I only learned of this book’s existence a year ago, but The Gilda Stories was originally published back in 1991, and it deserves much more attention and appreciation than it has gotten among readers of vampire or feminist literature. This is a vampire story unlike any other I’ve read, and is not “just” a book about vampires. Gilda is an exploration of what it means to be Black, a woman, one who loves other women, the nature of immortality and meaning, of companionship and family. The Gilda Stories belongs in the canon of vampire literature alongside Chelsea Quinn Yarbo, Octavia Butler, and Anne Rice.