The grim tale dramatized in these pages, while it may strain credibility, is undeniably and unfortunately true. Its horrible events took place in 1818 in one of the most unlikely settings for such a saga on the face of the earth: the picturesque French provincial village of Morève in the Loiret département on the post road one hundred and thirty-five kilometers southwest of Paris, and its surrounding countryside: a complacent, prosperous backwater of tenant farms, orchards, and vineyards. As any of the populace would have been happy to tell you, this is a place where “nothing ever happens, thank goodness”; that is, nothing until suddenly people start disappearing, and bodies are discovered of people and animals who appear to have been murdered by vampires, throwing the district into fear and panic. At this point, Raoul Champfleury returns from Boston, where his aristocratic family had fled during the French Revolution, to his ancestral chateau of Morève—successfully reclaimed by the family under the Bourbon Restoration—for a prolonged visit with his mother, Dowager Countess Régine-Rosemonde, and his destructive brother and sister-in-law, the tyrannical Count and Countess of Morève, religious fanatics pursuing their futile but abusive efforts to convert the dowager countess from her entrenched atheism. Raoul is accompanied by his lifelong friend, Christophe Béranger, whose family had fled Morève with the Champfleurys. Before they know it, they are caught up together with the town’s mayor, lawyer Maître Littré, and the village’s one policeman, the intelligent and resourceful Pierre Dupont, in trying to solve the mysteries. What they discover horrifies them beyond words.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE...WITH THE SOUND OF SUCKING Maria von Trapp is sweet, innocent, and can sing like an angel. Oh, and she's also a bloodthirsty vampire. When Maria is kicked out of the zombie-infested abbey where she's been residing for the past 612 years, she's forced to take care of the family Von Trapp, a rowdy clan in need of some serious discipline... or vampirification. After Maria turns the Von Trapp children into children of the night and marries the Von Trapp patriarch, the family seems destined for eternal (really, really eternal) bliss. But the Nazi Undeath Squads are on the march, intent on ridding Europe of bloodsuckers. And Maria will have to do everything in her power—supernatural or otherwise—to save her vampire brood. Sixteen going on seventeen members of our legal team have instructed us to tell you, even though it should be obvious, that My Favorite Fangs was not prepared, authorized, licensed, approved, or endorsed by any person or entity involved in the creation or production of The Sound of Music film, or any version of the stage musical. That seventeenth wouldn't take our call because he was too busy drinking his tea—a drink with jam and bread—to weigh in.

A look at the forgotten ancestors of the modern-day vampire, many of which have very different characteristics • Looks at the many ancestoral forms of the modern vampire, including shroud eaters, appesarts, and stafi • Presents evidence for the reality of this phenomenon from pre-19th-century newspaper articles and judicial records Of all forms taken by the undead, the vampire wields the most powerful pull on the modern imagination. But the countless movies and books inspired by this child of the night who has a predilection for human blood are based on incidents recorded as fact in newspapers and judicial archives in the centuries preceding the works of Bram Stoker and other writers. Digging through these forgotten records, Claude Lecouteux unearths a very different figure of the vampire in the many accounts of individuals who reportedly would return from their graves to attack the living. These ancestors of the modern vampire were not all blood suckers; they included shroud eaters, appesarts, nightmares, and the curious figure of the stafia, whose origin is a result of masons secretly interring the shadow of a living human being in the wall of a building under construction. As Lecouteux shows, the belief in vampires predates ancient Roman times, which abounded with lamia, stirges, and ghouls. Discarding the tacked together explanations of modern science for these inexplicable phenomena, the author looks back to another folk belief that has come down through the centuries like that of the undead: the existence of multiple souls in every individual, not all of which are able to move on to the next world after death.

The first novel in a YA fantasy romance series featuring “vampires with bite and girls who bite back. A witty, exhilarating and fresh take on an old tale” (Kelley Armstrong). On her sixteenth birthday, Solange Drake is going to die . . . But that’s okay. As the only daughter ever born to an ancient vampire dynasty, Solange’s sweet sixteen just means she will fully come into her own as an immortal. Unfortunately, it also means a lot of people both dead and undead are now watching her. Especially Kieran Black—a vengeful agent with an anti-vampire league who blames Solange’s family for his father’s death. Luckily, Solange has her human best friend, Lucy, who tries to help her have as normal a life as possible, despite her overprotective brothers and the politics of the undead realm. But when Solange is abducted by a power-hungry vampire queen, it will take all her friends—as well as the daring and dangerous Kieran—to rescue her before she loses her eternal life . . . In this “action-packed” (School Library Journal) story of love, loyalty, and blood ties, Alyxandra Harvey kicks off a saga of thrills with a nail-biter—and a neck-biter—that will have readers eager to devour the rest of the series. Hearts at Stake is the 1st book in the Drake Chronicles, which also includes Blood Feud and Out for Blood.

Garlic cloves and wooden stakes are no match for centuries of the undead's mischief and seduction. Here are thirteen original and imaginative stories that reveal the vampiric truths behind certain historical happenings.

