Vampire Stories

by Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Eighteen-Bisang (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor)

Who would suspect that the same mind that created the most famous literary detective of all time also took on the eternally popular genre of vampires? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a contemporary of Bram Stoker, gave us some fascinating works of vampire fiction. From the bloodsucking plant in “The American’s Tale” to the bloodsucking wife in “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire,” he reveled in the horror created by creatures who survived on the blood of men and women.

As the bestselling Twilight series has dominated bookstores, it’s the perfect time to offer the first-ever compilation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s vampire tales. Get ready to sink your teeth into this heart-stopping anthology. Each of these twelve short stories has been pulled from obscurity and hand selected for this collection. Conan Doyle’s famous friendship with vampire king Bram Stoker is thought to have influenced these many blood-sucking tales, including “The Captain of the Pole Star,” about a medical student on an arctic voyage haunted by a heat-draining Eskimo vampire and “The Three Gables,” in which vampirism is cunningly used as a metaphor for capitalism.

Featuring an introduction by world-renowned vampire expert, Robert Eighteen-Bisang, this is a must-have anthology for all vampire lovers, and for any Arthur Conan Doyle enthusiast.

Genres: Horror, Classics, Fiction, Vampires, Fantasy, Short Stories, Mystery

271 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.

Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.

Reviews

[El · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I saw this book in a clearance section, I was surprised. Who knew Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote stories about vampires? Being as large a fan of Sherlock Holmes as I am and how much I wouldn't mind making out with Sherlock Holmes, the only other Doyle title I've read was The Lost World which I didn't like as much as Sherlock Holmes. I don't know why I would be surprised that he wrote about vampires considering he wrote about dinosaurs.

But still.

Then I started reading these stories. There are a lot of complaints about how these stories aren't even about vampires, and I can see why readers feel that way. But they're talking about traditional vampires as written by Doyle's buddy, Bram Stoker, and what's going on here in these stories are vampiric in sucking of energy, or just being an overall parasite.

I find the low ratings unfair since the complaints are primarily that the title is misleading. Let's remember the title was created by the editor, some guy who is the biggest vampire expert in the world, or something. It's not the author's fault some editor attached a shitty title and tried to make a tenuous connection between these stories to fit the shitty title.

The names that Doyle chose for the characters in this story are another broad clue about the source of the story:

* "Adelbert" shares four letters with "Dracula" - D, R, A, and L.

Come. On.

Again, none of this is Doyle's fault, and I refuse to hold my annoyance at the editor against Doyle's short stories that were not supposed to be anything other than stories.

If anything, Doyle's stories could be considered paranormal, or supernatural. There's some weird-ass shit going on. But if you're looking for Bela Lugosi in these pages, you won't find him. You will, however, find a few Sherlock Holmes stories, and at least one or two references to actual vampires.

Like any collection of stories, some are better than others. I think out of the batch, The Captain of the Pole-Star is my favorite as it actually has some spooky things happening, and Doyle drew from his own experiences of spending time on ships. The story also, in some ways, reminded me of The Terror by Dan Simmons. I wasn't really that into that book, but I'm sort of drawn to stories that involve ships being stuck in ice and scary-ass shit happening around them. Let me know if you have other titles along those lines.

All in all, these were a fine read. I have always felt sort of bad for Doyle, gaining all that popularity from writing about Sherlock Holmes, and then no one wanted to read any of his other things that didn't involve the detective. That's rough. The point is, he did write other things, and maybe it's about time that we realize and appreciate that.

But let's all keep in mind that he never published a collection of "vampire stories". Some guy named Robert Eighteen-Bisang did that for him, for better or worse.

[Jazzy Lemon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different sort of vampire stories than what we're used to, but Holmes and Watson go on a few adventures in these stories.

