Vamp lit: Vampire quickie review 2

The Stress of Her Regard is a triumph of suspended disbelief. Tim Powers is the master of the seamless interface between the fictional and the non-fictional, the supernatural and the real. In Stress, Byron and Shelley become vampire hunters, desperately trying to rid themselves of the vamps that curse them and their families and bless them with the gift of poesy.




Source: Amazon.ca

 With style and magnificent attention to detail, Powers recreates and reimagines historical reality. It is as if he is literally telling us a secret history of the Romantic poets.

Powers uses the poetry of Byron, Shelley and Keats (another afflicted poet) as proof of the encounter with the supernatural. And real events from the poets' lives are given a vampy twist. So believable. So well done. Unlike so many faddy tales, vamp hunting is not tagged onto a famous life as a gimmicky story line. It is an essential detail of the biographies of Shelley, Keats and Byron. It explains them. It gives reasons for their doom.

Powers' redo of the vamp tale is based on the Biblical myth of the Nephilim. The horrifying and alluring offspring of the angels that mated with humans. The Nephilim are strange multiple identitied beings with special protective connections to certain families and love-hate relationships with particular humans. They are also very jealous. Killing anyone too close to their kin and mates. Moreover, their attention is seductive, alluring and addictive. And they have a host of groupies/servants called 'neffies'.

Stress details the involved and convoluted (in a wonderful way) struggles of Byron, Shelley and their allies with their preternatural muses/lovers/killers. It is a fantastic story. One of the best vamp tales I've ever read. Powers draws you in like a Nephilim. Read it. Not only will you believe it. You will become a 'neffie' and lust for more...