From the Dracula Society:

CONVENTIONAL VAMPIRES

A collection of nine totally original stories (plus some verse) written by Society members. Produced for the Society’s 30th Anniversary Convention in 2003, and including:

• The Castle of Enchantment, Hilda Birchall’s timeless twist on a fairytale theme.
• The Trophy, Jacqueline Simpson’s grim take on vampire folklore.
• Mara, Mike Chislett’s nineteenth century femme fatale leading his narrator on a phantasmagorical dance that ends in horror.
• The Legacy, Rosmary Laurey’s charming sequel to a certain well-known Victorian vampire novel, which, like
• The Lord of the Manor, Gala Sarrington’s blackly funny story, deals with a present-day inheritance from a dark and bloody past.
• Shadow Seek Shadow, Barry McCann’s modern wasteland - inhabited by - what?
• Hanging with Vampires, Katherine Haynes’ lost child of our times for whom vampirism may - or may not - be an escape.

Conventional Vampires also features two excerpts from on-going novels by two DS members.

• Sue Gedge, whose true horror in her Queasy Like Monday Morning is "contemporary education" rather than her courtly survivor from the "age of decadence".
• Berni Stevens, whose The Reluctant Vampire, is a rather unusual take on "boy bites girl".

Plus Fluffy, the Vampire Cat and other vampire verse by Tina Rath.

The booklet also boasts a wonderful piece of cover art by Ken Barr, and is available from The Dracula Society, PO Box 30848, London W12 0GY, at £5.00 plus 50p p&p within the UK, £1.25 for Europe, and £2 for the rest of the world. Cheques or bank drafts in UK Pounds Sterling only, payable to The Dracula Society.

For further information contact Tina Rath, 0786-7982345 and see www.academicvampire.co.uk

The London Vampyre Group magazine Chronicles has allowed us to reproduce here their review of Conventional Vampires by Becky Probert.

In particular, she says: "I would very much recommend this for anyone who loves vampires and short stories - you will not be disappointed."

In July 2004, Conventional Vampires was nominated in the British Fantasy Society's "Best Anthology" category at their annual British Fantasy Awards. It was noted that "as a collection of vampire stories, it was unique in being notably original in a genre where originality is very difficult to come by - that the stories, besides being unique were of excellent quality (one, Mara, by Mike Chislett, has also been nominated for Best Short Fiction in the BFS Awards, as well as being chosen for this year's Best New Horror)."