‘The blood shone black as liquid night, as the River of the Underland. It tasted meat-thick, and salt, and sweet, familiar as wine or milk or oil. He gulped it down and down. And as he drank, every physical apparatus of his body shone within as if with cores of fire.’ Presenting twenty tales of vampire horror from acclaimed fantasy and horror writer Tanith Lee. Selected from Tanith’s incredible body of writing, the stories represent a journey through time into darkness from which you may not emerge unscathed. From the Roman Empire to cursed Dukes; from sickly sisters to haunted Ladies; from the Parisian underground to a far flung and unknowable future: Tanith Lee’s incredible imagination knows no bounds, and the horrors and visions revealed by her words will stay with you forever. Including five stories original to this collection and fifteen previously published works, this book represents Tanith Lee at the very height of her literary powers. Drink deep, and never forget ...
Author
Tanith Lee was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She was the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. She also wrote four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series "Blake's 7." Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress. Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971. Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing. Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror. Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s. Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
