The Vampire Archives

The Most Complete Volume of Vampire Tales Ever Published

By: Clive Barker, Robert Bloch, Stephen King, Kim Newman - foreword, Neil Gaiman - preface, Otto Penzler - editor

Narrated by: Scott Brick, Jonathan Cowley, Erik Davies

Length: 61 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

The Vampire Archives is the biggest, hungriest, undeadliest collection of vampire stories, as well as the most comprehensive bibliography of vampire fiction ever assembled. Dark, stormy, and delicious, once it sinks its teeth into you there’s no escape.

Vampires! Whether imagined by Bram Stoker or Anne Rice, they are part of the human lexicon and as old as blood itself. They are your neighbors, your friends, and they are always lurking. Now Otto Penzler—editor of the best-selling Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps—has compiled the darkest, the scariest, and by far the most evil collection of vampire stories ever, with over 80 stories, including the works of Stephen King and D. H. Lawrence, alongside Lord Byron and Tanith Lee, not to mention Edgar Allan Poe and Harlan Ellison. The Vampire Archives will drive a stake through the heart of any other collection out there.

Other contributors include Arthur Conan Doyle, Ray Bradbury, Ambrose Bierce, H. P. Lovecraft, Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny, Robert Bloch, and Clive Barker.

©2009 Otto Penzler (P)2011 Random House

good variety of the old and often little known stories

I am not a big vampire fan. As a result it took me a long time to get through this book. I enjoyed the variety of authors and readers. Most of the readers fit the story. To get maximum enjoyment try to remember the time period many of these were written. I wish there had been a better listing of the content.

variety!

found it kinda hard to stay engaged when the tone and language of the stories varied so wildly. took a few rewind but its it's obviously worth the money

Table of Contents:

Foreword: Kim Newman
Preface: Neil Gaiman
Introduction: Otto Penzler


PRE-DRACULA

Good Lady Ducayne: M. E. Braddon
The Last Lords of Gardonal: William Gilbert
A Mystery of the Campagna: Anne Crawford
The Fate of Madame Cabanel: Eliza Lynn Linton
Let Loose: Mary Cholmondeley
The Vampire: Vasile Alecsandri
The Death of Halpin Frayser: Ambrose Bierce
Ken's Mystery: Julian Hawthorne
Carmilla: Sheridan Le Fanu
The Tomb of Sarah: F. G. Loring
Ligeia: Edgar Allan Poe
The Old Portrait: Hume Nisbet
The Vampire Maid: Hume Nisbet

TRUE STORIES

The Sad Story of a Vampire: Eric (Count) Stenbock
A Case of Alleged Vampirism: Luigi Capuana
An Authenticated Vampire Story: Franz Hartmann

GRAVEYARDS, CASTLES, CHURCHES, RUINS

Revelations in Black: Carl Jacobi
The Master of Rampling Gate: Anne Rice
The Vampire of Kaldenstein: Frederick Cowles
An Episode of Cathedral History: M. R. James
Schloss Wappenburg: D. Scott-Moncrieff
The Hound: H. P. Lovecraft
Bite-Me-Not Or, Fleur De Fur: Tanith Lee
The Horror at Chilton Castle: Joseph Payne Brennan
The Singular Death of Morton: Algernon Blackwood
The Death of Ilalotha: Clark Ashton Smith

THAT'S POETIC

The Bride of Corinth: Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
The Giaour: Lord Byron
La Belle Dame Sans Merci: John Keats

HARD TIMES FOR VAMPIRES

Place of Meeting: Charles Beaumont
Duty: Ed Gorman
A Week in the Unlife: David J. Schow

CLASSIC TALES

Four Wooden Stakes: Victor Roman
The Room in the Tower: E. F. Benson
Mrs. Amworth: E. F. Benson
Doctor Porthos: Basil Copper
For the Blood Is the Life: F. Marion Crawford
Count Magnus: M. R. James
When It Was Moonlight: Manly Wade Wellman
The Drifting Snow: August Derleth
Aylmer Vance and the Vampire: Alice and Claude Askew
Dracula's Guest: Bram Stoker
The Transfer: Algernon Blackwood
The Stone Chamber: H. B. Marriott Watson
The Vampire: Jan Neruda
The End of the Story: Clark Ashton Smith

PSYCHIC VAMPIRES

The Lovely Lady: D. H. Lawrence
The Parasite: Arthur Conan Doyle
Lonely Women Are the Vessels of Time:
Harlan Ellison

SOMETHING FEELS FUNNY

Blood: Fredric Brown
Popsy: Stephen King
The Werewolf and the Vampire: R. Chetwynd-Hayes
Drink My Red Blood: Richard Matheson
Dayblood: Roger Zelazny

