To truly understand vampires it's necessary to examine the quintessential triad of the realm: folklore, Bram Stoker and his precursors, and film. It is from that trio that all of the vampires as we know them today have spawned.

The vampire legend truly is immortal, and as you'll learn within the pages of this tome, there's no ending to the ultimate tale of nefarious neckaholics. We explore the earliest literary malfeasants: Lord Ruthven, Sir Francis Varney, the seductive Carmilla, and the father of all vampires, Dracula. Bram Stoker's seminal 1897 masterpiece, Dracula, set into stone the very depth, depravity, seduction, and classic societal, political, emotional, sexual, and spiritual subtext that lives on to the present day. Dracula, Abraham Van Helsing, and the entire cast of characters are arguably the most mimicked literary ensemble in history.

Along those lines, we also go in depth into the infamous Romanian Prince Vlad the Impaler. Is he truly the basis for Count Dracula, or is there more to the story than meets the eye? And where the heck is Transylvania?