The Blood is The Life: An Anthology of Early Vampire Fiction

Everyone has heard of, or even read, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and many assume it to be the first of its kind. However, the vampire had made his way into literature on numerous occasions before and after. These are the stories you have never heard of.

I have split the anthology into three parts. The first deals with straightforward classic vampire tales. These blood-suckers do not sparkle! The second part is dedicated to psychic vampires, including the earliest ever written. The third section is called “Not Quite Vampires” because these tales are often included in lists of early vampire fiction, but are not actually about vampires. They are close to vampires, or vampire-like, but still are not vampires. They are great literature (Lazarus by Andreyev is one of the darkest pieces of fiction I’ve ever read) and are well deserving to be reread by today’s readers.

Each story contains reproductions of all original illustrations from their first publications. In addition to that, there are four original photographs spread across the section breaks.

The collection is completed with two appendices. The first contains biographical sketches of a few historical cases of vampirism. The average reader may believe that Transylvania is the birthplace of the vampire tradition, but it is not. In these sketches, you will find that Serbia and Croatia are the original home of the nosferatu. Did you know that there is even a history of vampire belief right here in the U.S.?

The second, “Sacred Blood,” is a 3000+ word essay on the sacredness of blood across multiple cultures and religions. While it does not deal directly with vampirism, vampirism does make an appearance in some unlikely places.

It is available on Amazon, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble for $2.99.  If you prefer, you can also buy directly from us via Payhip in all formats (.mobi, epub, and pdf).

Approx. 536 pages or 156,837 words long. 

As with all ebooks from The Forlorn Press, The Blood is the Life contains a clickable table of contents.

Table of Contents:

Part I: Early Vampire Fiction

Carmilla by J. Sheridan LeFanu

The Vampyre; A Tale by John William Polidori

The Singular Death of Morton by Algernon Blackwood

For The Blood Is The Life by F. Marion Crawford

Dracula’s Guest by Bram Stoker

Ligeira by Edgar Allen Poe

Schalken The Painter by J. Sheridan LeFanu

The Room in the Tower by E. F. Benson

Let Loose by Mary Cholmondeley

The Green Picture by Charles Skinner

The True Story of a Vampire by Count Eric Stenbock

Part II: Psychic Vampires

Luella Miller by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

The Transfer by Algernon Blackwood

The House of the Vampire by George Sylvester Viereck

The Parasite by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Part III: Not Quite Vampires

Lazarus by Leonid Andreyev

Morella by Edgar Allen Poe

The Mortal Immortal by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Appendix 1: Real Cases of Vampires

Appendix 2: Sacred Blood