The Skeleton Count, or The Vampire Mistress

by Elizabeth Caroline Grey

The Skeleton Count, or The Vampire Mistress (1828) is a penny dreadful by Elizabeth Caroline Grey. Although the novel’s authorship is frequently disputed, The Skeleton Count, or The Vampire Mistress is likely the first vampire tale to be written and published by a woman. Like most penny dreadfuls, the novel makes up for a lack in style with an abundance of horror and romance. “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.” Desperate to live to eternity, Count Rodolph makes a dangerous deal with the devil. Invigorated with his newfound power, Rodolph reanimates the corpse of the beautiful Bertha, a fitting bride to accompany him in his quest for everlasting life. Will she be a loyal and irresistible vampire mistress, or will the Count’s creation turn against him? The Skeleton Count, or The Vampire Mistress is an entertaining tale of terror and the occult from a prolific author of nineteenth century penny dreadfuls. This edition of Elizabeth Caroline Grey’s The Skeleton Count, or The Vampire Mistress is a classic penny dreadful reimagined for modern readers.

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Genres: Vampires, Horror

22 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1828

About the author

Elizabeth Caroline Grey (1798-1869), aka Mrs. Colonel Grey or Mrs. Grey, was a prolific English author of over 30 romance novels, silver fork novels, Gothic novels, sensation fiction and Penny Dreadfuls, active between the 1820s and 1867. There is some controversy about the details of her life story, and if she actually authored any penny dreadfuls.

Reviews

[Coleccionista de finales tristes · Rating 4 out of 5]

El esqueleto del conde, o la amante vampiro fue publicado en 1824 por el semanario The Casket, uno de los primeros penny dreadfuls que se especializó en historias de terror. Los penny dreadfuls eran publicaciones económicas cuya popularidad en la época victoriana es equiparable a los bestsellers, cada ejemplar iba ilustrado.

Elizabeth Caroline Grey, escocesa nacida en Londres fue una escritora prolífica relacionada con los Penny dreadfuls.

En este relato el conde Rodolph hace un pacto con el diablo para ser inmortal posterior a ésto da vida a una joven llamada Bertha ...lo que el conde desconoce es que ha nacido una vampiresa.

[Jacia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was too fun for me to rate below five stars; however, it was totally wind-around with the plot, had a major problem of borrowing from other works, and overall was not something anyone really needs to read. It was just fun!

[Eliseo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una historia de amor, drama, magia y muerte. Este tipo de historias/cuentos son geniales, se puede ver el por qué del éxito de los Penny Dreadfuls en su tiempo!! Un cuento muy recomendable para los fanáticos de los vampiros y los ambientes góticos!!

[July C. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 estrellas.

Las ideas tratadas me parecen interesantes, es la típica historia clásica de vampiros (escrita mucho antes que Drácula, de hecho), con una femme fatale como protagonista. Además, está el giro del conde y su trato con el Diablo, también interesante de leer.

Sin embargo, no me convenció para nada el estilo de escritura. Quizás en su época este cuento era aterrador, pero a mí me faltó mucho más detalle en las descripciones para creerme la historia. Es una serie de sucesos contados con poca gracia, así que me dejó un poco fría.

[Becci Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great short read and reminded me of Frankenstein's monster. I wish I knew what happened next to the Count in the story and that it was made into a full novel. But it was fun to read especially on Halloween when you're trying to get into the spooky season!

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a fairy tale ran headfirst into a gothic novel. Short, not overly complicated, flowery AF. It was a quick and delightful bit of archaic literature.

[layla marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

so did she write it or ????????


(engl 2091)

[Joshua COOPER · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and fun

[Brenda K · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐ 3.5

Frankenstein meets vampirism

[Antonio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crush

[Rebecca (Medusa's Rock Garden) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This classic vampire tale was apparently written after The Vampyre by Polidori, and after Christabel, but before Carmilla and of course before Dracula. It was also written before the small list of pre-Dracula stories I plan to read.

And so it's interesting that in this story we see the mob of villagers swarm the castle to kill the count/vampire/scientist/necromancer. A trope we see a lot in media that references Dracula and Frankenstein (neither of which actually have such an iconic scene). This one also has vamp lore such as only a stake or fire being deadly to vampires. And the vampire is young and beautiful and, lack of characterisation notwithstanding, quite sympathetic really.

This also has some things we don't usually see in vampire stories, such as the state of the count. So it's interesting to see which pieces of this story seemingly influenced future staples of gothic fiction/horror (I assume, but perhaps something else did these things first) and which things got left behind and forgotten.

Sadly it's also not that well written. Or maybe it's fine for the time? I can't quite tell. But from my position in 2021, it's not well written. Serviceable, sure. But not great. It's reminiscent of classic fairytales, little real connection to characters, very "she did this then that then this. He said that then went here."

So, this is fascinating both story wise and perhaps historically (but maybe not). But it's also kind of meh. It is, however, easy to read, quick, and effortless - and that's even accounting for the classic writing style and formal language. So I do recommend it for the experience if nothing else.

[Francis Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd love for this story to be real, but even if it is truly a 19th century publication, it almost certainly wasn't written by Elizabeth Caroline Grey...

Ref. http://john-adcock.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Selenita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una da las primeras historias donde se consolida la imagen de la vampira que tenemos en la actualidad, y que inspiró la historia de Drácula, como una criatura resucitada tras morir por magia satánica. Corta y entretenida de leer.

[Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is hilarious, and it is one of the first vampire stories ever published in the English language.

[Dominique Naser · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