Vampire Stories to Tell in the Dark
Anthony Masters
87 pages
ISBN: 0140369546
Status: N/A
Publisher: Puffin
Pub. Date: 1995

Synopsis:
Ten chucklingly chilly short stories that closely resemble those told around the campfire to frighten younger children.

Synopsis:
They came in the night, to the towns and cities. Like a slow, insidious virus they spread from house to house, building to building, from graveyard to bedroom and cellar to boardroomm. They are ancient and deathless, sun-shy and bloodthirsty. For millennia their vile compulsion kept them in the darkest corners of the human imagination. But the dark-hearted hoardes are conquerers now, and those who survive are forced to live... In this unparalleled feast for the imagination, America's premier horror writers have created a world of vampirism run amok. From Moscow to Tokyo, New York to Los Angeles, vampire kingdoms rise and fall; their unholy religions, fiendish science and depraved entertainments hold ghastly sway. Come share this terrifying vision of a future...

Synopsis:
All of the protagonists of the eight horror tales here are gay, allowing McMahan both a new twist on chiller standbys, such as vampirism and spirit possession, and an intriguing perspective on the complexities of gay life. Devilish energy and macabre wit glitter throughout. One vampire, for example, is an unwillingly undead ghoul with a heart of gold who pities the beautiful men he kills--yet he is reluctant to bestow the dubious gift of a vampire's immortality lest his liaisons with them grow tiresome over the millennia. A few stories teeter precariously between effective shock and the merely grisly: gory details menace the exposition of "Two-faced Johnny," in which a vain young man at a strange Halloween party is transformed permanently into the gruesome being of his costume. "Fantasyland," about a young boy who takes refuge in daydreams from his brutal rape until he rescues another boy from the same assailants, is the richest entry, a trenchant meditation on coming out as gay in a hostile society.

Synopsis:
This anthology is an excellent resource for those with a "serious" interest in vampire literature as well as those who just enjoy spooky poetry. The selection is very thorough, ranging from the early 1800s through the 1970s and including classics from Byron, Keats, and Kipling as well as obscure poems that might otherwise be impossible to find. Thorough endnotes give useful information about the poets and the context in which they wrote. This definitely deserves a place on the shelf of any vampire fan.