Bram Stoker for Halloween

For tonight's countdown to Halloween reading suggestion, this book, a small collection of short stories by Bram Stoker. Not for The Burial of the Rats of the title, which is maybe not purely a horror story (although since I'm scared of rats, it's pretty much one for me), but for the other ones: The Squaw, The Judge's House, Dracula's Guest (well of course) and Gibbet Hill. The latter being the recently rediscovered ghost story and worth the purchase in itself. It's a genuinely scary ghost story, with creepy, cruel children and snakes, fittingly set in mid-October. I will blog more about it later in the month, but otherwise, the other stories, particularly The Judge's House and Dracula's Guest, are really great Halloween reads. You get the ghost of a hanging judge, more rats, a vengeful cat, weird cults, creepy children, an iron maiden and, well of course, vampires. My happy discovery this year, even though I read them all same one. And you can't go wrong with Stoker.

Les jeux de la comtesse Dolingen de Gratz

Après avoir écrit mon billet de dimanche dernier, j'ai appris grâce à mon frère PJ qu'il existe un film d'horreur français inspiré librement de la nouvelle de Stoker. Il s'appelle Les jeux de la comtesse Dolingen de Gratz. J'ai peu d'expérience sur les films d'horreur français, mais je crois me rappeler qu'il y en a d'excellents. Et puis comme je suis obsédé par les vieux vampires gothiques, ainsi que par l'oeuvre de Stoker, il faudrait bien que je le regarde un de ces quatre, alors que je me mets dans l'ambiance de l'Halloween. Ce sera une nouvelle quête cinématographique et macabre pour moi.

Countess Dolingen of Gratz

To celebrate Walpurgis Night, I reread, as I do every year, Dracula's Guest. One of my favourite vampire short stories, set on the fateful night. If you want to read my theory about its relationship to the novel, read my comments on this post. I thought about blogging about today's topic during the official Halloween countdown, but I have this in mind now, so why not do it now. I am already in a spooky mood in any case. So yeah, it struck me (again) reading it that there is actually one named vampire in it: Countess Dolingen of Gratz in Styria, who "sought and found death in 1801", according to her tombstone. I find it interesting for many reasons. First, because she is named, unlike the Weird Sisters/the Brides of Dracula. Then, because it is implied that the Countess Dolingen did not become a vampire after being bitten by one, but because she committed suicide. Although this may only be to hide the true cause of her death. And finally, because if Gratz means Graz in Austria, well, I have been there once. Another reason to visit it again one day. Otherwise, although we know barely anything of Countess Dolingen from her cameo in the short story, of course the fanbase and continuators invented a full biography of her. I don't care about Bram Stoker's continuators, but I might try myself on a bit of fan fiction featuring her one day, if something good comes to my mind. In any case, I hope to blog about her again come October.

Dracula's Guest (by Stephen Fry)

For tonight's countdown to Halloween post (although I already blogged one in French), I thought I'd do something lighter, since it is Monday and all. So here is a monologue of Stephen Fry which parodies Dracula, my favourite horror novel. Apparently, its official title is The Letter, but I have known it as Dracula's Guest and found it at complete random, when I was looking for a dramatization of the short story. Fry mocks with affection the tropes of Gothic horror and vampire fiction, including the epistolary narrative, and it is hilarious.

Walpurgis Night

This picture was taken from an image in Dracula's Castle. It represents Samuel Unimportant, a.ka. the Happy Undertaker, whom I blogged about here, turned into a... a sort of... a kind of mix between a werewolf and a demon. The name given in the book is a, or actually the, Funereal Fiend. Here is a description of the metamorphosis: "His eyes have begun to bulge, his ears extend and sharpen into points. Fangs are growing in place of the neat little pearly teeth he displayed only moments ago. Claws burst forth from his hands. His skin turns purple and his shirt rips apart to reveal a gold medallion. He throws back his head and howls like a wolf." So far, so werewolf. And the description continues: "Mr Unimportant, brutally transformed, is jumping up and down on the spot, guttural sounds emerging from his throat. His shoes burst apart to reveal huge, taloned, bright green feet. He howls again, in agony this time, as his head splits open to allow the emergence of a huge, knotted and slowly pulsating amber brain."Kill!" he chants. "Kill! Kill! Kill!"" People can help me find references to horror movies or stories in this description. I am sure the medallion means something, I have no idea what. But in any case, isn't it a very gripping, horrifying transformation scene, especially from a character that first appeared as comical?

