Teeth: Vampire Tales

by Ellen Datlow (Editor), Terri Windling (Editor), Holly Black (Contribution by), Neil Gaiman (Contribution by), Melissa Marr (Contribution by)

Overview

A collection of young adult vampire stories that is “a who’s who of teen-literature and genre luminaries” (Kirkus Reviews).

The first bite is only the beginning.

Twenty of today's favorite writers explore the intersections between the living, dead, and undead. Their vampire tales range from romantic to chilling to gleeful—and touch on nearly every emotion in between.

Neil Gaiman's vampire-poet in “Bloody Sunrise” is brooding, remorseful, and lonely. Melissa Marr's vampires make a high-stakes game of possession and seduction in “Transition.” And in “Why Light?” Tanith Lee's lovelorn vampires yearn most of all for the one thing they cannot have—daylight. Drawn from folk traditions around the world, popular culture, and original interpretations, the vampires in this collection are enticingly diverse.

But reader beware: The one thing they have in common is their desire for blood. . . .

“An eclectic mix of tales and tones, the stories (refreshingly, not all focused on romance) are dark, humorous, bittersweet, mocking or some combination thereof.” —School Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062084606
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	485
Sales rank:	630,492
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Ellen Datlow, an acclaimed science fiction and fantasy editor, was born and raised in New York City. She has been a short story and book editor for more than thirty years and has edited or coedited several critically acclaimed anthologies of speculative fiction, including the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror series and Black Thorn, White Rose (1994) with Terri Windling. Datlow has received numerous honors, including multiple Shirley Jackson, Bram Stoker, Hugo, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards, and Life Achievement Awards from the Horror Writers Association and the World Fantasy Association, to name just a few. She resides in New York.  
Terri Windling is a writer, editor, and artist specializing in fantasy literature, folklore, and mythic arts. She has published over forty books, receiving nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Award (for her novel The Wood Wife), the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFWA’s Solstice Award for “outstanding contributions to the speculative fiction field as a writer, editor, artist, educator, and mentor.” She writes essays on folklore and fantasy; maintains a popular blog on these subjects (Myth & Moor); and is on the board of the Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Folklore, and Speculative Fiction (Chichester University). She also creates myth-inspired visual art for exhibition in the US and Europe; and she’s a member of the Modern Fairies music-and-folklore project (Oxford & Sheffield Universities). A former New Yorker, she now lives with her British husband and family in Devon, England.

Author photo by Alan Lee
Neil Gaiman is the celebrated author of books, graphic novels, short stories, films, and television for readers of all ages. Some of his most notable titles include the highly lauded #1 New York Times bestseller Norse Mythology; the groundbreaking and award-winning Sandman comic series; The Graveyard Book (the first book ever to win both the Newbery and Carnegie Medals); American Gods, winner of many awards and recently adapted into the Emmy-nominated Starz TV series (the second season slated to air in 2019); The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which was the UK’s National Book Award 2013 Book of the Year. Good Omens, which he wrote with Terry Pratchett a very long time ago (but not quite as long ago as Don’t Panic) and for which Gaiman wrote the screenplay, will air on Amazon and the BBC in 2019.

Author photo by Beowulf Sheehan

Editorial Reviews

Gr 8 Up—This inevitable and anticipated vampire-themed anthology from an editorial dynamic duo is a compilation of 17 short stories and two poems by award-winning, well-known, and/or new authors typically specializing in fantasy and sci-fi genres inside and out of the YA market. An accessible, interesting introduction reminds readers that vampire lore has long existed in many countries and cultures, evolving over time. An eclectic mix of tales and tones, the stories (refreshingly not all focused on romance) are dark, humorous, bittersweet, haunting, mocking, or combinations thereof. They explore varying myths and themes of mortality, friendship, survival, the passage of time, misperception, manipulation, transformation, and change. Holly Black and Cassandra Clare invite readers to an already dangerous dinner party gone awry. Kaaron Warren's vampire Claudia befriends would-be victim Ken, who provides her with a list of terminally ill people, ultimately ending up on it himself decades later. Catherynne M. Valente's "high risk" teen Scout lives in a world in which humans turn vamp for countless absurd reasons. Tales like Melissa Marr's "Transition," Steve Berman's "All Smiles," Garth Nix's "Vampire Weather," and Tanith Lee's "Why Light?" will leave readers thirsting for more. Containing occasional swears, this biting, anti-fluff compilation is for fans of the paranormal, Datlow and Windling's other anthologies, and CW's Supernatural.—Danielle Serra, Cliffside Park Public Library, NJ

School Library Journal

Once again, Datlow and Windling (Troll's Eye View, 2009, etc.)have pulled together a who's who of teen-literature and genre luminaries, this time telling tales of vampires. Despite the sexy cover model, these stories largely cast back to the pre-Twilighttradition and are more likely to elicit chills than swoons. The introduction lays out the history of vampires in literature with great detail and a fair amount of analysis. Standout stories include Genevieve Valentine's wonderful Chinese-American "Things to Know About Being Dead," the incredibly creepy "Baby," by Kathe Koja, and Cassandra Clare and Holly Black's "The Perfect Dinner Party," which conveys the horror of being not-even-teenage forever.There are a few disappointments and a few stories that just, well,are, but readers interested in vampires as something more than leading men will find plenty that's tragic or scary here, often leavened with a bit of (largely snarky) humor, and lots of thought-provoking material about life and death, friendship and loneliness. Great for diving in and out, although a bit overwhelming cover-to-cover, this collection might even win boys back to vampire lit. (author bios)(Horror/vampire anthology. YA)

Kirkus Reviews