Blood and Other Cravings: Original Stories of Vampires and Vampirism by Today's Greatest Writers of Dark Fiction

By Margo Lanagan and Ellen Datlow

Book Overview

When we think of vampires, instantly the image arises: fangs sunk deep into the throat of the victim. But bloodsucking is merely one form of vampirism. For this brilliantly original anthology, Ellen Datlow has commissioned stories from many of the most powerfully dark voices in contemporary horror, who conjure tales of vampirism that will chill readers to the marrow. In addition to the traditional fanged vampires, Datlow presents stories about the leeching of emotion, the draining of the soul, and other dark deeds of predation and exploitation, infestation, and evisceration...tales of life essence, literal or metaphorical, stolen. Seventeen stories, by such award-winning authors as Elizabeth Bear, Richard Bowes, Kathe Koja, Margo Lanagan, Carol Emshwiller, and Lisa Tuttle will petrify readers. With dark tales by Laird Barron, Barry Malzberg and Bill Pronzini, Kaaron Warren, and other powerful voices, Blood and Other Cravings will redefine the terror of vampires and vampirism.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765328283
• ISBN13: 9780765328281
• Release Date: September 2011
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

I've owned this book before and I actually really like it. A few of the stories knocked it down from being a five star rating because of a hard-to-follow writing technique and that doesn't really work in the short story format. If it were longer and I had more to those few, and could more easily understand the flow and pace of them, then it would be all five. A lot of these stories challenge the idea of vampirism in a way that gently touches the imagination and allows for a more full exploration into 'what is a vampire.' For all of my complaints with syntax and pace making, each story left me with a want for more. More of each story, more of each lore, more of each character. I hope the authors of these stories revisited and fleshed out their ideas into full stories!