Thursday 21 June 2012

Book spree, pt. 3

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. Garza
Date ordered: 6 May 2012  
Price: £27.75
Why'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.

Nordic Academic Press
Title: Interdisciplinary approaches to Twilight: studies in fiction, media, and a contemporary cultural experience (Lund, Sweden: Nordic Academic Press, 2011)   
Author: Mariah Larsson & Ann Steiner (eds)
Date ordered: 1 May 2012  
Price: £24.92
Why'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 Russell
Date ordered: 6 May 2012  
Price: £7.88
Why'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 Braccini
Date ordered: 1 May 2012  
Price: £15.08
Why'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 Swanson
Date ordered: 6 May 2012  
Price: £14.46
Why'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 Nickell
Date ordered: 1 May 2012  
Price: £1.80 + £5.84 postage 
Why'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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