And now, the thrilling conclusion to 'Book spree'! For the previous instalment, click here.
17 May 2012
Title: The vampire in Slavic cultures, rev. edn (San Diego: Cognella, 2010)Author: Thomas J. GarzaDate ordered: 6 May 2012Price: £27.75Why'd I buy it? I've had my eye on this book for a while, but copies are prohibitively expensive. So, when I saw this version for a much cheaper price, I snapped it up. However, I wasn't expecting it to be a revised edition—because that wasn't mentioned in its description or stock cover photo. I was going to try and get a partial refund on it, but on account of how much buggering about there would've been to do so—involving sending the book back, I figured I'd keep it, instead.This work is a big book of leads to me, as it's actually an anthology. It began life as a university reader, after all.Title: Interdisciplinary approaches to Twilight: studies in fiction, media, and a contemporary cultural experience (Lund, Sweden: Nordic Academic Press, 2011)
Nordic Academic Press Author: Mariah Larsson & Ann Steiner (eds)Date ordered: 1 May 2012Price: £24.92Why'd I buy it? Apart from the cover (left), the 'Interdisciplinary approaches' caught my attention. Vampirology, itself, is a combination of various disciplines; as is vampire studies in general. Think back to David Lowery's division of Buffy studies into fifty 'disciplines, methods, and/or approaches'. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but Twilight doesn't interest me so much as its success does. It'll be interesting to see what these diverse disciplines drum out of the phenomena.Title: Ken Russell's Dracula (Cambridge, U.K.: Bear Claw Publishing, 2012)Author: Ken RussellDate ordered: 6 May 2012Price: £7.88Why'd I buy it? I've been intrigued by Russell's take on the story ever since I read a snippet about it in David J. Skal's V is for vampire (1996). The scene where Jonathan Harker uses a rosary as a knuckleduster against the undead? Yep, that's in there. So what stopped the film getting made? Drac-saturation. It was ready for 1979; the same year that saw the release of Badham's Dracula, Herzog's Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht and Dragoti's Love at first bite. A shame it never went into production, as I'm convinced it would've been the best of the lot.Title: Prima di Dracula: archeologia del vampiro (Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino, 2011)Author: Tommaso BracciniDate ordered: 1 May 2012Price: £15.08Why'd I buy it? Blame Niels. He discussed the book in two posts (this one and this one). The archaeological angle perked my interest. Makes me wish I paid greater attention in Italian class—instead of looking up swear words in the dictionary. Merda!Title: Write of the living dead: a writing guide for your dark side (Largo, Fla.: Dark Moon, 2012)Author: Araminta Star Matthews, Rachel Lee & Stan SwansonDate ordered: 6 May 2012Price: £14.46Why'd I buy it? I enjoy writing guides. Richard Laymon's A writer's tale (1998) is one of my favourite books. Period. What sold me on this one, apart from its genre-theme, was this: 'Each chapter of the handbook is devoted to a different genre of writing--everything from academic writing (complete with MLA and APA sample essays), business writing, and even poetry and fiction--all of it with a dark and undead twist.' How many horror-specific writing guides can you name that cover academia? Sign me up.21 May 2012
Title: Entities: angels, spirits, demons, and other alien beings (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1995)Author: Joe NickellDate ordered: 1 May 2012Price: £1.80 + £5.84 postageWhy'd I buy it? Nickell is fast turning into one of my favourite writers. I love the way he applies serious research methods to paranormal topics. His 2011 book, Tracking the man-beasts, cited this one in conjunction with vampy stuff—so I figured I'd reacquaint myself with it. Haven't read it in over 15 years. I'm much more comfortable with its skeptical tone than I was back then. The vampire references are very sparse, but I'm not bothered as I enjoy the book as a whole.
And that's a wrap. Not sure when I'll go on my next spree, but it won't be for a while. Went a little overboard there. That said, I've had my eye on a few books—upcoming ones, too—so I'll be probably hitting the shopping cart soon enough.
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