I love Penny Dreadfuls and I like them even more when some complies a collection that points to their significance in not just pop culture but how a subset of humans were viewed in a society during the time frame they were written. There are so many examples in literature that demonstrate what each of these stories do: That women are monstrous or that certain behaviors will turn them down the path of evil. The difference between other stories of the time and Penny Bloods as this author refers to them as, is Penny Bloods are just fun. They are over the top caricatures of evil witches and serial killers and shape shifters that some male figure has to put down. The entire purpose of this collection is to bring that all to the forefront to exam these stories with more of an eye on how women were portrayed then anything else. The types of stereotypes specifically assigned to each female "monster" in each of the stories, which while as I said these stereotypes in many cases don't need anyone to point them out, I enjoyed these little tidbits none the less.

Overall, it's a collection of Penny Bloods there's nothing not to like about it. They are just fun little reads that for fans of horror is doubly fun because you can see just how much these stories that were so popular and yet so frowned upon during their time has influenced current fiction and pop culture. Definitely recommend it.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC
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I was interested in this book when I read the description - I love 19th century literature for the historical perspective and the depth of language.
For me, however, this was too academically presented to be an 'enjoyable read'. I found the editing, even though it was explained, broke up the plots and made a lot of the stories confusing. The introduction was written in a way that I don't think will be helpful to the general reader.
I struggled with several of the stories and didn't read them all.

I think this book would appeal to academic readers, or those who really want to study history through literature; I wouldn't recommend it to those who read generally for recommendation.

this was such a great collection of stories that I had never heard of before. Each story had a great Gothic feel and reminded me a lot of what I was looking for in this type of story.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!

Penny Blood is a gorgeous book telling gothic, dark, and enlightening stories of women in classic prose. This book sheds light on an importance sect of literature that, until now, has been lost.

Her cheeks were pale, and her eyes had the wild and solid glare which she had observed when she awakened from the slumber of the grave; she quitted the castle, and after gazing around her, as if uncertain which way to go, she proceeded towards the village.

1800s, the inexpensive publication known as Penny Bloods were popular titles in England. These would spin tales of gothic drama, violence and monstrosity. This literary phenomenon was significant for its depictions of dangerous transgressive women. Gothic Tales of Dangerous Women collects ten tales from classic, yet truly obscure, penny publications and features newly edited insights from Nicole Dittmer’s research. This volume revives a company of witches, femme fatales, vampires mistresses and deadly criminals.

This series of stories will enthral any reader who is inspired or taken with gothic literature, fantasy elements and feminine rage. These titles will sweep you away to another time and place where dark creatures roam the streets and magic still lingers in women’s blood. There is power found within this pages, filled with stories of witches and vampires that will entice any reader. Stay a while and let this book devour you.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴: 𝘎𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘌𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘕𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘊. 𝘋𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘳

Like most compilations of stories, Penny Bloods has a few gems amongst it's pages. The unabashed female villains are a fun a unique perspective to read from. Each story is infused with historical nuances that can be seen as fascinating or dry depending on a readers taste. I think I liked this one more in theory than execution but I think it will find it's audience.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

What an introduction to the universe of Penny Dreadful stories for younger readers like me, who didn't grow up with it (I am familiar with Todd Sweeney the movie, never the book source though).

I feel like this serves a good entry point for people to read & have a preview of what the OG blueprints of many later-to-come modern horrors was like, to see if they like it. Although... I do feel that this was written centuries ago for a very specific intended audience and our world settings have shifted so much, not all this book and stories were doing are translating very well to the current readers or the present time.

I enjoyed my time with it though.
Thank you to Net Galley and publisher for lending me digital advanced copy in exchange for this honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This was a lovely little collection of Penny Dreadfuls - there's a lot to be said for an older collection of little horror novellas, and Pennys were very much that. I understand that they had been cut for clarity in places, but I feel we would have benefited more from the full stories, that or adapted versions where they had been modernised. This was a concise collection, no doubt, but things are not always better pared back.

