VAMPIRE$ by John Steakley

Narrated by Tom Weiner

     ARMOR Coda. Felix is Back!

As a fan of Steakley’s military SF novel ARMOR—and realizing that Steakley only managed to complete this one final book before his untimely death—I was compelled to listen to VAMPIRE$. It is true that the main character from ARMOR, Felix, reprises his role as the reluctant warrior in this second book. But there is scant evidence to connect the Felix here with the Felix of the earlier book save for his struggle to overcome fear and his incredible aptitude for destruction in the face of impossible odds. One wonders if John Steakley would have continued in this vein; reprising Felix in this same role in a number of different genre stories, had his career not been cut short. Alas, we will never know. Fortunately Steakley did leave us with this fine coda to the sometimes profound and sometimes paradoxical Military yet Anti-War novel ARMOR. I like to think that Steakley is exploring the very nature of heroism through Felix the fearful juggernaut that is always expecting death but lives to fight another day.

Along the way in VAMPIRE$ we get a rousing action novel with vampires that are but repulsive and yet irresistibly seductive. One of the things I have come to appreciate about Steakley’s work is his fondness for paradox.

Tom Weiner, fittingly, is one of those paradoxes. He has a tender softness in his voice when portraying female characters; a boyish jocularity when voicing the jester Cat; and delivers Felix with the appropriate nervous confidence that his character demands. His flexibility in performing multiple character voices is contrasted by his intransigent, almost overbearing, through the narrative sections. He never becomes the voice in my head. His narration in between dialog scenes gives the book an intensity that I would have missed reading it own my own. I recommend him highly. And if you haven’t yet heard ARMOR go and get it. You can thank me later.