“Three vampire books to buy before 2008 ends………..”

1. Bram Stoker’s Notes for Dracula: A Facsimile Edition (Robert Eighteen-Bisang and Elizabeth Miller)---wonderful to be able to read Stoker’s notes in his original writing. What’s even more fun is to be able to look at single words/phrases and try to decipher them( Stoker’s handwriting seems rushed and is illegible at times and there are still debates about certain words/phrases). But as a big fan of his work, just visually seeing his writing gave me a special thrill.


2. “The New Annotated Dracula (Leslie S. Klinger with introduction by Neil Gaiman). Klinger just published “The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes” and if the Dracula one is anything to compare it by, they both must be wonderful. Klinger knows his subject matter thoroughly and examines the text fully and completely. It’s going on my reference shelf! Several authors have published the novel with their notes (interestingly Wolf analyzed and published analyses of both Phantom and Dracula but I digress…) but if you’re deciding which to purchase, Klinger’s is among my top favs.

3. “Vampire Wine and Roses: Chilling Tales of Immortal Pleasure” edited by John Richard Stephens. Yes, yes, I know, there are many good compilations of vampire stories. However, this one has some really, really good stories with some stories I haven’t seen in print for a very long time. From Anne Rice to Sting to Voltaire to Stephen King, this is another ‘must have’ for the vampire aficionado’s book shelf.


Take care all,
Christine Prebler