New Vampire Anthology Published - The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Vampire Anthology

Scary stories-vampire style. That is what's in store when you read my newly published book - The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Vampire Anthology. In the first half of the nineteenth century vampires were referred to as ghosts since they were once living. They were also called "vampyres," which I personally like better than "vampires." The old school version has a more goth look to it on the page. Anyway, here is some background into my new anthology. It's one that is uniquely presented in the vampire genre.

Unearthed from long forgotten journals and magazines, Andrew Barger has found the very best vampire short stories from the first half of the 19th century. They are collected for the first time in this groundbreaking book on the origins of vampire lore.

The cradle of all vampire short stories in the English language is the first half of the 19th century. Andrew Barger combed forgotten journals and mysterious texts to collect the very best vintage vampire stories from this crucial period in vampire literature. In doing so, Andrew unearthed the second and third vampire stories originally published in the English language, neither printed since their first publication nearly 200 years ago. Also included is the first vampire story originally written in English by John Polidori after a dare with Lord Byron and Mary Shelley. The book contains the first vampire story by an American who was a graduate of Columbia Law School. The book further includes the first vampire stories by an Englishman and German, including the only vampire stories by such renowned authors as Alexander Dumas, Théophile Gautier and Joseph le Fanu.

As readers have come to expect from Andrew, he has added his scholarly touch to this collection by including story backgrounds, annotations, author photos and a foreword titled "With Teeth." The ground-breaking stories are:

1819 The Vampyre - John Polidori (1795-1821)

1823 Wake Not the Dead - Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853)

1848 The Vampire of the Carpathian Mountains - Alexander Dumas (1802-1870)

1839 Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter - Joseph le Fanu (1814-1873)

1826 Pepopukin in Corsica - Arthur Young (1741-1820)

1819 The Black Vampyre: A Legend of Saint Domingo - Robert C. Sands (1799-1832)

1836 Clarimonde - Théophile Gautier (1811-1872)

Buy this best vampire book tonight!

Tired Vampires vs. Wired Vampires

Old-school vampires, those of the Victorian era of literature, are back in fashion after a couple years of the sparkly vampire phenomena. Wire Magazine, in its April 2012 issue, printed a chart on how tired the editors were of certain types of vampires. To no one's surprise they were most tired of hunky vampires and Gothy Eurotrash vampires. Next on the chart were friendly vampires. Those they were lest tired of: "old-school evil" vampires like you'll find in The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Vampire Anthology.

Cover for The Best Vampire Stories 1880-1849

I am excited to show everyone the Gothic cover for the new anthology I edited: The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Vampire Anthology. I'll publish a description and an interview soon. Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, you can enter to win an autographed edition at GoodReads. Good luck!