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let's start with the "truth in advertising" problem: there are no actual vampires in the usual sense in any of these stories. Which I could live with under other circumstances. Except that this was not the reading experience I signed on for. Admittedly, had it been called "Some stories in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has characters use the word 'vampire' in a sentence. And a mediocre pastiche story by some other guy," I might not have picked it up. But so are the contents thereof more accurately described.

The editors also made the inexplicable choice to include Holmes/Watson story "The Adventure of the Three Gables." As far as I can tell, there were two significant phases in Arthur Conan Doyle's writing life: an earlier phase in which he viewed people who weren't Anglo-Saxon Victorian gentlemen as people (not equals, but certainly as multidimensional human beings) and a time when he did not. This story is very definitely from the latter phase. Give it a miss if you'd like to not regard the man as an egregious racist and try "The Adventure of the Yellow Face" instead (the "face" is a mask and the story is, for its time and author, pretty progressive).

Now to go find a mental palate cleanser.

[Willow Redd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was truly looking forward to reading this one after finding it in a used bookstore in Asheville, but it has turned out to be a bit of a let-down.

There is, if looked at honestly and objectively, only two or three tales in this collection that could be called "vampire" stories, and one of those is a stretch because it's the Sherlock Holmes case of the Sussex Vampire which, as with most Holmes cases, has an entirely non-supernatural resolution. This is disappointing as I know that Conan Doyle spent a good part of his life studying the paranormal, and reading his fictionalized versions of those accounts would have been a true treat.

Instead, there are three truish "vampire" stories; "The Captain of the Pole-Star," "The Winning Shot," and "The Parasite." The first deals with a ship stuck in the ice as something unnatural calls to the captain and crew, while the next two deal with mesmerism and the third features a psychic vampire leeching off her victim.

The remainder of the tales, chosen by editor Robert Eighteen-Bisang, require a great deal of convincing as to their inclusion here, and most of them just don't make the mark. Several he claims were inspired by or the inspiration for moments in Bram Stoker's Dracula, so warrant inclusion. Personally, I disagree, and I think the collection suffers for their addition, especially the Holmes tales that aren't the "Sussex Vampire."

The final tale is not even a Conan Doyle story, instead it is a Holmes pastiche written by Bill Crider that features Bram Stoker himself and Professor van Helsing asking Holmes for help with a vampire on the loose. It's an alright tale, but again its inclusion here is shaky to me.

A solid collection of short stories by master writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I just object to most of those included being called "vampire" stories.

[Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this book when I started but ended up not liking it very much. The stories got very repetitive and I ended up stopping the book halfway through. I don't know if short stories were Sir Arthur's strong suit. Some of them I wish had been longer but others I could have done without.

[Nathalia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Desde ya les aviso que esta va a ser una reseña larga. Hablaré de cada cuento en particular y dejaré lo mejor para el final. Además, es posible que se encuentren con varios spoilers ya que es imposible hablar de cuentos cortos sin explicar gran parte de la trama. Si no les interesan las primeras historias, tómense el tiempo de leer sobre la última. Es imperdible.

