Lockdown with a Vampire is a reading challenge we have embarked on in collaboration with the Bloody Reader of Bloody Books blog. Throughout this challenge, we’ll take a look at a list of short stories on the theme of vampires by considering and presenting one each day.

It’s a great chance for all who love the genre to read (or re-read) some of the biggest classics of vampire literature, some more well-known than others.

Everyone is welcome to participate, this is an open challenge. You can find the full list below and, very soon, we’ll also be publishing on our website and on the collaborating blog all the reviews.

How many of these stories have you already read? And which ones are you hearing about for the first time? But most of all, what’s your favourite one?

If you want to come along on this challenge with us, you’re more than welcome. In just a few hours, we’ll be publishing our first review. We recommend to not only read our own, but to also take a look at the Italian reviews on the Bloody Reader blog if you can.

As you can see, all the stories were written by different authors and published in different editions both as single works and in collections. We’re sure that, if you’re fans of the genre, you’ll already own some of them, but if you’re looking for an edition that collects all of them we highly recommend the Newton Compton collection, the one we’ll be using as we read along our list.

We’ll be waiting to hear your impressions and opinions on this small challenge.

Il fascino del Vampiro – A brief introduction to the collection

The character of the vampire has always been a source of fascination and, at the same time, fear for the people around it. Immortal creatures, not alive and not quite dead, they support themselves by stealing life away from others who resemble what they once were.

The legends about their origins are many and very diverse, as is their appearance. If, on one hand, they are seen as beautiful beings, other traditions describe their appearance as misshapen by death, a sign of their demonic nature. Throughout the literary centuries, vampirism is seen both as a gift and as a curse. Even though they can enjoy eternal life, they’re often stripped of all the aspects that characterise human life. They can never live in the sunlight again, a symbol of their distance from society. They can’t just have contacts with others anymore, thus living a forced alienation in that immortal prison that is little more than a golden cage.

Most of the time, vampires are completely alone. Even when they find themselves among their peers, each one of them carries a baggage of experiences that they can’t share with each other. Born in different time periods, they often find it hard to face the confrontation and, as the centuries go by without stopping, they end up finding themselves in a world where they belong less and less.

And yet, we are fascinated with them.

They have always been able to charm generation after generation. They’re ancient beings cursed by fate, wondrous and ruthless at the same time.

Autori

  • KeiLeela

    Classe '90. Nella vita mi occupo di codice e grafica, nel tempo libero navigo verso mondi fantastici. Fondatrice del portale Vampire's Tears, tratto di argomenti legati all'horror e al fantastico. Indago su miti e leggende e misteri esoterici.

  • torninchiara

    1993, bi. Divisa tra il disegno e la scrittura. Troppe idee per non sprecarne. Traduttrice amatoriale.