A whisper of blood

I wasn't sure what to think of this one when jar chose it for me. It says on the back that the book is a compilation of modern short stories that share the theme of vampirism. Also that theme is very stretched and you can't just find bloodsuckers here. Even dreams and monster like family members can take the role of a vampire. I don't really read short stories so I was rather nervous.

Now I lay me down to sleep is the first story to start of this book and I have to say I loved it. The vampire here is a ghost of an elderly lady who is scared of judgement waiting for her. She is told to get people's permission to drink blood from them in order to stay in material form and delay the judgement. The horror she feels seems very real and I can relate to it easily. Her journey as a newborn vampire is a delight to follow if not a little sad. It's definitely one of my favourites.

Snail was a rather weird story for me. Vampire was anyone who would interrupt artist while working and prevent their creative juices from flowing. You can tell what an awful toll it took off the poor writer.

Warm man was also one of my favourites. It's a story about empath through the eyes of the townies. In the beginning when this warm man finds his way in the town everything seems fine and everyone is happy. But this happiness is quickly destroyed as it usually is.

There is too many stories to just tell about them all but let's just that in whole I did like this book. There were few that I didn't really understand or care for and probably wouldn't read again. Then there are few that really disgusted me and made me hope that even though we live in a rather dark world that nothing like this happens.

One of those disturbing stories was Mother. It's about family that is formed by adults that used to be in foster care or up for adoption as kids. They needed the discipline from that time in their adulthoods, they needed Mother. All I can say is that this isn't a warm fluffy story to warm your heart before bedtime. People do desperate things to feel safe, to feel like they belong.

I would recommend this for anyone who is tired of vampire tropes and the glitterfying of mysterious dangerous vampires we seem to get these days. If none of the stories doesn't stay with you after reading then I'd say you've seen too much horrible stuff in your life.

I'll leave this with an old English poem that the last story used as inspiration. I grew to love it.

Quhen thow art ded and laid in lyme
And Raggtre rut thi ribbis ar
Thow art than brocht to thi lang hayme
Than grett agayn warldis dignite.
                                                      (around 1360)