This is a novel that doesn't allow you to leave your brain at the door. Charnas is delightfully subtle - there's no one big moment where you can point out that Weyland has changed, and it is sometimes a whole chapter later before you find out what effect the human "guest stars" have had on him, all of them affecting him in very different ways. And she never lets you forget what he is - this is not someone you would ever want to have a cup of tea with. This is probably the best depiction of the vampire as a predator, neither good nor evil. We remain rather detached from Weyland as he almost clinically self-examines himself.

Weyland's relationships with the humans he encounters are so different that each chapter varies wildly in tone. I personally found Mark's chapter the most powerful, with a wonderful picture of the terror and aching conscience of a truly good boy, and Floria's curiously anticlimatic considering her obvious significance. Everyone will have a favorite.

Though not quite perfect, a welcome addition to any vampire fiction collection.


Unusual, but readable.   December 10, 1999
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

The premise of _The Vampire Tapestry_ is interesting enough, and makes the book worth reading - a presentation of the vampire not as a supernatural creature but instead some high-order product of evolution. I also appreciated the doing-away-with on Charnas' part of some the genre's more tired cliches such as nocturnalism and the self-pitying introspection that plagues certain other popular vampire characters.

The book apparently grew out of a short story once published in _Omni_ magazine. Unfortunately, the work doesn't seem to shake of that feeling. The five chapters are rather disjointed in segue from one to the next. It feels less like a cohesive novel and more like an anthology centered around a single character.

Our vampire protagonist, Dr. Weyland, starts off as an intriguing enigma, but towards the climax of the book, it seems Weyland is more bored than anything. However, this malaise may have been intentional, and it does serve to explain his actions at the end of the story.

In the course of plot development, Weyland's confidence and amorality are slowly replaced with suggestions of human-like frailty and compassion. These characteristics are brought about by a series of encounters between Weyland and a psychiatrist. Having read this 1979 work for the first time in 1999, I found the author's underlying implication that psychotherapy can take care of any emotional problem to be a bit dated.

One final note; As a citizen of Albuquerque, I was initially drawn to this book because the back cover indicated that it was a vampire story set in New Mexico. In actuality, three of the five chapters take place in New York. If you're looking at purchasing this book for the southwestern setting, consider yourself warned.


Vampire Tapestry   December 24, 1999
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

By far one of the very best books I have ever read. I think Stephen King puts it best with the comment of "Unputdownable". It took me a little time to get into the story, the first 20 or 30 pages are a little slow, in my opinion. After that I had a hard time stoping. It was easy to read the 285 pages in a night. Suzy writes a revolutionary vampire novel, I found myself thinking 'Weyland' could be a real person some place in the world, vampire and all.The ending gives me a very satisfied feeling, and the entire book is a pleasure.


A different kind of vampire   December 11, 2003
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Unlike Anne Rice or even Bram Stoker's vampires, Suzy McKee Charnas' view of the vampire is more realistic and grounded. Her vampire is more akin to a scientific or evolutionary mutation. Dr. Edward Weyland is a professor at a prolific university, teaching and testing the effects of dream therapy; a clever disguise in order to lure test subjects in and victimize them for his own cravings for blood.

Instead of fangs, he has a stinger on his tongue and as for garlic, crosses, holy water and sunlight, they are, to him, laughable myths that have no bearing. He knows of no other like himself and has only vague memories of the centuries he lived before and no memory at all of his life (if there was one) before becoming what he is.

This is almost like an intimate character study of what a real vampire might be like and what he might go through. There are no slatherings of sexual overtones or manic violence; what little there is of both are done with a realistic detachment. If your looking for a break from the usual tale of the undead, then this should be right up your alley.


A Different Slant   June 29, 2000
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Wow! This book takes a very unusual and very well plotted path to the vampire tale. Reminds me in spots of Nancy Baker's work, but this is a better written book with some thought provoking insights into the things all creatures must do to co-exist, adapt and survive. The author brings in some interesting ideas about the relationships between hunter and prey, and the inevitability of change over time. Good read.

This is one to try if you are tired of Draula re-treads, and cape-and-fang skulkings.