Primero que nada, hablemos del libro, “Vampire Stories” (historias de vampiros), por Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creador de Sherlock Holmes.
Encontré este ejemplar en un canasto de ofertas de la librería. Me llamó la atención por dos motivos. Primero que nada porque me encanta Sherlock Holmes, y segundo porque siempre me han interesado las historias de vampiros. La tapa parece hecha en Paint, pero lo dejé pasar. Lo que importa es el contenido, ¿no?
Como siempre, comencé por el prólogo que hablaba del compilador de la obra, un tal Robert Eighteen Bisang. Luego, busqué el nombre de este señor para ver quién era. Resulta que Bisang es un “profesional en vampirismo”, “miembro de no sé cuántas sociedades de vampiros”, y esas cosas. Su biografía casi parecía un chiste.
No me importó, porque después de todo el libro no lo escribió él. Seguí leyendo.
Y ahora, antes de empezar permítanme decepcionarlos. No hay UN SOLO VAMPIRO en todo el libro. La palabra aparece mencionada en tres o cuatro ocasiones y en dos de los títulos, pero es solo un término, no una realidad. Además, al finalizar cada historia, el compilador explica en uno o dos párrafos por qué ese cuento tiene que ver con vampiros… y es cualquier cosa.
Ahora bien, las historias son INCREIBLES, como todo lo que escribió Doyle, y vale la pena leerlas.
Acá va el resumen y la crítica de cada cuento.
THE AMERICAN’S TALE
Este es el peor de los cuentos. No solo por su trama, sino porque está escrito desde el punto de vista de un estadounidense sureños de hace casi doscientos años, con sus modismos. Palabras entrecortadas, abreviadas, mezcladas y mal escritas a propósito. Admito que la lectura fue todo un desafío.
La historia trata, en pocas palabras, de un hombre Inglés que vive en un pueblo al estilo lejano oeste. Y se pelea con otro hombre del lugar, un americano, y luego utiliza una planta carnívora para matarlo. Fin.
Como verán, el compilador considera a la planta carnívora como un tipo de vampirismo.

THE CAPTAIN OF THE POLE-STAR
Esta es una historia sobre marineros. Un médico que viaja en un barco va escribiendo en su diario lo que le ocurre a su capitán que poco a poco pierde la cordura. Al principio son pequeños detalles, luego alega ver a una mujer en el agua que aparece y desaparece.
La cuestión es que cuando llegan a puerto (no recuerdo dónde, un sitio helado, posiblemente el polo norte) el capitán parece estar hipnotizado y se va solo. Se pierde y muere congelado. El médico dice que es porque creía ver al espíritu de su difunta enamorada.
Según el compilador, lo que el capitán vio fue posiblemente un “Eskimo vampire”.

