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Stainless
Justine is a vampire. Keith just lives like one. An ex-junkie and ex-rock star, his hands mangled by his dead ex’s own jealous ex, he’s let go of all his ambitions. He’s content to be Justine’s live-in Renfield, helping her pick up dinner when she needs a bite, keeping an eye on her lavish L.A. manor when the sun is out and she’s down for her beauty sleep. It’s true that Justine has been around for a few centuries and Keith barely three decades, but they’re good for each Justine is teaching Keith to take the long view; Keith is reminding her how it feels to be alive. Between and around them, though, move a cast of criminals, victims, artists, dead-enders, hangers-on, wanna-bes, and other distractions, undead and otherwise. Can there be such a thing as love in a world where there are also such things as monsters?
First published in 1996, Todd Grimson’s Stainless is a noir fantasia, a symphony of bloody horror, and a woozy, romantic tour of night-side L.A. Not only is it the last, best vampire novel of the twentieth century, it might well be the last, best farewell to the mythic Los Angeles of Bette Davis, Dennis Hopper, and Less than Zero. In a league with the best of James Ellroy and Raymond Chandler—and closing the coffin for good on poor Bram Stoker—Stainless is the final word on fangs, hangovers, and heartbreak.
First published in 1996, Todd Grimson’s Stainless is a noir fantasia, a symphony of bloody horror, and a woozy, romantic tour of night-side L.A. Not only is it the last, best vampire novel of the twentieth century, it might well be the last, best farewell to the mythic Los Angeles of Bette Davis, Dennis Hopper, and Less than Zero. In a league with the best of James Ellroy and Raymond Chandler—and closing the coffin for good on poor Bram Stoker—Stainless is the final word on fangs, hangovers, and heartbreak.
256 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1996
47 people are currently reading
1125 people want to read
About the author
Todd Grimson
5 books123 followersTodd Grimson was born in 1952 in Seattle and moved to Portland, Oregon at an early age. At the age of 22, having gone through all kinds of dead-end employment, Grimson took a civil service exam and ended up working at the VA Hospital in its surgical intensive care unit, which he found highly educational. He went on to work nightshift in the emergency room at Emanuel Hospital, where most local victims of violent crime were seen—an intense experience informing his first novel, “Within Normal Limits,” which he wrote under the mentorship of Paul Bowles, whom he had met and studied with during a summer writing workshop in Tangier, Morocco. Published in the prestigious “Vintage Contemporaries” series as a trade paperback original, “Within Normal Limits” earned critical acclaim and was the winner of the Oregon Book Award in 1988.
It was shortly before the publication of this first novel that Grimson was first
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), an incurable, degenerative disease. However, his symptoms went away and did not reappear until the summer of 1991. Stricken suddenly, housebound and incapacitated, Grimson found himself having vivid and surreal dreams, which later became the source and literally a part of the novel, “Brand New Cherry Flavor,” which blends this phantasmagorical dreamscape with the innovation of “cinematic realism.” Critically acclaimed both in the US and in the UK, this novel was followed by “Stainless” (Schaffner Press: Feb. 2012), an urban noir vampire novel set in late 1990’s L.A.
In recent years, Grimson has been writing and publishing short fiction online under the nom de plume “I. Fontana,” appearing in such literary reviews as BOMB, Bikini Girl, Juked, New Dead Families, Spork, Lamination Colony and Spork, while working on a new novel, “sickgirl101,” a thriller which delves into the online Alt Sex underworld, exploring and exposing the darker side of contemporary sexuality as perhaps no one else has done before.
It was shortly before the publication of this first novel that Grimson was first
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), an incurable, degenerative disease. However, his symptoms went away and did not reappear until the summer of 1991. Stricken suddenly, housebound and incapacitated, Grimson found himself having vivid and surreal dreams, which later became the source and literally a part of the novel, “Brand New Cherry Flavor,” which blends this phantasmagorical dreamscape with the innovation of “cinematic realism.” Critically acclaimed both in the US and in the UK, this novel was followed by “Stainless” (Schaffner Press: Feb. 2012), an urban noir vampire novel set in late 1990’s L.A.
In recent years, Grimson has been writing and publishing short fiction online under the nom de plume “I. Fontana,” appearing in such literary reviews as BOMB, Bikini Girl, Juked, New Dead Families, Spork, Lamination Colony and Spork, while working on a new novel, “sickgirl101,” a thriller which delves into the online Alt Sex underworld, exploring and exposing the darker side of contemporary sexuality as perhaps no one else has done before.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
August 5, 2022
This is a short paranormal novel released in the mid-1990s, the era of the New Age vampire. Stylistically, it's a mix of Rice and Duncan - the gothic majesty of the myth seeded with elements of graphic sexuality. Grimson's anti-hero, Keith, a maimed musician all but done with existence, is adopted by a stunted creature of the night who uses him to navigate modern-day Los Angeles in her hunt for sustenance.
Where this novel shines is in its author's ability to make all conflict appear inevitable. His characters surf the city, its history, its culture; quite apathetically directionless. Which leaves them vulnerable to the agendas of whomever they come across. It's the life of the lifeless, and sharp in sections that surprise with their aesthetic immediacy. The story goes absolutely nowhere its reader can't predict, and yet we are caught within it, much as the vampire's victims are caught upon the glance of those mesmerizing eyes.
Nice work, if a bit unnecessarily lascivious.
Where this novel shines is in its author's ability to make all conflict appear inevitable. His characters surf the city, its history, its culture; quite apathetically directionless. Which leaves them vulnerable to the agendas of whomever they come across. It's the life of the lifeless, and sharp in sections that surprise with their aesthetic immediacy. The story goes absolutely nowhere its reader can't predict, and yet we are caught within it, much as the vampire's victims are caught upon the glance of those mesmerizing eyes.
Nice work, if a bit unnecessarily lascivious.
January 30, 2020
Medio libro aburre y el resto no sorprende.
June 8, 2017
Vampires are hard pressed to be new and exciting. Where Dracula is outdated, Stainless is cutting edge. Where Todd Grimson is subtle and poetic, Anne Rice would be overtly heavy handed. Where this book shines, so would characters from Poppy Z Brite’s “Exquisite Corpse”. This book is not for all readers, it is dark. sexual (often disturbingly), and not handed to readers on a platter.
This book is not so much a Vampire novel as it is a highly readable analysis of human tragedy. Originally published in 1996, Grimson’s Stainless is a jewel in the vamp genre that appears to have been overlooked as a just another piece of pretty glass. It seems to have aged perfectly, coming back into print with a fist-full of mid-1990′s authenticity; Where characters still listen to tape cassettes along side compact discs, and Godflesh is still an industrial/metal band whose name is recognized. Because of the time-capsule effect and the concise wording, this book really shines as something different than the norm on the market today. The same authenticity lended to it by age differentiates it from modern works trying to ride a hipster trend of anachronistic verbiage.. You read this book and it IS 1996 again.
The story itself is nothing new. What is different here is the writing style and the approach.
Vampire, vamp thrall, insert some conflict here, but instead of inflated undead ego or a sparkly love story, you have something a bit unusual. Stainless follows (in most areas) Justine and Keith. Justine is a vampire of unknown age. She is essentially illiterate, immigrated to the US from France, and has a tough time remembering the details of her life, whether by age or the trauma of non-life it is unclear.. She is stuck in survival mode, moving day to day and attempting to remain detached from what she has become.
Keith is a broken man, alive in Los Angeles, guitarist from a now defunct band, his ex-girlfriend dead in South America by suicide. Gangsters have broken all his finger bones, destroying his career. Keith is not a standard Thrall. He helps here even when she is not lording over his consciousness with a hypnotic leash. He has no desire to become immortal, he does not want money or power, all he wants to do is learn more about this undead woman that pays him attention.
Justine, likewise is not the standard vamp. Sure, she has all the conscience issues associated with modern vampire “soul investigation”, but it is not all encompassing. She is written in a manner that makes her shuffle between hot and cold personalities, sometimes caring for others, and often full predatory disregard. She refuses to kill or turn Keith, fascinated by his seemingly suicidal relationship with an arbitrary bearer of death.
The novel is primarily from the perspective of non-vampire humans who are involved, though some chapters focus from an undead POV. In all cases, the text can vary from beautifully descriptive to stuttering and disjointed. This stylization depends entirely on the character and his/her/it’s mindset or occasionally tenuous grasp on reality.
Other characters exist as well, but will not be mentioned here except that one or two of then are just damned evil..
