Sisters of the Night (Mass Market Paperback)

by Barbara Hambly (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor) "Not everyone looks in a mirror one day and sees they've grown old..." (more)
Key Phrases: payload shell, Van Helsing, Machine People, Grass Giant (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
This collage of short stories centers on the theme of the female vampire. Some stories are eerie or despairing, while others show a glint of humor. In George Alec Effinger's "Marid and the Trail of Blood," the wisecracking narrator lives in a future Arabic society where computer chips for the brain can make folks believe that they're anything, even vampires. Deborah Wheeler's "Survival Skills" finds a vampire single mom, much to her chagrin, turing into a normal, mortal-like PTA member. Editor Hambly's contribution, "Madeline," strikes a slightly more somber note with a ruthless vampire who becomes cursed with hearing the voices of her victims. In "La Dame," the lyric prose of Tanith Lee shows that vampires come in other than human form. Fans of Larry Niven's Ringworld (Ballantine, 1985) will be pleased to find the beginnings of a sequel in the novella "Song of the Night People." There are 14 original stories in all, several by well-known science fiction and fantasy writers. For most popular collections.
Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Bowie, Md.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
From Barbara Hambly, the bestselling author of "Those Who Hunt the Night", and respected editor Martin H. Greenberg comes this collection of 14 inventive and terrifying stories that immortalize the most mysterious, sensual and deadly women of all--female vampires. Authors include Hambly herself, Larry Niven, Tanith Lee, Jane Yolen, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Pat Cadigan, and more.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Aspect (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446600520
• ISBN-13: 978-0446600521
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,346,766 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something for every taste, January 5, 2001

By	M. J. Walters "dargelos" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Fourteen original short stories by award-winning authors such as Tanith Lee, Jane Yolen, Larry Niven and Barbara Hambly explore a dark sisterhood of blood. The past, the present and the future are all stalking grounds for these women who hunt the night. Hambly and Greenberg have taken a rather simple subject - female vampires - and collected fourteen tales from a diverse group of authors, which seek to illuminate the life, if it can be called life, of the female of a deadly, and sensual species.

As Hambly says in her introduction, there was no way to know in advance what she would find. Would the stories sent by men be dramatically different in focus and treatment from those of the women writers? And in the end, it seems to me that for the most part, there is a kind of unity of thought expressed in these stories which are at the same time, all quite different from each other. That unity - a real sense of what it means to be female first and foremost - is the thread that truly makes this volume fascinating. These creatures are women first, and vampires second.

In this volume you'll find all manner of vampire. Michael Kurland checks in with the most familiar take on the subject in his old-world, but deliciously perverse "In the Blood." Diana Paxson gives us a myth with the feel of a Norse saga and Pat Cadigan scrapes nerve endings raw with a contemporary tale of life and death on the trash-heap in "Sometimes Salvation." Tanith Lee offers her special brand of slow, languid, gorgeous horror in "La Dame" and George Alec Effinger even manages to work in a little cyberpunk with "Marid and the Trail of Blood. To my way of thinking, though, the true stand-out in this book is the last, shortest story, a powerful, stark, wrenching piece entitled "Sister Death" by Jane Yolen. If any of the stories have you in tears by the end, it will be this one.

If you're a fan of vampires or of horror, this book is a good bet. There's something for every taste here, and the over-all theme is well served by the editorial choices. Buy it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The woman's vampire legend rewritten, October 31, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Sisters of the Night (Paperback)

Amazing tales of th vampire legend which examine everything from lesbian relationships, the vampire mother, ethnic vampires, and basis of origin for the myth. A must for any vampire book collectors shelf.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating collection., December 10, 2001

By	James Yanni (Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are one of the vast number of people who are fascinated by vampire fiction, and do not have a particular prejudice against female lead characters, you will almost certainly find this an excellent read. There are a wide range of different concepts here, from the relatively traditional vampire in Barbara Hambly's "Madeline" and M. John Harrison's "Empty", to the very offbeat and high-tech "Song of the Night People" by Larry Niven. Along the way, we meet tormented souls struggling against their nature ("In the Blood", by Michael Kurland), kind and loving immortals little different from humans save for the fact that they don't age ("Tumbling Down The Nighttime", by Dean Wesley Smith), a light-hearted spoof ("Survival Skills", by Deborah Wheeler), and even a vampiric ship ("La Dame", by Tanith Lee). All of the stories are extremely well-written, and the collection as a whole is well-edited (I found only one copyediting mistake in the entire book, almost unheard-of these days).

Highly recommended for anyone with a liking (or even a lack of antipathy) for the subject matter. Some of the best vampire fiction I've read.