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kestrellThat. Was. So.[Expletive]. Cool!
It was only a couple of weeks ago that, prompted by Hal Duncan's incredible essay on the state of vampire fiction
http://www.bscreview.com/2009/11/notes-from-new-sodom-on-blood-bad-boys-and-bottoms/
I posted
http://kestrell.livejournal.com/542802.html
about how vampire stories hadn't done anything for me since the '90s.
I take it back--Langan's story "The Wide, Carnivorous Sky" is an amazing piece of fiction.
Langan stories are the literary equivalent of three card monty: you know the ingredients, you think you know where they are going to land, but then Langan makes a few hard-to-track passes and blam! you're left feeling dazed and kind of awed, asking yourself, how did he do that?
A while back I wrote a review of Langan's novel _House of Windows_
http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_langan_houseofwindows.html
and I've been jonesin' for more of Langan's fiction ever since, so when I heard that he had a novella in the vampire anthology _By Blood We Live_ available through Baen Books Webscription ebooks
http://www.webscription.net/c-66-new-arrivals.aspx
I hunted it down and got a copy.
Good call, Ripley.
The dialogue in this story is exceptional, and most of the story unfolds through what the quartet of main characters say to one another. The vampire is not gay, not in existential angst, not remotely human--he's Nosferatu with a fucked-up makeover that updates his look for the 21st century.
But what really tickled the cockles of my media studies heart was the many media references Langan slips in. This is one of the ways in which Langan manages to shake up the vampire story, because there is none of that old cliched pretense that anyone in the group needs to have a vampire explained to him: they have the rich and eclectic language of 21st century media fans in which to define it, describe it, and discuss dispatching it.
I don't want to say much more about the story, because it is full of wonderful little surprises, but there are other aspects of the story which make it very current and relevant, and if there are any professors out there looking for a fast-paced vampire story to add to their syllabus, "The Wide, Carnivorous Sky" should instigate some lively discussion.
It was only a couple of weeks ago that, prompted by Hal Duncan's incredible essay on the state of vampire fiction
http://www.bscreview.com/2009/11/notes-from-new-sodom-on-blood-bad-boys-and-bottoms/
I posted
http://kestrell.livejournal.com/542802.html
about how vampire stories hadn't done anything for me since the '90s.
I take it back--Langan's story "The Wide, Carnivorous Sky" is an amazing piece of fiction.
Langan stories are the literary equivalent of three card monty: you know the ingredients, you think you know where they are going to land, but then Langan makes a few hard-to-track passes and blam! you're left feeling dazed and kind of awed, asking yourself, how did he do that?
A while back I wrote a review of Langan's novel _House of Windows_
http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_langan_houseofwindows.html
and I've been jonesin' for more of Langan's fiction ever since, so when I heard that he had a novella in the vampire anthology _By Blood We Live_ available through Baen Books Webscription ebooks
http://www.webscription.net/c-66-new-arrivals.aspx
I hunted it down and got a copy.
Good call, Ripley.
The dialogue in this story is exceptional, and most of the story unfolds through what the quartet of main characters say to one another. The vampire is not gay, not in existential angst, not remotely human--he's Nosferatu with a fucked-up makeover that updates his look for the 21st century.
But what really tickled the cockles of my media studies heart was the many media references Langan slips in. This is one of the ways in which Langan manages to shake up the vampire story, because there is none of that old cliched pretense that anyone in the group needs to have a vampire explained to him: they have the rich and eclectic language of 21st century media fans in which to define it, describe it, and discuss dispatching it.
I don't want to say much more about the story, because it is full of wonderful little surprises, but there are other aspects of the story which make it very current and relevant, and if there are any professors out there looking for a fast-paced vampire story to add to their syllabus, "The Wide, Carnivorous Sky" should instigate some lively discussion.
