Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
by Seth Grahame-Smith
Legend has it that a small US publisher called Quirk had the idea for a tongue in cheek mash-up book called "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies", and enlisted a young freelancer called Seth Grahame-Smith to write it. The book proved to be a huge success and has spawned a whole host of copycats (Sense & Sensibility & Seamonsters, Jane Slayre). As for Grahame-Smith (SGS), he took a leaf from Quirk's book, and he got himself a deal on practically just a book title. That title was Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - it too sold by the bucket load, and as most of you know has been made into a (modestly successful) movie too.
I think it would be very easy to write a very bad version of this book - or this sort of book in general (There's a Queen Victoria: Demon Slayer, you know). Fortunately, SGS is a pretty decent writer, generating sympathy, and making the whole thing feel...well...realistic. SGS starts off being visited by a mysterious stranger who presents him with the lost diaries of Lincoln himself - from which SGS pieces together the 'real' story of Lincoln.
I confess to not being up to speed on my American Civil War history, or my knowledge of Lincoln in general. I suspect that if you did have this knowledge, the book would tickle you much more. As it was, there was enough here to keep me going - the Vampire Hunting is used sparingly, and there is far more politics and actual history going on in here.
The basic conceit is that the Vampires came over from the old world and looked upon slaves as an easy method of getting access to blood with no questions asked. They get ambitions to control more than just the slaves - and in their way is a vampire hating politician from the North, and voilà! civil war ensues.
SGS seems to have a knack for being good at a 2-line book pitch, as I like the sound of his new book: Unholy Night (the 3 wise men are actually thieves, they stumble upon Jesus's manger and end up defending the holy family against a night of terrors). There's nothing in here that's going to keep Phillip Roth awake at night, but because it's so deadpan and serious, it doesn't come across as try-hard - you just accept the premise that young Abe hunted vampires and get on it with it. Good fun
SGS seems to have a knack for being good at a 2-line book pitch, as I like the sound of his new book: Unholy Night (the 3 wise men are actually thieves, they stumble upon Jesus's manger and end up defending the holy family against a night of terrors). There's nothing in here that's going to keep Phillip Roth awake at night, but because it's so deadpan and serious, it doesn't come across as try-hard - you just accept the premise that young Abe hunted vampires and get on it with it. Good fun
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