ABAW: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith, Grand Central Pub (via Hachette Audio 2010). 

Without death, life is meaningless. It is a story that can never be told. A song that can never be sung. For how would one finish it?

A modern-day bookshop owner/writer meets an odd man who gives him some old books and a list of names before disappearing. The unlikely books are the private journals of Abraham Lincoln, one of America’s most revered presidents, and - as his journals detail - also a secret scourge of vampires. The bookstore owner’s unlikely task is to make known to the world the truth of Lincoln’s life and the truth about vampires. 

This story was very entertaining. who can resist an axe-wielding man of letters and philosophy? And audiobook narrator Scott Holst brings alive the nuanced accents and speech patterns of the various characters in sharp and subtle ways. 

Grahame-Smith is also the author of another supernatural reboot that I enjoyed, Pride and Prejudice With Zombies. In both cases, Grahame-Smith employs the original story (whether novel or history) in such a way that the addition of fictional monsters both entertained and increased my appreciation for the original. For Lincoln, he seamlessly weaves historical fact with the vampire fiction, making the mashup not only feel plausible, but also inspiring a greater curiosity about the details and hardships of Lincoln’s real life.

I enjoyed it so much that I nearly recommended it to Sonar X11. But I checked myself, worrying less about the violence of the vampire slaying than about muddying with vampires the Sonar’s ideas of an important historical figure and period. Maybe later, when his grasp of the (non-vampiric) history is firmer.

Tim Burton has adapted the book into a movie due out this June. Check out IMDB for a moody trailer full of singing blades and vampire growls.