“The Vampire City” by Paul Féval, published in 1875 Translation by Brian Stableford, 2003 This thing is a mess. Entire storylines and characters are dropped in or out, much of it is told out of order—for no reason beyond laziness—and the ending has one of the most blatant deus ex machinas I've ever seen. And yet, there's a certain charm to all the incoherence. There are also several legitimately funny bits. One thing missing is horror—until we finally come to the nightmare