Book Description
From INTRODUCTION: What is a vampire? Nearly a century ago, this question wasn't difficult to answer. If you subscribed to the image of the vampire immortalized in Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula, the vampire was evil incarnate, a creature whose supernatural existence and gruesome means of sustenance contradicted the norms by which civilized human beings measured what was natural and morally proper. With his nocturnal habits, the vampire served as a potent symbol for humanity's unenlightened superstitions; in his evocation of primal darkness, he became a counter-symbol of the divinity who turned the darkness of the void into light.

Product Description
From INTRODUCTION: What is a vampire? Nearly a century ago, this question wasn't difficult to answer. If you subscribed to the image of the vampire immortalized in Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula, the vampire was evil incarnate, a creature whose supernatural existence and gruesome means of sustenance contradicted the norms by which civilized human beings measured what was natural and morally proper. With his nocturnal habits, the vampire served as a potent symbol for humanity's unenlightened superstitions; in his evocation of primal darkness, he became a counter-symbol of the divinity who turned the darkness of the void into light.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Evil incarnate or potent symbol for humanity's unenlightened superstitions? This collection of vampire lore includes traditional stories of classic bloodsucking vampires, as well as more offbeat variations on the theme.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In their efforts to wreak original variations on the vampire theme, the writers represented in this collection have imagined ingenious new means of vampire disposal, envisioned vampires interfacing with computers and piloting time machines, and even proposed more than a few reasons why people might want to be a vampire--or at least have one as a close friend. (Not that there aren't a few traditional vampires lurking between these covers.)