Book Review: Dracula's Guest, A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories Edited by Michael Sims

Before Twilight and True Blood, vampires haunted the nineteenth century, when brilliant writers indulged their blood thirst imaginations, culminating in Bram Stoker's legendary 1897 novel, Dracula.

Acclaimed author and anthologist Michael Sims brings together the finest vampire stories of the Victorian era in a unique collection that highlights their cultural variety. Beginning with the supposedly true accounts that captivated Byron and Shelley, the stories range from Aleksei Tolstoy's tale of a vampire family to Fitz James O'Brien's invisible monster to Mary Elizabeth Braddon's rich and sinister widow, Good Lady Ducayne. Sims also includes a nineteenth century travel tour of Transylvannian superstitions, and finishes the collection with Stoker's own Dracula's Guest- a chapter omitted from his landmark novel. 

This book is a fantastic treat for anybody interested in this genre. Michael Sims has put together a brilliant collection of stories and I loved being able to read more about the author's and the origins behind them.
I think that vampires are always going to be popular within the world of fiction, the Twilight phenomenon has brought them to the fore again but they are a creation that allows so many different themes and ideas to be explored in one story. Bram Stoker's Dracula is one of my favourite books so it came as no surprise that Dracula's Guest was my favourite story within this book. There is something about Bram Stoker's writing that entices you in even though you know you are probably going to come across something that is pretty scary.
Bloomsbury have produced a stunning book to look at, I completely fell in love with it. This would make a brilliant present and I know that it will be sitting on my book shelf for many years.

Dracula's Guest was published on 30th October, many thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me a copy for review.