It’s Hard to be a Vampire
Viktoria Faust
“This book is a short selection of 20 years of
writing of the Croatian “Queen of the Horror” as she’s called back
home. It contains short stories of horror and SF/horror theme.
IT’S HARD TO BE A VAMPIRE – A humorous story about a girl who
wants to become a vampire, but cannot because she’s too fat
GALLERY OF HORRORS – An unsuccessful young painter will go a
bit too far in sacrifice for his art when he starts sacrificing his models
THE PAINTING STRIKES BACK – A sequel of the Gallery
of Horrors, telling us the story about what happened with one of the
remaining paintings, many years after painter died
DO THE VAMPIRES DREAM OF SLAUGHTERED SHEEP? – A story about a
vampire hunter who falls in love with the vampire
NARCISSUS – A story about a girl who kills a man because she
is in love with herself and does not accept the competition
QUIETLY THEY RISE FROM THE FOG – A story about a man whose
wife and daughter have disappeared and he decides to follow them into the
fog/death
BEHIND THE DOOR – SF story of an attack on a fort where you
never know what lies behind a door, aggressor or victim
THE INVISIBLE INK – A story told from the perspective of
a sister of missing writer who still keeps all her handwritten pages
THAT BLOODY USELESS BLOODLESS BODY! – Horror author
will meet his big fan who turns out not to be human”
This is nice quick read, a short collection of stories centralized around vampires and the supernatural. It’s a fun read, it’s not very thrilling, and there isn’t much in the way of horror within the stories.
I wasn’t overly impressed with the first story, ‘It’s Hard to be a Vampire’, I felt it was a touch insensitive with the ‘fat-shaming’ that was apparent. A vampire doesn’t want a fat girl. So she goes on a diet to become sexy. It sends, even in humor, it sends a bad message to the reader, especially teenage readers. I felt that it was in very poor taste.
That being said, some of the other stories are not too bad. The final tale, ‘That Bloody Useless Bloodless Body’ is quite entertaining. A horror writer, who isn’t very big on people, accidentally meets and lets in, one of his biggest fans. It’s bit trite, but still has a certain edge to it.
Not all the stories are vampire related. I felt that the title and the cover of the book lead us to believe that they are all about vampires was a bit misleading, but that’s only a small personal quibble.
Overall, it has its good points. Some of it is really well written, some not so much. Would I recommend it? Yes, but only if you are not really in the mood to think about what you are reading, and you have an hour or so to kill.
2/5
Lesley-Ann
Housewife of Horror
