Virtual Vampires of Vermont

American Chillers #13

by Johnathan Rand

When Mike and his friend Hayley Winthrop are suddenly pulled into his home computer, they find themselves in a world all its own--a virtual world, where things are not what they appear to be.

Genres: Childrens, Horror, Middle Grade, Mystery

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

About the author

Christopher Wright is the author of dozens of horror fiction books for children and young adults. He writes under the pseudonyms Johnathan Rand and Christopher Knight. Almost all of Wright's books (save American Chillers) take place in his home state of Michigan.

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the more intriguing titles for any American Chillers book, Virtual Vampires of Vermont moves the action from the real world to the digital. Eleven-year old Mike Sherman from the resort village of Stowe, Vermont, is pleased when his aunt and uncle send him a computer game, Return of the Vampire, for his birthday. He pops the disc into the hand-me-down computer his dad gave him, but has difficulty getting it to work. The computer is old and often malfunctions, but Mike is looking forward to this game, so he hopes the issue fixes itself. The Return of the Vampire disc seems to make things worse, though. The computer turns on and off by itself, sometimes when it's not plugged into the wall, and a dialogue box pops up onscreen that exhibits an uncanny awareness of what's going on in Mike's room. When his friend Hayley Winthrop comes to visit, a kid vampire appears onscreen and yanks Mike and Hayley inside the computer, into the gothic world of Return of the Vampire. How can this be happening?

Ivan, who looks like a stereotypical vampire, is apologetic for taking such drastic action. It's the only way he could get Mike and Hayley's attention. Ivan is a digital citizen of the computer realm called Virtuality, and he's in danger from a new breed of virtual vampires. They spawned inside Return of the Vampire because of a computer virus; these vampires feed on electronic energy, which is in short supply as the virus degrades the computer's efficiency. If the vampires gobble up all the energy in Virtuality, they'll be able to exit the computer into the real world, infecting computers throughout human civilization. That would be a catastrophe, but Mike and Hayley can end the threat by traveling with Ivan to his virtual castle and eliminating the vampires as they sleep. It seems doable...but is there something Ivan hasn't told them?

Migrating across the shadowlands of virtual Transylvania toward the castle, Mike and Hayley learn that viral vampires aren't the only enemy. Gigantic worms slither between caves in the countryside, hunting for victims. At Ivan's castle, where the interior layout completely changes every time the game boots up, deranged cats and robotic wolves prowl. Ivan has his Doberman, Zeena, but she's no match for the deranged cats. Mike and Hayley either need to neutralize the viral vampires or repair the computer from the inside before Virtuality crashes, which would terminate not only Ivan's existence, but their own. Do they have the tech savvy required to beat the virus before it is unleashed on mankind?

Virtual Vampires of Vermont has complicated narrative elements, but Johnathan Rand keeps them sorted out. American Chillers isn't known for plot surprises, but there are a couple of decent ones in this story. The writing is rough-hewn as usual, not the professional product you see in most published books, but Virtual Vampires of Vermont has a good atmosphere of mystery and danger as Mike, Hayley, and Ivan wander the dreary corridors of his castle. This is at least the best American Chiller since Terrible Tractors of Texas, maybe since Florida Fog Phantoms; it's not perfect by any means, but I was entertained. Next, we cross the entire United States to the West Coast for Creepy Condors of California. Meet you there?

