Derek Gunn opens his novel in the not-too-distant future, with the entire world on the brink of a Roman Empire-type collapse. All fossil fuels have been burned and there is no suitable replacement save for a few scattered nuclear plants. Some cities have become self-sufficient, others are slowly dying. Central government has more or less vanished completely. For me, the strongest part of Vampire Apocalypse was its intelligent choice of setting. A post-fossil fuel world is both frightening and topical.  Into this political and technological vacuum springs the vampire race who, as one vampire explains to his stunned counterparts, have been waiting for humans to screw things up for a very long time. A short, lopsided struggle ensues. Surviving humans are drugged and concentrated in towns for food stock.

    The main thrust of Vampire Apocalypse takes place several years after the vampires’ conquest of the world in an unnamed American town. Peter Harris and a small gang of fellow revolutionists figure out how to avoid the vampires’ mind-numbing injections. After Peter convinces the group to attempt a daring attack on the vampires, the rest of the novel follows a protracted struggle between Harris and the local vampire warlord, Nero.

    And there is a definite emphasis on the struggle. Vampire Apocalypse is a novel of almost exclusive action. Humans toss grenades with abandon and unload hundreds of clips into anything that moves. Vampires carve their enemies apart with bare hands, and their servants (bitten humans that haven’t turned into full fledged vampires) drive tanks and fly diesel-powered helicopters. 

    I have two critiques of this novel. The first is that this much non-stop action frequently comes at the expense of  character development. Even the character names are fairly flat: Dan Harrington, Bill Johnston, and Scott and Bill Anderson sound invented, and they don’t have spare time to prove otherwise to the reader.

    The second critique is that so much action detracts from the very cool and original setting that Gunn has invented. In the first twenty pages we learn that central powers are collapsing and that each town has to rely on its on resources. It is hard to balance this information with the fact that Harris has a seemingly unlimited supply of grenades; and bazookas, claymore mines, and silver tipped stakes are all used in large quantities. Gunn would have gone a long way if he had written a few short scenes to space out the action: show a main character melting down their grandmother’s silverware to dip stakes in. Show people raiding the local armory to replace all the ammo they expend. Show the vampires brewing the bio-diesel their helicopters run on in rusty barrels. Without these scenes the action can become dangerously implausible.

    One critique of the publisher: I normally don’t point out typos because everyone has a few, and only stiffs harp on them, but the back of this book called Peter Harris “John Harris.” That’s a big typo in my book, and I’d be a little peeved if I were the author.

    That said, it’s best to think of Vampire Apocalypse as an action movie. You don’t go to an action movie to pick holes in the plot or its characters. You go to watch the explosions. These Gunn gives the reader frequently, and with aplomb.