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Vampire Nation
A young American travels to Communist Transylvania on business during the closing years of the Cold War, discovering to his horror that Communism is vampirism, and a man is better dead than undead.
- GenresFiction
260 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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March 19, 2012Scroll down for the fun parts ... :)
"In time, the entire nation is comprised solely of bloodsuckers, of one variety or other. That is why the socialist nations are so dependent upon fresh transfusions from the West."
"A state cannot teach, only indoctrinate."
"In socialism's final stages, everyone is a bloodsucker, all innocent flesh long since drained."
"His dream is to win the Nobel Peace Prize."
"Socialism's greatest strength is that no one believes its horrors."
"What do vampires know? They still believe redistribution creates wealth. As if draining blood from the healthy will nourish rather than kill a nation."
"Wretched souls survive at any cost, as if survival is a great virtue. Survival is a virtue for rats and roaches ... "
"All the souls and rock stars and society scum, when they are not sticking fingers down their throats over a toilet, they give cocaine parties for Sandanista butchers, and toast Che and Castro ... "
"Utopian idealists of every race, of every socialist breed, hate all they sees
"Vampires consider villages too scattered and remote. People are more easily controlled when concentrated, like pigs in a pen, like cattle in a corral."
"Socialism was never about economic efficiency, always about power and control."
"New York has more vampires than you may imagine. Vampires prefer urban dwelling. Apartment blocks are easier to monitor and control than outlying villages."
"A strong mind can correct for the distortions and recognize the true world. People succumb to vampiric infection because they want to, because it's comfortable and easy."
" ... genocidal hate masked behind utopian ideals ... "
"Mao eating greater numbers than Hitler or Stalin, slurping rivers of blood even as Western students and artists and intellectuals erected altars unto him, yearning to feel the bite of Mao and Che and Castro ... "
"I expect you saw Stalin's holocaust? The holocaust the West first ignored, then denied, then forgot, at times even supported."
"Trotsky coined 'the phrase 'politically correct'. It means to peak and believe as you are supposed to, regardless of your conscience, regardless of reality .... "
"Ceausescu was a confident psychotic ruling a pack of insecure neurotics. His ideals were unencumbered by reality ... he knew 2 + 2 to be whatever Marxism required at any given moment."
"The West's 'best and brightest', its artists and intellectuals, have long believed vampirism to be a noble experiment, especially when experimented on others."
... reminiscent of another pair of fictional lovers: "Anya took his cold hand from her waist and moved it into her pocket, rubbing his fingers warm."
... and "Hoping her love would follow, he gingerly accepted the sticky goo"
What the Hell?! :)
"In time, the entire nation is comprised solely of bloodsuckers, of one variety or other. That is why the socialist nations are so dependent upon fresh transfusions from the West."
"A state cannot teach, only indoctrinate."
"In socialism's final stages, everyone is a bloodsucker, all innocent flesh long since drained."
"His dream is to win the Nobel Peace Prize."
"Socialism's greatest strength is that no one believes its horrors."
"What do vampires know? They still believe redistribution creates wealth. As if draining blood from the healthy will nourish rather than kill a nation."
"Wretched souls survive at any cost, as if survival is a great virtue. Survival is a virtue for rats and roaches ... "
"All the souls and rock stars and society scum, when they are not sticking fingers down their throats over a toilet, they give cocaine parties for Sandanista butchers, and toast Che and Castro ... "
"Utopian idealists of every race, of every socialist breed, hate all they sees
"Vampires consider villages too scattered and remote. People are more easily controlled when concentrated, like pigs in a pen, like cattle in a corral."
"Socialism was never about economic efficiency, always about power and control."
"New York has more vampires than you may imagine. Vampires prefer urban dwelling. Apartment blocks are easier to monitor and control than outlying villages."
"A strong mind can correct for the distortions and recognize the true world. People succumb to vampiric infection because they want to, because it's comfortable and easy."
" ... genocidal hate masked behind utopian ideals ... "
"Mao eating greater numbers than Hitler or Stalin, slurping rivers of blood even as Western students and artists and intellectuals erected altars unto him, yearning to feel the bite of Mao and Che and Castro ... "
"I expect you saw Stalin's holocaust? The holocaust the West first ignored, then denied, then forgot, at times even supported."
"Trotsky coined 'the phrase 'politically correct'. It means to peak and believe as you are supposed to, regardless of your conscience, regardless of reality .... "
"Ceausescu was a confident psychotic ruling a pack of insecure neurotics. His ideals were unencumbered by reality ... he knew 2 + 2 to be whatever Marxism required at any given moment."
"The West's 'best and brightest', its artists and intellectuals, have long believed vampirism to be a noble experiment, especially when experimented on others."
... reminiscent of another pair of fictional lovers: "Anya took his cold hand from her waist and moved it into her pocket, rubbing his fingers warm."
... and "Hoping her love would follow, he gingerly accepted the sticky goo"
What the Hell?! :)
February 12, 2013
I'm still feeling a bit traumatised by this book. I've almost finished it and just feeling a bit - well meh really. It's a curious metaphor throughout the book - equating communism with blood-sucking vampirism... I'm not an expert on communism by any means, but fair enough analogy perhaps. It was just the way this book was written - perhaps I should emphasise at this point that I'm not into vampire books, but it was just really like a cheap thriller. And not even that good a cheap thriller at that. The characters were exceedingly two-dimensional and fit more stereotypes that are just crass at the best of times, the situations the protagonist finds himself in are just so predictable, and the whole way through there are just so many cliches about Romania, that you kind of think... ummm really???
But hey, again, I'm not into Vampire novels and I am sure there are readers who will disagree with me totally on my review, so please don't let what I think of the book put you off reading!
But hey, again, I'm not into Vampire novels and I am sure there are readers who will disagree with me totally on my review, so please don't let what I think of the book put you off reading!
May 24, 2008
I met Thomas Sipos when I was doing my commentary website a few years ago. He has written one of the most unique books you'll ever read: a libertarian vampire novel. The descriptions of Soviet Romania are evocative, the suspense carries through the plot, and the characters are well-conceived and never devolve to stereotypes.
December 20, 2025
Expected more from reviews, it's an interesting metaphor but at times reads as blatant imperialist propaganda. It has some great moments as a horror novel and plenty of wit. Despite some disappointments, I would love to know more about Rumanian history after reading Sipos' novel.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews