Blood is Not Enough

Fifteen stories (eight new and seven old) and two poems (both new) about nontraditional vampires - in an above, average horror anthology compiled by Omni fiction editor Datlow. "The raison d'etre of most of these vampires is the draining of life, energy, will," writes Datlow, and so it is that of the reprinted vamps here only three bother to draw blood: the Walrus-and-Carpenter-like monsters in "The Sea Was Wet as Wet Could Be," Gahan Wilson's scary recast of the Lewis Carroll poem; the vampire trapped in a Nazi concentration camp in Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann's perennially controversial "Down Among the Dead Men"; and the Hollywood vamps that haunt Harlan Ellison's "Try a Dull Knife." The other reprints are by Sharon N. Faber, Leonid Andreyev, Dan Simmons, and Fritz Lieber - the last of whom, like most of the authors here, appends an end-note to his contribution, the 1949 classic "The Girl With the Hungry Eyes": the strongest story here and also the one that - with its image of its vamp demanding, "I want you. I want your high spots. . .I want you wanting me. I want your life. Feed me, baby, feed me" - singlehandedly established the nontraditional-vampire tale. The new stories (best to forget the clunky poems by Joe Haldeman and Steve Rasnic Tem) labor valiantly to match the shock and style of the reprints. Particularly effective are Edward Bryant's "Good Kids," in which a charmingly tough bunch of psychic-vampire kids take on a vamp of the old school; Harvey Jacobs' sardonic, anti-Yuppie "L'Chaim!"; "A Child of Darkness," Susan Casper's moody tale of a young vamp fighting her heritage; and ". . .To Fell Another's Woe," set in the Big Apple theater world and owing much to the Lieber tale. Tales by Tanith Lee, Garry Kilworth, Scott Baker, and Pat Cadigan round out the offerings. Good chills, and some unusual imaginings, add up to an admirable collection that should satisfy most horror fans. (Kirkus Reviews)