A Scientific Approach, Check Out Lumley.
Mar 28 '01
The Bottom Line Brian Lumley completely rewrites vampire history and offers a scientific explanation of the creature. His accuracy and realism scares the #@!$ out of me!
Some time ago, after a trip to the local Half-Price Books, I came home with what appeared to be an interesting book called Necroscope by Brian Lumley. It seemed to be a fairly standard book about Vampires at first glance, but it turned out to be so much more.
I was new to the works of Brian Lumley, and I did not know what to expect. I quickly realized from his writing that he is not an American, which opened my eyes to my own biases and the fact that most books I've read in the past tend to present the American view of life. Brian Lumley is from the United Kingdom, and his writing encompasses many different lands. Ironically, his main character in this book is an American by birth, Harry Keogh.
Brian Lumley gives a European view of the world, not the America-centric version so often used by U.S. authors depicting the United States as the center of the world. I find this refreshing and humbling, and I feel like my horizons have been broadened by reading his work.
Now on to why I see him as one of the best vampire novel authors:
Mr. Lumley forced me to consider the vampire as a species rather than a monster. His treatment of the subject matter is completely different from the standard horror writers, as he approaches it more from a scientific angle.
Vampires, as explained through the Necroscope series of books, are essentially symbiotic entities. They consist of a human host and a vampire "leech", which invades the human body through a variety of means. This includes the traditional bite to the neck, but that is by far the most simple method. Other ways include contamination by exposure to vampire blood, introduction of an "egg" into a host, sexual acts, just to name a few. Essentially, one could view a vampire as the carrier of an extremely contagious disease, spreading "infection" in just as many different ways.
During the process of becoming a vampire, a human host is invaded by the vampire leech, which grows and extends into the spinal cord and brain of the victim. It integrates itself into the nervous system, making extraction nearly impossible and usually fatal. In keeping with the popular myth, this process takes place over time, with the human host "dying" physically in order to accommodate its new companion.
As the vampire leech transforms the human host into a "Vampire", the body goes through a metamorphosis. The flesh can be manipulated to take on other forms, like a bat-shaped creature for gliding on the winds. Additionally, all of the senses, emotions, and capabilities of the person are magnified tremendously. This results in superhuman strength, insatiable lust, telepathy, and other awesome vampire characteristics. Think of the vampire leech almost as a "bionic" enhancement to what the person was prior to being infected. The leech and host become one, with the leech as pure instinct, emotion, and brute strength guided by the remains of human intelligence.
It is this treatment of the vampire that bonded me to the works of Brian Lumley. He takes many of the mystical and spiritual aspects and offers a "scientific" explanation, creating a very believable super-species. He even explores the origins of the vampire leech, developing an alternate world connected to ours through a portal. I won't go into details, but this is clearly explained as the Necroscope series continues. I simply don't feel I would do it justice trying to explain here.
Not only does Lumley create a complex biological explanation of the vampire, but he introduces incredible characters to do battle with these super-villains. His main character in the Necroscope series is Harry Keogh, born in the United States but raised in England. Harry's mother exhibited some psychic abilities, but as Harry grows it appears that he has some unique talents of his own. He learns that he can speak with the dead, in a language that he comes to call "Deadspeak". It is essentially a mental connection to those that have passed before, and Lumley completely changes the traditional view of death.
Harry learns that the dead continue to do what they did in life, but without the daily distractions. The ancient philosophers have continued their thoughts over the centuries, the mathematicians have continued to develop new theories and prove or disprove old ones. Harry finds that he can tap into this knowledge, as the dead have no one else with whom they can share. The possibilities are limitless.
Brian Lumley takes the reader into another universe through Harry's knowledge gained from Mobius, the great mathematician. Basically, Harry learns how to conjure mathematical formulas to open "doors" which can transport him to any place for which he has the mental coordinates.
Lumley combines so many different aspects into his works that the concept of a vampire becomes easy to accept, and even seems tame in comparison to some of the other components. He shows us the human side of a vampire, losing humanity over time as the leech grows in strength. He also shows us the incredible depths of evil resident in the vampire heart, describing some of the most horrifying scenes I've ever seen in writing.
I believe that Brian Lumley is one of the greatest vampire novel authors, as his work is some of the most revolutionary stuff around. He has rewritten the vampire myth, making it into a believable, scientific-based possibility. By comparison, many of the other vampire novel authors simply ask the reader to suspend disbelieve and embrace the mystical, without any logical explanation. Lumley also incorporates so many other surprises into his work that the reader is consistently amazed at what happens next. As the Necroscope series moves forward, Harry's abilities change and develop, the story of the vampire is enhanced including an explanation of the Werewolf as a form of vampire, and many myths are shown to have some basis in fact (at least according to Lumley's depiction of "fact" in the universe he creates).
Brian Lumley totally changes the concept of the vampire and builds a whole biological structure around its origins. His approach is fresh and original, and I no longer see vampires as portrayed by Bela Lugosi in the old black and white Dracula films. Compared to Lumley, many authors just recycle the same old stuff and try to update it to a more recent setting.
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RBradford
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Location: Dallas, TX
Reviews written: 109
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I'm a Computer Hardware, Software, and Gadget Junkie.
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