Supposedly a collection of stories about vampirism, however, not all actually are about vampires. As the title suggests the stories are all about some form of blood craving making it a unique collection. Most of the authors were new to me. A solid collection of stories which for the most part I really enjoyed.

1. All You Can Do is Breathe by Kaaron Warren - A man is buried in a mine accident and hailed a hero as a survivor. Down there he was visited by the long man who pinched his nose, now he's terribly cold. Ok. Didn't make a lot of sense. (3/5)

2. Needles by Elizabeth Bear - A vampire couple arrives in the town of Needles as one wants to get a tattoo to see if it will change her back. This was beautifully written. Plus, it's a great story. (5/5)

3. Baskerville's Midgets by Reggie Oliver - An actor tells of his stay at a theatre boardinghouse when a troupe of performing midgets arrive. I don't particularly care for theatre stories but this was well told and I liked the ending. (3/5)

4. Blood Yesterday, Blood Tomorrow by Richard Bowes - Hmm, an intricate plot concerning vampire collectables dealers who have taken a cut. But much more than that. This would make a fantastic book. It is incredibly atmospheric and makes one want to know more. (4/5)

5. X for Demetrious - This begins with an author's note explaining the true event the story is based on. After reading I had to Google to find out about the real story. So, here, we have a man obsessed with vampires stalking him. This becomes so profound he doesn't leave his home or eat anymore. Unfortunately, I did not like the writing style at all. I also found the story simple and predictable. I found my mind wandering while reading. (2/5)

6. Keeping Corky by Melanie Tem - A mentally challenged woman thinks of her 15-year-old son whom she gave up for adoption. She still thinks of him as a baby and she thinks that if she concentrates hard enough she can make things happen. Then she gets bad news about Corky. Well written. Not a bad story but a little boring. (3/5)

7. Shelf-life by Lisa Tuttle - A woman finds her childhood dollhouse in her father's attic. She gives it to her daughter and she starts acting strange. I like this author a lot and as usual, she writes a great story. Not her best but still good. (4/5)

8. Caius by Bill Pronzini & Barry N Malzberg - A man is a lauded radio talk show host. This builds up until we're shown the truth at the end. It is a very short, well-told tale with a questionable end. (3/5)

9. Sweet Sorrow by Barbara Roden - A couple who live next door to a missing girl catches Brian's attention. They seem to be getting younger surrounded by the sorrow. Predictable but utterly entertaining story. (4/5)

10. First Breath by Nicole J LeBoeuf - Someone is sent out to find themselves. The rest would be spoilers. A strange but touching story. (4/5)

11. Toujours by Kathe Koja - Gianfranco raises a boy up to be a world-famous fashion designer. Then he meets a woman unlike all the others. They have a battle of the wills to see who will win the fashion designer. (3/5)

12. Miri by Steve Rasnic Tem - A man starts seeing the world without colour. Then he starts hallucinating and losing time. He then starts having visions of an old college girlfriend until he can't tell reality from the visions. (3/5)

13. Mrs. Jones by Carol Emshwiller - Two middle-aged sisters live together one-upping each other until one of them finds a bat-like creature in the orchard. This was a very well-written story. Fun with a twist ending. My favourite so far. (5/5)

14. Bread and Water by Michael Cisco - I have no idea what is happening here. Something with a disease and/or experiment. (0/5)

15. Mulberry Boys by Margo Lanagan - A man comes to the village and takes a young man, the narrator, with him to catch a Mulberry Boy. Just what a Mulberry Boy is and what they are for follows. A bit of a revenge story as a young man tries to make his village a better place. Wonderful storytelling. (5/5)

16. The Third Always Beside You by John Langan - Siblings have thought for over a decade now that their father had an affair. Gert finds out the truth from Auntie V. Nothing supernatural until the last paragraph. Longer story than others and is very well told. (4/5)

17. The Siphon by Laird Barron - A man working for Roache Industries is a part-time agent for the NSA. He takes a group to look at some real estate and they are attacked. A very long story. Great storytelling and characterization. I enjoyed this a lot. (4/5) ( )

I was super stoked to dive into this collection, since it’s been way too long since I’ve read any quality vampire stories, but ugh this collection kind of sucked… The editor warned us in the intro that most of the stories would be more along the lines of “other cravings,” taking the vampire trend further than the blood-driven, but I still figured that there would be some decent stories that explored interesting vampiric themes around obsession, cravings, and parasites. Unfortunately most of the stories’ writing was a turn off from the opening lines, few of the characters were truly intriguing, and a lot of the “cravings” were far too creepy for my tastes. I guess horror still really isn’t my genre, and relatively traditional vampire stories are the exception. ( )