I uploaded this picture for two reasons: 1)for the cheer pleasure of uploading a picture from the book and to quote the lovely, vivid description, that has been haunting me since childhood. and 2)it is tonight Walpurgis Night. Which is the lesser known sister of Halloween, its Springtime equivalent. Walpurgis Night has been featured in various works of fiction, including Dracula's Guest. And since Dracula's Castle is well, based on Dracula, and furthermore since a wolf is features in Dracula's Guest it is a good enough excuse to upload it on Vraie Fiction. For more about Walpurgis Night, you can read my blog post from last year. For my fellow bloggers into spooky things, remember that tonight you have something to celebrate until Halloween is near. Maybe it is confirmation bias, but I found the recent weather to be fittingly autumnal.

The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories

Anybody in the mood for classics? As Halloween is coming, I am plugging an anthology of very scary, chilling stories (many of them at least), old classics of the horror genre: The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories. I had read it, not the whole book but some of it, a few years ago. I decided to buy it. This is the kind of anthology you want on your bookshelves and, as Halloween is coming, by your bedside. You will find The Vampyre by Polidori, Carmilla by Le Fanu, excepts from Varney the Vampire (very silly yet entertaining), Dracula's Guest from, well, the master himself (I have my own theory about this short story) and many more.I have not read them all yet, I might not read them all this coming month, but I will (re)read many. My favourite discovery so far is School for the Unspeakable by Manly Wade Wellman. It is now little known now, but a great read, especially on a cold autumn night.

Oh and for the record, I much, much prefer the earlier cover of the book.

Walpurgis Night

Tonight we are Walpurgis Night! So Happy Walpurgis Night everyone. This is the lesser known, Germanic, springtime Halloween. I know it mainly through the legend of Faust (Faust and Mephistopheles celebrate a Sabbath on the very night). I blogged about it years ago, when I started Vraie Fiction. I thought I would celebrate it tonight. I didn't know what to upload as a picture, something that looked appropriate. Then I went through some pics dad sent me and saw this picture of the Falls of Val-Jalbert. And I thought it would be ideal.

Why? Because this picture looks eerie and sinister, a bit reminiscent of the old Universal horror movies. Because Val-Jalbert is a ghost town (or ghost village) and well, tonight is a night of ghosts, devils and witches. Okay, it is a far off association, but when I grew up, this is how they "sold" it to the tourists: with ghosts (you could even buy ones at the tourists shop there). And because when my family went there with the neighbouring family one weekend around the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, it was in May or June, my brothers and our friends (they are twin brothers) read in the evening Dracula's Guest, which is set on Walpurgis Night. Oh boy we had such a fright! You can find an animated adaptation of the story here. So during the day we visited a ghost town, during the evening (in a cottage in Sainte-Hedwidge), after eating a tourtière (true story), we read a horror story and went on a walk in the evening. I did little to celebrate tonight, but I have this memory which I wanted to share.

Walpurgis Night

It is Walpurgis Night tonight, the Spring time, less popular version of Halloween. Because it is a much more marinal day, it had kept a lot of it's dark roots, and to some extend has a much more sinister connotation. I associate Walpurgis Night with two things: Faust and Stoker's short story Dracula's Guest. Have a look at the short story here, it's worth a read. A very efficient piece of horror. To read tonight, in the dark, alone. For those who don't want to read it and don,t mind crude animation, here's an animated adaptation of the story, transposed to the early XXth century instead of late XIXth, and with a Dracula who looks more like Murnau's Orlock, but it's enjoyable nevertheless.



I will try to put here a bit of Faust's Walpurgis Night scene, the music of Gounod is beautifully haunting.

Bientôt la Nuit des Walpurgis

Après véréfications sur wikipedia, j'ai eu la confirmation que la Nuit des Walpurgis est pour très bientôt (le 30 avril ou le 1er mai). Comme je suis amateur d'histoires d'épouvante, je m'intéresse à en savoir plus sur cette nuit qui est considérée comme une autre Halloween. C'est une des dates de l'année où les sorcières se réunissaient en sabbat. J'ai deux souvenirs vivaces de la nuit des Walpurgis: la scène onirique dans le Faust de Gounod où Méphistophélès célèbre la soirée sur le mont Hartz, en compagnie de Faust et de sorcières (la fête sera gâchée par le spectre de Marguerite), et la nouvelle Dracula's Guest de Bram Stoker, dans laquelle un Anglais (Jonathan Harker?) se fait surprendre en Autriche par un vampire lors de la Nuit des Walpurgis, et est sauvé in extremis par Dracula. Je vais sans doute lire une histoire d'épouvante pour souligner, je ne sais pas quoi exactement, je verrai. J'écouterai sans doute un peu de Faust également.