The Vampire Archives

The Most Complete Volume of Vampire Tales Ever Published

By: Clive Barker, Robert Bloch, Stephen King, Kim Newman - foreword, Neil Gaiman - preface, Otto Penzler - editor

Narrated by: Scott Brick, Jonathan Cowley, Erik Davies

The Vampire Archives is the biggest, hungriest, undeadliest collection of vampire stories, as well as the most comprehensive bibliography of vampire fiction ever assembled. Dark, stormy, and delicious, once it sinks its teeth into you there’s no escape.

Vampires! Whether imagined by Bram Stoker or Anne Rice, they are part of the human lexicon and as old as blood itself. They are your neighbors, your friends, and they are always lurking. Now Otto Penzler—editor of the best-selling Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps—has compiled the darkest, the scariest, and by far the most evil collection of vampire stories ever, with over 80 stories, including the works of Stephen King and D. H. Lawrence, alongside Lord Byron and Tanith Lee, not to mention Edgar Allan Poe and Harlan Ellison. The Vampire Archives will drive a stake through the heart of any other collection out there.

Other contributors include Arthur Conan Doyle, Ray Bradbury, Ambrose Bierce, H. P. Lovecraft, Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny, Robert Bloch, and Clive Barker.

©2009 Otto Penzler (P)2011 Random House

You Have to Really Like Vampire Stories

Wow, this is the longest read ever. Some of the stories were good but not many were very good. A trip through the history of vampire stories.

SO MUCH CONTENT!!

I like most of what I've read so far, but some of these stories are better than others. A few of these are slow, but I'd definitely recommend this overall. Especially when THERE'S SO MUCH OF THIS STUFF TO GET THROUGH! You might want to use a subscription point for this one!

GOTTA LOVE THOSE VAMPIRES...

What made the experience of listening to The Vampire Archives the most enjoyable?

Most of these stories are REALLY OLD. I love the old vampires... vile odors, dust, crumbling stuff...some of these stories were very creepy, all were fabulous.

I see some complaints that it is kind of the "same old stories", sorry, if that's how you look at it. For me, it's a collection of classic literature, I love Poe, Lee, Doyle, James...so this is perfect for me.

I didn't like the few modern ones. For me, modern vampire stories come across as amusing or just stupid. Thankfully, there's only a few here.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

I was very happy with all the narrators, each seemed appropriate for the story to me. I liked that each story was prefaced with a little info and each narrator was named.

Simon Vance did quite a few, I think he's got the best vampire narration, his almost whisper voice, perfect pauses...for my taste, he's a very frightening narrator.

Any additional comments?

Great for fans of old traditional horror. Wonderful for a stormy night, with a candelabra and a glass of red....Oh, "I don't drink...wine."

Some of the stories weren’t great. Some of the narrators were horrible.

Just know there are some hidden beauties. Listen for them. And watch out for the stinkers.

An almost exhaustive collection of vampire stories.

This was a fantastic, long listen that took me almost 6 months to complete. I enjoyed hearing old favorites and finding some new ones. These aren’t just greatest hits, there are some obscure stories and unfamiliar authors in the mix. It does point up the fact that popular authors and stories are popular for a reason. There’s a lot that can be done within the confines of the definition of “vampire story”, and some very good ones are very “traditional”, but many of the best tales are only just so. My only complaint that there were too few women narrators in this production. Men read stories by women, and portrayed female characters, so why not use men and women narrators equally?

Fabulous!

This audiobook contains runs for more than 60 hours. Not every of the story hits, but what does that matter if there is always another one? From poems to short stories to novelettes and covering more than 200 years, there is something here for everybody who likes a good vampire story. The initiated will find something he knows and likes, and the uninitiated will be introduced to something awesome. Definitely worth its two credits.

The technical quality is very good, and so are most of the narrators. Very little to complain here.

This one tops my list for a lot of reasons.

This collection is a treasure, so many writers and stories never before heard. The performances are all very good as well. You may not love every single story, but I promise overall if you are a dark literature fan, you will enjoy this.

very good

loved it. good variety. liked authers bios. hope to see more like this. thank you

variety!

found it kinda hard to stay engaged when the tone and language of the stories varied so wildly. took a few rewind but its it's obviously worth the money

good variety of the old and often little known stories

I am not a big vampire fan. As a result it took me a long time to get through this book. I enjoyed the variety of authors and readers. Most of the readers fit the story. To get maximum enjoyment try to remember the time period many of these were written. I wish there had been a better listing of the content.