JOHN BARRINGTON COWLES
Un día llega a la universidad una joven hermosa que es muy solitaria. Parece que estuvo comprometida dos veces pero en ambos casos la boda se canceló y el novio murió poco después.
Ahora, se enamora de Johan Barrington, el mejor amigo del narrador, quien intenta investigar qué es lo que está pasando porque teme por la vida de su amigo.
La cuestión es que todos le tienen miedo a la chica y parece que su padre estaba en una secta satánica y también todos le tenían miedo. Dicen que el padre tenía “el ojo del diablo”, y el narrador asume que la chica heredó esa pasión por lo demoníaco lo que tiene es una capacidad psíquica extraordinaria.
Poco antes de la boda, Barrington anula el compromiso repentinamente y le dice a su mejor amigo que ama a la mujer pero que también le teme. No da explicaciones al respecto.
Y un día se suicida. FIN
Me da la sensación de estar leyendo un borrador que necesitaba correcciones. No me gustó.
En este caso el compilador ni se gastó en dar una explicación al respecto. Solamente puso que este cuento se publicó en una antología de historias de vampiros en el pasado.
THE RING OF THOT
Esta historia es realmente inesperada. Habla sobre un sacerdote egipcio que practicaba magia y logró la inmortalidad. Pero cuando quiso brindársela a su amada, ella la rechazó y murió poco después.
El sacerdote necesitaba el anillo de Toth que le dio la inmortalidad para poder morir también, pero no lo encontró. Vivió muchos siglos cambiándose el nombre y actuando como un renombrado egiptólogo hasta que encontró tanto el anillo como la momia de su amada en el Louvre. Mató al guardia para llegar al anillo y a la momia, rompió el hechizo y murió. Fin.
Admito que me gustó la historia. Pero no sé dónde está el vampiro. Creo que el compilador dijo que el sacerdote es una especie de vampiro porque una maldición lo hizo inmortal.
THE WINNING SHOT
No tengo mucho que decir al respecto. La historia habla de una secta demoníaca que hacía sacrificios de vírgenes para conseguir la inmortalidad.
El compilador dice que el cuento sigue la formula de otras dos historias famosas de vampiros por autores poco conocidos.
THE PARASITE
Este cuento me gustó. Habla de una mujer anciana que es capaz de colocar parte de su alma en el cuerpo de otros y controlarlos.
Se enamora de un profesor joven que está comprometido e intenta hacer que él también se enamore. Pero el hombre se da cuenta de lo que pasa y la enfrenta.
Como venganza, la anciana empieza a controlarlo para arruinarle la vida. Hace que pierda el trabajo en la universidad y que golpeé a uno de sus amigos. Y casi logra que mate a su prometida, pero como es vieja y necesita mucha energía para poseer a alguien, muere poco antes de lograr su malvado plan.
Es un cuento interesante y atrapante.
HISTORIAS DE SHERLOCK HOLMES
Como dije antes, me encanta Sherlock Holmes. Leí todas sus aventuras cuando tendría doce o trece años. Y admito que hay historias de las que no recuerdo más que algunos detalles.
THE ADVENTURE OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT
Un cliente misterioso le pide a Sherlock que lo ayude. Hay un asesino suelto (muy poderoso y millonario) que está por casarse con una dama joven que cree en todo lo que el hombre dice. Y aunque muchos quisieron advertirle del peligro, ella hacía oídos sordos.
Primero intentan hablar con la joven, pero obviamente ella no les cree. Así que Sherlock y Watson van a la casa del criminal y logran robar un diario en el que se cuentan los crímenes. Con eso se rompe el compromiso y el hombre es juzgado. (No voy a dar detalles de cómo saben de la existencia del diario ni anda de eso).
¿Vampiros? ¿Dónde?
THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE
Lo siento. El título miente.
A Sherlock le presentan un caso en el que una mujer fue encontrada maltratando a su hijastro y a su bebé. La dama golpeó en dos ocasiones al hijo del primer matrimonio de su esposo (que tiene quince años y es inválido) y la encontraron “chupándole la sangre del cuello” a su bebé de menos de un año.
Luego de varias discusiones sobre vampirismo y esas cosas. Resulta que el pendejo de quince años intentaba envenenar al bebé porque estaba celoso. Y la mujer al notarlo, chupó el veneno del a herida. Pero como no quería herir a su marido al decirle que el adolescente era un asesino, prefirió ser culpada por ello.
THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE GABLES
No voy a escribir mucho al respecto porque este cuento no tiene nada que ver con nada.
Un hombre que dice ser un agente inmobiliario va a la casa de una mujer viuda y le ofrece comprar el edificio por mucho dinero, pero con la condición de que no se lleve nada más que su ropa. La mujer se niega y luego entran ladrones a su casa. Pero no parece faltar nada importante.
Obviamente la dama sospecha y llama a Sherlock.
Resulta que el hijo de la mujer (que falleció) había tenido un amorío con una señora de alta sociedad y estaba escribiendo una novela al respecto. Cuando él murió, la señora temía un escándalo así que estaba intentando recuperar el manuscrito.
Fin.

THE CASE OF THE VANISHED VAMPIRE
Nunca había leído esta historia. Es increíblemente graciosa. Les aviso que tiene spoilers.
El cuento empieza cuando Bram Stoker y el Dr. Van Helsing llegan al estudio de Holmes y le dicen que tiene que encontrar a un vampiro que se les escapó. Dicen ser cazadores de vampiros que están preocupados porque temen que el vampiro que se les escapó pueda crear a otros. Y dicen también que creen saber en qué cementerio está.
Por la noche, los cuatro hombres van en busca del susodicho vampiro.
En el cementerio, Watson dice que ha oído algo. Y Holmes le responde que seguramente es algún actor vestido de vampiro o un reportero contratado para cubrir la falsa historia.
Sherlock sabe que Bram Stoker es director teatral y también un escritor poco conocido que acaba de publicar una novela de vampiros y que no existe en Londres ningún Dr. Van Helsing. Así que asume que querían que él, Holmes, fuera parte de una nota en el diario en la que el escritor de novelas de vampiros y el más famoso detective de Inglaterra vivieran una aventura juntos. Stoker solamente quería promocionar su novela.
Les cuento que Conan Doyle y Bram Stoker eran amigos en la vida real.


