Excellent, entertaining and enlightening
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It's a shame this book wasnt published earlier as I believe it could really have benefited from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fad, as it is it risks being over looked altogether.
Anyone who is a fan of the dragonology series or books of that kind would be pleased with this book, its not simply a rely of facts, theories and stories presented as a single guide to vampire researchers and slayers but a wonderfully creative piece of work, a "mirror" on the front, pages have an aged appearence, scribblings in the margin, stains and evidence of wear. You could be reading Van Helsing's own log book!!
However besides being such a great piece of work it is also pretty comprehensive, the author has done their research and pulled together a lot of detail from the world over to produce their book.
Chapters include What are Vampires? Identifying the Unded, Finding Vampires, Preventing Vampires, Slaying Vampires, Vampire Strongholds and are accompanied by a very comprehensive further reading list and a great introduction "Are Vampires Real?". All chapters are comprehensive and indepth without proving boring or difficult reading.
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DESERVES TO BE A CULT CLASSIC
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Discovering this book is like unearthing a half hidden gem from the dusty shelves of a second hand bookshop. The fact that it details every annecdote, legend and factbased news item associated with vampires is almost secondary to the way the book looks and feels. Supposedly written way back in the mists of time by Constantine Gregory, it is cleverly annotated in the margins by Craig Glenday. Both help us to uncover the reasons behind our horror of vampires while reasurring us with reminders of the correct way to protect ourselves from harm. Example: good to know that vampire bats reallly exist but not outside South America. Bad to know that a bat reasercher died in Scotland in 2003 from rabies! Fascinating as it may be to learn the correct proceedure for staking a vampire and concealing the correct amount of garlic about one's person, it is, as I repeat, the look and feel of this book that most appeals. The pages are yellowed by time, blood has stained a few paragraphs of text but it is the cover that is perhaps its cleverest trick. The fake battered edges give it that second hand feel and the centre piece is a gothic mirror. "FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED" says the introduction and as I settled down with my scotch by a roaring fire to read the final pages of this book I knew that on closing it I would have to return to that front cover just to check that my reflection still looked back at me.
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Canada