Indisputably the most famous Vampire story is Dracula. But how did we get to that point? In this volume we present a roll-call of classic authors including Robert Louis Stevenson, M R James, E F Benson, John William Polidori, Uriah Derrick D'Arcy and many others who short story by short story establish the building blocks of this horrific yet thrilling genre. Here all manner of characters and narratives weave together to bring a unique yet intricate account of the beginnings of this most troubling of literary genres.1 - Foundations of Fiction - Vampires - An Introduction 2 - Olalla - Part 1 by Robert Louis Stevenson 3 - Olalla - Part 2 by Robert Louis Stevenson 4 - The Room in the Tower by E F Benson5 - Count Magnus by M R James6 - The Vampire of Croglin Grange by Augustus Hare7 - The Horror of Abbot's Grange by Frederick Cowles8 - The Black Vampyre by Uriah Derick D'Arcy9 - The Vampire Maid by Hume Nisbet10 - Alymer Vance & The Vampire by Alice and Claude Askew11 - The Vampire by Jan Neruda12 - The Last of the Vampires by Phil Robinson13 - Vampirismus or Aurelia by E T A Hoffman14 - Mrs Amworth by E F Benson15 - The Sumach by Ulric Daubeny16 - For the Blood is the Life by F Marion Crawford17 - The Vampyre. A Tale - Part 1 by John William Polidori18 - The Vampyre. A Tale - Part 2 by John William Polidori19 - Wake Not the Dead - Part 1 by Ernst Raupach20 - Wake Not the Dead - Part 2 by Ernst Raupach
Alone in his garrett on Christmas Eve, an artist uncovers a beautiful but disturbing portrait with strange powers.
The Old Portrait is taken from the Victorian Anthologies series featuring short stories by classic writers of the spooky, the scary and the supernatural. Guaranteed to give you the shivers, each collection includes familiar and loved creepy tales as well as those less well-known.
The Vampire Maid is a classic short vampire story about a traveller who takes lodgings with an apparently kind landlady and her pale invalid daughter, who instantly casts a spell upon him.
CONTENTS:
01. A Suspicious Gift [Algernon Blackwood]
02. Skeleton Lake: An Episode in Camp [Algernon Blackwood]
03. The Wood of the Dead [Algernon Blackwood]
04. A Baby Tramp [Ambrose Bierce]
05. The Damned Thing [Ambrose Bierce]
06. Dagon [H.P Lovecraft]
07. The Horror of the Heights [Arthur Conan Doyle]
08. The_Descendant [H.P Lovecraft]
09. The Cats of Ulthar [H.P Lovecraft]
10. The Evil Clergyman [H.P Lovecraft]
11. He [H.P Lovecraft]
12.The Book [H.P Lovecraft]
13. In the Vault [H.P Lovecraft]
14. Nyarlathotep [H.P Lovecraft]
15. Death and the Woman [Gertrude Atherton]
16. The Striding Place [Gertrude Atherton]
17. Hop-Frog [Edgar Allan Poe]
18. The Raven [Edgar Allan Poe]
19. The Tell-Tale Heart [Edgar Allan Poe]
20. Shadow [Edgar Allan Poe]
21. The Beast in the Cave [H.P Lovecraft]
22. The Doom That Came to Sarnath [Lovecraft]
23. The Vampire Maid [Hume Nisbet]
24. A Tale of the Ragged Mountains [Poe]
25. The Demon Spell [Hume Nisbet]
26. Out of the Earth [Arthur Machen]
27. The Signal-Man [Charles Dickens]
28. The Colloquy of Monos and Una [Poe]
29. Demons of the Sea [William Hope Hodgson]
30. Glámir [Sabine Baring-Gould]
31. Colonel Halifax's Ghost Story [Sabine Baring-Gould]
32. Tales of Secret Egypt [Sax Rohmer]
33. Some Words with a Mummy [Poe]
34. In the Dark [Edith Nesbit]
35. The Sea Raiders [H. G. Wells]
36. The Baron of Beauguard [Gilbert Parke]
