{"product_id":"2940015878943","title":"The Skeleton Count, or The Vampire Mistress","description":"The Skeleton Count, or The Vampire Mistress was first published in the serial magazine The Casket in 1828. Elizabeth Caroline Grey is credited as the author, although there is some uncertainty around this.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is one of the very first English language vampire stories, and also the first by a woman author. Elements of the story have become mainstays in the vampire genre: the Count with the castle on the hill, a vampire mistress who seeks the blood of young maidens, the villagers storming the castle, and the wooden stake to kill the vampire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe cover picture is an illustration by D. H. Friston for the vampire story Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, first published in the magazine The Dark Blue in 1872.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis edition was prepared and edited by Snazz eBooks ™.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOriginal cover design and other original content of this edition are Copyright © 2012 by Snazz eBooks ™. All rights reserved. No reproduction by any means is allowed without permission.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere is an excerpt:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBertha had been, as was evidenced by her stark and cold remains, a maiden of surpassing symmetry of form and loveliness of countenance; no painter or sculptor could have desired a finer study, no poet a more inspiring theme. As she lay stretched out upon the floor of the study she looked like some beautiful carving in alabaster, or rather like a waxen figure of most artistical contrivance. Her long black hair was shaded with a purple gloss like the plumage of the raven, and her features were of most exquisite proportion and arrangement. But now her angelic countenance was livid with the pallid hue of death, the iron impress of whose icy hand was visible in every lineament.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCount Rodolph then took in his hand a magic wand, one end of which he placed on the breast of the corpse, and then proceeded to recite the cabalistic words by which necromancers call to life the slumbering tenants of the grave. When he had concluded the impious formula, an awful silence reigned in the turret, and he perceived the sheet gently agitated by the quivering of the limbs, which betokened returning animation. Then a shudder pervaded his frame in spite of himself, as he perceived the eyes of the corpse slowly open, and the dark dilated pupils fix their gaze on him with a strange and stolid glare.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen the limbs moved, at first convulsively, but soon with a stronger and more natural motion, and then the young girl raised herself to a sitting posture on the floor of the study, and stared about her in a wild and strange manner, which made Rodolph fear that the object of his experiment would prove a wretched idiot or a raving lunatic.","brand":"Snazz eBooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47101007429872,"sku":"2940015878943","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940015878943_p0.jpg?v=1763625660","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940015878943","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}