----------------------------------------------
Eso es todo. El último cuento hace que todo el libro valga la pena.
Creo que no ha sido publicado en español como una antología, pero seguramente puedan encontrar todas las historias traducidas en distintos volúmenes (cosas como “todas las aventuras de Holmes”) o en internet.

[Joan · Rating 1 out of 5]

After a run of dire 'romances' most of which were an excuse to write smut, I decided to look for something darker.... OOO! Look!! A book of Vampire Stories by A Conan Doyle! I never knew he wrote vampire stories!!

Will they be evil vampires? All teeth and fangs and absolute rotters to the core? (PLEASE dont let them be 'sparkly')

And, awake as usual in the wee hours of the night, I decided to give this a try - after all, it HAD to be better than some of the dross that is published under the guise of 'romance'

Want the honest truth??

This book contains NO vampires. Its a pretty poor collection of random stories shoved together probably in an effort to glean every last cent out of serious Conan Doyle fans.

[Ro Prufrock · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very enjoyable collection of stories - three of Sherlock Holmes' cases as well as different stories about paranormal encounters. one should not take the title too literally, though; i suppose "vampire stories" sounded better than "spooky fiction by mr. doyle", but except for some cases (pending interpretation) we don't really encounter vampires here. :D

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of good vampire-related stories that closes out with a Sherlock Holmes investigation. What more could you want?

[Mairi Krausse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice grouping of short stories

Great works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about various types of mind control and vampirism, some including Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.

[James Mourgos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vampire Stories


I found this collection at a library and thought it pretty interesting that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote other types of stories in addition to his more famous work, the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, master detective of Victorian England.

As with other reviewers I have to agree that the marketing ploy by Skyhorse Publishing in this 2009 edition was quite misleading. Further dubious honor for this deceit goes to editor Robert Eighteen-Bisang, who write a brief piece on why the stories would evoke vampirism.

Example: In one story we have a sea captain stuck on the ice floes of the north with his crew beginning to mutiny. The narrator fears for the captain's sanity as he rants and raves about something he sees out in the ice. Finally he jumps ship and he later is found dead. The editor gives the reader some verse about there being an Eskimo vampire that sucks the heat out of people.

Looking carefully, the words Eskimo and vampire are not mentioned at all in Doyle's story, The Captain of the Pole Star, regardless of it being quite well-written and interesting.

There were several stories like this: of Mesmerism, of witches and of people who could make you think you see something that is not actually there. In each case, though they are fine tales, the editor keeps throwing in his justification for why he is calling each a vampire story.

Quite a stretch, Robert!

And to compound the felony, the last story is not even written by Doyle, a tale called "The Case of the Vanished Vampire," written by a Bill Cryder and about the author Bram Stoker who attempts to get Holmes involved in a false story about a vampire loose in London in order to create publicity for his book (which is not named in the story and is obviously "Dracula.") I thought the story forced and not really up to Doyle's standards.

I don't want this brief review to be a complete slam on the editor and publisher. I though Doyle's stories were fun to read though the Victorian English may take some getting used to. One of the stories I liked best was "Adventure of the Sussex Vampire," which protagonist is not an actual vampire but is a case of mistaken intentions - quite interesting, and is a Sherlock Holmes story to boot.

Of the ten stories in the collection, nine are from Doyle and three by Doyle are Sherlock Holmes' stories. And yes Bram Stoker was a contemporary of Doyle's but clearly these stories are nothing like Stoker's Dracula. Still, an enjoyable read.

Recommended.