Certain sections of this book were highly quotable
Excerpt, Keith on the topic of his venomous black congealed blood filled killing machine of a girlfriend’s possibility of having a soul:
"It is not a modern question, this consideration of soul. He leaves behind in an instant the nervous irreverence with which one might ordinarily banter about such an unknowable, metaphysical concept– he finds within himself an uneasy but hard-core reverence that he can connect to Justine like a sticky tentacle answering her need."
New paperback edition of this book goes on sale in February, distributed by Schaffner Press.
If you prefer the original cover, or would like it sooner/cheaper, copies from the 1990′s can still be found via Amazon “On-The-Cheap”. It’s worth the cost of a new book however, and you would be supporting a small publishing* (edit- correction) house, so get the nice and shiny new version. They use such high quality materials that the ink is incredibly bold, the page incredibly white, and the lettering is able to be felt by bare fingers on each page.. Pretty awesome all in all from a reading aesthetic perspective.
--
xpost https://toastx2.blogspot.com/
This book is not so much a Vampire novel as it is a highly readable analysis of human tragedy. Originally published in 1996, Grimson’s Stainless is a jewel in the vamp genre that appears to have been overlooked as a just another piece of pretty glass. It seems to have aged perfectly, coming back into print with a fist-full of mid-1990′s authenticity; Where characters still listen to tape cassettes along side compact discs, and Godflesh is still an industrial/metal band whose name is recognized. Because of the time-capsule effect and the concise wording, this book really shines as something different than the norm on the market today. The same authenticity lended to it by age differentiates it from modern works trying to ride a hipster trend of anachronistic verbiage.. You read this book and it IS 1996 again.
The story itself is nothing new. What is different here is the writing style and the approach.
Vampire, vamp thrall, insert some conflict here, but instead of inflated undead ego or a sparkly love story, you have something a bit unusual. Stainless follows (in most areas) Justine and Keith. Justine is a vampire of unknown age. She is essentially illiterate, immigrated to the US from France, and has a tough time remembering the details of her life, whether by age or the trauma of non-life it is unclear.. She is stuck in survival mode, moving day to day and attempting to remain detached from what she has become.
Keith is a broken man, alive in Los Angeles, guitarist from a now defunct band, his ex-girlfriend dead in South America by suicide. Gangsters have broken all his finger bones, destroying his career. Keith is not a standard Thrall. He helps here even when she is not lording over his consciousness with a hypnotic leash. He has no desire to become immortal, he does not want money or power, all he wants to do is learn more about this undead woman that pays him attention.
Justine, likewise is not the standard vamp. Sure, she has all the conscience issues associated with modern vampire “soul investigation”, but it is not all encompassing. She is written in a manner that makes her shuffle between hot and cold personalities, sometimes caring for others, and often full predatory disregard. She refuses to kill or turn Keith, fascinated by his seemingly suicidal relationship with an arbitrary bearer of death.
The novel is primarily from the perspective of non-vampire humans who are involved, though some chapters focus from an undead POV. In all cases, the text can vary from beautifully descriptive to stuttering and disjointed. This stylization depends entirely on the character and his/her/it’s mindset or occasionally tenuous grasp on reality.
Other characters exist as well, but will not be mentioned here except that one or two of then are just damned evil..
Certain sections of this book were highly quotable
Excerpt, Keith on the topic of his venomous black congealed blood filled killing machine of a girlfriend’s possibility of having a soul:
"It is not a modern question, this consideration of soul. He leaves behind in an instant the nervous irreverence with which one might ordinarily banter about such an unknowable, metaphysical concept– he finds within himself an uneasy but hard-core reverence that he can connect to Justine like a sticky tentacle answering her need."
New paperback edition of this book goes on sale in February, distributed by Schaffner Press.
If you prefer the original cover, or would like it sooner/cheaper, copies from the 1990′s can still be found via Amazon “On-The-Cheap”. It’s worth the cost of a new book however, and you would be supporting a small publishing* (edit- correction) house, so get the nice and shiny new version. They use such high quality materials that the ink is incredibly bold, the page incredibly white, and the lettering is able to be felt by bare fingers on each page.. Pretty awesome all in all from a reading aesthetic perspective.
--
xpost https://toastx2.blogspot.com/
February 3, 2012
For all my reviews go to http://www.readingreality.net/
Stainless by Todd Grimson has the subtitle "A Modern Romance." I'm not sure I'd call it a romance. I would definitely call it a tale of obsessions. Both obsessive love and obsessive hate played a role in this story. And compulsion. I certainly felt compelled to finish once I'd started.
Human beings have found a surprising number of addictive substances to cure their addictions. Morphine was once thought to cure alcoholism. It was a case where the cure was just as bad as the original disease, since it replaced one addiction for another.
Stainless opens with Keith, a former junkie, describing how he was cured of his heroin addiction. A vampire bit him. Justine needed a human to take care of her house during the day, to drive her around looking for people to bite at night. In other words, Justine needed a Renfield. She picked Keith because he clearly had nothing to lose. Vampire bites are addictive, but it's a much more functional addiction than heroin, at least if the vampire chooses it to be. It can also, of course, also be fatal.
Keith used to be lead guitar player for a hot rock bank, SMX. But just because the named sounds like "smacks" doesn't mean he actually used to do smack. The drugs came later, after his girlfriend killed herself and her other boyfriend decided it was Keith's fault. So he sent his goons over to break Keith's hands. Without his music, Keith finally did descend into the drugs that everyone thought he'd been doing all along. And that's where Justine found him. Doped up, strung out, and on the edge of suicide.
She saved him because she needed a pretty "Renfield" who wouldn't give any more of a damn about life or death than she did. After 400 years as a vampire, Justine was nearly as strung out as Keith. But her survival instinct was a bit stronger. Being an apex predator will do that. And Justine has managed to forget a whole lot more than she remembers of her 400 years of "living." It makes things easier.
But because Keith doesn't care whether he lives or dies, he doesn't pass judgements on Justine's behavior. Slowly, these two extremely wounded creatures build a shaky bridge towards each other, based on mutual need. They need each other to have a reason to go on living. People have found love in stranger places.
Love makes everyone vulnerable. Even vampires.
And there's a new vampire in town. Someone from Justine's past. Who is so, so very good at exploiting vulnerabilities. Human vulnerabilities and vampire vulnerabilities. And he's been waiting years to strike back at the vamp who made him. His time has come.
Escape Rating C+: I got sucked into this book. Pun both intended and not. The story started out slow, but once it picked up steam, I couldn't let it go, or it didn't let me go. The ending was inevitable, but it was the right, true and correct ending. Some stories are like that, there's just no other way for them to go.
Stainless had to be set in LA, because the Hollywood movie myths played a part in the story. The evil vamp's history in the shady background of Hollywood was definitely integral to the plot. But I also kept thinking that the whole "live fast, die young, leave a beautiful corpse" concept served as a kind of meta-background in my head as I read.
As interesting as all the obsessions were, there were just a few too many points of view. Not just the action, but the actual point of view kept switching from Keith to Justine to David (the bad vampire) to different members of his minions, to the doctor who wants to use Justine's "blood" as a healing agent, and around and around. It was too easy to get lost among the shifting POVs.
And speaking of David...the bad vamp was not just born during the Hollywood of the 1920s, he was over-the-top melodramatic like a Hollywood set from the 1920s. Or at least he was to my tastes. Yours may vary.
For more of my thoughts on Stainless, head on over to Book Lovers Inc.
Stainless by Todd Grimson has the subtitle "A Modern Romance." I'm not sure I'd call it a romance. I would definitely call it a tale of obsessions. Both obsessive love and obsessive hate played a role in this story. And compulsion. I certainly felt compelled to finish once I'd started.
Human beings have found a surprising number of addictive substances to cure their addictions. Morphine was once thought to cure alcoholism. It was a case where the cure was just as bad as the original disease, since it replaced one addiction for another.
Stainless opens with Keith, a former junkie, describing how he was cured of his heroin addiction. A vampire bit him. Justine needed a human to take care of her house during the day, to drive her around looking for people to bite at night. In other words, Justine needed a Renfield. She picked Keith because he clearly had nothing to lose. Vampire bites are addictive, but it's a much more functional addiction than heroin, at least if the vampire chooses it to be. It can also, of course, also be fatal.
