The Vampire Memoirs
Review by Davis Farnsworth, submitted on 3-Aug-1991

_The_Vampire_Memoirs_ by Mara McCuniff & Traci Briery (Zebra Books, 1991).

Mara is recounting her history from 362AD in Keston, England to modern Los Angeles. The first quarter of the book is her life before becoming a vampire, and it's not a bad story in and of itself (but I have always liked history anyway). I even forgot this was supposed to be a vampire tale until she suddenly met up with the *Master Vampire*. The rest of the book deals with her coping with vampirism, immortality, and daily life, and finally with other vampires she can no longer avoid in modern society.

This book is at the opposite end of the spectrum from _Nightblood_ and _Dracula_. There are a few ruthless vampires on the scene, but Mara is certainly not one of them. She is no threat to humanity, but uncomfortable and somewhat confused by her situation. She spends years simply passing time (p.288, "After four hundred years of this I returned to London.") because she doesn't know what else to do. The reader knows that she survives to the end of the book though, because it is written as a first-person account.

I liked this book for attempting to present a feminine perspective on vampirism and immortality. Mara is interesting and likable, although I would not call her a compelling character. I found it hard to believe that she would not change more radically over the years. To me, she is essentially the same person at the end of the story as she was at the time she was changed. I also did not like the ending, finding it to be contrived. "Deux ex machina" is, I believe the proper phrase for a sudden resolution to a plot's problems. There is some sex, but it's passed over pretty quickly and is not at all lurid. There is some violence, specific but again, not lurid.

I would recommend this book for its different perspective. It "breaks the mold" in some ways be presenting the case of the vampire victim who is changed to immortality, but who never ceases to be herself. The plot was not particularly complex (but then, it's supposed to be a memoir, not a murder mystery), and the only character developed is Mara. I'd give it maybe six fangs out of ten.