[Lise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this one. I definitely think there was something odd going on with the editing. Robert Eighteen-Bisang is apparently a vampire literature fanatic (Wikipedia claims he has the largest collection in the world), so this work was obviously a labor of love. His introductions are curious, they read more as notes to his co-editor, Martin Greenburg, as to why the stories should be in the collection rather than to his readers. In some cases they have little interesting snippets of history, in others they seem like synopses of the stories.

There are other strange things as well, including a footnote which just doesn't refer to anything. I've read Greenburg before, and he generally knows his stuff, which is why I think something strange went on here.

As far as the question of whether or not these are "real" vampire stories, yes, they are. They are real Victorian (or Edwardian) vampire stories. Some are supernatural, some are not. The 'modern' idea of a vampire is very specific, yet people always repeat that vampire legends come from all over the world and back for thousands of years, those vampires are often vaguely menacing life force drainers, like many of the creatures in this book.

As far as the misogyny, it's definitely present, but it's not easy to disentangle from the norms of the time.

In all, this was a good idea, badly executed. Possibly to get in on the vampire 'fad' before it faded (based on the Twilight reference on the back jacket). It's a shame, because the stories themselves are quite good.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ooooo my god. It was wonderful to discover some of Doyle's non-sherlock fiction, after hearing about it for so long. I'm sure much of it can hold the reader's attention and maybe even go further than that but NOT if youv'e got the audio version of this. IT WAS TERRIBLE.

(I tried to categorize this under that edition, but it doesn't seem to currently exist on the site)

The narrator seems convinced he is reading P.G. Wodehouse rather than Doyle's thrillers and it is off putting in such a bizarre and obnoxious way that turns suspense into drudgery. His accents are laughable and he mispronounces all kinds of things that you wouldn't think it possible to get wrong (classic canon bad guy Col. MorAnn becomes Col. MorOn..whaaa?).

That being said, most of Doyle's writing is no less enjoyable than any classic Sherlock tale. I'd love to sit down and read them IRL rather than by audio and get a better feel for them. I have to note however, be prepared for much more racial/ethnic/social hang-ups from Doyle than you might find in the more well-known writings. It goes from descriptions that almost fly under the radar about class and wealth to downright disgusting systemic categorizations about blacks and other racially marginalized people of the period. The "Gables" story towards the end starts out especially gross and that's when I just had to put it down.

P.S. There aren't many vampires in this collection...?

[C.O. Bonham · Rating 4 out of 5]

You read this and think that none of the stories are about a Vampire and then you read the justification that the editor wrote for each story and you realize that the definition of Vampire goes way beyond just sucking blood. A Vampire can be anyone who survives by draining the energies of others ie. psycic energy, heat energy, lifes bllod of even just stealing your happines can be a kind of vampirisim.

The best part is that four of these stories feature Sherlock Holmes. One of which was not written by Doyle. In "The Case of the Vanished Vampire" By: Bill Crider Bram Stoker hires Holmes to help him locate one the Undead before he feeds on a helpless London. Is it for real or just a Plublicity stunt?

All told a very good read for more good check out the "Sherlock Holmes Vampire Bibliography" at the end of the book. its a catolog of Sherlock's best adventures versus the Undead.

[Bree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not strictly speaking what one might consider traditional vampire stories, but most of them were very good. The 'vampires' range from strange medical cases to cover-ups for crimes to individuals that hold power over and/or entrance their victims, in some manner sucking the life from them.

The Holmes stories were very entertaining. The notes at the end of each story gave good insight into Doyle's time and his relationship with Stoker and other contemporaries of his.
I am also magnificently entertained with stories wherein the protagonist flat out denies the possible existence of vampires written by a man who was one of the most well-known paranormal and mysticism obsessed authors of his day.

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book is by a master of the detective novel. Before Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Sherlock Holmes he wrote a number of vampire short stories for magazines. These vampires do not much resemble Dracula but what they do have in common is animals, people and even plants that devour people. Not always physically, often times it is spiritually. From giant Venus Flytraps, evil, hypnotic women who destroy desperate men, to ancient Egyptian mummies who cannot die, the stories are different in plot and character but carry an equal amount of suspense that keep you turning the pages to see how it all works out.

