With its great love and warmth, this book is a very special gift to readers: a great writer turning his attention to something commonplace--the relationship between a pet and its owner--resulting in a story that is not sentimental, hackneyed, or sweet, but a moving exploration of the love between animals and humans. Just reading Mann's simple description of how he speaks his dog's name, Bashan, and the electricity that name sends through his pet, is worth every penny.

Buddenbrooks is a insightfull study into the life of this german family.We follow the Buddenbrook s through three generations and watches closely how the families dominant male character, who runs the family business,changes .The great family firm comes to and end , when the person thats is going to take over is a sensitive artist,not a businessman.Mann manages to deskripe the life of the family and the suroundings historically detailed.It is also a study of a spesific time period in german history.Its a canon.

One of the best novels I have read. Base on a true story and should have been compulsory reading at school!

This collection should get SIX stars. Having sampled one of Audio Connoisseur's other recordings, and being hugely impressed, I went out and purchased this one. I had always wanted to know a little about German literature, assuming that a nation that can build fabulous cars could also produce a few good authors. Before I say anything about the stories, let me just tell you that the narrator, Charlton Griffin, is probably the greatest reader now living. I say that in all honesty. Never have I encountered recorded literature in which ALL the characters, including women and children, have been performed with such utter believability and astonishing acumen. You will shake your head in disbelief that only one person is performing all these voices. I differ with the above AudioFile reviewer who castigates Griffin for his pacing. The pacing is perfect, almost stately. In the appropriate places it has a dreamlike quality. The stories are a very good cross section of German literature over a period of 150 years, beginning with Goethe and ending with Lampe. Every single one of these little masterpieces has a jewel-like quality and a sparkling intelligence behind them. I approached this subject with mild trepidation and came away astonished at the variety and depth of German writers. My favorites in this volume were the stories by Mann, von Hofmannsthal and Schnitzler. Not content with merely great stories, Audio Connoisseur has tastefully added music and sound effects...but only in perfectly suitable places and without distraction. They seem to fit in organically, as though a film were rolling in your head. If you are an educator, this would be an indispensable teaching tool. My admiration for Audio Connoisseur knows no bounds at this point. May they continue this level of quality forever.

Thomas Mann brought German fiction into the mainstream of European literature beginning with the publication of his novel "Buddenbrooks" in 1901 to his death in 1955. Before his literary work, German novels were rarely read outside of the German-speaking countries. He was the first since Goethe to attract a large international audience to stories written in the German language. Mann considered the single greatest novel of his literary career to be "The Magic Mountain", a true modernist classic. Very highly recommended, informative, and insightful reading for Thomas Mann enthusiasts and German Literary studies, A Companion To Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain is an impressive collection of eleven essays by articulate scholars addressing the contributions of Thomas Mann in a post-modernist era, with particular reference to his comic vision, homosexuality, attitude toward Jews, his novel within the landscape of postmodern life; the theme of solitude, music in the novel, technology, and more.

DiV is one of my favourite books, and an acknowledged masterpiece. This has translations of facing pages, for the aid of those (like me) who would find the German a bit too tough on its own.

Advanced. Moderately critical commentary. Not for the passive student.

In Doctor Faustus, Thomas Mann reached to the bottom of the German soul. In Joseph and his brothers he did the same in respect to the God and his chosen people - the Jews.
Happily, the result is much brighter and more optimistic.
Most delightfull of all T. Mann's books.

Beware! Do not leave this page without getting this book. It is a masterpiece. It proves how a story (any story) handled by a true novelist turns into another (and the same) story (improved). It certainly combines what Walter Benjamin has called the art of story telling with the fuction of novelist in the modern epoch. Can we still be both? Here is a definitive answer.

Joseph and His Brothers is the powerful jorney in the mind of the myth and in the myth of the mind. It is a masterpiece full of excitment about history, respect to the reader and unsurmountable talent.

Read this book for what it is, and you'll enjoy it very much. This is not meant to be a literary masterpiece. That much should be clear from the subtitle of the book: "Erotic Tales of the Vampire". Don't expect an all new and brilliant monster epic, and you'll like this book.

I want to praise the publisher for mixing two well-known names (William J Mann and Micheal Thomas Ford) with two names I am not familiar with (Sean Wolfe and Jeff Mann). The diversity of the stories and writing styles are fresh and keep the reader engaged. Much better than reading a long book with one style from one author.

The two Manns (William J and Jeff) have a similar style. Both of those stories, though decent, are my least favorite. They seem to try to be more than what they are. A little superficial for my taste, but not badly written.

I like Sean Wolfe's story very much. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and is comfortable being a short entertainment piece. It doesn't try to be more than what it is. I was entertained and appreciate the "humanness" that the story brings to erotic vampirism. It is both erotic and interesting. Though I haven't heard of Wolfe before, I'm sure we'll hear more from him in the future.

It is Ford, though, who is the star of this book, and a good reason for naming him as the main author. Most of us are familiar with his non-fiction material, which has won several Lambda Literary awards. His fiction writing here is no less brilliant. Ford's talent for putting the reader in the middle of the story and for character description are perfect. I love his story, and look forward to more fiction from Ford in the future.

If you're a fan of vampire fiction at all, you'd be crazy not to get this book. The variety of stories and writing style is fresh and refreshing. The writing is good. It is both erotic and frighteningly engaging. A must have for serious fans of horror, and especially vampire fiction!

MASTERS OF MIDNIGHT contains four novellas in which vampires play a prominent and erotically gay role. The authors have different visions of vampires leading to highly original and entertaining tales.

