'IF I COULD EXPLAIN AT LENGTH THE REAL CAUSES WHICH HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO INCREASE THIS PERHAPS NATURAL TEMPERAMENT OF MINE - THIS MELANCHOLY WHICH HATH MADE ME A BYE-WORD - NOBODY WOULD WONDER - BUT THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT DOING MUCH MISCHIEF - I DO NOT KNOW WHAT OTHER MEN'S LIVES HAVE BEEN - BUT I CANNOT CONCEIVE ANYTHING MORE STRANGE THAN SOME OF THE EARLIER PARTS OF MINE - I HAVE WRITTEN MY MEMOIRS - BUT OMITTED ALL THE REALLY CONSEQUENTIAL & IMPORTANT PARTS - FROM DEFERENCE TO THE DEAD - TO THE LIVING - AND TO THOSE WHO MUST BE BOTH.'

Lord Byron, 'Detached Thoughts'

Lord Byron's personal physician, Dr John Polidori, is generally credited with authorship of the first modern vampire story. Its hero was titled, fascinating and deadly dangerous to know: in fact, a thinly veiled portrayal of the great poet himself. But Polidori's story only hinted at the truth. It did not tell it all. And was it not Byron himself who declared that truth is stranger than fiction?

A brilliantly crafted blend of fact and fiction, The Vampyre puts a dazzling new spin on the vampire myth. Intensely atmospheric, it presents a fascinating piece of alternative literary history and a modern Gothic novel that is as thought-provoking as it is gripping.

Reviews

• 'A classical alternative to the traditional tale, Byron himself would have been pleased by such an eerie, erudite addition to his myth' TIME OUT
• 'Ingenious and entertaining' SUNDAY TIMES
• 'A powerfully atmospheric tale' COMPANY
• 'A tour de force of scholarship and gothicity' LOS ANGELES TIMES
• 'A damned good story' INDEPENDENT
• 'An atmospheric slice of Modern Gothic...' MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS

Buy The Vampyre.