For the rest of my review cut and paste the following link to my blog post:

http://sharonhenning.blogspot.com/201...

[Lucile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arthur Conan Doyle has been a favorite since I was a young teen. I can honestly say that I have never felt disappointed by his stories. I stumbled across this collection of short stories featuring vampires recently. Vampires, in Doyle's time, were not as we perceive them today. Suspense and an eerie sense of the macabre is the best way I can explain this collection of tales.

If you are looking for violently vivid, bloody tales you may be disappointed. However, I suggest you read a couple before dismissing them. The artful logic incorporated in the Sherlock Holmes books is there, as are Holmes and Watson at their historic best. If you aren't acquainted with the Sherlock Holmes series this could give you a taste for the full-length books.

Enjoy!

[Karen Gail Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Arthur Conan Doyle's "Vampire Stories" , the vampire's are not the literal blood suckers of Bram Stoker's" Dracula", but villains who prey on the lives of others thus damaging their lives. The last four of the stories are Sherlock Holmes adventures.

There are ten stories and each has a prey and a victim: a woman uses hypnotism to gain control over a professor's life......a strange man insinuates himself in to a family and kills the fiance of a young woman to force her to stay with him....

I found these tales fastinating.

[Elizabeth Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting collection of stories about human parasites of various kinds, written around the same time that Stoker was developing his own powerful characterization of vampires. It includes three Sherlock Holmes stories by Conan Doyle and another, in which Holmes and Stoker intersect, by Bill Crider.

[Chrystal Hays · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection which shows Doyle's early work, and one can follow him developing his voice. Bear in mind, vampires were being "invented" in literature in his lifetime.
I subtract a star because the final story is not by Doyle; a modern writer homage, but not something I felt was needed in this book.

[Jacquie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Vampire Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. They are extremely different with shared villians and victims between make and female. My favorite story was The Ring of Thoth but I did love the short Sherlock Holmes Stories too.

Great read!

[Raving Redcoat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect case of using public domain works to cash in the current Vampire craze. The short stories are, at best, tangentally related to vampire and vampirism. Nonetheless, the stories are solid, and a good way to see a different side of the author best known for a certain famed detective.

[Elysa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The stories, the introduction, and the notes were all entertaining and fun to read. I reviewed it on my blog at https://elysathebiblioblogger.wordpre...

[Anne Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories are good and I appreciated the editor's footnotes.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Calling most of the stories here 'vampire stories' was a bit of a stretch, but they are still very good stories.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dear Reader, before you cross the threshold of this volume, let me offer you one warning: Greenberg and Eighteen-Bisang's Vampire Stories is less a creature of the night than a creature of loops in copyright law. Published just three years into the existence of independent publisher Skyhorse Press, it makes a fairly shameless grab for attention by slapping the word vampire on a collection of public domain stories by the illustrious Arthur Conan Doyle which could possibly qualify as such if you're a little drunk and half squinting and not a purist about the whole blood-drinking thing.

That said, it's a collection of stories by the illustrious Arthur Conan Doyle, including three tales from the Holmes canon, so even with the semi-false advertising it's still a good read. Just not, you know, one having anything to do with blood and stakes and garlic.

Opening with a very brief introduction by Eighteen-Bisang which reiterates for the umpteenth million time that Doyle much preferred his spooky works over his Sherlock and discusses the author's fondness for Stoker's novel, the volume continues with nine short stories by ACD then slides in a random one-shot by Bill Crider in which Bram Stoker approaches Sherlock Holmes for help killing a vampire before closing with a bibliography outlining the many non-canonical times Holmes has encountered the undead. This last may at least point readers frustrated by the bait-and-switch title toward the kind of book they were actually looking for here.

