From Publishers Weekly
A creative collaboration among eight writers and an artist from Ohio, this unusual book, which bears a conceptual similarity to Strange Attraction [...] tells a haunting, drama-drenched story about the loneliness of vampires. Through a series of linked stories--which, though written by different authors, are all based on coeditor Vargo's paintings--contributors recount the history of the castle's curse and of Brom, the heartbroken vampire who currently inhabits the spooky tower. "The Dark Tower" recounts the story of Brom's predecessor, the Baron; "Vampire's Kiss" (by Vargo and coeditor Christine Filipak) tells of Brom's deceased lover, Rianna; sundry other tales (by James Pipik, Joseph Iorillo, Eric Muss-Barnes and others) deliver stories about evil gargoyles, freaked-out civilians and the like. Sure to be a hit among Goth-mystery lovers, this book contains all the classic elements of good vampire fiction--a self-aware, disaffected and lovesick protagonist, a mythic curse and a complicated legend--along with a rich display of gothic artwork. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
A creative collaboration among eight writers and an artist from Ohio, this unusual book tells a haunting, drama-drenched story about the loneliness of vampires. Through a series of linked stories--which, though written by different authors, are all based on coeditor Vargo's paintings--contributors recount the history of the castle's curse and of Brom, the heartbroken vampire who currently inhabits the spooky tower. "The Dark Tower" recounts the story of Brom's predecessor, the Baron. "Vampire's Kiss" (by Vargo and coeditor Christine Filipak) tells of Brom's deceased lover, Rianna; sundry other tales (by James Pipik, Joseph lorillo, Eric Muss-Barnes and others) deliver stories about evil gargoyles, freaked-out civilians and the like. Sure to be a hit among Goth-mystery lovers, this book contains all the classic elements of good vampire fiction--a self-aware, disaffected and lovesick protagonist, a mythic curse and a complex legend--along with a rich display of gothic artwork.
--Jeff Zaleski, Publisher's Weekly, June 2000
Tales from the Dark Tower is one of the most remarkable horror anthologies ever assembled. It evokes all of the power of unearthly passion with an almost poetic sense of underlying terror. The stories bring to life the haunting and sensual art of Joseph Vargo in a manner that is both fascinating and horrific. His magnificent illustrations are alone worth the price of the book. Vargo himself contributes his muse to several tales, and the other writers have immersed themselves completely in the strange mythos Vargo has created. I highly recommend that you travel the dark journey into this realm of vampires, gargoyles, and tormented lost souls. It is a book you will love to return to again and again.
--Martin V. Riccardo, Author of Liquid Dreams of Vampires
Tales From the Dark Tower is a work of art...one of the best I've had so far in my career as a book reviewer. I loved it. From the first page to the very last.
--Stefan Isaksson, UFO-Sverige Magazine, Sweden
Rising far above the standard vampire fare, Tales from the Dark Tower is without a doubt the best anthology of gothic fiction in years. The volume itself is beautiful to behold, with fantasy artist Joseph Vargo's haunting illustrations of vampires and ghosts providing the foundation for the stories. The thirteen tales are cleverly linked together to form a mythic saga that will leave you thirsting for more. These superbly crafted stories draw you into a sinister world of nightmares and passions, with twists at every dark corner. Light a candelabra and curl up with this one.
--Vincent Kastle, Dark Realms Magazine
Tales from the Dark Tower is a delightful trip for both the mind and the eyes. Monolith Graphics, for those of you not in the know, has been providing lovers of darkness with breathtaking art and music for several years. Everything they put out is so different, so compelling, so visually stunning, that they've been a treasured bookmark for ages. The book is well done overall, with lavish illustrations of the quality we've come to expect from Monolith. There are color illustrations peppered through the book, and they add a great deal to the enjoyment of the stories. The stories themselves are well written. They read almost like fairy tales... entertaining, with a good foundation in the mythology we've come to love in stories of ghosts and vampires and gargoyles. The characters are well drawn, the themes engaging. And Vargo's dark, richly evocative artwork is a delight in any form, but works particularly well in this book.
