Hume Nisbet (1849–1923)

A quintessential and atmospheric romantic vampire story that is marred only by the abruptness of its ending. Up to that point, it is an almost perfect evocation of a central element of the vampire myth - a victim's sexual intoxication.

It leaves a nice mystery about the mother's degree of complicity in her daughters' predatory behaviour. Mothers are supposed to protect young girls from predatory males (in 1900) but here she welcomes a young man into the web of her Ariadne, her name perhaps a show more vague reminder of Arachne. show less

It's a great short story with an interesting take on the vampire trope. I heard it on the podcast It Could Happen Here, read by Margaret Killjoy, and she mentioned how the allegory of vampirism for drugs in this story is a relatively unpopular one, but for being 11 pages, I thought it was done well. Ariadne is an interesting figure because she seems to possess some sort of thrall (similar I feel to the call of drugs for some people) despite having what, by all accounts, is a very unique show more appearance. Nisbet's use of description really brought the story to life and it was an interesting read. show less

Our narrator is an artist who likes to reuse old painting frames. This time he has bought an ugly portrait for its nice frame. He suspects his purchase was painted over an earlier painting. This story is from 1896, the same year that a Frankfurt professor, Walter König, x-rayed a painting, but our nameless artist resorts to another method. It involves the destruction of the ugly portrait, but that would be considered no loss had not the masterpiece underneath proved to be dangerous.

Interesting and atmospheric gothic supernatural story but I think I must have missed something because the ending left me confused. I prefered The Vampire Maid by this author.