The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women

Top notch selection of vampire stories from the classic to those with a great twist..

The vampires in this anthology are a diverse group, some are romantic, some erotic, may possess supernatural abilities, or not, others are grotesque, or simply bizarre. Actress Ingrid Pitt (of the Hammer films "The Vampire Lovers" and "Countess Dracula"), opens with a wonderful introduction and contributes an enjoyable story. Most of the stories are between five and twenty-five pages long. A few of the stories are around fifty pages. Anne Rice is represented with the first story. At about twenty pages, "The Master of Rampling Gate", is worth the price of the whole novel. It used to be challenging to find a reprint of "The Master of Rampling Gate", which was originally published in 1984 in "Redbook" magazine. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking to expand their scope of authors of "contemporary" vampire fiction. For those who have not been introduced to the writings of the great Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Tanith Lee, Storm Constantine, Poppy Z. Brite, and Freda Warrington, you may decide to build a collection of their novels . I tend to lean more toward a preference for a romantic, supernatural version of the vampire, of which, there are only a few here.

As with any anthology, some of the stories will resonate more with any given reader than others. There were a few stories here than just didn't do much for me, but that's to be expected, and there were far fewer than might be expected out of 37 stories. But the quality was in general quite high, and if you read nothing else in this book, you really should read "Jack", by Connie Willis (the second to last entry in the book), a 50-page novella that is one of the best short, stand-alone vampire stories I've ever read.

THIS BOOK IS A MUST HAVE FOR ANY VAMPIRE LIT. FAN.

In my quest to read all things vampire, I had purchased this book some few months ago. I kept putting off starting to read it, daunted not only by its size (624 pages) but also by the fact that all the stories were written by women and I feared the majority of them would be nothing more than "bodice rippers." The back cover of the book said there were stories by some of my favorite authors, some of those being Poppy Z. Brite, Nancy A. Collins, and Nancy Kilpatrick; and though I also like Anne Rice's works, I bristled at the publisher's reference to her as "the undisputed queen of vampire literature," which reference only gave me further pause in making a decision to read the book. If they considered her writing to be the epitome, then how could I possibly trust their judgment as to the rest of the stories contained in the anthology? Nevertheless, I decided to read it, at the very least thus decreasing my "to be read" book pile by 624 pages!Was I ever pleasantly surprised, especially after opening it up only to discover that Anne Rice's "The Master of Rampling Gate" was the first one in the book! Of the 34 stories in this anthology, only two or three failed to hold my full interest; and several presented very enjoyable, unique twists on the meaning of vampire. If asked to name my favorites, it would be difficult, but they would probably be "Services Rendered" by Louise Cooper (a story with an ending you can't help but figure out and yet it made me mentally shout, "No! No! No! Don't do it!" and enjoy it just the same); "Butternut and Blood" by Kathryn Ptacek (a story set in a makeshift field hospital during the Civil War and a bedridden soldier helplessly watching Death come closer each night); "Venus Rising on Water" by Tanith Lee (about something that comes to earth through a portal opened by an astrologer's telescope, and a really creepy painting!); "A North Light" by Gwyneth Jones (it's hard to figure out if there's really two or three vampires in this tale that takes place in an out-of-the-way B & B in Ireland!); and "Jack" by Connie Willis (an unforgettable, rather sad story set during the London Blitzkrieg). Overall, I found all the stories to be haunting more than horrifying, ethereal more than erotic. It struck me as a book I might give to friends to read as a way of introducing them to the vampire genre; there is so much more to it than Dracula, and I am so often ridiculed and misunderstood for my interest in it. I gave the book 4 stars because I enjoyed almost all of the stories in this anthology, and will most likely read several of them a second time or more.