Keith used to be lead guitar player for a hot rock bank, SMX. But just because the named sounds like "smacks" doesn't mean he actually used to do smack. The drugs came later, after his girlfriend killed herself and her other boyfriend decided it was Keith's fault. So he sent his goons over to break Keith's hands. Without his music, Keith finally did descend into the drugs that everyone thought he'd been doing all along. And that's where Justine found him. Doped up, strung out, and on the edge of suicide.
She saved him because she needed a pretty "Renfield" who wouldn't give any more of a damn about life or death than she did. After 400 years as a vampire, Justine was nearly as strung out as Keith. But her survival instinct was a bit stronger. Being an apex predator will do that. And Justine has managed to forget a whole lot more than she remembers of her 400 years of "living." It makes things easier.
But because Keith doesn't care whether he lives or dies, he doesn't pass judgements on Justine's behavior. Slowly, these two extremely wounded creatures build a shaky bridge towards each other, based on mutual need. They need each other to have a reason to go on living. People have found love in stranger places.
Love makes everyone vulnerable. Even vampires.
And there's a new vampire in town. Someone from Justine's past. Who is so, so very good at exploiting vulnerabilities. Human vulnerabilities and vampire vulnerabilities. And he's been waiting years to strike back at the vamp who made him. His time has come.
Escape Rating C+: I got sucked into this book. Pun both intended and not. The story started out slow, but once it picked up steam, I couldn't let it go, or it didn't let me go. The ending was inevitable, but it was the right, true and correct ending. Some stories are like that, there's just no other way for them to go.
Stainless had to be set in LA, because the Hollywood movie myths played a part in the story. The evil vamp's history in the shady background of Hollywood was definitely integral to the plot. But I also kept thinking that the whole "live fast, die young, leave a beautiful corpse" concept served as a kind of meta-background in my head as I read.
As interesting as all the obsessions were, there were just a few too many points of view. Not just the action, but the actual point of view kept switching from Keith to Justine to David (the bad vampire) to different members of his minions, to the doctor who wants to use Justine's "blood" as a healing agent, and around and around. It was too easy to get lost among the shifting POVs.
And speaking of David...the bad vamp was not just born during the Hollywood of the 1920s, he was over-the-top melodramatic like a Hollywood set from the 1920s. Or at least he was to my tastes. Yours may vary.
For more of my thoughts on Stainless, head on over to Book Lovers Inc.
March 25, 2015
I desperately wanted to like this novel and regarding the positive ratings it received so far, I now feel like an alien misfit stumbling into the wrong party and being pointed at behind my back. But. I just did not like this book. Period.
This novel was just so boring and I constantly felt on the brink of coma because of its somniferous effect. I had to constantly reread pages because I forgot what they were about the moment I turned them. Sentences that stretched like chewing gum and somewhere along the way lost their meaning. Scenes that were fabulously dull and uninteresting. Sudden jumps introducing new characters that I didn't care for, either.
All I remember is that it's a story about a female vampire and her human caretaker who fall in love, another vampire who seeks revenge and a melodramatic corny ending. Everything in between blurs into white noise.
Though I understand the writing is not bad and may be perceived as a literary revelation, I couldn't care less about it. I will only remember that the book is about a female vampire and her human caretaker who fall in love, another vampire who seeks revenge and a melodramatic corny ending. The last ten pages where ok (probably because the longed for end was near) but everything else blurs into white noise. This book just did not work for me at all. Highly recommended for people suffering from insomnia.
This novel was just so boring and I constantly felt on the brink of coma because of its somniferous effect. I had to constantly reread pages because I forgot what they were about the moment I turned them. Sentences that stretched like chewing gum and somewhere along the way lost their meaning. Scenes that were fabulously dull and uninteresting. Sudden jumps introducing new characters that I didn't care for, either.
All I remember is that it's a story about a female vampire and her human caretaker who fall in love, another vampire who seeks revenge and a melodramatic corny ending. Everything in between blurs into white noise.
Though I understand the writing is not bad and may be perceived as a literary revelation, I couldn't care less about it. I will only remember that the book is about a female vampire and her human caretaker who fall in love, another vampire who seeks revenge and a melodramatic corny ending. The last ten pages where ok (probably because the longed for end was near) but everything else blurs into white noise. This book just did not work for me at all. Highly recommended for people suffering from insomnia.
December 20, 2022
Acero.- Todd Grimson
"Ha pasado tantos años en desolado y horrible silencio, inhumano, incurable... ella sí que ha divisado y ha experimentado la dolorosa soledad de un universo sin Dios, y se ha insensibilizado a sí misma, existiendo como una criatura hecha de madera o de piedra o de mierda."
Justine y Keith. Ella, vampira de origen francés que está dando vueltas por las noches del mundo desde la época medieval. Él, ex guitarrista de una banda post-punk, ex adicto a la heroína, al que le rompieron las manos por celos dejándolo incapacitado para tocar. La ciudad de Los Ángeles en los '90s es el lugar y tiempo en donde estas dos almas en cuerpos rotos y corruptos confluyen, tratando de cuidarse mutuamente, tratando de mantener lo poco de humano que todavía queda en ellos.
Acero se publicó originalmente en el año 2012 y es la tercer novela publicada por el autor norteamericano Todd Grimson (1952-). A pesar de haber vendido sus derechos, el libro aún no fue adaptado a la pantalla.
Acero es una original historia de vampiros, que toma mucho de la mitología conocida por todos, pero que le da un tratamiento diferente al de otras narraciones, mezclando una historia noir bien oscura y salvaje, llena de sangre y sexo, con otra de tonos más intimista e introspectivo, creando un buen balance final.
A través de sus páginas, el libro nos muestra diferentes épocas de sus personajes: el pasado que todos acarreamos y el presente producto del anterior, brindándonos un relato que, si bien tiene algún que otro bachecito, nos mantiene enganchados en toda su extensión, hasta llegar a un excelente final.
Acero es un libro obligatorio para los amantes del género vampírico. Uno de los subgéneros del terror más queridos y longevos, que todavía tiene cuerda para sorprender.
🤘🤘🤘🤘
"Ha pasado tantos años en desolado y horrible silencio, inhumano, incurable... ella sí que ha divisado y ha experimentado la dolorosa soledad de un universo sin Dios, y se ha insensibilizado a sí misma, existiendo como una criatura hecha de madera o de piedra o de mierda."
Justine y Keith. Ella, vampira de origen francés que está dando vueltas por las noches del mundo desde la época medieval. Él, ex guitarrista de una banda post-punk, ex adicto a la heroína, al que le rompieron las manos por celos dejándolo incapacitado para tocar. La ciudad de Los Ángeles en los '90s es el lugar y tiempo en donde estas dos almas en cuerpos rotos y corruptos confluyen, tratando de cuidarse mutuamente, tratando de mantener lo poco de humano que todavía queda en ellos.
Acero se publicó originalmente en el año 2012 y es la tercer novela publicada por el autor norteamericano Todd Grimson (1952-). A pesar de haber vendido sus derechos, el libro aún no fue adaptado a la pantalla.
Acero es una original historia de vampiros, que toma mucho de la mitología conocida por todos, pero que le da un tratamiento diferente al de otras narraciones, mezclando una historia noir bien oscura y salvaje, llena de sangre y sexo, con otra de tonos más intimista e introspectivo, creando un buen balance final.
A través de sus páginas, el libro nos muestra diferentes épocas de sus personajes: el pasado que todos acarreamos y el presente producto del anterior, brindándonos un relato que, si bien tiene algún que otro bachecito, nos mantiene enganchados en toda su extensión, hasta llegar a un excelente final.
Acero es un libro obligatorio para los amantes del género vampírico. Uno de los subgéneros del terror más queridos y longevos, que todavía tiene cuerda para sorprender.
🤘🤘🤘🤘
March 28, 2012
Hea y'all Anne here with my second review for Todd Grimson. Stainless a modern romance with a gothic old school style that brings back fond memories of Vampires that turn to dust and rip humans to shreds when hungry. Oh the good old days, and Todd takes you right back there and shows you what it would really be like to love an immortal who has lived centuries. The characters are well built with detailed pasts that lend to their position in current living arrangements. I really love this book because love isn't always sparkly and sweet it can come over time and be dark and haunting and sometimes you must deal with the past before it comes back to haunt you. Justine is deadly and beautiful, who wouldn't be terrified of her but on the same note who wouldn't love her? Keith is a broken musician on a downward spiral after his talent is rendered useless. Two people couldn't be more unalike yet need each other so much. Great writing dark and gothic in nature take you to places only the bravest of souls would dare travel. 5 out of 5 stars for Stainless by Todd Grimson and be warned for the dramatic twists that will have your mouth hanging open and your palms sweating.
