Conference noted::sf

999.0. "Under the Fang" by TECRUS::REDFORD (Entropy isn't what it used to be) Wed Jul 17 1991 22:38

The Horror Writers of America Present:
"Under the Fang"
edited by Robert R. McCammon

An intriguing premise but not particularly horrific, with one exception.

Vampires seem to be high on the bestseller list these days, so here's 
an anthology that's got vampires galore.  The idea is that vampires
have finally come out of the coffin and taken over the country, nay
the world.  They have set off a chain reaction of vampiric infection
that has converted a good chunk of the human race.  The remainder of
humanity is now prey, fearing every onset of darkness.  

All well and good, and as you would expect, most of the stories are about
fear-crazed people jumping at every shadow.  There isn't much
development of the idea, though.  There's a stab at vampire politics
(Eastern European feudalism, of course) and a little about vampires
hunting down the human resistance, but not a lot.  It's a flop in
terms of the extrapolation that SF readers expect.

It is horror after all, not SF, but the horror part isn't all that
strong either.  Most of the grue is pretty standard "Night of the
Living Dead" stuff.  The exception is a story by Nancy Collins,
"Dancing Nitely".  It's about a fairly average vampire who lives in
condo complex now coverted for the undead.  He keeps cages of kittens
in his kitchen for those early-evening snacks before heading out to his
favorite club.  The entertainment there consists of human gladiators
tearing each other to pieces while the patrons stand below the fight
hungry for every falling drop of blood.  It's a ghastly story, and it
really makes one wonder about the author.

Collins is a name to watch out for.  Her first novel, "Sunglasses
After Dark", was brilliant and gruesome.   It concerns a young woman
who was vampirified by a rape outside a mod English night club in the
sixties.  Rape is her induction into the Real World, the world of
trolls and ogres and vampires that most of us are too blind to see on
the street.  She now crosses the world, hunting for other vampires and
S&M sex.  She runs afoul of a TV evangelist with genuine, albeit
nasty, psychic powers.  Recommended, but definitely NC-17.

/jlr

    re:.0
    
    For what it's worth, Nancy Collins is now the regular writer for DC's
    SWAMP THING comic.
    
    --- jerry