Product Description

In this rich collection of thirteen macabre tales, Bram Stoker, creator of the Gothic masterpiece, Dracula, and one of the greatest exponents of the supernatural narrative, presents us with a weird and chilling variety of unsettling stories. Stoker's dramatic scenarios, from the opening tale of vampires, Dracula's Guest, which was omitted from the final version of Dracula, will thrill and engage the modern reader. In these pages you will encounter the devilishly dangerous haunted room in The Judge's House, the fatalistic tragedy in The Burial of the Rats, the terror of revenge from beyond the grave in The Secret of Growing Gold and the surprising twist in the tail in The Gypsy's Prophecy, amongst other strange and frightening episodes. This unique collection of Stoker's short fiction provides a feast for those who like to be unnerved as well as entertained.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #244108 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Part of Wordsworth's Mystery & Supernatural series, featuring classic spine chilling tales, some previously unavailable for many years.

Customer Reviews

Dracula through a darker lens
For many readers, the suggestive title of 'Dracula's Guest', with it's promise of excluded material from Stoker's most-famous novel, will be the main draw for purchasing this collection. Viewed alongside the novel, 'Dracula's Guest' makes for an interesting read and certainly evinces further the masterful balancing of chilling detail and atmospheric narrative that charactises that work. Yet although the editor suggests that the narrative was written as a self-contained tale, it is not clear that readers unfamiliar with 'Dracula' would find the tale as effective or accessible.

Besides linking with Stoker's most well-known work, the lead tale connects well with the other twelve tales in the volume by showcasing Stoker's talent for writing short fiction. Often the short stories written by Victorian authors are just as intriguing as their more mainstream and commercially successful work, but in Stoker's case this is not so evident. Just as Stoker's novels besides 'Dracula' are of variable quality, so too are these short stories. Linking all of the tales are morbid and often macabre preoccupations that, although suitably unsettling for the genre, sometimes stray uncomfortably a little too far. There are echoes of Edgar Allan Poe, especially in 'The Secret of the Growing Gold', and an altogether darker vision of the traditional Victorian ghost story. Tales such as 'The Judge's House', and especially 'The Squaw', blur the line between the spine-chilling and the outrightly grisly. If your taste is for the uncompromisingly gruesome, then Stoker's imagination may appeal; however, if you prefer a more subtle, psychological approach, then Stoker's confrontational style may be a step too far.

Matchless for an authentic Dracula admirer.

I must admit I was very sorrowful after I had experienced Stoker's unique novel `Dracula' (which is nothing like the ridiculous movies we see on television.) I had wanted more from the novel. True the book was over three hundred pages of sorrow, excitement, joy and above all; terror, but I needed more.
So one can just imagine how truly contented I was to discover this book, and I must say that `Dracula's guest' was a phenomenal short story by Bram Stoker. You are immediately taken into the story, and the narration makes you feel as though you are actually there. The writing characteristic of Stoker makes the entire incident sound so genuine, and then the shock at the end of the story, getting the letter from Dracula. One who never read the novel might not appreciate this as I do, but any true Gothic literature admirer will love this story, alongside many other tales. In this book you shall see how Stoker's characters all have different personalities, all use different words, and in some stories such as `The gypsy's prophecy' you shall see how Stoker startles the reader with such an incredible turn of events at the end of the tale.
I would highly recommend you buy this and share it with your friends (if you are lucky enough to have any)
Perfect for a quick read (some tales are only ten pages), or for a longer one, curled up in an armchair.
Well worth every penny, and defiantly worth reading.