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Brokeula
Not yet published
Expected 7 Jul 26A broke vampire’s last ditch effort to escape the blood sucking monster of capitalism through an ill-conceived multi-level marketing scheme.
James Sugre has never been this broke before in his centuries of living. Down and out, he’s had a terrible string of luck investing in companies crippled by fraud and always late to the next crypto-fad. He spends most of his time in his coffin, too broke to go out in public.
As the video game industry reaches record-breaking heights, Sugre tries his luck one more time with his own game studio. When he encounters a game developer and self-professed fan of vampire lore named Lauren, Sugre becomes hopeful that his luck might finally be on the up-and-up.
But the market is rocky, and nothing is as stable as "un-death." Sugre learns the hard way that a dollar is worth more than a drop of blood. Trading immortality for cash, Sugre and Lauren create a—not entirely legal—business of turning humans into vampires for a fee. The business expands, but Vampire Nation has to protect their own investments, and Sugre learns the hard truth of the system he can’t escape.
James Sugre has never been this broke before in his centuries of living. Down and out, he’s had a terrible string of luck investing in companies crippled by fraud and always late to the next crypto-fad. He spends most of his time in his coffin, too broke to go out in public.
As the video game industry reaches record-breaking heights, Sugre tries his luck one more time with his own game studio. When he encounters a game developer and self-professed fan of vampire lore named Lauren, Sugre becomes hopeful that his luck might finally be on the up-and-up.
But the market is rocky, and nothing is as stable as "un-death." Sugre learns the hard way that a dollar is worth more than a drop of blood. Trading immortality for cash, Sugre and Lauren create a—not entirely legal—business of turning humans into vampires for a fee. The business expands, but Vampire Nation has to protect their own investments, and Sugre learns the hard truth of the system he can’t escape.
120 pages, Paperback
Expected publication July 7, 2026
2 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Michael J. Seidlinger
32 books458 followersMICHAEL J. SEIDLINGER is the Filipino American author of The Body Harvest, Anybody Home?, and other books. He has written for, among others, Wired, Buzzfeed, Thrillist, Goodreads, The Observer, Polygon, The Believer, and Publishers Weekly. He teaches at Portland State University and has led workshops at Catapult, Kettle Pond Writer's Conference, and Sarah Lawrence. You can find him at michaeljseidlinger.com.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 6, 2025
While I mostly enjoyed this short story that draws comparisons between vampirism and capitalism, I did also find it frustratingly repetitive as well.
Honestly this story was so short and a lot of it so repetitive that I don’t have too much to say. The book ended about how I thought it would because when you think about it, how exactly does one sustain a vampire MLM? 🤔 🧛♂️
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free eARC In exchange for an honest review.
Honestly this story was so short and a lot of it so repetitive that I don’t have too much to say. The book ended about how I thought it would because when you think about it, how exactly does one sustain a vampire MLM? 🤔 🧛♂️
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free eARC In exchange for an honest review.
December 18, 2025
Forged with dark nihilism, which could have you thinking this is something Chuck Palahniuk had penned; whilst also being reinforced with a satirical sense of humour (I chuckled my way though it) makes Brokeula by Sidlinger one of the standout books of the year.
Ross Jeffery, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of ‘I Died Too, But They Haven’t Buried Me Yet’ & ‘The Devil’s Pocketbook’
Ross Jeffery, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of ‘I Died Too, But They Haven’t Buried Me Yet’ & ‘The Devil’s Pocketbook’
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I am a super freak for vampires and my review history will prove my love for sharp critique of capitalism, so the use of one in service of the other is, in my opinion, an inspired choice. It's a fun concept, looking at the life of the undead when you're immortal but not quite living either. Turns out, undeath is just as expensive (or more so!) than life. This is packaged up very tightly into a circular narrative that explores the rise and fall of a way out of this mess.
Unfortunately, the length left me struggling to connect to our main character, which meant his experiences didn't hit as hard as I would have liked. Additionally, though I understand something being satirical doesn't mean it has to be funny, I was disappointed that there was little that I found particularly funny in the book, other than the set up itself. I wish it had taken the premise a little more seriously, let the horror have more weight, rather than keeping things light and ironic (but not quite enough so that it totally succeeded in that direction either). It was also a shame that the summary/blurb that was provided on goodreads & netgalley covered so much of the plot of the book that there wasn't much left to surprise me in the novella itself, which I think is especially important when it's rather short and doesn't have the benefit of space to expand upon the ideas presented in the summary. The entire premise & plot is simply laid out to you, which means I didn't engage with the book itself as strongly as I already knew a lot of what would happen. Finally, I found some of the writing itself to be a little repetitive. I wish that the limited pages had been used to add to the intrigue or horror of the situation, rather than ensuring that the reader definitely got the point of something that was said. A little more space for uncertainty and mystery is never a bad thing.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, the length left me struggling to connect to our main character, which meant his experiences didn't hit as hard as I would have liked. Additionally, though I understand something being satirical doesn't mean it has to be funny, I was disappointed that there was little that I found particularly funny in the book, other than the set up itself. I wish it had taken the premise a little more seriously, let the horror have more weight, rather than keeping things light and ironic (but not quite enough so that it totally succeeded in that direction either). It was also a shame that the summary/blurb that was provided on goodreads & netgalley covered so much of the plot of the book that there wasn't much left to surprise me in the novella itself, which I think is especially important when it's rather short and doesn't have the benefit of space to expand upon the ideas presented in the summary. The entire premise & plot is simply laid out to you, which means I didn't engage with the book itself as strongly as I already knew a lot of what would happen. Finally, I found some of the writing itself to be a little repetitive. I wish that the limited pages had been used to add to the intrigue or horror of the situation, rather than ensuring that the reader definitely got the point of something that was said. A little more space for uncertainty and mystery is never a bad thing.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
December 22, 2025
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a vampire? well as it turns out you’d have the same problems as the living! This book delves into the life of James Sugre, a broke vampire, as he tries to find a way to make some money without angering the Vampire Nation, leading to him creating a pyramid scheme for turning people into vampires. I do wish we had gotten a chance to have more plot development as certain steps were jumped in the business process that could have been interesting to explore.