I was pretty excited to get this book, because I am a fan of Ellen Datlow, and I generally love her anthologies. With any anthology, I don't expect to love all the stories, but with a good editor, I expect to find at least a few exceptional pieces. I like several of the authors included here a lot, too. However, I felt that nearly all of the stories here were good-but-not-great. That also means that there wasn't anything here that I thought was a waste of time, or annoying. It's a solid book.
The stories are nearly all in a contemporary setting, and nearly all deal with unconventional aspects of vampirism. (If you're looking for the fanged, caped figure in a crumbling Romanian castle, you won't find him here.) Coincidentally, however, my favorite story in the book, 'Mulberry Boys,' is really science fiction, and only by a stretch a 'vampire' story. (It is creepy, though!)
Overall, I'd say this is a worthwhile, but not an essential, read.

contents:
"All You Can Do is Breathe" by Kaaron Warren
"Needles" by Elizabeth Bear
"Baskerville's Midgets" by Reggie Oliver
"Blood Yesterday, Blood Tomorrow" by Richard Bowes
"X For Demetrious" by Steve Duffy
"Keeping Corky" by Melanie Tem
"Shelf-Life" by Lisa Tuttle
"Caius" by Barry N. Malzberg & Bill Pronzini
"Sweet Sorrow" by Barbara Roden
"First Breath" by Nicole J. LeBoeuf
"Toujours" by Kathe Koja
"Miri" by Steve Rasnic Tem
"Mrs. Jones" by Carol Emshwiller
"Bread and Water" by Michael Cisco
"Mulberry Boys" by Margo Lanagan
"The Third Always Beside You" by John Langan
"The Siphon" by Laird Barron
( )

This is an anthology of vampire stories...but not just ANY vampires.Vampires are inundating the market these days, and they're beginning to get a tad predictable and boring. This new collection is meant to delight the reader by displaying the variety of thirsts that plague vampires (and humans). There are your classic blood-sucking varieties, but there are also soul-sucking vampires, and vampires from different folkloric traditions, and vampires that...well, ARE they vampires, or are they humans...or...are humans really vampires at heart?

Although I thought the theme of this anthology was creative, and I generally enjoyed the stories, I wasn't wowed. I'm not a huge short story reader because I really like plot and character development, and short stories simply don't have the space for such development--unless they really pack the info in. And in the case of THOSE stories, I tend to feel a little bogged down and need to read very slowly to pick up all the information. For me, these stories were either too insubstantial or too substantial. Being unaccustomed to reading anthologies, I don't know if this issue was because I have difficulty with short stories, or if it was because the anthology was less than fantastic. Either way, I thought the anthology was interesting, but I'm glad to be moving on to other books.

For my full review: http://rachelreadingnthinking.blogspot.com/2012/10/blood-and-other-cravings-ed-e... ( )

I was very excited to receive this collection of stories. This is the third Ellen Datlow collection I’ve read, the second that I’ve reviewed, and I think she does a great job of choosing really interesting stories that all play to a theme. Blood and Other Cravings isn’t your typical book about vampires. These aren’t necessarily creatures that suck your blood and hate garlic, but they are creatures who steal something essential from you. They draw something — energy, will, love, vitality — from you and leave your diminished. They aren’t terribly happy stories, not surprisingly. Two of them were so cruel that I found them deeply disturbing. But all in all, this is a very good collection.

It’s always tough to review a book of short stories. Where do you begin? What if you love some stories and hate others? This is pretty easy review, though: most of the stories were quite good. I didn’t love the collection as much as I did Naked City, but I think that is partly because of the subject matter. Talking about something that sucks the life out of you — even if we’re not talking about your blood — is not cheery. But the stories aren’t all doom and gloom, they just aren’t as funny as in some of the other collections.

I particularly enjoyed “X for Demetrious” by Stephen Duffy. It is based on the true story of a man who was found dead in his apartment, surrounded by lines of salt, bottles of…waste, and cloves of garlic. It is a distressing look at a mind that is caving in on itself. I was also thrilled to see a story from Kathe Koja — I reviewed her novel Under the Poppy last year and loved it. “Toujours” is not a vampire story, but it is a story about losing the thing that sustains you, having it taken away from you. It fits right in, in its own way.

Overall, this is an excellent collection. There are stories that look at the theme from a variety of angles. There’s a bit of humor (“The Baskerville Midgets” by Reggie Oliver) and a couple of good scares.

You can read my full review at my website, Alive on the Shelves. ( )