Title The Vampyre Series --- Author John William Polidori Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing 1819 Category Gothic horror Warnings None Main Characters Aubrey, Lord Ruthven Main Elements Vampires

A young English gentleman of means, Aubrey is immediately intrigued by Lord Ruthven, the mysterious newcomer among society's elite. His unknown origin and curious behavior tantalizes Aubrey's imagination. But the young man soon discovers a sinister character hidden behind his new friend's glamorous facade. When the two are set upon by bandits while traveling together in Europe, Ruthven is fatally injured. Before drawing his last breath, he makes the odd request that Aubrey keep his death and crimes secret for a year and a day. But when Ruthven resurfaces in London-making overtures toward Aubrey's sister - Aubrey realizes this immortal fiend is a vampyre.

On stormy night on the shores of lake Geneva four people gathered and challenged each other to write a ghost story. Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelly and John Polidari. Born that night was Mary's Frankenstein, but also John's Lord Ruthven.

While Frakenstein is a novel, Polidori's The Vampyre is a short story. A tale of a young man who decides to travel the continent with the mysterious Lord Ruthven, partly to see if he can figure out this enigmatic character. But as they travel he starts to hear stories of the lord's exploits and in disgust they part company, only to meet again at Ruthven's death where he demands that Aubrey make an oath to not speak of what he knows about Ruthven for a period of a year. But of course, this tale is titled the Vampyre so we know Ruthven will be back.

It is a short, creepy tale, the only fault in which I could find is that it was too short. We don't really get to learn much about Ruthven, like how old he might, what kinds of vampiric things has he done, and so forth, there is so much room to write more (as is the case when any long-lived creature). In fact, kind of the opposite of Varney the Vampire that I spent two years reading!

The Vampyre was the perfect gothic start to my October reading and a gothic classic all should read.

As a side note...anyone notice that while men have always described women as "hysterical" or "suffering from nerves" it is the men in these gothic Victorian tales that end up spending months in bed because of the shock of discovering that someone wasn't what he claimed to be? To rant and rave and collapse on the floor in a quivering pile as they lose control of their senses?