How essentially an Irish civil servant/actor-manager Bram Stoker writes a literary work so profound and never achieve it again is a question that abounds with Dracula and other great works. I consider myself somewhat of an unofficial ‘Dracula’ scholar, having researched the subject in volumes such as Clive Leatherdale’s wonderful Dracula: The Novel and The Legend - A Study of Bram Stoker's Gothic Masterpiece, and the works of the late Canadian Educator Elizabeth Miller. I am not an authority nor a gatekeeper of what is proper, however, I would say I have a good background in appreciating vampire fiction and literary research.

The study of literature often changes with new documents or discoveries of lost works; hence Valancourt Books published The Vampire of Voula and other Greek Vampire tales, 1819-1846, casting new reasoning on a possible origin of the classic Bram Stoker novels, opening a new field of vampire literature and origins.

Seminal works of traditional vampire fiction, such as Irishman Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla and the brilliant though erratic potboiler Varney the Vampire: or Feast of Blood have been well documented. This anthology postulates "The Vampire of Voula" story is a significant find in vampire fiction by placing it among similar works.

Those who believe Anne Rice’s questionable material, Laura Hamilton’s Anita Blake work or the dreadful (not in a good way) Twilight series is the height of vampire fiction, let me expose you to sunlight and say quite flatly: Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the standard and the fountainhead.

The Vampire of Vourla, a new collection from editor Álvaro García Marín, presents some of the earliest appearances of vampires in English literature. Many are familiar to readers, such as Lord Byron's "Fragment of a Novel" and physician John Polidori's “The Vampyre”. The book contains five rare and never-before-reprinted vampire tales from the early 19th century. The overriding theme is through all of these works, the origin of these myths comes not from Central or Eastern Europe but from Ancient Greece and the Hellenic culture that permeated the Romantic era and 19th-century English attitudes.

The works in The Vampire of Voula and Other Greek Vampire tales, 1819-1846 range from the familiar to stories of adventure with various forms blending ancient Greek ideals and the belief of the exotic culture.

The keystone is the text of "The Vampire of Vourla", in which is a brief story Professor Marin says contains many of the essential aspects of a typical English vampire fiction, with examples such as the slave aspect of a ship's officer to a female whom he chances upon while anchored.

The protagonist’s use of weak-minded people who become influenced by supernatural forces is like Renfield or the gypsies who guard the Count on his journey in daylight and transport the boxes of earth to be loaded onto the Demeter bound for England. In "The Vampire of Voula", the young officer is guarded by a silent crew as he is taken to a female vampire who receives foreign visitors in her enigmatic and secluded manor. The foreign visitor being welcomed by a mysterious figure applies to Englishman Jonathan Harker arriving at Castle Dracula.

In this new seminal story, the creature lures the ship's officer into a hinted-at sexual relationship, draining his blood and returning him at the break of day. Later, the woman changes her form into a bat to attack her victim in his room onboard the ship when he is unable to come to her.

Most of the stories in the anthology crediting “Vourla” prove difficult, as it was published without an author's name, making it a mystery. Polidori’s "The Vampyre" story was originally credited to George Gordon or Lord Byron, since in the public court of opinion, the beleaguered physician was not thought to be capable of writing the work.

The work was not mentioned in any of the Dracula research as to the novel's origins, however, "The Vampire of Vourla" was published years before Stoker's novel, lending to the idea he may have read it, as some of the ideas are presented in his book. This is not to say the ideas were stolen, since authors do research areas as Bram Stoker did, with various documented visits to libraries and travel documents.

The Vampire of Voula and Other Greek Vampire Tales, 1819-1846 features introductions by Prof. Marín, delving into the forgotten Greek influence on vampire literary history. The text is easy to read with the language of the day, making it a different and sometimes a fun challenge, as the classic Greek culture reaches across the gulf of time to frighten, to allure and to teach us something once again.

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