fantastic

what a fantastic audiobook from the pen of John Payton Cook and narrated by Sean Duregger xxxxxx

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Given his choices, I would.

I’ve been trying to remember the last time I read a vampire novel. I don’t mean a tale revolving around the Brian Lumley’s body-sculpting Wamphyri or Colin Wilson’s sexy Space Vampires but good, old fashioned vampires and I think it was probably The Vampire Lestat which I read the 90s as a rebellious teenage and so it was with interest that I started Out for Blood.

Synopsis wise, it’s an interesting premise and the idea of Chris Callaway, a young gay man suffering from leukemia, was certainly a different take than the usual person seeking excitement, revenge or power. The portrayal of his fear and frustration over his illness was well defined while avoiding it making it seem he was steeping in self-pity and I quickly grew to really like him and this was aided in no small part by the excellent narration by Sean Duregger who really gave him a beautiful sense of reluctant resignation.

Enter Beth, stunning goth girl who admits that she’s a vampire and has fed on him once and now wishes to offer him eternal life as a vampire. In a very short time, he’s died, been reborn and met the local pack of vamps and we learn that the vamps are not blood-thirsty killers but live with a very carefully regulated feeding ethos and take great care to avoid killing or turning.

This was a really nice change from the typical portrayal of vampires, as party animals revelling in death, blood and chaos and felt extremely refreshing. Another new addition is Chroba, the form that blood takes within a vampire after feeding and used to fuel their existence. I can’t remember the last time that a book about ‘classic’ vampires created anything new but this is certainly one such instance.

Things are not all fun and games as Chris learns and the problems don’t just involve hiding his new condition from humans as there are those who would use Vampires to their own ends and, following his meeting Temsik, he learns that there are things that even Vampires need to fear but to know what that is, you’ll just have to find out for yourself.

And I do recommend you do, this is a great story full of likeable characters, an original take on vampires and a really exciting story. To think that was published 30 years ago with a gay main character is brillaint and I honestly can’t think of many gay characters this well portrayed from that era.

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1 person found this helpful

Queer, fun horror

I was a horror-obsessed gay guy growing up in the 90s, so this book immediately appealed to me. The author does an excellent job of capturing the time period, so much so that at times it felt I was reliving my youth! And much respect to the author for creating an extremely likeable, sweet, interesting and fully-rounded gay protagonist who is undamaged by his sexuality. I also greatly appreciated that a same-sex romance was positioned at the very front and centre of the novel, rather than being relegated to a minor sub-plot. In fact, this book could arguably just as easily be classified as romance than as horror.

Balancing horror and humour is difficult, as usually one is emphasised to the detriment of the other. Plus, humour is subjective. Nevertheless, I found the light and frothy tone of the book, and the fact that it didn’t take itself too seriously, very enjoyable. Just don’t expect a really dark, intense, stifling, gothic, viscerally blood-soaked take on vampires.

The narrator was excellent. He had a very pleasant voice, spoke clearly so every word was understood, talked neither too fast or too slow, and portrayed the main character very well. At no point was I taken out of the story by poor narration.

My only complaint about this audiobook is that I was left wanting more. So, if the author happens to read this review, John please write a sequel!

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Wonderful book

I really enjoyed this audio book very much can’t wait for more audio books

Great book

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