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_New Amsterdam_, Elizabeth Bear
There are vampires, or wampyr, if you prefer, and some of them do. The world is a recognizable analogue of our own at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, wherein the American revolution never happened and those colonies are getting restless again. What with the war brewing between the British Empire and the Republic of France (which number? We don't know, but there is a Prime Minister and he holds significant power), now is a good time to start divorce proceedings.
The books is a chronological sequence of novellas, or long short stories, featuring Don Sebastien de Ulloa, a millenarian vampire who fancies himself a detective. Bear manages a distinctive feel for her vampires: as befits an apex predator, there really are very few of them. They are very territorial. Don Sebastien is apparently the first vampire in the New World. They burn in sunlight, never sleep, and need about a pint of living blood every few days, for which they exchange orgasmic pleasure -- almost all prey is willing. Very fast, very tough, excellent sense of smell and hearing... and otherwise unmagical. Once in New Amsterdam, the Don meets Lady Abigail Irene Garrett, Detective Crown Investigator -- which is to say, the Royal crime scene investigator, magical lab technician, and all around richly drawn character.
They fight crime.
Recommended.
There are vampires, or wampyr, if you prefer, and some of them do. The world is a recognizable analogue of our own at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, wherein the American revolution never happened and those colonies are getting restless again. What with the war brewing between the British Empire and the Republic of France (which number? We don't know, but there is a Prime Minister and he holds significant power), now is a good time to start divorce proceedings.
The books is a chronological sequence of novellas, or long short stories, featuring Don Sebastien de Ulloa, a millenarian vampire who fancies himself a detective. Bear manages a distinctive feel for her vampires: as befits an apex predator, there really are very few of them. They are very territorial. Don Sebastien is apparently the first vampire in the New World. They burn in sunlight, never sleep, and need about a pint of living blood every few days, for which they exchange orgasmic pleasure -- almost all prey is willing. Very fast, very tough, excellent sense of smell and hearing... and otherwise unmagical. Once in New Amsterdam, the Don meets Lady Abigail Irene Garrett, Detective Crown Investigator -- which is to say, the Royal crime scene investigator, magical lab technician, and all around richly drawn character.
They fight crime.
Recommended.
