I’m not big on vampire stories. Many vampire stories now days are about the vampires that love humanity and try to live with them. Crazy talk, if you ask me.
I think that is why I like Last Respects. Thompson’s story is from the perspective a grandfather that is trying to spoil his children. They are all vampires. They are on a kind of farm with live stock. The story has two aspects that I really like, one is craft and the other is content.
The craft in the story is excellent. The story begins simply with the grandfather thinking about his people and reflecting on his wife who has recently passed on. The action of the story is a dinner. At first is seems that the children are tearing apart small animals, live stock. However, by the end of the story the reader is lead to understand that the live stock is something other than pigs, sheep, or cows. The craft is how slowly Thompson reveals the identity of the live stock, and the narrator never says it, the reader just knows through the little details. However, I didn’t need the extra push that Thompson provides, that one of the characters wants to only feed on the other type of live stock, in this case non-human live stock.
The other aspect that I really liked was the references to The Last Supper. In the mythology of the story, humanity misunderstood Jesus’ message. He did not come to save humanity but to save vampires. It seems a little heavy handed, but I like that. The whole communion thing has always bugged me. Wine = blood. Bread = Flesh. Sounds like vampirism to me, cannibalism at best.
If you’re in the mood for a vampire story, then Last Respects is well worth your time. read it online by licking: Last Respects.
Thompson, D.K. Last Respects. Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest. Apex Online Archives
NaBloPoMo
I think that is why I like Last Respects. Thompson’s story is from the perspective a grandfather that is trying to spoil his children. They are all vampires. They are on a kind of farm with live stock. The story has two aspects that I really like, one is craft and the other is content.
The craft in the story is excellent. The story begins simply with the grandfather thinking about his people and reflecting on his wife who has recently passed on. The action of the story is a dinner. At first is seems that the children are tearing apart small animals, live stock. However, by the end of the story the reader is lead to understand that the live stock is something other than pigs, sheep, or cows. The craft is how slowly Thompson reveals the identity of the live stock, and the narrator never says it, the reader just knows through the little details. However, I didn’t need the extra push that Thompson provides, that one of the characters wants to only feed on the other type of live stock, in this case non-human live stock.
The other aspect that I really liked was the references to The Last Supper. In the mythology of the story, humanity misunderstood Jesus’ message. He did not come to save humanity but to save vampires. It seems a little heavy handed, but I like that. The whole communion thing has always bugged me. Wine = blood. Bread = Flesh. Sounds like vampirism to me, cannibalism at best.
If you’re in the mood for a vampire story, then Last Respects is well worth your time. read it online by licking: Last Respects.
Thompson, D.K. Last Respects. Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest. Apex Online Archives
NaBloPoMo
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