The hypnotic, deeply seductive novels of Anne Rice have captivated millions of fans around the world. It all began a quarter of a century ago with Interview with the Vampire. Now, in one chilling volume, here are the first three classic novels of The Vampire Chronicles. INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Witness the confessions of a vampire. A novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force, it is a story of danger and flight, love and loss, suspense and resolution, and the extraordinary power of the senses. “A magnificent, compulsively readable thriller . . . Anne Rice begins where Bram Stoker and the Hollywood versions leave off and penetrates directly to the true fascination of the myth–the education of the vampire.” –Chicago Tribune THE VAMPIRE LESTAT Once an aristocrat from pre-revolutionary France, now a rock star in the decadent 1980s, Lestat rushes through the centuries seeking to fathom the mystery of his existence. His is a mesmerizing story–passionate and thrilling. “Frightening, sensual . . . A psychological, mythological sojourn . . . Anne Rice will live on through the ages of literature. . . . To read her is to become giddy as if spinning through the mind of time.” –San Francisco Chronicle QUEEN OF THE DAMNED Akasha, the queen of the damned, has risen from a six-thousand-year sleep to let loose the powers of the night. She has a marvelously devious plan to “save” mankind–in this vivid novel of the erotic, electrifying world of the undead. “With The Queen of the Damned, Anne Rice has created universes within universes, traveling back in time as far as ancient, pre-pyramidic Egypt and journeying from the frozen mountain peaks of Nepal to the crowded, sweating streets of southern Florida.” –Los Angeles Times

A sensual, terrifying, incredibly accomplished first novel, this fascinating prequel to the classic and most popular horror novel of all time, Dracula, focuses on Dracula's great-nephew, who inherits the job of managing his great-uncle's estate...and his appetite. Written in diary form as Dracula is, this compulsively readable book has revelations that will shock and delight readers of the original. More erotic than Anne Rice, Kalogridis is a major new voice in vampire fiction. The first chilling tale in an exciting new trilogy is a rich and terrifying historical novel set fifty years before the opening of Bram Stoker's Dracula. At the castle of Prince Vlad Tsepesh, also known as Dracula, Vald's great-nephew Arkady is honored to care for his beloved though strange great-uncle...until he beings to realize what is expected of him in his new role. It seems that either he provides his great-uncle with unsuspecting victims to satisfy his needs, or Vlad will kill those Arkady loves. He is trapped into becoming party to murder and sadistic torture. And it is in his blood. When Arkady learns that his newborn son is being groomed one day to follow in his footsteps, he knows that he must fight Dracula, even if it means death.

The author of A Guide to Haunted New England lifts the coffin lid on the region’s folklore and legends of the undead. New England is rich in history and mystery. Numerous sleepy little towns and farming communities distinguish the region’s scenic tranquility. But not long ago, New Englanders lived in fear of spectral ghouls believed to rise from their graves and visit family members in the night to suck their lives away. Although the word “vampire” was never spoken, scores of families disinterred loved ones during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries searching for telltale signs that one of them might be what is now referred to as the New England vampire. “In his remarkable book . . . Thomas D’Agostino details the longstanding belief among New Englanders that supernatural entities were responsible for the disease called consumption.”—Crime Capsule Includes photos! Praise for A Guide to Haunted New England “Fun, charming . . . includes not only locales with reported ghosts, but also sites with macabre (though not haunted) histories.”—True Crime Librarian “Anyone interested in exploring the haunted, macabre and abandoned throughout New England knows they can count on D’Agostino to find out more about the site’s history, past sightings and how to find them.”—Mobile RVing

Warning - this book contains some swearing and has a cliffhanger ending! Blood doesn't just make her who she is...it also makes her what she is. Like being a sixteen-year-old vampire isn't hard enough, Tessa's throwback human genes make her an outcast among her relatives. But try as she might, she can't get a handle on the vampire lifestyle and all the...blood. Turning her back on the vamp world, she embraces the human teenage lifestyle--high school, peer pressure and finding a boyfriend. Jared manages to stir something in her blood. He's smart and fun and oh, so cute. But Tessa's dream of having the perfect boyfriend turns into a nightmare when vampires attack the movie theatre and kidnap her date. Once again, Tessa finds herself torn between the human world and the vampire one. Will blood own out? Can she make peace with who she is as well as what?

An international bestseller and beloved cultural touchstone, Anne Rice’s classic novel Interview with the Vampire starts “where Bram Stoker and the Hollywood versions leave off and penetrates directly to the true fascination of the myth” (Chicago Tribune). But that’s only the beginning. Over the course of twelve interwoven novels, Rice crafts a richly imagined, magnificently transporting epic around her chilling, charismatic antihero, Lestat. An aristocrat in the heady days of pre-revolutionary France who lives to become a rock star in the demonic, shimmering 1980s, Lestat rushes through the centuries in search of others like him, seeking answers to the mystery of his eternal, terrifying existence. Now, with the publication of the complete series in one convenient eBook bundle, there has never been a better time to devour the entirety of The Vampire Chronicles. Gathered here are the ten books that comprise the original saga: INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE THE VAMPIRE LESTAT QUEEN OF THE DAMNED THE TALE OF THE BODY THIEF MEMNOCH THE DEVIL THE VAMPIRE ARMAND MERRICK BLOOD AND GOLD BLACKWOOD FARM BLOOD CANTICLE . . . as well as the two books of the New Tales of the Vampires: PANDORA VITTORIO, THE VAMPIRE Praise for the novels of Anne Rice “Brilliant . . . [Rice’s] undead characters are utterly alive.”—The New York Times Book Review “If you surrender and go with her . . . you have surrendered to enchantment, as in a voluptuous dream.”—The Boston Globe “Frightening, sensual . . . Anne Rice will live on through the ages of literature. . . . To read her is to become giddy as if spinning through the mind of time, to become lightheaded as if our blood is slowly being drained away.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Unrelentingly erotic . . . sometimes beautiful, and always unforgettable.”—The Washington Post “Rice has created universes within universes, traveling back in time as far as ancient, pre-pyramidic Egypt and journeying from the frozen mountain peaks of Nepal to the crowded, sweating streets of southern Florida.”—Los Angeles Times “Fiercely ambitious, nothing less than a complete unnatural history of vampires.”—The Village Voice