--Angie McKaig, Pathways to Darkness
Tales from the Dark Tower is a gothic account of a vampire's melancholy existence in a keep outside a small Romanian village. The righteous Lord Brom, a crusading knight, sets to slay an evil Baron who plagues the countryside from his ominous residence, but fate has him as the Baron's successor. Now, faced with a hunger for blood and powerful beyond human comprehension, he struggles against his nature and tries to keep to the beliefs he had as a mortal man, and succeeds... most of the time. Considering that the book was written by eight different writers, each section having been written by one or two of them, it is a surprisingly consistent piece of fiction. There is no chapter or poem I enjoyed far above another, and if I didn't know that there were so many pens put to the task, I would have been none the wiser. And I am happy to say that the book is illustrated... with haunting pictures of the hero, his beauties, and grotesqueries that abound in the stories. With Tales from the Dark Tower, illustrator, co-editor and co-writer Joseph Vargo, and seven others, have brought us a full-blooded piece worthy of your time.
--Nina Mouzitchka, Rue Morgue Magazine
Of the works that inspired the stories in this volume, artist Joseph Vargo says: "I had created a menagerie of haunting and sinister characters throughout the years, all the while harboring my own basic ideas about their origins and the stories behind them. I envisioned this book as a collection of tales which would expand upon my early conceptions and fit together as a whole." Tales from the Dark Tower is set in a universe that slides easily away from historical reality into a twilight world, not only because evil overshadows it but because dark and light, good and evil are never far apart. The focus of this universe is of course the Dark Tower itself and the somber creature who inhabits and rules it.
If there is an overarching theme to Tales from the Dark Tower, it is the eternal verity and inevitability of justice. These tales are in their way as much old-fashioned stories as anything the Brothers Grimm passed along: oppressors are oppressed and the selfish or self-righteous humbled in poetically just endings that often have a truly Grimm-flavored grimness. Vargo's illustrations are apt for this somewhat archaic but eternal theme: detailed but never busy, stark and of course dark, they are real and fantastic at once, their flat black backgrounds, shaded gargoyles, and painstakingly textured fabrics the outward and visible sign of the unending night that we always hope awaits those who have abused us. In Tales from the Dark Tower, it does, and the proof is not only in the stories but in the balance and simplicity of the artwork that inspired and inspirits them.
Modern English, however, is the chief vehicle for these old-fashioned, timeless tales of ghosts and gargoyles, trust and betrayal, misguided kindness and Pyrrhic victory. The central figure is a darker, less loquacious version of Anne Rice's Louis: tragic and sympathetic, equally capable of kindness and cruelty--depending on which he sees in those who dare venture into the confines of his realm--The Dark Tower.
--Cathy Krusberg, Vampire's Crypt
These tales are the perfect companion on a stormy October night, when lightning is flashing through the window and the wind is raking tree branches against the house.
Though certainly within the gothic tradition, this set of thirteen stories about vampires, ghosts, witches and ancient curses does not aim for the shocking horror of Salem's Lot or Interview with a Vampire; instead their power derives from their close adherence to the formula of the fairy tale--a "once upon a time" hook that leads into a moralistic examination of the dark side of human nature through archetypal characters and a liberal close of symbolism. The tales follow the fate of Sir Brom of Falkirk, Knight of the Scarlet Cross, who is drawn inexplicably to the mysterious tower and suffers, as they say, a fate worse than death. As readers follow the particular turns of that fate, they begin to learn the tower's dark secrets.
Thanks to Vargo's elegantly gloomy illustrations, the setting of these stories becomes a dominant force, which is as it should be. The lushness of the tales--the details of the period, the use of symbolism, and Vargo's eerie illustrations--all combine to create the kind of bedtime stories that one welcomes on a dark and stormy night.
--Kate Templeton Hancock, Editor, Ohioana Quarterly
Ohio Library Association, Columbus, OH