March 2, 2012
This is the second book I have read by Todd and I loved this one even more than the first. He writes horror Paranormal that reminds me of classic gothic horror writers.
Justine is a vampire who has memory problems but has moments when she can remember her past. She is almost child like at times but only adds to her character. Keith is a down on his luck guitarist with a troubled past. But they manage to come together and fall in love.
But what they don’t know is somebody from Justine’s past is coming back to cause problems. What happens next is sad and shocking but it only adds to the book.
If you want a book that makes you feel like your reading a classic horror book that is set in modern times than pick up any of Todd Grimson’s books. I promise you won’t be sorry. 5/5 stars
Justine is a vampire who has memory problems but has moments when she can remember her past. She is almost child like at times but only adds to her character. Keith is a down on his luck guitarist with a troubled past. But they manage to come together and fall in love.
But what they don’t know is somebody from Justine’s past is coming back to cause problems. What happens next is sad and shocking but it only adds to the book.
If you want a book that makes you feel like your reading a classic horror book that is set in modern times than pick up any of Todd Grimson’s books. I promise you won’t be sorry. 5/5 stars
July 18, 2023
3.5 stars.
October 27, 2022
3.5 estrellas, en realidad.
Lectura inquietante. Perteneciente al género Horror, que no Terror. Además, el autor la clasifica como Realismo cinematográfico o vida más efectos especiales. Sí que es cierto que, conforme vas leyendo este libro, te puede parecer todo bastante bizarro y surrealista. En particular, el capítulo 7 me pareció una rallada incomparable. Por momentos, me preguntaba si el escritor se había tomado algo mientras escribía este libro. Luego me enteré de que fue diagnosticado de esclerosis múltiple y que las pesadillas le inspiraron para crear este estilo tan característico. Sí que tiene toda la historia un toque de pesadilla, pero con ese toque de realismo que, si cabe, la hace más inquietante.
El tratamiento que Grimson hace de la figura del vampiro es, también, muy interesante. Ahí lo dejo.
Este libro está dividido en tres partes y, a su vez, en capítulo muy cortos y seguidos que provocan un ritmo frenético de lectura (aunque yo haya tardado más en leerlo de lo normal 😅 En realidad lo he leído en varias tandas). La primera parte me gustó muchísimo, aunque me dejó con el culo torcido. La segunda se me hizo un poco pesada y quizás por eso tardé más en terminarlo. La tercera y última parte ha sido delirante y el final, extrañamente hermoso.
Como han comentado otros lectores aquí, en Goodreads, no, este libro no será una "novela de amor" pero, desde luego, aunque de una manera poco convencional, contiene una historia de amor (o algo que se le parece) y también una historia de obsesión. O varias.
Mención de honor a las escenas de "sexo" (porque no siempre son consentidas y entonces, no es sexo) porque no pueden ser más desagradables e inquietantes y lo siento si me repito. Es que este libro tiene mucho de inquietante.
Aviso: creo que no se salva casi ningún personaje. En esta historia no vais a encontrar buenos y malos. Los hay regulares, malos y peores. Luego están los monstruos.
Citas que me han llamado la atención:
Ahora, detengámonos un momento para apreciar la maravillosa edición que publicó Valdemar / ES POP en el año 2010. El diseño es una pasada. El título de la portada interior en color rojo, la tipografía. Y la ilustración de la cubierta es... ❤. Y la contracubierta. Me tiene enamorada.
Mi corazón de bibliófila se derrite, oye 😂
En formato tapa blanda con solapas (mi favorito), todos los detalles muy cuidados y la letra de un buen tamaño. Este libro es una maravilla a la hora de leerlo. Muy cómodo. La traducción, de Óscar Palmer Yáñez, es muy buena. De diez, en serio. Sorprendida me hallo.
Lectura inquietante. Perteneciente al género Horror, que no Terror. Además, el autor la clasifica como Realismo cinematográfico o vida más efectos especiales. Sí que es cierto que, conforme vas leyendo este libro, te puede parecer todo bastante bizarro y surrealista. En particular, el capítulo 7 me pareció una rallada incomparable. Por momentos, me preguntaba si el escritor se había tomado algo mientras escribía este libro. Luego me enteré de que fue diagnosticado de esclerosis múltiple y que las pesadillas le inspiraron para crear este estilo tan característico. Sí que tiene toda la historia un toque de pesadilla, pero con ese toque de realismo que, si cabe, la hace más inquietante.
El tratamiento que Grimson hace de la figura del vampiro es, también, muy interesante. Ahí lo dejo.
Este libro está dividido en tres partes y, a su vez, en capítulo muy cortos y seguidos que provocan un ritmo frenético de lectura (aunque yo haya tardado más en leerlo de lo normal 😅 En realidad lo he leído en varias tandas). La primera parte me gustó muchísimo, aunque me dejó con el culo torcido. La segunda se me hizo un poco pesada y quizás por eso tardé más en terminarlo. La tercera y última parte ha sido delirante y el final, extrañamente hermoso.
Como han comentado otros lectores aquí, en Goodreads, no, este libro no será una "novela de amor" pero, desde luego, aunque de una manera poco convencional, contiene una historia de amor (o algo que se le parece) y también una historia de obsesión. O varias.
Mención de honor a las escenas de "sexo" (porque no siempre son consentidas y entonces, no es sexo) porque no pueden ser más desagradables e inquietantes y lo siento si me repito. Es que este libro tiene mucho de inquietante.
Aviso: creo que no se salva casi ningún personaje. En esta historia no vais a encontrar buenos y malos. Los hay regulares, malos y peores. Luego están los monstruos.
Citas que me han llamado la atención:
Justine intenta comprender, pacientemente, como lo haría alguien que ha recibido un don complicado. Se le ha permitido morir y a la vez seguir viviendo. Uno podría preguntarse qué utilidad puede tener eso, teniendo en cuenta los términos de su existencia. Ella no lo sabe.(pág.42)
Justine se siente violentamente conmovida, y sus pasajes secretos agarran y retuercen y contorsionan con tirantez, pero todo conduce hacia tal saturación de paz, paz líquida, que la succión húmeda de su negrura interior la lleva hasta una dicha inenarrable.(pág.147)
Si su destino era ser puta, sería puta de camino a la Ciudad Santa. Si, viajaría a Jerusalén. Un par de horas bajo la fría y tonificante brisa nocturna terminó de decidirla. Sería una penitente, una peregrina.(pág.226)
Cien mariposas negras y rojas salen volando de ninguna parte, pero ellos no las ven.(pág.267)
Ahora, detengámonos un momento para apreciar la maravillosa edición que publicó Valdemar / ES POP en el año 2010. El diseño es una pasada. El título de la portada interior en color rojo, la tipografía. Y la ilustración de la cubierta es... ❤. Y la contracubierta. Me tiene enamorada.
Mi corazón de bibliófila se derrite, oye 😂
En formato tapa blanda con solapas (mi favorito), todos los detalles muy cuidados y la letra de un buen tamaño. Este libro es una maravilla a la hora de leerlo. Muy cómodo. La traducción, de Óscar Palmer Yáñez, es muy buena. De diez, en serio. Sorprendida me hallo.
March 2, 2012
This is the second book I have read by Todd and I loved this one even more than the first. He writes horror Paranormal that reminds me of classic gothic horror writers.
Justine is a vampire who has memory problems but has moments when she can remember her past. She is almost child like at times but only adds to her character. Keith is a down on his luck guitarist with a troubled past. But they manage to come together and fall in love.
But what they don’t know is somebody from Justine’s past is coming back to cause problems. What happens next is sad and shocking but it only adds to the book.
If you want a book that makes you feel like your reading a classic horror book that is set in modern times than pick up any of Todd Grimson’s books. I promise you won’t be sorry. 5/5 stars
Justine is a vampire who has memory problems but has moments when she can remember her past. She is almost child like at times but only adds to her character. Keith is a down on his luck guitarist with a troubled past. But they manage to come together and fall in love.
But what they don’t know is somebody from Justine’s past is coming back to cause problems. What happens next is sad and shocking but it only adds to the book.