I don't these were quite as obscure as initially advertised either - I was familiar with most, if not all, and particularly Sweeney Todd. There is something to be said for collecting these kinds of stories, and I appreciated the educational focus, but would have been appreciative of a little more meat on the bones of this one.

Penny Bloods is a collection of short gothic stories from the 1800’s including everything from cannibalism, witches and werewolves.

I’ll admit this one was a bit too historical for me, the classic tales from the 1800’s doesn’t really hold up to modern day gothic short stories. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the stories at all, I just found them to be a bit harder to get through than I would have liked. Each story includes an introduction where we are told some general backstory to the stories themselves, the authors and what each story is about, which fit very well with the “educational” tone of the book.

I’d recommend this to readers who enjoy classical literature, and wants to specifically broaden their understanding of the publications known as penny bloods. I fear reader’s going into this expecting an entertaining collection of gothic literature might be disappointed.

Big thanks to Netgalley, British Library Publishing, and the author Nicole C. Dittmer for allowing me to read an e-arc of this collection!

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Independent Publishers Group, British Library Publishing for an advance copy of this new collection of Victorian stories of bad woman, blood, revenge, magic, and life beyond the grave.

I am older than a lot of my workmates, grew up on getting lots of books from book sales and tag sales, and remember when trade books start appearing in stories. I think that is one of the reasons why I love dealing with the mass market books that come in weekly to the store. I love the garish covers, the huge author names, the puns in the titles, the series names. I grew up on this, learned to read with mass markets. This is why I love the penny dreadfuls or the penny bloods. They were the mass market of their time. Genre stories for people who had learned to read, and wanted a little shock to the system, or a glimpse of stocking in stories. These stories had an audience who wanted them, could go on and on based on popularity, or end if the story wasn't catching on. This collection Penny Bloods: Gothic Tales of Dangerous Women edited by Nicole C. Dittmer, and feature old-timey tales of things no good woman should do, but that many longed to try.

There are ten stories in the collection, each with a brief introduction that tells about the writers, when possible, translation history, popularity, and anything else that can be told about the stories. There is a lot of missing information as so many stories were copied, stolen, or just lost to time. The foreward is also a very good primer to Penny Bloods, explaining the history, there rise and eventually adaption to other forms of fiction. The stories range from vampires, to women getting revenge for slights or real crimes. Some have magic, some are very bloody. Standouts include the first story The Skeleton Count or The Vampire Mistress which might be one of the first vampire stories in the English language, and one of the first with a woman vampire. Also The Female Bluebeard, was quite odd, quite bloody, and had a few characters that are quite memorable.

Cherchez la femme is the theme here. Some of this women deserve that label, some don't. One has to have an expectation going into these stories. There are a little over-the-top, a bit overwritten, and what once was scary to readers in the 1800's, might seem like an episode of Darkwing Duck, today. However a few, the previously mentioned stories still have a power to make one uncomfortable, even turn another light on kind of reading. Some seem really dated, but the collection on a whole is very good. I really enjoyed the historical information. The idea that stories might go on based on reader responses, or just end without a trace is fascinating. The fact that so much about these authors will never be known, or even how wrote what is sad, and yet encourages one to create art. The creator might be forgotten but the art lives on in collections like this.

I have been looking for a good reference book or collection of Penny Dreadful publications for eons and I am so glad to have found this one. Not only is it comprehensive and authentic, but each story has an epigraph explaining the history of each story

If you are a lover of history and have tried to research penny dreadfuls online, you will know just how difficult it is, so to have a great collection of stories at my fingertips from the British Library is a real treat to be treasured! The text is authentic, the illustrations original and a wonderful edition to preserve the earliest commercially mass-printed entertainment. I will certainly be buying this one for the "Keeper" shelf

Absolutely fantastic and a must-read for lovers of turn of the century history and gothic horrors

This copy was kindly given by NetGalley and my review left voluntarily