37. The Vampire [Jan Neruda]
38 .A Journey of Little Profit [John Buchan]
39. The Keeper of Cademuir [John Buchan]
40. Dickon the Devil [Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu]
41. The Child That Went With The Fairies [Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu]
42. Wicked Captain Walshawe, Of Wauling [Le Fanu]
43. Two Doctors Montague [Rhodes James]
44. A School Story Montague [Rhodes James]
45. The Diary of Mr. Poynter Montague[ Rhodes James]
46. In the Forest of Villefére by [Robert E. Howard]
47. The Dream Snake [Robert E. Howard]
48. The Thing On the Roof [Robert E. Howard]
49. The Imp of the Perverse [Poe]
50. The Devil in the Belfry [Poe]
51. The Crawling Chaos [Lovecraft]
52. Aunt Joanna [Sabine Baring-Gould]
53. The Outsider [Lovecraft]
54. The Hound [Lovecraft]
55. The Disinterment [Lovecraft]
56. The Horror At Martin's Beach [Lovecraft]
57. The Tree On The Hill [Lovecraft]
58. The Outgoing of The Tide [John Buchan]
59. The Curse of Yig [Lovecraft]
60. The Haunter Of The Dark [Lovecraft]
61. Berenice [Poe]
62. The Angel Of The Odd [Poe]
63. Black Ram [Baring-Gould]
64. The Cask Of Amontillado [Poe]
65. Dracula's Guest [Bram Stoker]
66. The Mother Of Pansies [Baring-Gould]
67. On The Leads [Baring-Gould]
68. McAlister [Baring-Gould]
69. Mustapha [Baring-Gould]
70. The Ghost and the Bone-setter [Le Fanu]
71. The Drunkard's Dream [Le Fanu]
72. The Novel of the White Powder [Arthur Machen]
73. The Merewigs [Baring-Gould]
74. Xélucha [Matthew Phipps Shiel]
75. Solange [ Alexandre Dumas]
76. The Fall of The House of Usher [Poe]
77. The Assignation [Poe]
78. The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade [Poe]
79. Laura Silver Bell [Le Fanu]
80. Descent Into The Maelstrom [Poe]
81. The Power of Darkness [ Edith Nesbit]
82. An Authentic Narrative of A Haunted House [Le Fanu]
83. The Night Wire [H. F. Arnold]
84. The Dualists [Bram Stoker]
85. Stories of Lough Guir [Le Fanu]
86. The Vision of Tom Chuff [Le Fanu]
87. The Three Strangers [Thomas Hardy]
88. Crooken Sands [Bram Stoker]
89.The Cairn of the Headland [Robert E. Howard]
90. The Shining Pyramid [Arthur Machen]
91. Schalken The Painter [Le Fanu]
92. Hellhound Of The Cosmos [Clifford Donald Simak]
93. Ibid [Lovecraft]
94. The Grove Of Ashtaroth [John Buchan]
95. The Moon Bog [Lovecraft]
96. An Account of Some Strange Disturbances [Le Fanu]
97. Ultor De Lacy A Legend of Cappercullen [Le Fanu]
98. The Red Hand [Arthur Machen] Starts at Chapter 98
99. The Inmost Light [Arthur Machen] Starts at Chapter 100
"James Hume Nisbet (1849 - 1923) was born in Scotland, but moved to Australia as a young man and spent seven years travelling there before he returned to Scotland. He turned to literature in middle age and wrote a large number of mystery and adventure stories, which were published in England.
"The Old Portrait" is a supernatural mystery about an artist who acquires an old and very sinister painting. "
"James Hume Nisbet (1849 - 1923) was born in Scotland but travelled extensively in Australia before returning to his native country. He became a writer in middle-age and wrote prolifically, mainly mystery and adventure fiction.
"The Vampire Maid" is a classic vampire story about a traveller who takes lodgings with an apparently kind landlady and her pale invalid daughter, who instantly casts a spell upon him. "