If you want a book that makes you feel like your reading a classic horror book that is set in modern times than pick up any of Todd Grimson’s books. I promise you won’t be sorry. 5/5 stars
June 27, 2019
Tenía unas altas expectativas con este libro, sobretodo por las maravillosas reseñas del mismo, pero no las ha cumplido. Está dividido en tres partes. La primera me ha parecido bastante floja, no tiene acción ninguna, no pasa nada reseñable y es en exceso descriptiva, no ha conseguido interesarme salvo algún destello puntual. La segunda es mejor que la primera, se introduce al personaje de David y las cosas empiezan a tener más ritmo, más intriga. La tercera parte es la mejor y la más corta también, aunque esta última parte por sí sola no justifica el resto del libro desde mi punto de vista. El final me ha gustado, pero el principio se me ha hecho tedioso por momentos. De ahí las dos estrellas. Una lástima, porque tiene muy buenas ideas.
March 13, 2012
I did not expect a small-press local author vampire book to be well written. Not a big fan of serial-killer or gore content, I was still moved by Grimson's artful writing. A writer like this loves stories, and is good to their readers, despite the rough subject matter. Grimson's approach to vampires couldn't be described as fresh, but his vamps are not tired either. I liked the very LA setting- the characters were part of their place without Grimson needing to tell us all about every detail.
I want to read more of Grimson's writing, and would recommend this book to anyone who likes vampire, violence, strange romance, or well done stories.
I want to read more of Grimson's writing, and would recommend this book to anyone who likes vampire, violence, strange romance, or well done stories.
started-and-not-finished
August 28, 2010I've decided, in order to give a truer picture of my reading tastes and history, to keep this shelf for books I definitely have no intention of returning to and finishing. This one qualifies eminently! It was recommended to me several years ago by an Internet pen pal of mine at the time, apparently because he knew I'd written a vampire novella. (There's NO similarity between the two works!) After about two chapters, I had my fill of foul language, unlikeable characters, and moral nihilism.
November 1, 2011
This is the third time I read this book and I still like it, despite the fact that most of the characters are miserable people. It is dark, gritty, and Justine's enemy is truly ruthless and demented. I like Keith and Justine even though I knew they were doomed from the get go.
February 22, 2012
A cult classic from the mid-90s gets a reprint. Grimson's bleak, effective vampire romance features some ugly characters doing very ugly things, but excellent writing helps offset the dreariness.
Read
November 30, 2025So there was a bunch of anti-blackness at the beginning that almost made me stop reading the book, but I gave the author the benefit of the doubt that he was establishing character. But then like halfway through the book, all the racist stuff stops—which is better for the reading experience I guess, but makes me question the purpose of establishing the characters as racist, temporarily. Like what was that about?
Anyways maybe you can be cleansed by death. Still an engaging read. Really excellent noir. Shame about the racism.
Anyways maybe you can be cleansed by death. Still an engaging read. Really excellent noir. Shame about the racism.
April 8, 2025
Sad sexy bizarre vampire story
February 13, 2012
Stainless: A Modern Romance by Todd Grimson is a vampire book.
Keith was a musician until his hands were ruined. Now, he serves as a sort of caretaker to Justine, a vampire. Together, Keith and Justine wonder about her existence as a vampire, why she is the way that she is, and the strange emotional connection that they share. Also in the mix are a variety of other characters, including Keith's doctor, an author who wants to include Keith in a book, and another vampire who has a history with Justine. Slowly, all of these characters come together -- with brutal, deadly consequences.
The title says that this is a romance, but the book has more of a literary fiction feel. I'm not a huge fan of literary fiction, which may be part of the reason why the book didn't work for me.
I didn't really connect with any of the characters in the story. Keith is interesting, and I enjoyed some of his thoughts on music and musicians. However, Justine doesn't have all that much personality. She sort of goes back and forth between the present and her dream-like memories, and I just didn't get a sense of what she's really like.
Also, not much detail is given about vampires, what they're capable of, etc. I know this isn't a straight-up fantasy, but I would have liked more detail regarding the vampire world building. Plus, as the book goes along, you have more and more characters doing more and more horrific things to each other. This is not a book to read if you are expecting any sort of a happy ending.
Overall, this one didn't work for me, but if you're looking for a different take on vampires, you might want to check it out.
Keith was a musician until his hands were ruined. Now, he serves as a sort of caretaker to Justine, a vampire. Together, Keith and Justine wonder about her existence as a vampire, why she is the way that she is, and the strange emotional connection that they share. Also in the mix are a variety of other characters, including Keith's doctor, an author who wants to include Keith in a book, and another vampire who has a history with Justine. Slowly, all of these characters come together -- with brutal, deadly consequences.
The title says that this is a romance, but the book has more of a literary fiction feel. I'm not a huge fan of literary fiction, which may be part of the reason why the book didn't work for me.
I didn't really connect with any of the characters in the story. Keith is interesting, and I enjoyed some of his thoughts on music and musicians. However, Justine doesn't have all that much personality. She sort of goes back and forth between the present and her dream-like memories, and I just didn't get a sense of what she's really like.
Also, not much detail is given about vampires, what they're capable of, etc. I know this isn't a straight-up fantasy, but I would have liked more detail regarding the vampire world building. Plus, as the book goes along, you have more and more characters doing more and more horrific things to each other. This is not a book to read if you are expecting any sort of a happy ending.
Overall, this one didn't work for me, but if you're looking for a different take on vampires, you might want to check it out.
November 9, 2025
It kind of feels like it was this book's destiny to be cult and nothing more. Very intensely LA, very edgy and provocative. Strong associations with other media I had while reading: Mulholland Drive, Under the Skin, Crash
I flew through this in 3 sittings --Michael Upchurch from The Seattle Times describes the book as having a sort of "hallucinatory glassiness" to it that I think is very cogent. (I was also coming down with/in the middle of a cold while reading, which surely contributed). Short paragraphs, not overly ornate prose, sexy and violent, somewhat surrealist, fast-paced despite there not really being too much action until the final pages. It shares with Mulholland Drive this fixation on the "extras" of LA -- the people living in the margins of the city, those with lost and dying dreams. In Mulholland, this mainly concerns aspiring female actors, but Stainless focuses more on the underground -- drug addicts, dead-end rockers and roadies and groupies, strays, sex workers, etc. People who've been promised and/or are convinced LA is the place to be, but who have sort of become little more than flora and fauna or the nightlife of the city.
The main pair is the focus of the book, though there are a ton of POVs -- Justine, a several-century old French-peasant-turned-vampire, and Keith, an emotionally and physically wasted ex-rock star (and a mortal, but not a thrall). They've been and continue to be both prey and predator -- the blurb of the book notes that Keith lives like a vampire, not just because he cohabitates with one, but also just by nature in his relationships. He's the worst kind of manipulator, really -- a pretty empathetic, guilt-ridden one, handsome and sad and brooding. His previous girlfriend -- very troubled and traumatized herself -- committed suicide during the height of their careers, which eventually led to him going to prison, becoming a heroine addict, being sexually assaulted, and having his hands crippled.
If this sounds like trauma porn -- I was and still am a bit wary of the same thing. A lot of fucked up shit has happened and continues to happen to most all of the characters in this book.
Justine picks up Keith one night to feed off him, but ends up stopping because of his heroine-tainted blood -- he quits heroine and shacks up with her, and they become codependent and fall in love. It is legitimately romantic, despite a lot of disturbing shit that goes on between them -- Justine obviously does plenty bad, but she of course is a literal vampire so it's more forgivable, but I guess the same argument can sort of apply to Keith. Is he any more to blame for having been a sort of leech and predator than Justine is?
Part of the irony is that he largely becomes a better person through his relationship with Justine, while also helping her to trap victims for her feeding. She doesn't kill most, and does clearly have a soul and conscience despite her worries that she expresses to Keith, but she does have to every now and then. With that said, he does have sex with 19-year-old Michelle, which I thought was entirely gratuitous and undermines a lot of Keith's otherwise penitent behavior, but whatever I guess. It is a fully consensual affair, but still felt very extremely unnecessary.
The villain of the book, on the other hand, is just a full-blown Gilles de Rais-esque serial rapist and torturer who preys on the lost youth of LA and puts on demented stage performances with them as his troupe.
Grimson himself was a failed musician and lived with MS which severely crippled him -- Keith seems a sort of exaggerated stand-in. The affair between Justine and Keith does admittedly have its allure -- their relationship is sanctified with blood (and some pretty graphic and deviant sex scenes) but also loneliness and guilt and genuine unconditional love and devotion.
Is it just edgy or does it cross a line into being too much? Is it anymore provocative than Dracula itself is, really? Certainly it's more unsubtle in its deviance and brutality and abuse than Stoker, but I'd argue that most of the shit in this book is not some heinous extension from what is already suggested in Dracula. A lot of critics noted that this feels more like if Bret Easton Ellis or Dennis Cooper or some other Marquis de Sade-admiring grimy iconoclast '90s writer wrote a vampire novel -- I haven't read those authors, but that doesn't seem too far-fetched.
