Night Bites: Vampire Stories by Women Tales of Blood and Lust

An anthology of seventeen original vampire tales by women includes such chilling works as Terri de la Pen+a1a's "Refugio," Linda K. Wright's "The Last Train," and "Anita Polish Vampire Holds Forth at the Jewish Cafe of the Dead" by Judith Katz. Original. IP.

From Library Journal

Brownworth has assembled a collection of stories that have varying degrees of merit. Some have heavy-handed feminist or political themes and are plagued by predictable plots or cardboard characters. Others, however, have unique offerings for those who enjoy offbeat literature. Judith Katz's "Anita, Polish Vampire, Holds Forth at the Jewish Cafe of the Dead" is a funny, quirky little tale with a lesbian twist. In "Sustenance," Susanna J. Sturgis evokes the surreal world of a woman's emotional collapse. The theme of vampire seduction plays a major role in Diane Lisa D. Williamson's "Best of Friends," but in DeKelb-Rittenhouse's "To Die For," seduction hits an all-time erotic high. Judith M. Redding's "Unexpurgated Notes from a Homicide Case File" features an African American female police officer investigating four murders that appear to be the work of a blood-sucking creature. Although all the stories have a vampiric element, the true emphasis is on feminism. Suitable for large collections.?Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Bowie, Md.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Based largely on the murderous late-medieval figures Elizabeth of Bathory and Vlad the Impaler--both infamous for sucking or drinking their victims' blood--vampires seem to have become twentieth-century icons. Despite the plethora of vampire yarns and studies, Brownworth's is the first collection of vampire stories all by women. Particularly interesting are Toni Brown's "Immunity," set against a background of Afrocentric supernatural folklore, Judith M. Redding's "Unexpurgated Notes from a Homicide Case File," in which detective Teresa Dash considers the unusual case notes about four young black urbanites, Meredith Suzanne Baird's "They Have No Faces," which returns us to the original turf of the vampire in Eastern Europe, as does Judith Katz's chillingly funny and grotesque "Anita, Polish Vampire, Holds Forth at the Jewish Cafe of the Dead," in which the first Jewish vampire entertains a fascinated visiting scholar. Wonderfully broad-ranging, this anthology will find an appreciative audience among both vampire aficionados and just plain adventurous readers. Whitney Scott

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