Stylistically I really enjoyed using his bank balance as a form of chapter title, helping segregate the story into different stages of success. I also really enjoyed the drawings dotted throughout keeping things light hearted. For such a short book though I think the spreadsheets and graphs could have been left out as they were very difficult to read and took up quite a bit of space without providing any benefit to the narrative.
For lovers of vampires in need of a quick easy read I’d say pick this up when it comes out and decide for yourself if it’s the life you want!
Stylistically I really enjoyed using his bank balance as a form of chapter title, helping segregate the story into different stages of success. I also really enjoyed the drawings dotted throughout keeping things light hearted. For such a short book though I think the spreadsheets and graphs could have been left out as they were very difficult to read and took up quite a bit of space without providing any benefit to the narrative.
For lovers of vampires in need of a quick easy read I’d say pick this up when it comes out and decide for yourself if it’s the life you want!
December 11, 2025
James Sugre is a broke-ass vampire who can’t even afford his own reflection. After sinking his money into one failed get-rich scheme after another, he’s now immortal and in debt - truly the worst combo.
Spotting the boom in video games, he decides this is his last shot at making it big. But when he meets Laura, someone he’s supposed to be interviewing for his company, the two of them pivot and turn Bloodsucker LLC into a full-on MLM:
1. Get turned into a vampire
2. Get your next meal
3. Convince your meal to get turned
4. Receive your assigned role
So capitalism, but make it undead.
I really appreciated the satire. Capitalism is a bitch, and it’s funny watching it haunt the undead too. But after a while, the story starts looping through the same conundrum, over and over. James’s inner monologue drones on, he fades into the background, and by the halfway mark the plot just… loses steam. His constant self-doubt becomes exhausting, and the ending repeats the same pattern of self-destruction, but with less impact.
There’s great potential here, even as a novella, but it fizzles hard in the second half.
Thank you NetGalley and CLASH Books for the e-ARC!
Spotting the boom in video games, he decides this is his last shot at making it big. But when he meets Laura, someone he’s supposed to be interviewing for his company, the two of them pivot and turn Bloodsucker LLC into a full-on MLM:
1. Get turned into a vampire
2. Get your next meal
3. Convince your meal to get turned
4. Receive your assigned role
So capitalism, but make it undead.
I really appreciated the satire. Capitalism is a bitch, and it’s funny watching it haunt the undead too. But after a while, the story starts looping through the same conundrum, over and over. James’s inner monologue drones on, he fades into the background, and by the halfway mark the plot just… loses steam. His constant self-doubt becomes exhausting, and the ending repeats the same pattern of self-destruction, but with less impact.
There’s great potential here, even as a novella, but it fizzles hard in the second half.
Thank you NetGalley and CLASH Books for the e-ARC!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
ARC Review
An oddly fun story of a broke vampire named James. Down on his luck, James resorts to a bit of self mutilation. After getting an idea thanks to wandering into a comiccon, his eternal life is about to change.
I had so much fun reading this story. The first couple of chapters felt a little repetitive, and I was worried the entire story was going to feel that way, but once we get passed Comicon things really get moving. Going into this I wasn't sure what to expect, the description gave me some cringe feels, but I wanted to give it a shot. And I am so glad I did. The last few chapters feel like they sped on too quickly, but overall a really good solid bit of writing. Recommended if you are looking for a bit of a pallet cleanser and a bit funny.
An oddly fun story of a broke vampire named James. Down on his luck, James resorts to a bit of self mutilation. After getting an idea thanks to wandering into a comiccon, his eternal life is about to change.
I had so much fun reading this story. The first couple of chapters felt a little repetitive, and I was worried the entire story was going to feel that way, but once we get passed Comicon things really get moving. Going into this I wasn't sure what to expect, the description gave me some cringe feels, but I wanted to give it a shot. And I am so glad I did. The last few chapters feel like they sped on too quickly, but overall a really good solid bit of writing. Recommended if you are looking for a bit of a pallet cleanser and a bit funny.
December 21, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and CLASH Books for an ARC of this book.
‘Brokeula’ is a modern-day take on the vampire story, in which James Sugré is down on his luck and struggling to pay off his debts. It’s a great concept, but one which is unfortunately not executed very well.
As others have mentioned, the length of the story makes it difficult to connect with any the characters and this is only exacerbated by the repetitive writing style. Most of the jokes fell flat for me and I found the comparison between vampirism and capitalism under-developed.
Not for me.
‘Brokeula’ is a modern-day take on the vampire story, in which James Sugré is down on his luck and struggling to pay off his debts. It’s a great concept, but one which is unfortunately not executed very well.
As others have mentioned, the length of the story makes it difficult to connect with any the characters and this is only exacerbated by the repetitive writing style. Most of the jokes fell flat for me and I found the comparison between vampirism and capitalism under-developed.
Not for me.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews