#varneythevampire

You'll be disappointed to know that on October 1st, we'll start a new Scream-Along series (located here) where a few chapters from a penny dreadful will be posted each week so that we can all scream together. I could tell you that I thought long and hard about this, but I didn't. I just decided we'd go with something that I've never read through and have been dying to get a taste of. I bet many of you haven't gotten through to the very end either!

The first in this series will be... bone roll please...

Varney the Vampire!

The few of you that can read and don't just come here for the free food and seances, probably already know who/what Varney the Vampire is. But here's a brief underview:

Varney the Vampire was a serialized Gothic horror story originally published in 'penny dreadfuls' from 1845-1847 and then in book form upon completion. It's writers are attributed as James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Preskett Prest, the nasty duo that burdened the world with the character Sweeney Todd in The String of Pearls. The story of the vampire Varney has paved the way for what we still read of vampires in literature today. It's known for its ghastly length, totaling 220 dreadful chapters and has only been published in complete form a clawful of times.

With that as a warning, I'm going to start with 5 chapters a week on October 1st, and then every Sunday after that. The chapters don't appear to be of much length, so if you get behind a few weeks it will still be very easy to catch up. Not that you'll want to! So tuck that iPad Mini into your bible and you'll have something to read during your weekly exorcise.

Now, the purpose of this is only to see if you can endure such an unpleasurable reading experience. There will be no critical discussion during or after. The only thing that may end up critical is my health. But I do hope you come to enjoy what little else I have to offer.

If you know anyone else that doesn't have high expectations, share this with them so they can join in too!