Dracula's Guests
curated by Dr. Chris McAuley
4 out of 5 stars
This collection of vampire horror tales in celebration of Dracula's 125th birthday will sate your bloodthirst. These are the stories that stood out for us:
Dracula in Recovery - Michael Zemecki: We loved this darkly humorous story featuring all the characters from the original Dracula in contemporary, corporate job roles. Vlad Dracula gets into trouble with HR and has to attend sensitivity training, then rehab his blood addiction. At the end, there is a definite "twist in the tail." Pun intended.
A Final Supper - Trev Hill: This one has plenty of adrenaline-pumped action and fight scenes. The vampires in this story don't suck blood, but they feed in a much worse way while their victims are still alive. There is a perfect twist in the ending.
An Interview in the Garden of Earthly Delights - Albert N. Katz : An interview with a wealthy and dangerous man by a person who used to torment him at school. His old tormentor receives a perverse punishment in this tale, which carries notes of "The Cask of Amontillado" and "Jekyll and Hyde" with a Great Gatsby atmosphere.
A Visit From Lady Lydia - Ken Goldman: This dark, tongue-in-cheek story is about a film class tutor being goaded into messaging a female "vampire" online by his students. However, it turns out that the real deal may be hiding in plain sight...
All the Way - Eamonn Murphy: Teenagers planning a Halloween party in a derelict mansion accidentally rouse a sleeping vampire. We liked this story for the humorous narrative voice, which put us in mind of something by Michael Lawrence or Dean Koontz.
Almost-Dry January - Judith Newlin: A dark and handsome stranger in a pub on a wintry night offers two women a certain drug to make their drinks taste better. It produces vivid hallucinations, and the main character begins to suffer lapses in memory... We liked the cold subtlety and seeming gentleness of the vampire in this story.
Be Like You - Jack Nash: A despairing, typecast film-vampire is visited and then stalked by a strange and malodorous fan.
Beer in a Bar - Jerry Purdon: We liked this one for its surreal, dream-like mood, and how the subtle arrival of the vampires is heralded by a heavy thick fog, which is echoed in a bathroom mirror sometime later at an important point of the tale.
Black Harvest Moon - Terry Stock: A dystopian story in which vampires rule over a pack of dwindling humans. There is a lot of tension, drama, and action in this as well as emotion that will tear your heartstrings like a vampire can tear off a man's head.
Clear as Dae - Sam Fletcher: This story is told from the POV of a misfit juvenile vampire in a gang of "teenage" vampires (though they range from 49 to 178 in ages) as they hunt for an ancient and bizarre non-binary vampire named Miksa. We liked this story for the interesting and varied characters and the writing-style, along with the cool, psychic vampire powers.
Curse of Avalon - Anthony Regolino: We love Arthurian tales, so were excited to read this vampire retelling of King Arthur's journey to the Lady of the Lake to gain a sword.
Feeder - Rose Strickman: Set in a 19th century London brothel, a prostitute and her hungry ghost sister try to feed on a client, when things go horribly wrong...
Identity Theft - Elaine Pascale: Another tale of what the world would be like if human society fell under the tyranny of vampires. We enjoyed this one for the worldbuilding and the clever way the characters gathered materials to use against their captors, as well as the different, strict rules the vampires had about feeding.
Lilitu - Helen Mihajlovic: A freelance architect finds a new place to stay in a mysterious Gothic-looking building. We enjoyed the descriptions of the building, its levels and interior, and we liked the Biblical backstory of the vampire who owns it.
No Man's Land - Stephen Patrick: During the war in 1916, a group of British soldiers in French trenches share stories of what scares them, and it is revealed that something in no man's land stalks in the night, feasting...
Wolfsbane - Greg Patrick: The writing in this story has an excellent poetry to it, like a painting in red, silver, black, and white. Fantastic use of imagery, and it reads like a gothic courtly romance.
The Precarious Politics of Modern Vampirism - Stephen Loiaconi: A vampire gets into politics and aligns with the President of the USA, who is disturbingly reminiscent of Donald Trump. We liked the use of press interview transcripts in the story to reveal more about the character, his ambitions, and his flaws. (N.B. Bobby Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers is such a cool band name).
Steel and Fangs - Josh Darling: A woman who is assaulted and blinded becomes the top student of Krav Maga at a school for the sight-impaired and faces hordes of vampire familiars. There is a twist in the end and her attacker gets his comeuppance. Trigger warning: contains rape, abduction, and torture.