I guess it's something to think about with horror -- it's a genre founded on the grotesque and taboo. When does it go 'too far'? Horror's most often, when done well, about our fears and trauma, but obviously a huge part of the allure is also in the thrill of how that's presented in shocking, unnatural, wicked ways. Stainless has a lot of grimy, risqué, gratuitous shit -- but does gratuitous = too far? And, hell, life is gratuitous, people are gratuitous, especially lonely, hurt people who want to lash out, be noticed, forget, etc.
I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy and feel drawn to this book. It's sadistic and romantic in a way that does get the spirit of the vampire story that makes Dracula so alluring, even if I don't always love individual scenes and dynamics. Again, this has cult written all over it -- I'm not shocked it has a following but never turned into much more.
I flew through this in 3 sittings --Michael Upchurch from The Seattle Times describes the book as having a sort of "hallucinatory glassiness" to it that I think is very cogent. (I was also coming down with/in the middle of a cold while reading, which surely contributed). Short paragraphs, not overly ornate prose, sexy and violent, somewhat surrealist, fast-paced despite there not really being too much action until the final pages. It shares with Mulholland Drive this fixation on the "extras" of LA -- the people living in the margins of the city, those with lost and dying dreams. In Mulholland, this mainly concerns aspiring female actors, but Stainless focuses more on the underground -- drug addicts, dead-end rockers and roadies and groupies, strays, sex workers, etc. People who've been promised and/or are convinced LA is the place to be, but who have sort of become little more than flora and fauna or the nightlife of the city.
The main pair is the focus of the book, though there are a ton of POVs -- Justine, a several-century old French-peasant-turned-vampire, and Keith, an emotionally and physically wasted ex-rock star (and a mortal, but not a thrall). They've been and continue to be both prey and predator -- the blurb of the book notes that Keith lives like a vampire, not just because he cohabitates with one, but also just by nature in his relationships. He's the worst kind of manipulator, really -- a pretty empathetic, guilt-ridden one, handsome and sad and brooding. His previous girlfriend -- very troubled and traumatized herself -- committed suicide during the height of their careers, which eventually led to him going to prison, becoming a heroine addict, being sexually assaulted, and having his hands crippled.
If this sounds like trauma porn -- I was and still am a bit wary of the same thing. A lot of fucked up shit has happened and continues to happen to most all of the characters in this book.
Justine picks up Keith one night to feed off him, but ends up stopping because of his heroine-tainted blood -- he quits heroine and shacks up with her, and they become codependent and fall in love. It is legitimately romantic, despite a lot of disturbing shit that goes on between them -- Justine obviously does plenty bad, but she of course is a literal vampire so it's more forgivable, but I guess the same argument can sort of apply to Keith. Is he any more to blame for having been a sort of leech and predator than Justine is?
Part of the irony is that he largely becomes a better person through his relationship with Justine, while also helping her to trap victims for her feeding. She doesn't kill most, and does clearly have a soul and conscience despite her worries that she expresses to Keith, but she does have to every now and then. With that said, he does have sex with 19-year-old Michelle, which I thought was entirely gratuitous and undermines a lot of Keith's otherwise penitent behavior, but whatever I guess. It is a fully consensual affair, but still felt very extremely unnecessary.
The villain of the book, on the other hand, is just a full-blown Gilles de Rais-esque serial rapist and torturer who preys on the lost youth of LA and puts on demented stage performances with them as his troupe.
Grimson himself was a failed musician and lived with MS which severely crippled him -- Keith seems a sort of exaggerated stand-in. The affair between Justine and Keith does admittedly have its allure -- their relationship is sanctified with blood (and some pretty graphic and deviant sex scenes) but also loneliness and guilt and genuine unconditional love and devotion.
Is it just edgy or does it cross a line into being too much? Is it anymore provocative than Dracula itself is, really? Certainly it's more unsubtle in its deviance and brutality and abuse than Stoker, but I'd argue that most of the shit in this book is not some heinous extension from what is already suggested in Dracula. A lot of critics noted that this feels more like if Bret Easton Ellis or Dennis Cooper or some other Marquis de Sade-admiring grimy iconoclast '90s writer wrote a vampire novel -- I haven't read those authors, but that doesn't seem too far-fetched.
I guess it's something to think about with horror -- it's a genre founded on the grotesque and taboo. When does it go 'too far'? Horror's most often, when done well, about our fears and trauma, but obviously a huge part of the allure is also in the thrill of how that's presented in shocking, unnatural, wicked ways. Stainless has a lot of grimy, risqué, gratuitous shit -- but does gratuitous = too far? And, hell, life is gratuitous, people are gratuitous, especially lonely, hurt people who want to lash out, be noticed, forget, etc.
I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy and feel drawn to this book. It's sadistic and romantic in a way that does get the spirit of the vampire story that makes Dracula so alluring, even if I don't always love individual scenes and dynamics. Again, this has cult written all over it -- I'm not shocked it has a following but never turned into much more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 8, 2021
4'5/5. Quiero ir a la Paloma del pasado, zarandearla bien fuerte y recriminarle que qué narices ha estado haciendo todos estos años que no había leído esto, o mejor dicho, por qué no sabía de su existencia.
Menuda alegría me he llevado con esto. Lo cierto es que desde su sinopsis ya apuntaba maneras y así ha sido. Y lo más gracioso es que no debería ser así, que por la prosa de Todd Grimson debería horrorizarme y salir en dirección contraria, pero es que tiene una capacidad para conjurar a partes iguales lo grotesco y lo poético que no me ha quedado más remedio que caer rendida. Porque si en un capítulo se mostraba más coloquial o más simple en el sentido más básico de la palabra, al siguiente me deleitaba con una introspección y una divagación muy heredada de Anne Rice y que no es otra que mi debilidad personal a la hora de tratar con vampiros. Ayuda también el hecho de que los capítulos en su mayoría sean tan cortos y que nunca estaba al 100% segura de lo que podía suceder en la siguiente página.
En esa diferenciación tan marcada y tan apetecible entran los personajes, con sus dudas, sus temores, sus contradicciones, sus dualidades y los lazos que les unen a todos de manera inevitable. Justine quien pese a su edad tiene una vulnerabilidad notable y potentísima, y sus divagaciones sobre ella misma, el ver como se iba retirando capas y auto descubriéndose ella misma y de cara al lector ha sido un disfrute. En el caso de Keith, descubrir ciertos demonios internos, entender la manera en la que se comporta, la carga que lleva sobre sus hombros, por mucho que él lo niegue o se la cuestione; y por supuesto la relación que mantiene con Justine. Michelle, quien en un primer momento me dio una impresión y acaba siendo una totalmente distinta, y David, quien me habría gustado un poquito más de profundidad sobre quién es o quién era, pero hace un trabajo formidable siendo la personificación con todas las letras de la maldad, la depravación y el odio más primitivo.
Más allá de la prosa, la historia o los personajes, tengo que destacar el tratamiento de la mitología de los vampiros. La acción se sitúa en un entorno sucio, decadente y lleno de podredumbre que le viene como anillo al dedo, pero son los detalles que le añade Grimson a sus vampiros los que terminan de redondear el conjunto, casan perfectamente con el entorno creado y es una delicia irlos descubriendo poco a poco, otra vez, con la mezcla perfecta entre la repulsión y la fascinación.
Las únicas notas discordantes que le he encontrado (más allá de ciertas cosas en la prosa, pero eso es algo más personal) son ciertos capítulos donde de repente aparecían personajes nuevos y no tenía muy claro de dónde venían o cuál era su propósito para la historia, algo que se subsanaba rápidamente solo que en un primer momento me desconcertaba. Ah, y que el final a todas luces sea tan precipitado cuando antes del clímax el autor se había tomado las cosas con relativa calma.
Afortunadamente, ninguno de esos defectos acaban pesando más que todas sus virtudes y del disfrute puro y duro que ha sido en esto y que me ha llegado en el momento que más lo necesitaba. Y por supuesto, me encantaría ver esta historia adaptada en forma de película o serie, la materia prima lo vale.
