Customer Reviews

Vampires, Wine, and Roses

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

 

 

Romeo and Juliet (excerpt)- William Shakespeare

The Master of Rampling Gate; The Ballad of the Sad Rat- Anne Rice

Moon Over Bourbon Street- Sting

John Barrington Cowles- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Thalaba the Destroyer (excerpt)- Robert Southey

Ligeia- Edgar Allan Poe

The Vampire- Rudyard Kipling

A Fragment of a Turkish Tale; The Giaour (excerpt)- Lord Byron

The Flowering of the Strange Orchid- H.G. Wells

The Homecoming- Ray Bradbury

Rokeby (excerpt)- Sir Walter Scott

Phantoms- Ivan Turgenev

Olalla- Robert Louis Stevenson

The Vampire; The Metamorphoses of a Vampire- Baudelaire

The Carpathian Castle (excerpt)- Jules Verne

Vampires- Voltaire

Lamia- John Keats

Count Dracula- Woody Allen

The Vampires Won't Vampire for Me- F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Horla- Guy De Maupassant

The Vampire of the Carpathian Mountains- Alexandre Dumas

The Divine Pilgrim (excerpt)- Conrad Aiken

The Death of King Arthur (excerpt)- Sir Thomas Malory

The Vampirine Fair- Thomas Hardy

The Riddle of the Crypt- Rod Serling

The Bride of Corinth- Goethe

(untitled)- Lenny Bruce

The Wasteland (excerpt)- T.S. Eliot

Bewitched- Edith Wharton

The Hound- H.P. Lovecraft

Dracula's Guest- Bram Stoker

The book is great. It moves with random pace. Some stories will keep you hanging like a vampire sucking away your life blood, other stories can bore to death, but you get over it. The poems are also good with some twist. This comes as a highly recommended book for that fanged fan out there. Trust me, you'll love it...

If you're looking for vampiric moments in mostly literary fiction, you may enjoy this book. If you enjoy poetry, the book is about 1/3 poetry. If you're seeking enjoyable, passion-filled stories about vampires, you may be disappointed.

Not a fan of poetry, I concentrated on the stories. Quite a few got bogged down in excessive narrative and/or description. Others are brief excerpts from stories or novels, so there's nothing to satisfy a reader. Some are about vampires in only the loosest sense: one "vampire" is a plant.

I found the offerings by Anne Rice and Alexandre Dumas the most readable, but both are romantic stories, which may not appeal to everyone.

I read vampire stories for passionate characters and situations. This book seemed dry and bland to me.

Vampires Wine and Roses is another anthology of similar content to some past efforts - a lot of early public domain pieces, along with some celebrity bits, Woody Allen, Lennie Bruce, Rod Serling, etc. There are some stretches that would beat Mister Fantastic included here too, as part of the theme. Romeo and Juliet? King Arthur? Perhaps the editor had indulged in a bit too much of the middle bit of the title when making the decisions, or just liked them too much.

Also, a lot of poetry and even a song from Sting's Dream of the Blue Turtles - no argument with that, given I have that one.

Vampires Wine and Roses : The Master of Rampling Gate - Anne Rice

Vampires Wine and Roses : John Barrington Cowles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Vampires Wine and Roses : Ligeia - Edgar Allan Poe

Vampires Wine and Roses : A Fragment of a Turkish Tale - Lord Byron

Vampires Wine and Roses : The Flowering of the Strange Orchid - H. G. Wells

Vampires Wine and Roses : The Homecoming - Ray Bradbury

Vampires Wine and Roses : Phantoms - Ivan Turgenev

Vampires Wine and Roses : Olalla - Robert Louis Stevenson

Vampires Wine and Roses : The Carpathian Castle [short story] - Jules Verne

Vampires Wine and Roses : Count Dracula - Woody Allen

Vampires Wine and Roses : The Horla - Guy de Maupassant

Vampires Wine and Roses : The Vampire of the Carpathian Mountains - Alexandre Dumas

Vampires Wine and Roses : The Death of King Arthur [short story] - Thomas Malory

Vampires Wine and Roses : Riddle of the Crypt - Rod Serling

Vampires Wine and Roses : Bewitched - Edith Wharton

Vampires Wine and Roses : The Hound - H. P. Lovecraft

Vampires Wine and Roses : Dracula's Guest [short story] - Bram Stoker

Big bat bait.

3.5 out of 5

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

2.5 out of 5

Woman a killer.

3.5 out of 5

Lady loss revisited.

3.5 out of 5

Exhumation surprise.

3 out of 5

Hothouse leech.

3.5 out of 5

I want to feel the wind beneath my wings. Or I'll cry.

3.5 out of 5

Flying apparition draining.

2.5 out of 5

Entrancing female.

3 out of 5

Take eclipse safety precautions.

3.5 out of 5

New being haunting.

3 out of 5

Preferable to have enough help left to not become a vampire woman, thanks.

3 out of 5

Blood shedding maidens.

2 out of 5

Winged dog amulet cult symbol.

3 out of 5

Dracula's guest employs some of the creep local folk tales and legends. The significance of a blue flame from the ground, the howling of wolves, that sort of thing.

Here, a coachman in a coach drawn by midnight black horses, picks up a traveller. He is growing increasingly freaked out all the time.

4 out of 5

i highly recommend this book. unlike most vampire anthologies, this book takes you from the classic, gothic style, to modern day tales. there are many stories in here that are difficult to find and some of the shorter poems and song lyrics are a welcome suprise. this book will make you look at every aspect of vampires in culture, even places you would never expect to find them. i will caution that some of the stories are old and therefore, may be boring, laborous reading for some. if you are a serious fan of vampire literature, this is an affordable must have. i recommend reading... the master of rampling gate, draculas guest, the vampire of the carpathians first. pick this up and the anthology edited be david skal also!