This is an eclectic collection, containing several short stories, a couple of extracts from full-length novels, and the full text of J. Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla". There are all sorts of vampires, from the merely misunderstood to the out and out evil; the settings range from Countess Báthory's Hungary to outer space, via nineteenth century Louisiana; the styles are equally eclectic. I wasn't convinced about the inclusion of novel extracts, which felt a bit unsatisfying to me (while still not really motivating me to go out and find the books).

But overall this was an interesting sampler, and I particularly enjoyed Pam Keesey's introduction, where she gives an overview of the lesbian vampire genre on the page and and the screen. It would be interesting to see an updated edition: this book is getting on for three decades old now, and my assumption (possibly incorrect) is that there would be quite a lot more to add.

Lesbian vampires — the quintessential bad girls — indulge in their perverse pleasures in this red-hot collection. The female vampire is so deliciously wicked that her powerful sexual nature was hidden for centuries. But the vampire story has always been one of submerged eroticism. The vampire emerges from the shadows, seduces her intended victim, and feeds on her, defying all rules in her pursuit of pleasure. In Daughters of Darkness, editor Pam Keesey brings the eroticism of the female vampire front and center with explicit tales from some of the finest contemporary queer writers. Patrick Califia’s “The Vampire” confounds conventional views of the subject as he uncovers Sapphic bloodlust in the S/M netherworld. Katherine V. Forrest imagines the lesbian vampire cruising the galaxies in search of bed-and-blood partners in the witty sci-fi adventure “O Captain, My Captain.” In “Louisiana: 1850,” Lambda Award-winner Jewelle Gomez delights readers with a curious ménage in the antebellum South. Also included is the first major lesbian vampire tale, J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla” (1871).