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Some reviews - Scott Miller - 05-14-2004
fpw Wrote:I belive you're all aware of Russ Madden's review of Crisscross. Here's another:
http://www.horror-web.com/reviews/YaBB.cgi?board=Books;action=display;num=1082468265
And here's one of Midnight Mass: http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/books.html
I just read this this morning and am anxiously awaiting the library to inform me that their copy has arrived as I am first on the list.
Scott
UNREAL WORLDS
Midnight Mass
By F. Paul Wilson (Tor, $25.95) Grade: A
The biggest problem with vampire fiction, if authors stick by the criteria established by Bram Stoker in Dracula in 1897, is that vampires increase geometrically. If each person a vampire sucks dry becomes a vampire, and each person that new vampire dines on becomes a vampire, it doesn't take long before the whole world is populated by vampires.
Stephen King took this into account in Salem's Lot, and Richard Matheson's I Am Legend is a classic genre novel, in which the last non-vampire battles to save his soul. But most other authors don't play by the rules. Finally, F. Paul Wilson has written a vampire novel in the tradition of Stoker, Matheson and King.
The premise is that vampires have always existed in Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and other Iron Curtain countries, keeping their numbers low by beheading their victims. But with the fall of communism and the uncertain political climate, the vampires have gone public and taken over most of Europe, India and the Far East.
In the United States, the Catholic Church has denied the existence of vampires, and government officials have felt safe with two oceans as barriers. However, it isn't much more difficult to smuggle a vampire across our borders than a planeload of drugs. And several major cities are now in vampire control.
Renfield served as a human surrogate for Dracula; here human "cowboys" are recruited to take care of the thirsty bloodsuckers' needs during the daylight hours (people are herded as stock to provide nourishment for the vampires).
In a small New Jersey city, a fallen priest, his niece, a rabbi and a nun have come together to try to overthrow the vampires and their human protectors who now own their town. Together with the few parish members who remain free, they recapture their church, which had become a place of vampire defilement, and fortify it to make an Alamo-like stand against the invading hordes.
If they can win, it will encourage others to stand up against their oppressors and prevent the end of humanity.
If you're a lover of horror fiction, vampires and early Stephen King novels, take note: Midnight Mass is the best thing to come along in years.
Mark Graham
Some reviews - Marc - 05-14-2004
That's a very good review. Damn you Cemetary Dance for making us wait!
Some reviews - Tim Hatch - 05-14-2004
Marc B. Wrote:That's a very good review. Damn you Cemetary Dance for making us wait!
I'm with you!! I couldn't wait for my Cemetery Dance copy to arrive (cuz who knows when THAT'S going to happen, just look at Sims!) so I bought the TOR edition also.