The Gentleman Vampire Author:John›››› Stockmyer Alexander Ashley Alastair is a vampire. No! Not the vampire of legend--all fright and fang. A real vampire--in his eyes, if no one else's--the perfect gentleman. Though doing little but enjoying life for the last five-hundred years, he sees himself as knowledgeable, experienced, and cultured when compared to Amortals. Does he drink b... more »lood? Certainly not--just another fable told about his kind. Sleep in his coffin during the day? Absurd. Can't be seen in mirrors? Ridiculous. Can only be killed by having a wooden stake driven through his heart? Unfortunately, not the case. What is true is that, with the proper amount of sex--neither too much nor too little--plus avoiding dangers that would kill anyone, he does not age. With the ability to hibernate at the first hint of danger to himself, Alastair has awakened from a sixty year sleep ("going to ground" in 1941 to avoid WW II.) Though finding it impossible to "bone up" on all that happened during the period of his recent hibernation, he is confident that his style as a 19th century Englishman will cover any small blunders he might make. Conceited, thin skinned, greedy, lazy, fearful, and suspicious, Alastair revels in living the Great Life, having all the time in the world to accomplish something, sometime. Part reconstruction of the vampire myth, part satire, part spoof, the book reveals A. A. Alastair as more Magoo than gore, more Clousseau than criminal. In short--though Alastair would be horrified at the comparison--he is startlingly like the rest of us, embedded as we are, in the Me generation!« less