Vampires of Vermont

News from the Edge #3

by Mark Sumner

WEIRD!
SHOCKING!
BIZARRE

VAMPIRE MURDERED--SAVES ON COFFIN EXPENSES!

Global Query ace reporter Savvy McKinnon is in Vermont to verify the existence of Count Yorga, an alleged nosferatu. While conducting her "interview with the vampire," the supposed immortal drops dead--after biting her on the arm! Now Savvy's feeling funny--pale, tired, sensitive to the sun. And when the "vampire's" body mysteriously disappears from the morgue, Savvy has to find out the truth behind the Count's fantastical fiction, before she becomes a Global Query headline!

Savvy McKinnon is a reporter with a nose for the truth. That's why working for the Global Query, one of America's most notorious tabloids, is only temporary... she hopes. Savvy knows that 99% of her work is fiction. But she also knows that amid the army of two-headed Elvises and Bigfoot weddings lurks that other 1%. And it's her job to find it...

Genres: Vampires, Science Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Fantasy

198 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

About the author

Sometimes credited as Mark C. Sumner or M.C. Sumner.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tonally a bit strange. The fact that this series didn't continue leaves these books in a strange liminal space where the characters never quite got to develop across the series, so what we're left with is a bit too spare to dig into. Winds up feeling hollow.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vampires of Vermont is the third and final of the Savvy McKinnon books, following The Monster of Minnesota and Insanity, Illinois. They are fun books, good-hearted and clever urban fantasies about a plucky investigative reporter who works for a tabloid newspaper of the type that used to proliferate in racks by check-out lines with impossible and silly stories about impossible and silly things that were endlessly entertaining and amusing. It's a shame that News From the Edge didn't run for fifty volumes in order to fill out the map!

[Bill Plott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Savannah McKinnon (byline Savvy Skye) is still a young reporter stuck with her job at Global Query, a tabloid newspaper patterned after the late Weekly World News. Unlike the average supermarket fare focused on celebrities and diets, GQ writes frequently about UFOs and supernatural happenings -- with no regard for whether or not the stories are true. They just need to sell papers. Savvy has written up several interviews with a man in Vermont who claims to be vampire. This time he calls to complain that she misquoted him. If he can't talk with the publisher, he will take his story to the Weekly World News, a totally unacceptable idea to publisher Mr. Genovese. He dispatches Savvy to Vermont to tell Count Yorga's side of the story. During the interview Yorga bites her on the arm and drops dead. The following day Savvy's skin pales and she develops a strange cough. Is she turning into a vampire? Before we know we cross paths with a host of characters who are not who they claim to be. This is Book 3 in Sumner's News From the Edge series, the genesis for the sadly short-lived SyFy series, The Chronicle. It's readable but bears absolutely no resemblance to The Chronicle, a really great show.

[isa · Rating 3 out of 5]

(finished last night)
pretty solid and interesting although cooper was an easy read to be one of the bad guys and it was obvious jimmy would rescue savvy. besides the cliches and fairly basic and predictable tropes it was enjoyable for what it was. the book read super fast and i would definitely check out others in the series. althought the whole secret service men in black ending was a little unsatisfactory

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was my favorite of the trio. There were a few plot holes but the story was still fun, exactly what I was looking for.

I'm disappointed that there isn't more to come.

[Terrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining enough book that kept my interest.

[Djhonz · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable and breezy read. Everything happens so fast you don’t really have a chance to think about how little sense everything makes.

[Millerbug · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cute series! I wish there were more, but it seems that Mark Sumner has stopped writing them. This one Savvy has a run in with a vampire, and gets bitten during there interview before he drops dead. Now she's up to her neck in secret agents and guns being pointed at her and she doesn't know who she can trust. Jimmy gallops in and accidently saves her (like he always does...) and then Savvy figures it all out. A great read, funny and entertaining. You can totally relate to Savvy, she's just like all of us. I would really love to read more of these! They are so unique!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the series of books SciFi based their quirky show The Chronicle on...

I wish there'd been more of the books and the show...

re-read 4/27/2010

[DeCarabas · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read, fun and quirky.

[Ian Schulze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not great literature but a fun read.