Menuda alegría me he llevado con esto. Lo cierto es que desde su sinopsis ya apuntaba maneras y así ha sido. Y lo más gracioso es que no debería ser así, que por la prosa de Todd Grimson debería horrorizarme y salir en dirección contraria, pero es que tiene una capacidad para conjurar a partes iguales lo grotesco y lo poético que no me ha quedado más remedio que caer rendida. Porque si en un capítulo se mostraba más coloquial o más simple en el sentido más básico de la palabra, al siguiente me deleitaba con una introspección y una divagación muy heredada de Anne Rice y que no es otra que mi debilidad personal a la hora de tratar con vampiros. Ayuda también el hecho de que los capítulos en su mayoría sean tan cortos y que nunca estaba al 100% segura de lo que podía suceder en la siguiente página.
En esa diferenciación tan marcada y tan apetecible entran los personajes, con sus dudas, sus temores, sus contradicciones, sus dualidades y los lazos que les unen a todos de manera inevitable. Justine quien pese a su edad tiene una vulnerabilidad notable y potentísima, y sus divagaciones sobre ella misma, el ver como se iba retirando capas y auto descubriéndose ella misma y de cara al lector ha sido un disfrute. En el caso de Keith, descubrir ciertos demonios internos, entender la manera en la que se comporta, la carga que lleva sobre sus hombros, por mucho que él lo niegue o se la cuestione; y por supuesto la relación que mantiene con Justine. Michelle, quien en un primer momento me dio una impresión y acaba siendo una totalmente distinta, y David, quien me habría gustado un poquito más de profundidad sobre quién es o quién era, pero hace un trabajo formidable siendo la personificación con todas las letras de la maldad, la depravación y el odio más primitivo.
Más allá de la prosa, la historia o los personajes, tengo que destacar el tratamiento de la mitología de los vampiros. La acción se sitúa en un entorno sucio, decadente y lleno de podredumbre que le viene como anillo al dedo, pero son los detalles que le añade Grimson a sus vampiros los que terminan de redondear el conjunto, casan perfectamente con el entorno creado y es una delicia irlos descubriendo poco a poco, otra vez, con la mezcla perfecta entre la repulsión y la fascinación.
Las únicas notas discordantes que le he encontrado (más allá de ciertas cosas en la prosa, pero eso es algo más personal) son ciertos capítulos donde de repente aparecían personajes nuevos y no tenía muy claro de dónde venían o cuál era su propósito para la historia, algo que se subsanaba rápidamente solo que en un primer momento me desconcertaba. Ah, y que el final a todas luces sea tan precipitado cuando antes del clímax el autor se había tomado las cosas con relativa calma.
Afortunadamente, ninguno de esos defectos acaban pesando más que todas sus virtudes y del disfrute puro y duro que ha sido en esto y que me ha llegado en el momento que más lo necesitaba. Y por supuesto, me encantaría ver esta historia adaptada en forma de película o serie, la materia prima lo vale.
December 11, 2025
I’m usually not drawn to horror or violence for its own sake, but it’s a McNally Editions and the jacket summary was too intriguing to pass up.
Grungy and gritty, gory and deeply disturbing whenever David appears on the page. I found myself reading it in a flat monotone and I wonder if that mirrors the hollowness inside both Justine and David. The story moves slowly at first but halfway through it suddenly breaks into a violent sprint. The vampire lore and romance between Keith and Justine were so absorbing that I finished it in just a few hours but something felt missing. Maybe it was the unnecessary sexual violence...it was too sick for my taste.
Quotes
• “‘But it’s not like you give somebody a test to see if they’re worthy of your love. It’s just chemical, or electric, magic, and then you’re in too deep to know how to breathe.’”
• “If the police hadn’t entered the equation, Keith might have shot him, out of irresistible curiosity to see what would happen next.”
• “She panted, just for a second, as if panicked, while Glenn Gould’s piano transcription of Wagner resounded, schmaltzy and slowly melodramatic, building forever—and then she was gone.”
• “He said that the wickedness of her existence was not for him to judge, that it was not of this world…it was older than that, older than sin itself perhaps—it came from before the fall of the angels.”
• “She thought people who lived on ‘as less than themselves’ were cowards.”
• “He’d like to beat her up with love. To be transfigured with pity and forgiveness while she crawled and wept, wept with all her heart.”
• “‘You are so painful, you cause me so much pain. I’m constantly filled with you.’”
• “A vast sadness settles over his crypt like a gigantic moon made of lead. He stares all day, unblinking, at the unseeing face of this lead moon.”
• “It’s impossible to know if one’s own motives are pure.”
• “‘That’s either a problem or an opportunity.’”
• “The spell. The sky and the earth. Severed limbs and transformation. It’s here. Despite whatever smothered misgivings they may fleetingly experience, whatever disquiet, it’s here. It’s come.”
• “Someone once said to her that doing heroin was like committing suicide, you got the feeling, without actually having to die.”
• “He gets to his feet and goes up onto the stage, to Minh, his golden-skinned pet. She’s sensitive to his mood.”
• “They come to think they are so smart, they know all they need to know, but all they really know is one thing: how to kill.”
Grungy and gritty, gory and deeply disturbing whenever David appears on the page. I found myself reading it in a flat monotone and I wonder if that mirrors the hollowness inside both Justine and David. The story moves slowly at first but halfway through it suddenly breaks into a violent sprint. The vampire lore and romance between Keith and Justine were so absorbing that I finished it in just a few hours but something felt missing. Maybe it was the unnecessary sexual violence...it was too sick for my taste.
Quotes
• “‘But it’s not like you give somebody a test to see if they’re worthy of your love. It’s just chemical, or electric, magic, and then you’re in too deep to know how to breathe.’”
• “If the police hadn’t entered the equation, Keith might have shot him, out of irresistible curiosity to see what would happen next.”
• “She panted, just for a second, as if panicked, while Glenn Gould’s piano transcription of Wagner resounded, schmaltzy and slowly melodramatic, building forever—and then she was gone.”
• “He said that the wickedness of her existence was not for him to judge, that it was not of this world…it was older than that, older than sin itself perhaps—it came from before the fall of the angels.”
• “She thought people who lived on ‘as less than themselves’ were cowards.”
• “He’d like to beat her up with love. To be transfigured with pity and forgiveness while she crawled and wept, wept with all her heart.”
• “‘You are so painful, you cause me so much pain. I’m constantly filled with you.’”
• “A vast sadness settles over his crypt like a gigantic moon made of lead. He stares all day, unblinking, at the unseeing face of this lead moon.”
• “It’s impossible to know if one’s own motives are pure.”
• “‘That’s either a problem or an opportunity.’”
• “The spell. The sky and the earth. Severed limbs and transformation. It’s here. Despite whatever smothered misgivings they may fleetingly experience, whatever disquiet, it’s here. It’s come.”
• “Someone once said to her that doing heroin was like committing suicide, you got the feeling, without actually having to die.”
• “He gets to his feet and goes up onto the stage, to Minh, his golden-skinned pet. She’s sensitive to his mood.”
• “They come to think they are so smart, they know all they need to know, but all they really know is one thing: how to kill.”
Read
November 22, 2025This book feels like being on acid or LSD and stepping through a hazy mirror into an alternate, dark version of golden-era LA. It’s sleazy and violent and gory and horrifying—and at times completely ridiculous, like someone just vomited onto the page. But threaded through all that filth is some vague idea or postulation of love, and death, and maybe even the nature of good and evil. I’m hesitant to give the author too much credit—men who write violence and love tend to receive more credit than they deserve—but there is something captured here. I’m just not convinced the book itself knows what it is. I’m not even sure I know what it is.
I also couldn’t stop questioning whether the desire to write this kind of acid-trip vampire love story was sometimes pushed too hard. Whether the effort showed. Whether the whole thing teetered toward pathetic. The gratuitous violence, the over-the-top sexual transcendence, the stereotypical vampiric theatrics—at points it all felt like parody, intentional or otherwise.
The things that David and his entourage do are truly disgusting. Even stepping back and reading it objectively—thinking, there is an author somewhere writing these scenes, and these images are coming from his brain—is nauseating. It’s almost revolting in its entirety, like some kind of mental ipecac, a concoction engineered to make you retch.
Is this book actually terrible, some desperate stream-of-consciousness thought-vomit masquerading as profundity? I oscillate between yes and now. And that’s kind of why I kept reading it: I was never entirely sure if it was saying something, or if it was completely void of meaning. The uncertainty is its own strange charm.
I also couldn’t stop questioning whether the desire to write this kind of acid-trip vampire love story was sometimes pushed too hard. Whether the effort showed. Whether the whole thing teetered toward pathetic. The gratuitous violence, the over-the-top sexual transcendence, the stereotypical vampiric theatrics—at points it all felt like parody, intentional or otherwise.
