Nigel Suckling, one of the foremost authorities on unicorns, leprechauns, and angels, has developed a taste for blood. Book of the Vampire is a stimulating and chilling look at world-wide and ages-old myths about blood-sucking creatures. The accounts range from South America s Chupacabras to Malaysia s penanggalan, whose disembodied flying heads terrified believers. Suckling begins his inquiry with Bram Stoker, whose classic Dracula revived a flagging interest among Victorians for elegant hosts with curious appetites. The book digs deep into Stoker s influences from ancient cultures, including the lamia and the succubus myths from Rome, Greece, and the Middle East, and also examines vampire myths from a spiritual perspective. Bruce Pennington, a well-known and extremely popular fantasy artist, contributes gorgeous illustrations that contribute to the Vampire attraction.

I. Dracula's dynasty. Bram Stoker and the literary and cultural background of Dracula -- The vampire in prose, poetry, and on stage during the nineteenth century -- A brief history of Bram Stoker and the progress of his opus from book to stage and to silver screen -- II. The ancient evil. The legends and folklore on vampires that Stoker drew upon for Dracula -- The eighteenth century vampire plagues in Eastern Europe and what scholars made of them -- How the ideas spread to the West -- Premature burial and masticating dead -- The spiritualist perspective --III. Bloodlust. The mystical significance of blood in ancient and medieval times -- The lamia, succubus, ghoul and other vampires in ancient Rome, Greece and the Middle East -- Adam's first wife Lilith as a vampire -- Parallels in other cultures -- IV. Dracula, the Blood Countess and Bluebeard. History and legends of the original Prince Dracula, his kinswoman Countess Elisabeth Bathory of Hungary and Gilles de Retz -- V. The un-living dead. Modern outbreaks of vampire hysteria -- Real vampires in the past century.