With the Undead (Paperback)

This book, "edited and with comentary by David J Skal," is pretty good. Here's my "official" review...

You can't fault Mr Skal for his selection of stuff -- fiction, nonfiction, excerpts from longer works. All that material is on-target and really a wonderful portmanteau of Vampirian lore.

But, despite the tagline on the cover, "edited and with commentary," the commentary is, at times, rather thin gruel.

I would have hoped for commentary specific to the selections, more like annotations, or explanations of this or that thing that appears in the story or article. Instead, in the sidebars, we often have excerpts of other stories that were published at the same time as Story X, or interminable lists of decades of vampire movies or lists of vampire books, etc.

The amount of actual commentary, compared to this "padding," is a small percentage.

It's also ironic that, in the acknowledgements, Mr Skal thanks his copy editor. Now, nobody's perfect, but in this book I came across a few dozens of simple misspellings, letters dropped from words, etc; paragraph indents at the tops of pages when we were continuing a sentence started the previous page; and so on.

And what's with the sudden change in type size for just one word, or one line? This happens more in the sidebars than in the main text, but for some of us it's kind of jarring.

These little irritants keep this book from being A-Number-One, for me at least. If these things don't bug you, then run -- do not walk -- to dive into this anthology.