.....however, I definitely like the cover of my own first novel. Though it's not primarily a horror story, I needed to drive the hero to terrible acts by using his fear of a resurrected, severed hand

....in this, one of his lesser known works, the hero pursues the shrouded, ghostly figure of what seems to be a beautiful vampire....

Of all demonaic creatures, the vampire is the most erotic. Here Stoker's short stories explore the hidden eroticism of the Victorian era

....unless they're werewolves, which is cool, but not quite as tragic or sexy....

....and all ends very happy and chocolate-boxy, unlike classic vampire stories, which opposed Good against Evil....

....something very similar was written by Jack Finney (he's now deceased; has he gone to join the undead?) in 1955. It was filmed in 1956, and the old black and white is considered a classic....

...but back to vampires, and books. Le Fanu's short story of a seductive female vampire was written in 1872, 25 years before Stoker's much longer work. Filmed a few times, often under other titles....

....and of course he's the main character in you-know-what, which is also somewhat concerned with biting....

....Lee was born in 1922, and his reign as the original sharp-toothed guy is over,he's still going strong, playing the evil wizard Saruman behind a hedge of whiskers....

...the third figure of terror originated when Victoria sat on the throne was this good doctor, but somehow he's not as popular, probably because RLS wrote his short story in a hurry, and messed up....

....Frankenstein: result of a bet four people made. One was the poet Lord Byron, of whom it was said "mad, bad, dangerous to know." Accused of incest with his sister; again evil linked to romance....

....by the time this, the sixth and final book of The Vampire Chronicles, came out, reviewers were complaining of a steady decline in quality. So she decided to slam the lid on the series....