SciFi Saturday

"This Felix is no other Felix. This Jack Crow is no other Jack Crow."

Last week I talked about Armor by John Steakley. I mentioned that John Steakley had written two full length novels. I thought it would be fun to look at Vampire$, his other novel.   I know that it isn't SciFi. In fact it is in the horror/fantasy/supernatural genres. Having said that my blog, my rules. So there.

Vampire$ was published on November 3, 1990 by Roc Books. The book, which has a contemporary setting, follows Vampire$, INC. A company of vampire hunters, lead by Jack Crow, who are subsidised by the Roman Catholic Church. The book is basically an in depth look at what type of people would do a job like this and what it would do to them. This is not a heroic tale of overcoming immense odds. It is a dirty and dark story of hard men doing what they can. I absolutely recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good hard action outing. Also if you are tired of pretty, sparkly, safe vampires this will give you the edge you want.

Now, a few of you have probably read the synopsis above and thought to your self "That sounds familiar." Well there is a reason for that. In 1998 John Carpenter released "John Carpenter's Vampires" which is loosely based on the novel. I saw the movie before I read the book. As such I am not going to sit here and rip it apart for diverging from the book. Instead I will say this James Woods is Fucking awesome in this movie. He plays a fantastic Jack Crow. He is nowhere near physically imposing enough and yet he pulls it off. The movie is not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a fun flick. There are better vampire movies out there. There are also many that are much, much worse. I can't recommend it with the same enthusiasm as the book, but I will recommend it just the same. Give it a shot.

"John Carpenter's Vampires" was not hugely successful. In fact it just about broke even. Apparently that is enough to get a sequel.  "Vampires: Los Muertos" followed in 2002. None of the orignal cast returned. The first movie had a lot of positives such as James Woods, great gore effects, and good action. The sequel had Jon Bon Jovi and the big brother from Family Matters. I saw this movie once. I can't recommend it. I have nothing against Jon Bon Jovi but he is a poor substitute for James Woods.

I have no idea how well "Vampires: Los Muertos" did. Apparently it was successful enough for a third movie to be made. Well kind of. You see "Vampires: The Turning" is an in name only sequel. A movie that had no connection to the prior two but was branded with the name. It is a martial arts film with a completely different vampire origin story. I haven't seen it. In fact I only found out it existed during the research for this post.

Wikipedia
Amazon
Youtube

I just wanted to add the following link. It goes to an artist's website. He has done some really cool concept artwork based on the Vampire$ novel. Check it out.

Adam Foster-Fahy

It's funny, I looked through John Steakley's Wikipedia page last week and again this week only to miss the most important thing. I just now noticed that the man has been dead for over a year. I don't know what to say. I know he had been working on Armor 2 for years. He was never a prolific author. Every couple of months I would check to see how the book was coming. I don't know how I missed his death. He may have only written two novels but he was one of my favorite authors. I now know that he will never finish Armor 2, or write anything else. That just rips a hole right through me. Rest In Peace John Steakley. Your works where an inspiration to me.