100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories
Review by The Mad Bibliographer, submitted on 1-Oct-2001

Adapted from "Vampires in Print" in _The Vampire's Crypt_ 13 (Spring 1996).

[Note: I did not include price or ISBN for this title because I have seen more than one of each associated with it. Please consult your Barnes & Noble catalog or store for specifics.]

100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories, ed. Robert Weinberg, Stefan Dziemianowicz, and Martin H. Greenberg. Barnes & Noble, 1995.

There is no way I can give an adequate description of _100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories_. "There are vampires here to suit every taste," says editor Dziemianowicz in the introduction. Vampires meet Cyberculture in "Coffin.Nail" by Richard Parks, and computer games in "VampWare" by Karen E. Taylor, a response to "instruction manuals are for wimps." For mystery fans, there's "The Kwik-Mart Vampire" by Robert Weinberg, a typical but satisfying vampire-victim reversal; "It All Comes Out in Analysis" by Hobie Widmouth is a cynical take on the effectiveness of therapy; Yvonne Navarro's "Folds of the Faithful," presents an almost vicious twist on energy-drainers. One of my favorites -- despite a slightly pat ending -- is "Forever Young" by Martin R. Soderstrom, a predictable but still charming portrayal of children's reactions when the true nature of their seemingly young friend is revealed. And for that laugh you'll need at some point, check out "Aqua Sancta" by Edward Bryant, which pits a vampire against a resourceful priest.

Worried that you've already seen a lot of these? Don't be. Most of the tales crammed into its 588 pages are original to this volume. Notable among the few reprints is "The Devil Is Not Mocked," a hard-to-find classic by Manly Wade Wellman (basis of a _Twilight Zone_ episode) that pits Hitler's troops against an old-fashioned Eastern European nobleman. Whatever your tastes or experience in vampire fiction, _100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories_ is sure to give you your money's worth.

The Mad Bibliographer
Cathy Krusberg