“A Whisper of Blood: 18 Stories of Vampirism”, edited by Ellen Datlow

287 pages, William Morrow & Co., ISBN-13: 978-0688103613

Way back when I had a little horror fixation that has, mercifully, passed, but during that time I discovered A Whisper of Blood. It is a rare treat to find such an affordable anthology from award-winning editor Ellen Datlow; in fact, the only thing better than the price is the collection itself. This edition includes not one but two Datlow anthologies, Blood Is Not Enough (originally published in 1989) and A Whisper of Blood (originally published in 1991). The stories herein range in time (the earliest, first published in 1949, is a timeless classic by Fritz Leiber, The Girl With the Hungry Eyes), subject (vampirism in a myriad of forms, everything from classic blood-suckers to modern, even mechanistic vampires of emotions, health, hope, and more), and taste. Never one to shy away from the dark, Datlow has included several cruel tales, such as Down Among the Dead Men, or the controversial Dirty Work, story set in a WWII death camp, and The Pool People, a brutal exploration of emotional pillage, to name but a few, along with more typically seductive stories of vampirism. The vampires themselves range from comically sympathetic, such as Rose in Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, to oddly helpful, like Davis Hallinan in Warm Man, to remorseless hunters, Sheila Remarque in To Feel Another's Woe. Not all the stories are told from the perspective of the victim: A Child of Darkness is a beautifully realistic exploration of how a modern vampire might come to be. As Wet As Wet Can Be takes a more realistic approach, even while it turns a classic children’s fantasy tale on its head. At the other end of the spectrum, there are tales of magical worlds, like Varicose Worms, not to be missed (unless you have a weak stomach), future worlds, and the darkly romantic world of times past found in The Silver Collar. Some authors you will know, like the aforementioned Leiber, Harlan Ellison, Tannith Lee; many will leave you longing to know them and their works better. Not a bad little collection, and cheap, too.