Book Review: “Blood Sisters: Vampire Stories by Women” Edited by Paula Guran
Blood Sisters: Vampire Stories by Women
Edited by Paula Guran
If you don’t know it by now, let me repeat myself by saying I absolutely love anthologies. I love general ones, and themed ones. With themed ones especially, it’s always interesting to see the stories picked by the editor, whether it’s one done with an open submission process or invited. This 2015 anthology, put together by Paula Guran, is an example of an anthology done really, really right. There are some fantastic, well known names here, with a variety of different takes on vampires and their mythology.
As Guran explains in the introduction, the stories here have been put together in a particular order. Vampires lend themselves to a variety of different genres and subgenres, and there are stories here that are Historical, Horror, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal – the list goes on. But without a doubt, whatever kind of vampire you like best, you’ll find it here.
So, how do you order such a range of tales? Guran takes an approach that works brilliantly, and presents these vampire stories in chronological order. That is, the story with the oldest setting is presented first, those set in the future are last.
There are a few different reasons I picked up this book. Firstly, Guran herself. But also seeing Holly Black, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Charlaine Harris’ names on the front cover. As a fan of all three, I was eager to see their additions to this anthology. Digging in deeper, I spotted other familiar names on the contents list; Caitlín R. Kiernan, Nancy Kilpatrick, and Lucy A. Snyder, among others. Not a single one of these authors disappointed with their stories.
I always find anthology reviews difficult to write, because it’s hard to pick out just a few favourites, and hard to go into stories in depth without spoiling them, but I’ll do my best.
Carrie Vaughn’s “A Princess of Spain” kicks off the anthology, giving us a glimpse into Henry VIII as a child and what might have really happened to his brother. “Tacky”, by Charlaine Harris, shows an unusual wedding in the same world as Sookie Stackhouse. “Father Peña’s Last Dance” is a wonderful, bittersweet tale from Hannah Storm-Martin, about a pair drawn together by lost loves. And Nancy Holder gives us “Blood Freak” about Dracula in the sixties, dealing with the counter-culture. I could really go on and on, touching on even more of these stories, but safe to say a large majority are fantastic pieces of short fiction.
There are a couple of stories here that maybe dragged on a little too long, but with an anthology this long not every tale is going to be totally gripping. But for the most part, I really enjoyed this one, and if you like your vampires – any sort of vampires – this is definitely worth picking up.
Grade: A
Review by Elle Turpitt
@elleturpitt
I purchased this paperback.