Varney on the Sofa

[ankh_hpl]

Fang fans with a literary bent won't want to miss episode No. 159 of StarShipSofa's Aural Delights, which includes eldritchhobbit 's monthly Looking Back At Science Fiction feature. 

In honor of the season, this segment discusses Varney the Vampire; or, The Feast of Blood (1845–47).  Currently attributed to James Malcolm Rymer, this epic-length tale of Gothic horror first appeared as a series of "penny dreadful" pamphlets before being published as a novel in 1847.  In the process, it apparently introduced many of the standard features of vampirism as we know & love it.

As usual, eldritchhobbit does an excellent job of providing the maximum amount of entertaining information in minimal time.  I particularly enjoyed the way she fitted Varney into the "blood canon" of other early vampire tales -- including Stoker's -- before moving on to the moderns: Dark Shadows,  Buffy, Twilight, & Charlaine Harris.

You can find this podcast on iTunes or at the Web site.   With regular content like this, StarShipSofa's recent Hugo Award is no surprise.