The things that David and his entourage do are truly disgusting. Even stepping back and reading it objectively—thinking, there is an author somewhere writing these scenes, and these images are coming from his brain—is nauseating. It’s almost revolting in its entirety, like some kind of mental ipecac, a concoction engineered to make you retch.
Is this book actually terrible, some desperate stream-of-consciousness thought-vomit masquerading as profundity? I oscillate between yes and now. And that’s kind of why I kept reading it: I was never entirely sure if it was saying something, or if it was completely void of meaning. The uncertainty is its own strange charm.
January 4, 2026
“It's late afternoon. The day is peach-colored, then burnt apricot and mashed raspberry-bronze, light reflecting off a million cars glass windshields and rearview mirrors and chrome, sunglasses on sunglasses off, buy a Coke, smells like bodies frying in a special huge frying pan, fleshy parts mixed with crashed automobiles and smog-spice and desert bones of a destroyed forgotten pre-Aztec city, sweat and nerves and fuck-sweat and dead bright green birds, they might be parrots starring in movies, bright green and crimson and marigold and cerise.”
Early-90s LA vampire noir with a lot of violence, sex, and spectacular writing. That it made a vampire novel feel unique and fresh gets it extra bonus points. There were times I felt a little adrift with characters and time jumps, but it all came together to paint this fascinating picture in the end and added the context necessary for the central conflict. All-in-all, a really great “Patrick” book.
One extra quote, because the final line is so good:
“Tamara gives Patrick a little smile, as if to say the stormy weather has passed, and he smiles back. He doesn’t know what to do. A problem exists, but just what it is remains obscure. He's helpless before the revelation of his tenderness.”
Early-90s LA vampire noir with a lot of violence, sex, and spectacular writing. That it made a vampire novel feel unique and fresh gets it extra bonus points. There were times I felt a little adrift with characters and time jumps, but it all came together to paint this fascinating picture in the end and added the context necessary for the central conflict. All-in-all, a really great “Patrick” book.
One extra quote, because the final line is so good:
“Tamara gives Patrick a little smile, as if to say the stormy weather has passed, and he smiles back. He doesn’t know what to do. A problem exists, but just what it is remains obscure. He's helpless before the revelation of his tenderness.”
December 28, 2025
3/5. A literary vampire novel. I dug the setting. LA in the late 90's. The writing was great. It didn't really have a strong plot. Meandered about. Interesting characters. I didn't like the choice to make one character suddenly irredeemably bad. There's no one to root for. They are all kind of evil. Not anti-heroes. Actually evil. But interesting, with tragic stories, well told. I also didn't like some of the senseless, disturbing violence - even if by the antagonist. It wasn't confronted. It just came off as... titillation?
I feel like this sounds too negative. There are beautiful moments, well-written, between the main vampire, Justine, and Keith, the once-guitarist. I liked reading it.
If you like great, "literary" writing and a sun-bleached vampire setting, you'll like it. If you like horror more than I do, you probably won't be as turned off as I was by a few scenes. If you don't mind not having as focused of a plot, but are okay with just more of a vibe, you won't mind that part as much as I did.
I feel like this sounds too negative. There are beautiful moments, well-written, between the main vampire, Justine, and Keith, the once-guitarist. I liked reading it.
If you like great, "literary" writing and a sun-bleached vampire setting, you'll like it. If you like horror more than I do, you probably won't be as turned off as I was by a few scenes. If you don't mind not having as focused of a plot, but are okay with just more of a vibe, you won't mind that part as much as I did.
February 9, 2026
I found the way this story tackled the vampire was really refreshing. Justine and Keith’s relationship was surprisingly sweet and gentle at times and made me want to root for them. I also found it easily kept me engaged and despite switching between perspectives with many different characters I never found myself asking “who is this again?”. I would give it 4 stars if it weren’t for the strange way the book handles race. It feels especially anti-black (maybe a product of its time since it was written in the 90s?) There’s also some sexual violence towards women which I find a lot of stories in this genre use to bring up the edge-factor. The background characters don’t really get fleshed out in a meaningful way in my opinion so I wasn’t particularly upset when bad things would happen to them but if you just want something to read for entertainment before bed and are a fan of vampires, romance, and horror I would recommend Stainless.
December 27, 2025
Atmospheric, almost philosophical at times, but Stainless also frequently descends into Grand Guignol, which used to feel transgressive but now feels, to me, tired. The relationship between Justine, a five hundred-year-old vampire, and Keith, a former musician and heroin addict, that is the core of this novel, is intriguing, raising provocative questions about what binds people together and what the nature of desire or love is. The introduction of another vampire, one created accidentally and discarded by Justine in the 1920s, introduces more over horror into the novel but this makes Stainless less intersection and perhaps betrays a lack of narrative discipline on the author’s part, or perhaps just his unwillingness to reject the conventions of the genre (and, in the process, seems to draw very heavily on Neil Gaiman’s early run on Sandman).
January 4, 2026
Stainless is a dark and emotionally heavy novel that focuses on obsession, survival, and broken characters trying to find meaning in a harsh world. The relationship between Justine and Keith feels raw and unavoidable, shaped more by need than romance. Todd Grimson’s writing creates a bleak atmosphere that fits the story well and keeps the reader slightly uncomfortable throughout.
While reading, it reminded me how much people depend on clarity and reliable information when life feels uncertain. In real life, having access to trusted updates such as https://sassastatus.net.za/ helps people stay informed and plan their next steps, just as the characters in this book are constantly reacting to circumstances beyond their control.
This is not a light read, but it will appeal to readers who enjoy intense, atmospheric fiction with flawed and realistic characters.
While reading, it reminded me how much people depend on clarity and reliable information when life feels uncertain. In real life, having access to trusted updates such as https://sassastatus.net.za/ helps people stay informed and plan their next steps, just as the characters in this book are constantly reacting to circumstances beyond their control.
This is not a light read, but it will appeal to readers who enjoy intense, atmospheric fiction with flawed and realistic characters.
January 23, 2026
this was riding at a solid 3/3.5, but then the last two chapters came and fucked me up. very reminiscent of bret easton ellis in its detached but incredibly graphic sexual violence. also reminded me of the movie "nadja" -- both are highly underappreciated looks at vampires.
it's been a while since i've been so affected by surreal/disturbing imagery, but grimson knew what kind of effect he wanted to have on readers and he succeeded. despite all the visceral disgust grimson creates, he paints a truly beautiful and tender relationship between justine and keith, one that moved me far more than i was expecting. don't get me wrong, their relationship is weird and taboo and unconventional, but it is a picture of pure connection and understanding.
tldr: if you can stomach the worst of this book, you will find a moving story where connection and love fight against greed and depravity.
it's been a while since i've been so affected by surreal/disturbing imagery, but grimson knew what kind of effect he wanted to have on readers and he succeeded. despite all the visceral disgust grimson creates, he paints a truly beautiful and tender relationship between justine and keith, one that moved me far more than i was expecting. don't get me wrong, their relationship is weird and taboo and unconventional, but it is a picture of pure connection and understanding.
tldr: if you can stomach the worst of this book, you will find a moving story where connection and love fight against greed and depravity.
December 31, 2023
Siento que si la obra de Marosa Di Giorgio y la de Mariana Enríquez hubieran tenido un bebé, sería este: con toda la porquería y la perversión que hay en la periferia de las ciudades, y en ciertos círculos alternativos y toda la magia multicolor que se experimenta a través de un encanto hipnótico o de una cogida dulce y extática.
El autor tiene un no sé qué con la tele y el cine y el teatro. Y de repente hay pasajes en los que le da el foco a películas que los personajes ven o los propios personajes montan espectáculos o participan en algún montaje. También suele intercalar pasajes oníricos muy vívidos, lo cual le da una dimensión muy cool a los personajes, da como una sensación de intimidad muy curiosa.
Para mí sí fue una historia de amor, y quedé súper satisfecha, sí sí.
El autor tiene un no sé qué con la tele y el cine y el teatro. Y de repente hay pasajes en los que le da el foco a películas que los personajes ven o los propios personajes montan espectáculos o participan en algún montaje. También suele intercalar pasajes oníricos muy vívidos, lo cual le da una dimensión muy cool a los personajes, da como una sensación de intimidad muy curiosa.
Para mí sí fue una historia de amor, y quedé súper satisfecha, sí sí.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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