Review © 2008 Dru Pagliassotti

Corpses So Lively: My Soul to Take Part I
William A. Veselik
© 2007, Mundania Press

As the title suggests, Corpses So Lively is the first part of a series, and in a pulpesque manner suitable for a novel about a Victorian professor chasing vampires, the last page ends on a cliffhanger -- so be ready for it. The sequel is due out soon.

It's 1897, and Professor Alfred Rhys Smythe has returned from Rumania to take a new job teaching biology at King's College. Smythe's time in Rumania opened his eyes to the existence of certain beings described in Bram Stoker's recent novel, Dracula, so when a series of deaths in London suggest that vampires may be stalking the streets of the theatre district, Smythe knows what to do. He links up with a like-minded police inspector and tackles the problem with all the resources and science available to him.

Corpses So Lively is written in a mildly stilted period style that is an amiable nod to Dracula and Sherlock Holmes, and its subject matter is pure pulp-style fiction and Hollywood horror. The novel doesn't break any new ground, but its descriptions are rich and detailed, and the drama of Smythe's familial relationships add a personal dimension to a story that is otherwise formulaic. Some of the forensic chemical analysis seems advanced for a college professor in the late 19th century, but we must assume that Smythe, like Holmes, was a cutting-edge scientist who kept a close eye on the medical journals. And the point really isn't what is or isn't possible, but whether Professor Smythe and Inspector Jenkins can cure vampirism -- or at least find and destroy the master vampire -- before being, themselves, destroyed.

Corpses So Lively is an easy-going read squarely situated in historical vampire fiction. If you enjoy Victorian-style storytelling with a classic Hollywood horror sensibility, you'll want to pick up this book.

This review is available for reprint under a Creative Commons License.