infinity plus - sf, fantasy and horror non-fiction: reviews, interviews and features
infinity plus home pagefictionnon-fictionother stuffa to z

 

Claude Lalumiere's Fantastic Fiction
Fat White Vampire Blues

by Andrew Fox

(Ballantine, $13.95, 334 pages, trade paperback; published in July 2003.)

Fat White Vampire Blues, Andrew Fox's first novel, is a relentlessly entertaining romp through New Orleans's supernatural cover scanunderworld. It's the best vampire comedy since Christopher Moore's sardonic ode to San Francisco, the classic Bloodsucking Fiends.

In each novel, the city itself is so lovingly and vividly portrayed that it becomes a character. Fox's New Orleans admirably strays from cliché and rings with authenticity; it's inhabited by beautifully eccentric weirdos from all walks of life.

Fox, like Moore, cleverly lampoons vampire lore while taking it seriously enough to concoct a convincing and thrilling read. And both authors are merciless satirists. Fox's book, though, is entirely its own in terms of plot and characters.

Jules Duchon is a 450-pound cabdriver who harbours two secrets: he's an ex-superhero and a vampire. Jules is addicted to the fat-rich blood of New Orleans residents; he especially loves the blood of overweight black women and gets an erotic thrill watching them eat before he feeds on them. For years, he never questioned his actions.

But then the upstart vampire Malice X threatens to run him out of town if he continues to feed on black victims. And then New Orleans's underclass, including many of Jules's friends, rally to mourn the tragic murder of a well-loved homeless woman -- a victim of Jules's. For help and guidance, the confused and besieged Jules must turn to his estranged lover Maureen, the vampire stripper who turned him, and his former superhero sidekick, Doodlebug.

The result is a surprisingly inventive, moving, and complex tale that never fails to elicit a smile, even at its most brutal or at its most tender. And it has a killer ending -- the kind of powerful final punch that elevates a novel another notch or two.


Originally published, in slightly different form, in
The Montreal Gazette, Saturday, 9 August 2003.

Claude Lalumière's Fantastic Fiction is a series of
capsule reviews first published in the Saturday Books
section of The Montreal Gazette.

Elsewhere in infinity plus:

Elsewhere on the web:

 


Let us know what you think of infinity plus - e-mail us at:
sf@infinityplus.co.uk

support this site - buy books through these links:
A+ Books: an insider's view of sf, fantasy and horror
amazon.com (US) | Internet Bookshop (UK)