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The Vampire Archives

The Most Complete Volume of Vampire Tales Ever Published

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The Vampire Archives

By: Clive Barker, Robert Bloch, Stephen King, Kim Newman - foreword, Neil Gaiman - preface, Otto Penzler - editor
Narrated by: Scott Brick, Jonathan Cowley, Erik Davies
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About this listen

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 Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Fantasy Fiction Horror Scary Paranormal
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Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend this audiobook to a friend although some of the stories aren't that great a lot of them are well worth a listen.

Would you be willing to try another book from the authors? Why or why not?

Yes I would try other books by some of the authors as there are so many different styles of writing and I'm sure that full length stories would be much better.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Too many narrators to mention.

Did The Vampire Archives inspire you to do anything?

No not really, these stories are good if you only have a short time to listen each day.

Any additional comments?

Good collection of tales (some seem unfinished) and I know these are short stories but some of them seem rushed & muddled.

A huge volume of tales, sound good some not so goo

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If you could sum up The Vampire Archives in three words, what would they be?

Value Quality Dark - Great stories and narrators, stories from 17th Century to present day with stoires and authors from across cultures and the world.

What other book might you compare The Vampire Archives to, and why?

Vampire lestat, the ann rice series, dracula by bram stoker - so many stories it covers all vampire and horror stories.

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

too many to say

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes but its huge, still listening after 6 weeks of near constant use.

Any additional comments?

Great value for your monthly credits.

Credits well spent

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This is an excellent compilation of Vampire stories written by some of the great masters of Horror Fantasy & Fiction. Many hours of great listening.

EXCELLENT COMPILATION OF STORIES

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Jonathan Cowley should not be given voice over work again. Writers of the quality of D.H. Lawrence deserve better. His sub-stage school delivery ruins all his reads, without any depth of understanding; emphasis in the wrong places, consistently. Painful to listen to. All else is excellent.

Almost perfect, but for one thing...

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This is a good listen if you want variety in setting and era, and indeed, in the definition of a ‘vampire’, as quite a few of these stories involve no loss of blood. Some great narrators such as Simon Vance bring the stories to life with atmospheric and emotive reading; however, Jonathan Cowley is without doubt one of the worst audiobook narrators I have ever heard. He randomly emphasises (usually by over-enunciating or speaking louder) every 4th word, and seems to have no grasp of the overall narrative, speaking as though he’s seeing each word in isolation of the others. Punctuation and cadence mean nothing to him. Think of a 12 year old being asked to do a dramatic reading to his classmates, and you’ll be close…

Great variety of stories

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