Dracula in Recovery - Michael Zemecki: We loved this darkly humorous story featuring all the characters from the original Dracula in contemporary, corporate job roles. Vlad Dracula gets into trouble with HR and has to attend sensitivity training, then rehab his blood addiction. At the end, there is a definite "twist in the tail." Pun intended.
A Final Supper - Trev Hill: This one has plenty of adrenaline-pumped action and fight scenes. The vampires in this story don't suck blood, but they feed in a much worse way while their victims are still alive. There is a perfect twist in the ending.
An Interview in the Garden of Earthly Delights - Albert N. Katz : An interview with a wealthy and dangerous man by a person who used to torment him at school. His old tormentor receives a perverse punishment in this tale, which carries notes of "The Cask of Amontillado" and "Jekyll and Hyde" with a Great Gatsby atmosphere.
A Visit From Lady Lydia - Ken Goldman: This dark, tongue-in-cheek story is about a film class tutor being goaded into messaging a female "vampire" online by his students. However, it turns out that the real deal may be hiding in plain sight...
All the Way - Eamonn Murphy: Teenagers planning a Halloween party in a derelict mansion accidentally rouse a sleeping vampire. We liked this story for the humorous narrative voice, which put us in mind of something by Michael Lawrence or Dean Koontz.
Almost-Dry January - Judith Newlin: A dark and handsome stranger in a pub on a wintry night offers two women a certain drug to make their drinks taste better. It produces vivid hallucinations, and the main character begins to suffer lapses in memory... We liked the cold subtlety and seeming gentleness of the vampire in this story.
Be Like You - Jack Nash: A despairing, typecast film-vampire is visited and then stalked by a strange and malodorous fan.
Beer in a Bar - Jerry Purdon: We liked this one for its surreal, dream-like mood, and how the subtle arrival of the vampires is heralded by a heavy thick fog, which is echoed in a bathroom mirror sometime later at an important point of the tale.
Black Harvest Moon - Terry Stock: A dystopian story in which vampires rule over a pack of dwindling humans. There is a lot of tension, drama, and action in this as well as emotion that will tear your heartstrings like a vampire can tear off a man's head.
Clear as Dae - Sam Fletcher: This story is told from the POV of a misfit juvenile vampire in a gang of "teenage" vampires (though they range from 49 to 178 in ages) as they hunt for an ancient and bizarre non-binary vampire named Miksa. We liked this story for the interesting and varied characters and the writing-style, along with the cool, psychic vampire powers.
Curse of Avalon - Anthony Regolino: We love Arthurian tales, so were excited to read this vampire retelling of King Arthur's journey to the Lady of the Lake to gain a sword.
Feeder - Rose Strickman: Set in a 19th century London brothel, a prostitute and her hungry ghost sister try to feed on a client, when things go horribly wrong...
Identity Theft - Elaine Pascale: Another tale of what the world would be like if human society fell under the tyranny of vampires. We enjoyed this one for the worldbuilding and the clever way the characters gathered materials to use against their captors, as well as the different, strict rules the vampires had about feeding.
Lilitu - Helen Mihajlovic: A freelance architect finds a new place to stay in a mysterious Gothic-looking building. We enjoyed the descriptions of the building, its levels and interior, and we liked the Biblical backstory of the vampire who owns it.
No Man's Land - Stephen Patrick: During the war in 1916, a group of British soldiers in French trenches share stories of what scares them, and it is revealed that something in no man's land stalks in the night, feasting...
Wolfsbane - Greg Patrick: The writing in this story has an excellent poetry to it, like a painting in red, silver, black, and white. Fantastic use of imagery, and it reads like a gothic courtly romance.
The Precarious Politics of Modern Vampirism - Stephen Loiaconi: A vampire gets into politics and aligns with the President of the USA, who is disturbingly reminiscent of Donald Trump. We liked the use of press interview transcripts in the story to reveal more about the character, his ambitions, and his flaws. (N.B. Bobby Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers is such a cool band name).
Steel and Fangs - Josh Darling: A woman who is assaulted and blinded becomes the top student of Krav Maga at a school for the sight-impaired and faces hordes of vampire familiars. There is a twist in the end and her attacker gets his comeuppance. Trigger warning: contains rape, abduction, and torture.