"His Hunger" by William J. Mann. Thirty years ago in Cravensport, Maine murders and disappearances occurred with no explanation. Jeremy thinks the story will make a good human-interest piece, but he also has a personal stake in the story as one of the vanished was his father. However, he is in peril after visiting Bartholomew, a vampire who plans to enslave Jeremy and convert the writer's lover.

"Sting" by Michael Thomas Forge. Following the suicide of his lover, Ben becomes head librarian in Downing, Arkansas. He sees customer Titus put his hands into beehives. When the two men become lovers, Titus explains that he is a vampire and the bee venom prevents his blood craving. Titus feels strongly about stopping his kind who kills innocent children.

"Brandon's Bite" by Sean Wolfe. His father was a vampire while his mother was mortal. His father taught him how to survive as a vampire. As an adult Brandon discovered he was gay so his father disowned him. Brandon can choose any victim he wants but fears love because he believes he cannot control his urge for blood.

"Devoured" by Jeff Marin. Three centuries ago two Scottish lords shared a secret passion for one another. When they were caught, Angus was killed but Derek was changed into a vampire. He avenged his friend's death before immigrating to West Virginia. Now an affluent businessman, he finally has a chance to love again but must first take care of Matthew's homophobic enemies.

Harriet Klausner

Unlike a previous reviewer, I AM a fan of gay vampire fiction, and of gay horror in general. I picked this book up because I'd read some of the authors' previous work in books like QUEER FEAR I and II, SONS OF DARKNESS, and BROTHERS OF THE NIGHT (all edited by Michael Rowe, in case you want to look them up). So how does this collection stack up? William J. Mann's contribution is an obvious ode to the glorious old cult supernatural soap opera, DARK SHADOWS, and if you read it that way it's a lot of fun. Sean Wolfe and Jeff Mann are new names to me, and although Wolfe's story didn't grab me, I really liked the second Mr. Mann's ability to bring out the most in his setting. But I have to say, it was Michael Thomas Ford's "Sting" that kept me up way past midnight. I saved it for last, because it sounded the most interesting, and was it ever. This novella is totally unique, not just in gay horror but in ALL horror. His writing is gorgeous, and the imagery he creates is both beautiful and terrifying. I defy anyone to read his descriptions of the Death Puppet and be able to sleep with the lights on. I, too, would love to see this story made into a film, especially if George Clooney plays Ben!

Thomas Mann takes the Cartesian split--that endless war between mind and body, galvanized on one side by Descartes' battle cry "I think, therefore I am"--and illustrates the conflict using two characters, two young friends, in this Indian legend turned fantastical tale of the absurd. Nanda is a farmer and blacksmith, a strong, earthy youth rooted in his physical body, and the contemplative Shridaman is a merchant's son with priestly, Brahman blood in his lineage. Though the young men are polar opposites, they have a strong friendship built on mutual admiration and a hint of health envy.

Their differences manifest during a journey together when the two men come upon the sight of a beautiful young woman at a remote, ritual bathing-place. They observe the woman secretly as she bathes, and Nanda enjoys the sight without shame. Shridaman, though, is by turns embarrassed, then inspired. Mann launches the friends into a hushed philosophical discussion--a frequent attribute of the novel. Shirdaman says, "Yet we are ... guilty if we simply feast on the sight of beauty without inquiring into its being," and he promptly falls in love with the young woman, Sita, languishing over her with the exaggerated fatalism of the smitten lover in a Shakespearean comedy. Eventually, Sita and Shridaman are married.

From this scenario springs one of the most bizarre love triangles in literature, leading to a confrontation with Kali, earth mother and patron of the body, and later to another meeting, at the other end of the spectrum, with an ascetic holy man. These powerful archetypes impel the pendulum of fate back and forth above the three characters. Again and again the question is asked: Is it the head or the body which is most closely linked with the Beloved? Tragedy is inevitable--visiting the trio more than once--and in the end all hope for the future lies with Andhaka, Shridaman and Sita's young son. The boy is a nearsighted introvert whose quiet innocence hints at some vague potential for change, for bridging this gap between mind and body.

One element detracting from the book is the translation (copyrighted in 1941). While the translation is not entirely without merit--in chapter 5, for example, the passage describing Shridaman's descent into Kali's dark, heady, womb-like temple begs to be read aloud--the novel's prose is sometimes choppy with convoluted, problematic sentence structure. The novel's potential among English readers is certainly hampered by its being long overdue for a new translation.

Thomas Mann's works are always full of dichotomies of various kinds: feeling vs intellect, freedom vs authority, immorality(decadence) vs morality(respectability), artistic or religious pursuits vs participation in everyday life. So it is not surprising that he wrote a book about two people who represent opposite ways of living. One character lives by the dictates of the reasoning head, the other by the dictates of the sensual body. In Mann's mystical India a wonderful accident allows for an interesting experiment. Don't want to give too much away for the fun is in not knowing exactly what happens. Suffice it to say that this is a unique kind of book of novella length, a form Mann was especially competent with. In a way this is Mann's Siddhartha though one informed with many dualites, including the east/ west one. This book attempts to unify all those oppositions once and for all but that is no easy task. This book has humor and humanity and that magic that only the simplest fables have, once you read it you will never forget it.

This book is more than a love story, or a story about marriage or friendship. It is a story that addresses the ever present dilema of whether we ought to make decisions based on our feelings or our intelect. This book tells you exactly to whom you should listen to, and why. This alone is absolutely REFRESHING! I have used this book in creative writing workshops, where I challange my students to think how their body would react if it carried someone else's head. Or what song a piano would play if it had their head attached to it. This book has a strong under current of morality, making the reader reflect on the "stuff that principles and values are made of", and what makes us authentic human beings.