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VampGirl's Previous Featured Books: Page Six 2001
 The Vampire Book : J. Gordon Melton
'The Vampire Book' by J. Gordon Melton has to be the most authoritative and complete 'Encyclopaedia of the Undead' available anywhere to date. Melton's research is meticulous, covering folklore, cults, movies, literature, myth, accounts of 'real' vampirism, comic-books and much more.
This fully revised and expanded edition of 'The Vampire Book' has over 100 new entries including the Dracula '97 Centenary, The X-Files, Angel/Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV information and over 200 Black and White/Colour photographic images, many of which are previously unpublished, ranging from pictures of vampire movie stars to historical locations. Four appendices are also included which list information such as vampire fanzines and organisations, a huge bibliography of vampire novels from 1897 (Dracula) to the publication date, a filmography and an examination of the vampire character in the Arts.
Whether you are an academic looking for some accurate source for research, or simply a vampire fan with some empty space on your bookshelf, 'The Vampire Book: An Encyclopaedia of the Undead' is an essential reference volume. Want to know absolutely everything about vampires? You do? Then you NEED this book!
 Bad Dreams : Kim Newman
"For Anne Nielson, London is fast turning from dream city to nightmare. Almost unawares she is sucked into an underworld hell-hole of suburban sleaze merchants, degenerate drug dealers and sadistic 'entertainments' held by chic decadents with prestigious addresses.
But this is nothing compared with meeting the Monster, who festers at the centre of his own twisted, but highly lucid, dream. He is the Immortal life-taker, the creator, the destroyer, the manipulator of all that Anne experiences.
He is death cooled down below freezing..."
Kim Newman's 'Bad Dreams' is a truly horrific book. From the very start of the novel with the murder of Judi Nielson, an S&M junkie prostitute, at the hands (or jaws) of Mr. Skinner the language is grotesque and graphic...and it continues in this style throughout the novel.
Newman's central vampire character, Mr. Skinner, is an egomaniacal, sadistic monster who enjoys taunting his victims, feeding off their emotions with great relish until their inevitable death and has fixated on the Nielson family; victimising each one in turn throughout their lives. Skinner is a 'dream' or 'energy' vampire who absorbs and manipulates the dreams and memories of the victims he consumes, keeping their ghosts alive inside his 'Dreamscape'. And it is into this 'Dreamscape' that Anne Nielson is drawn as she searches for the killer of her sister Judi through London's sleazy underworld of drug dealers and prostitutes.
Kim Newman's 'Bad Dreams' contains an immense amount of dry wit and wicked humour within its pages and Newman clearly enjoyed writing the veiled pokes at recognised cultural icons and 80s/90s British culture which are evident throughout the novel. Although not for the squeamish, 'Bad Dreams' is an intelligently written horror novel which is more than deserving of a place on your bookshelf.
 Vampire World I: Blood Brothers : Brian Lumley Brian Lumley's 'Vampire World' novels, of which 'Blood Brothers' is the first book, are a sub-series of his highly successful 'Necroscope' vampire saga which began in 1991. In Lumley's previous novels Vampire Hunter Harry Keogh, called the 'Necroscope' due to his ability to speak to the dead, had driven the Wamphyri away to the dark caverns of the Icelands...but, in 'Blood Brothers', the Wamphyri have returned and are again preying on the Gypsy tribes of Starside. In this world the powerful 'Necroscope' is believed to be dead. It is now his twin sons, Nestor and Nathan Kiklu, who must discover their inherited and untrained psychic powers to destroy these evil vampire lords once more.
'Blood Brothers' is an epic novel which expertly blends the more traditional 'Peake-esque' elements of science-fiction and fantasy with the horror genre. Lumley's epic style is clearly evident in his description of both the Sunside/Starside worlds and the Wamphyri themselves. The vampires of Brian Lumley's novels are, quite literally, a world apart from any vampires I have ever read about before. The Wamphyri here are unique. Living in hideous 'aeries' they are viciously jealous, gluttonous and brutal yet there is a vile, enthralling beauty in their horror which is able to completely capture the imagination. 'Blood Brothers', first in the 'Vampire World' series, sixth in the 'Necroscope' saga itself, is an intense novel which I would have to recommend to all enthusiasts of SciFi/Fantasy and of Horror. Quite simply, Lumley's vampires are genuinely unforgettable.
VampGirl's Previous Featured Books: 2002| Page One | The Beast Within
: Ed. Stewart Wieck
Tall, Dark and Gruesome
: Christopher Lee
The Mammoth Book of Dracula : Ed. Stephen Jones
Pandora : Anne Rice |
| Page Two | The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vampires
: Jay Stevenson, Ph.D.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Pop Quiz
: Cynthia Boris
The Queen of the Damned : Anne Rice |
| Page Three | The Vampyre : And Other Tales of the Macabre
: Ed. Robert Morrison & Chris Baldick
The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women : Ed. Stephen Jones
The Vampire Encyclopedia : Matthew Bunson |
| Page Four | Lost Souls
: Poppy Z. Brite
The Keep : F. Paul Wilson
Mina's Journal : Kimberley Zagoren |
VampGirl's Previous Featured Books: 2001| Page One | Dracula the Undead : Freda Warrington
Salem's Lot : Stephen King | | Page Two | The Vampyre: A secret history of Lord Byron : Tom Holland
Sunglasses After Dark : Nancy A. Collins
Love in Vein : Ed by Poppy Z. Brite | | Page Three | In Search of Dracula : Raymond T. McNally & Prof. Radu Florescu
Dracula : Bram Stoker
Lord of the Vampires : Jeanne Kalogrides
The Secret Life of Laszlo, Count Dracula : Roderick Anscombe | | Page Four | Sins of the Blood : Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Rulers of Darkness : Steven Spruill
Guilty Pleasures : Laurell K. Hamilton |
| Page Five | The Illustrated Vampire Movie Guide : Stephen Jones
This Dark Paradise : Wendy Haley
Interview with the Vampire : Anne Rice |
| Page Six | The Vampire Book : J. Gordon Melton
Bad Dreams : Kim Newman
Vampire World I: Blood Brothers : Brian Lumley |
| Page Seven | Sips of Blood : Mary Ann Mitchell
The World on Blood : Jonathan Nasaw
Vampire : The Masquerade : White Wolf Publishing
Ravenloft: Vampire of the Mists : Christie Golden |
| Page Eight | Batman : Bloodstorm : Doug Moench & Kelley Jones
Batman vs Dracula : Red Rain : Doug Moench & Kelley Jones
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| Page Nine | The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories : Ed. Alan Ryan
Piercing The Darkness : Katherine Ramsland
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| Page Ten | Vampire$ : John Steakley
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Obsidian Fate : Diana G.Gallagher
The Deluxe Transitive Vampire : Karen Elizabeth Gordon
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