Book excerpt: For the Blood is the Life and Other Stories by Marion F. Crawford is a collection of blood-curdling stories for the most steady horror fans. Crawford writes a riveting collection about vampires, murders, and unexplored crypts. Excerpt: "SIR HUGH OCKRAM smiled as he sat by the open window of his study, in the late August afternoon. A curiously yellow cloud obscured the low sun, and the clear summer light turned lurid as if it had been suddenly poisoned and polluted by the foul vapors of a plague."