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bringing January to a close with my first ‘Chiller of the year, Sir Rand has a wild one here. This book has a lot of good ideas and merit, but has some of shortcomings. I liked the concept for the story: there’s a virtual world you get transported into with these monsters that feed off energy, and it delves into a lot of bizarre things like literally being inside a computer to spilled soda making its way into the virtual world… it raises a lot of technical questions but is very interesting. There’s some better moments (specifically liked the bits with the Virtual Vampires themselves), good entertainment value, and a more high-stakes and elaborate plot which is pretty native to the earlier ‘Chillers it seems. Ivan was a nice inclusion as well. Atmosphere was quite good too, especially in the castle; the fact that they’re in a game enhances this surreal feel. Writing is series standard, not good or too bad, just dry. And with the more interesting ideas here, we have some convolutions. I didn’t really like the non-climax for this book, and it was a more logistically confusing portion with some cheaply explained things at the end. There’s a real lack of virtual vampires too; we have Ivan (who is a vampire) and three quick scares with them—but again, QUICK. There’s not enough of them and they were the clear highlight. The story was a bit meandering at times (especially with the other, more useless and unadvertised creatures that had more time to shine for some reason) and I was kinda disappointed with the lack of an actual final battle here, as the final enemy of the book was a giant worm… which got dealt with immediately not to mention wasn’t placed correctly if that was meant to be the final battle; there’s a lot of space after that before they escape (mild spoiler ig but these ‘Chillers never have dark endings). Just some disappointment here but I still enjoyed the book, heck I’d even say it’s pretty good. Overall, 7.5/10. Solid ‘Chiller, could’ve used more vampires and better storytelling. Don’t come to vy house on Halloween! Or else I vill suck your dic—ah, I mean, blood.. (get it? Remember that meme?).

[Erich Laschinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was overall a great book! But at times I could get boring. One of the things I love about the book though is that at the end of every chapter it leaves you off with a suspenseful question.

[Amritha Vivek · Rating 2 out of 5]

A boy gets a computer game for his birthday, and he puts in his computer, but it won't work. He when tries playing it again, a virtual vampire appears and pulls him and his friend into the game. The vampire turns out to be a good vampire who is trying to stop the evil ones from escaping from cyberspace and entering the real world. What will happen in the game?

[Mooday · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book because it's very entertaining and interesting. It's about a kid who gets pulled into his computer by a good vampire and he has to stop what his computer is doing because his computer is making bad vampire because the computer has a virus.

[Max Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ever! Vampires are cool, and video games are cool, so obviously merging them would be super duper mega ultra lame!

When I was a little boy 👦, I used to think I was a vampire, and I wouldn't shut up about it so my friend gave me a dead fly and said "here, you can have you first taste of blood."

I ate the fly. It gave me diarrhoea. I'm not a vampire.

[Wolverinefactor · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to just throw a book due to its sheer stupidity but here I am ready to just destroy this book so no other unfortunate soul can read it.

It’s a ripoff of the mad house story a few books ago. It’s beyond stupid.

[Derick C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its so good that its like hacking my head to read more.

[Kenneth BLANCK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trust me, it is not at all what you think it is. it is actually a VIDEO GAME!

[Dakota Oakley]

I really liked this book because I had a lot of confusion. It started off really weird because a computer was working without it being plugged in. Then two kids got pulled through a computer and I thought that that was just really strange. The computer had a virus that was making really weird things happen in the placed called Virtuality. There was weird vampires that absorbed energy and they would become strong enough to destroy the real world. Also, there were giant worms going around destroying villages. I really liked how the author had a lot of weird things happening but they made the characters smart enough to get out of the situation. The author also had a lot of details when people were telling the main characters what was happening. I would recommend this book to people who like adventure and confusion.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think when I read this book forever ago I really liked it.

I read this book a long time ago and do not really remember it. I don’t know what else to say about it besides that I recommend it to kids 8 and up (Maybe younger depends on the kid) and that everyone should read it. I may not remember this book to well but I know I did enjoy reading it.

[Justin Dunn]

This book is a really good book but it wasnt much different from his other books. so i pretty much the same thing as his other so i enjoyed it the same. This is an old book and a somewhat scary novel. if i could rate it id rate it a 7 out of 10. the carecters in this book is james and ben they have stange dreams that come alive.

[Pablo Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a boy named mike who gets a computer game on his birthday,then it suddenly doesn't work. Mike and his friend get sucked in to the computer and meets a vampire and they try to stop an evil vampire virus from getting out of the game.I really enjoyed reading this book.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very good and I would recommend it to other people

[Brenden Wells]

REALLY COOL BOOK!!!!!

[Netta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wildly entertaining!

[Amy]

Another great read with my son.

[Kevyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it!