The situation is grave. Vampires are vamping. Werewolves are shape shifting. And zombies are lurching into the garden. Is this modern-day ferment of paranormal activity, ah, normal? Learn all about it in this nifty new pocket guide to man's best fiends: VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, ZOMBIES: Compendium Monstrum. Collected from the papers of 19th-century monstrologists Herr Doktor Max Sturm & Baron Ludwig Von Drang, this intriguing book includes: ''Notes and sketches,'' arranged with some updating. Transylvania travel section. ''Tracking the Beasties'' visual aid. ''For Further Investigation'' resource list. Index. ''Sightings Record Pages,'' in which readers can record their own encounters, location, moon phase, weapons, etc. Red ribbon marker. Foil-enhanced covers. Gothic/Victorian-style endpapers. Fascinating facts revealed in the book include documented ''sparkling vampires'' in 19th-century folklore (page 26), why wolfsbane is sometimes known as ''Dumbledore s Delight'' (page 92), and much more. Illustrated by Bruce Waldman, cartography by David Lindroth, additional historical images throughout. Four sections: Vampires: There Will Be Blood; A Vampire Hunter's Guide to Transylvania: The Land Beyond the Forest; Werewolves: What Big Teeth You Have!; Zombies: They. Are. Coming. Four fold-out maps: Vampires Around the World. Transylvania. Were-creatures of the World. Zombies Around the World. Additional in-text maps. Handsome, pocket-sized volume is perfect for gift-giving! 4-1/2 inches x 5-3/4 inches. Herr Doktor Max Sturm, Ph.D., B.A.T., has held the title of Professor Emeritus, Unterwelt University, for five hundred years. An esteemed monstrologist and contributing editor of The Journal of Comparative Creature Studies, Dr. Sturm lives in a coffin beneath a schloss outside Hotzenplotz. Artist and adventurer Baron Ludwig Von Drang had a creature change in his childhood that led to an ongoing preoccupation with the supernatural. ''Mad'' Ludwig lives in a wood near a castle in Bavaria. Illustrator Bruce Waldman is an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His works are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and The Royal Collection in London. David Lindroth is an award-winning designer and cartographer.