Doyle's works here focus on the idea of the psychic vampire, one that depends on the very broad definition of a vamp as something that feeds on a vital force (rather than a specific type of liquid), and feature a collection of parasitic baddies whose attentions or affections threaten to drag their objects down into degradation. (And if that isn't Victorian psychology in a bucket, I don't know what is.) Outside of the three Holmes tales - The Adventures of the Illustrious Client, the Sussex Vampire, and the Three Gables - the stand outs were the ripped-from-Frankenstein's-framing-device "Captain of the Pole-star" and "John Barrington Cowles," which I strongly suspect Lovecraft of reading prior to writing "The Thing on the Doorstep" (there's even a Dr. Armitage!). At the end of each tale, the editors provide useful annotations about the sources and references in the stories, which might suggest additional reading material.

Doyle almost never disappoints, even if his editors here do, so readers who are forewarned and ready to embrace the very broad 19th century conception of vampires as "people who suck," will find plenty to enjoy here. Those more narrowly interested in bloodsuckers may be forgiven for applying that term to Vampire Stories' publishers instead.

[Anna Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you know that Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker were friends and actually influenced each other's work? I didn't know until this book!

This book was fantastic for an English major like myself fascinated with all Victorian work and allusions, writing influences, etc. etc. who also adores both Dracula and Sherlock Holmes.

The vampire stories, on the other hand, were not quite what I expected. I would call them more vampire-influenced than anything, particularly some of the Sherlock Holmes stories towards the end. The editorial notes at the end of each story insisted they were so much like Bram Stoker's work, but I just didn't see it. I think the editors were honestly trying to push the vampire agenda so much that they were trying to find connections where they weren't really there. All in all, the stories were good (of course - because they were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), but I could have done without some of the editorial notes.

In conclusion, a note about one of the editors...

Robert Eighteen-Bisang is best-known as the owner of the world's most famous collection of rare vampire books.

[Rawan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a collection of short stories with an underlying ‘vampire’ theme. Not real vampires mind you but aspects of people and nature that is vampire-like. Like the ocean that sucks the warmth and life out of those who fall into it. The stories are placed in order by the date they were published. I found the first couple of stories difficult to follow/read. It could be because of the old language used or it could have been because I couldn’t feel particular strength in the writing so I couldn’t grasp onto anything to steady myself while reading. To me, writers/authors write stories in a way that is supposed to be the bridge between their thoughts and ideas and readers. To me, the first couple of stories felt like an incomplete bridge, I just couldn’t really get into the first ones but I’m glad I powered through. The third story was fantastic! The story was more cohesive and suspenseful. I felt anxious when the main character felt anxious. Really liked how it was written. I also really liked seeing Doyle get a writing flow and compare that to the beginning stories that I couldn’t get a grasp on. After the third story, the rest were easy to follow/understand and were just as interesting an fun to read. My favourite was the third story, John Barrington Cowles. Overall, I liked it :)

[Carlos · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was quite disappointed with this collection. To begin with, most of the stories involved only hypnotism or other sort of Spiritism phenomena that would have been better presented under the title of Supernatural Stories. Similarly, aside from the two Sherlock Holmes stories, the stories were quite uninteresting and forgettable. Without the premise of a mystery to solve, Doyle’s writing seemed quite limp and without life. In all honesty, this book reminded me of another collection of “vampire” stories that felt quite flat with me, The Vampire Archives by Otto Penzler, for very similar reasons. I would only suggest either if you are prepared to have “vampire” stories that are mostly based on supernatural phenomena that has only the slightest connection to the vampire archetype.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, none of this book succeeded at providing the promised amusement. The last story, a Holmes story not written by Doyle, was outright insulting, while the early stories had dialog that felt stilted and unnatural, far from what I’ve come to expect from the illustrious author. To top it all off, I found most of the stories to be boring and unfulfilling.

Maybe it’s me. Maybe I lack adequate grey matter to appreciate the nuance in these stories and what I view as stilted language is appropriate to the setting and time. But if you are like me, I’d give this one a pass.