LOVE . . . FOREVER

Replacements: Lisa Tuttle
Princess of Darkness: Frederick Cowles
The Silver Collar: Garry Kilworth
The Old Man's Story: Walter Starkie
Will: Vincent O'Sullivan
Blood-Lust: Dion Fortune
The Canal: Everil Worrell
When Gretchen Was Human: Mary A. Turzillo
The Story of Chugoro: Lafcadio Hearn

THEY GATHER

The Men & Women of Rivendale: Steve Rasnic Tem
Winter Flowers: Tanith Lee
The Man Who Loved the Vampire Lady: Brian Stableford
Midnight Mass: F. Paul Wilson

IS THAT A VAMPIRE?

The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire: Arthur Conan Doyle
A Dead Finger: Sabine Baring-Gould
Wailing Well: M. R. James
Human Remains: Clive Barker
The Vampire: Sydney Horler
Stragella: Hugh B. Cave
Marsyas in Flanders: Vernon Lee
The Horla: Guy De Maupassant
The Girl With the Hungry Eyes: Fritz Leiber

THIS IS WAR

The Living Dead: Robert Bloch
Down Among the Dead Men: Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann

MODERN MASTERS

Necros: Brian Lumley
The Man Upstairs: Ray Bradbury
Chastel: Manly Wade Wellman
Dracula's Chair: Peter Tremayne
Special: Richard Laymon
Carrion Comfort: Dan Simmons
The Sea Was Wet as Wet Could Be: Gahan Wilson

The Vampire: A Bibliography: Compiled by Daniel Seitler

good

some storeys were a bit lame but on a hole it was good listning and i will listen to it often

Spread this out

Would you consider the audio edition of The Vampire Archives to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version. The audio version was great though. Lots of different performers, but they all did a great job. This is ridiculously long though as a serious of short stories, so break it up. I tried to do in all together and it wore me out.

What other book might you compare The Vampire Archives to and why?

I can't think of anything

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

too many to name

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I liked it

The best vampire anthology

I love it. I was cooking and focused more on the book then actually getting around to cooking. Absolutely worth hearing each story 10/10.

Spectacular Stories Abound

This is a wonderfully compilation of diverse narrators delivering volumes of picturesque renditions of vampire-themed stories! Each "chapter" is a different story. There are 161 chspters. Each reading distinctly begins with an interesting "snapshot" of information about the author and the story's background. This audiobook is a PRICELESS collection item for those who respect vampire lore and mystery. I love audiobooks and, also, I read. I have added the "Vampire Archives" series of books to my widely assorted personal library.

It ok

I liked some of the stories but some dragged on for far to long. I wish you offered a chapter list cuz it is to hard to find my favorites in all this. some narrators were not able to capture my attention. they were very boring to listen to.

worth the time and money

I loved this compilation. A few of the stories were just so-so but several were fantastic. If you love vampire stories you will love this book.

Stunningly Massive Collection of Vampire Literature!

Where to begin?

First, in simple terms, this book is exactly what it says on the tin: One of the largest and most varied compilations of vampire-related novels, short-stories and prose out there.

Second, as seems inevitable with most compilations -certainly any of this size- there were many stories I found thoroughly enjoyable and a few I found rather blasé, but surprisingly none I would say were outright bad. Others might disagree, but fortunately with this many offerings if one were to bump into a story they disliked they could just skip on to the next and likely be at no real loss.

Third, and this I’d likely consider the most important point to bear in mind, the stories brought together here span across time, location and genre. For that reason, the uninitiated and the inexperienced will inevitably find that the “vampires” in many of these works don’t at all resemble the typical post-Hollywood image of the vampire. Yes, many do fit the bill of the accursed, bloodsucking revenant; even the not-so-cursed smooth operator with the mild hangup of only taking his/her lunch from a fresh vein.
But in many cases the story stretches the term “vampire” somewhat to include, for instance, a seemingly normal human who drains the emotional or vital energies from those around them; or the severed hand of a cruel and wicked man, bent on taking others with it to the grave. Rest assured, this is perfectly acceptable for vampire horror. Such stories reach back to the deepest antiquities of folklore, when the distinction between vampire, ghost, witch, werewolf and demon was far less distinct than the neat and tidy categories we keep them in today. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the variety. (If you happen to get curious about these other types of vampires, I recommend checking out “The Vampire Slayer’s Field Guide to the Undead”)

Last thing is the voice acting. There are multiple different VAs, some I like more than others, but they pretty much all do a good job.
I’d readily say this book is worth the credit.