Fifteen years before A Song of Ice and Fire was published, George RR Martin published this - a story of bloodsuckinmg fiends on the riverboats of the southern states of America.
It's been languishing in my collection for many years and I kept meaning to pick it up and read it but never quite did. I loved his collection of short stories, Songs the Dead Men Sing, and couldn't quite get into The Armageddon Rag when I tried it. After reading this, I will have to try again.
We are introduced to Captain Abner Marsh, a riverboat captain down on his luck. Most of his boats have just been destroyed by poor weather and his one remaining ship isn't something he can easily turn a dollar on. He needs a break. That's when he meets the mysterious Joshua York, a stranger who offers to go into partnership with him and who will build him the finest steamboat the river has ever seen.
There are some caveats to the deal, including not asking any questions about York or his behaviour, nut Marsh goes along with it. Of course he lives to regret the decision.
This book builds the tension from the first page. The cover kind of tells us what York's big secret is, but there's much more to it than that. I found myself consistrently wrong-footed by the story. It never quite went down the alley I expected. The vampires are different from the ones we're used to from the many many Dracula variants on the bloodsuckers myth. I laughed out loud when York made the point that Vlad Tepes (aka the impaler) was certainly NOT a vampire.
The historical detail feels real and well researched without ever bogging the story down. The period is very well realised and the characters are all truly convincing.
I wish I'd read this book many years ago. It's now right up at the top of my favourite vampire novels, along with SP Somtow's Vampire Junction, and TM Wright's The Last Vampire. A truly original take on a hoary old cliched subject.
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