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The Hunger and Ecstasy of Vampires

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It is January 1895. An Eastern European Count arrives in London, fleeing from La Sūreté and vile rumors involving vampirism and the spoliation of young women.

While dining with his old acquaintance Oscar Wilde, the count is invited to hear a strange tale told by an anthropologist who has found a means of traveling through time. Uneasy at first because this time traveler appears to be acquainted with Bram Stoker - who once entertained the rumor- monger responsible for his flight across Europe - the Count eventually agrees to accompany Wilde.

The Count, however, is far from the only unusual member of Wilde's entourage: the other witnesses to the tale include a young man in the process of publishing his own account of a time-traveler's adventures, a respected scientist who is also a pillar of the Psychical Research Society, and a grey- eyed man who likes to think of himself as a "consulting detective." But it is the Count who hears news that revives his desolate spirit, and the Count whose life is most profoundly changed by the experience.

He is, after all, the man best equipped to savor the hunger and ecstasy of vampires.

Later expanded as Sherlock Holmes and the Vampires of Eternity.

Cover painting and hand lettering by Arnie Fenner

Published 1st June 1996 by Mark V Ziesing Books.
ISBN:0-929480-80-5
ISBN:0-929480-81-3

  Translated into French as: L'extase des vampires.
Translated into Italian as: Londra Invisible.

Review by Ian Braidwood

Cast of Characters:
Oscar Wilde, Sir William Crookes, Nikoli Tesla, H.G. Wells, M.P.Shiel, a grey-eyed detective, Jean Lorrain, Octave Uzzanne, Count Lugard, Professor Edward Coppelstone and his doctor.

One night in 1895, three men and their companions are invited to the home of Professor Edward Coppelstone for dinner and to hear something they are promised is remarkable.

Since Coppelstone is a well known traveller and adventurer, this promise is enough to attract some of London's most notable luminaries:

Sir William Crookes, a distiguishedmember of the Psychical Society; was bound to be intrigued and bought scientists Nikoli Tesla. M.P. Shiel, brought fellow writer H.G. Wells, while Oscar Wilde is accompanied by a mysterious Eastern European gentleman.

Under the supervision of his doctor and his mysterious companion, Coppelstone begins to recount the effects of a formula prepared from many shamanistic and tribal drugs to gain visions into the future...

I have come to the conclusion that I hate writing reviews of stories when I have previously written a review of a longer or shorter version. It simply doesn't suit what might charitably be called my method, given that I strenuously avoid giving away the plot.

When reviewing abridged versions of Brian's stories, it leaves me with little to say beyond how brief it seems; but that is nothing compared to the paroxysms I suffer when I consider the extra material introduced in the long versions.

You see, Brian has a philosophical bend to his writing, which only really gets expressed in these longer versions; such as the tension inherent in any time travel story between determinism and free will. Consider:

To see something, it must exist. A photograph, be it moving or still, must be of something even if it masquerades as something else. So, when Coppelstone takes his draft and has his vision, does the vision include the fact that it has been foreseen, or does it stop being the truth because he was able to gain intelligence enough to prevent it and if so, why doesn't the vision swim into a new possibility?

Oh yes, it's aspirin time, folks. The prediction business might tell you the winner of the 5:15 at Kempton Park, but it plays merry hell with causality, don't you know.

Add to this the apparent similarities between Coppelstone's vision and H.G. Wells', which aren't as perplexing as the differences. What is the relation between Wells' Eloi and Coppelstone's humans of the future? Could it be that Wells can venture naturally where Coppelstone needs drugs to go? Is there another explanation?

It has just occurred to me that this is the only story of Brian's I know of, which features some form of two way time travel. I'm beginning to understand why.

If I might mix some metaphors, this novel is one where you can enjoy the texture of the paints, as well as the image on the canvas. The portraiture is so good you can almost taste the claret on Wilde's lips and feel the heat of Wells' brow, as he comes to suspect plagiarism.

Right now, both versions of this story must count as hard to get, with the Interzone issue being some time past and the book a limited edition. Getting either one might count as an achievement, but given the choice, it's the long version you want.

The Brian Stableford Website