There he lay looking as if youth had been
half-renewed, for the white hair and moustache were
changed to dark iron-grey, the cheeks were fuller, and
the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was
redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh
blood, which trickled from the corners of the mouth and
ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, burning eyes
seemed set amongst the swollen flesh, for the lids and
pouches underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the
whole awful creature were simply gorged with blood; he
lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his repletion.'
Thus Bram Stoker, one of the greatest exponents of the
supernatural narrative, describes the demonic subject of
his chilling masterpiece Dracula, a truly iconic and
unsettling tale of vampirism.Dracula's Guest & Other
Stories Edited and Introduced by David Stuart Davies The
above is followed with a rich collection of Stoker's
macabre tales including Dracula's Guest (which was
omitted from the final version of Dracula); a devilishly
dangerous haunted room in The Judge's House; a
fatalistic tragedy in The Burial of the Rats; a terror
of revenge from beyond the grave in The Secret of
Growing Gold, and a surprising twist in the tail in The
Gypsy's Prophecy. Other strange and frightening episodes
provide a feast of terror for those readers who like to
be unnerved as well as entertained. |
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