Vampire Junction

Timmy Valentine #1

by S.P. Somtow

Timmy Valentine, teen rock star and secret vampire, tries to come to terms with the feelings of guilt and compassion he has for his victims

Genres: Horror, Vampires, Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Historical Fiction

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1984

About the author

Called by the Bangkok Post "the Thai person known by name to most people in the world," S.P. Somtow is an author, composer, filmmaker, and international media personality whose dazzling talents and acerbic wit have entertained and enlightened fans the world over.

He was Somtow Papinian Sucharitkul in Bangkok. His grandfather's sister was a Queen of Siam, his father is a well known international lawyer and vice-president of the International Academy of Human Rights. Somtow was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and his first career was in music. In the 1970s (while he was still in college) his works were being performed on four continents and he was named representative of Thailand to the Asian Composer's League and to the International Music Commission of UNESCO. His avant-garde compositions caused controversy and scandal in his native country, and a severe case of musical burnout in the late 1970s precipitated his entry into a second career - that of author.

He began writing science fiction, but soon started to invade other fields of writing, with some 40 books out now, including the clasic horror novel Vampire Junction, which defined the "rock and roll vampire" concept for the 80s, the Riverrun Trilogy ("the finest new series of the 90's" - Locus) and the semi-autobiographical memoir Jasmine Nights. He has won or been nominated for dozens of major awards including the Bram Stoker Award, the John W. Campbell Award, the Hugo Award, and the World Fantasy Award.

Somtow has also made some incursions into filmmaking, directing the cult classic The Laughing Dead and the award winning art film Ill Met by Moonlight.

Reviews

[Grady Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was surprised to discover that this is not the only vampire novel that ends with the vampire being absorbed into a lady's cavernous vagina.

[Marvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rock 'n Roll vampires? Yeah. I know. Except Vampire Junction predates The Vampire Lestat by a year and Timmy Valentine is more like Justin Beiber with a cape and a blood obsession. It's a rollicking yarn and it has a nice bent on the Vampire angle.

Update: Another goodreads reviewer reminded me what makes this novel stand out from the other vampire books. (It's been awhile since I've read it) Vampire Junction is from a Jungian aspect rather than the usual Freudian. So now we have these four schools of vampire philosophy.

Freudian: Dracula and most others
Jungian: Vampire Junction
Existentialism: Interview With a Vampire
Harlequin Romance Psychology: Twilight

Yep! All covered.

One more thing. I own the ninth copy of Vampire Junction ever sold. How do I know this?...

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not all that many months ago, I posted a "placeholder" review for this book, intending to update it when I re-read it. Having now re-read it, I don't have very much to add, so I'm going to leave that in place. All I would say now is that some intriguing concepts get drowned in a sea of gratuitous blood, leaving only a slight impression on the mind.
I know I read it, but I don't remember much about it at all. I did look it over a bit to refresh my memory about it, but that only drew my attention to how much I had completely forgotten it. The main thing I remember from the time is that I asked a friend why Somtow Sucharitkul would want to change such a great name to the far-less interesting "SP Somtow."
This book came out between the publication of Interview With the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat, and it seems to be partly a response to the first and an anticipation of the second. The first scene, in fact, is a sort of parody of "Interview," in which the vampire rapidly seduces and kills his interviewer. A lot of the book focuses around the doings of the vampire-as-rock-star, which is the theme Rice would explore in "Lestat." This may explain why this book is so forgettable (and forgotten), it treads a bit too close to better-known ground.
The most intriguing aspect of this book, as I looked at it again, was the idea that the vampire was a kind of Jungian archetype made manifest, called out of the collective subconscious by the power of the human will. I don't recall whether this idea is explored fully, but it has great potential. Also, Somtow's hero is a conductor, which is his own profession as well, giving him a chance to discuss the world of classical music from the inside.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars for interesting ideas, but the pacing and writing didn't really grab me. The exploding bodies at Timmy's final concert were a bit much, but then I read the scene in Bluebeard's castle and had to stop.

I read a short story by Somtow in Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond that I enjoyed, so I would read something else by this author, but I just couldn't finish this one.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

2000 year old in 12 year old body vampire eunich singer: intriguing
hot 40 year old analyst-to-vampire: intresting
plot: awful.

what an awful book. I'd say it was a ripoff of The Vampire Lestat, but it was written 2 years earlier. it gets an extra star for the interesting characters, but probably only deserves one.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average vampire tale that, as so often happens, devolves.into way too many pages of philosophical claptrap and musings, making it about a hundred pages too long. Decent at first, but a slog to finish.

[TDR · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, I like books about vampires. Bram Stoker hooked me into the genre when I was a child, a long time ago. This book stands out because of its concept of a boy vampire, made 2000 years ago and having Greek as his first language who manges to stay alive until present times, having gone through so many identities and languages that he has difficulty remembering them all.

Enter Timmy Valentine, 12 year old rock star whose voice is so unearthly he doesn't seem to be breathing. Well, he isn't. One way and another Timmy, as he's now known, takes us back through time to Germany under the Nazis and, via a brief stop with Gilles de Rais, to an ancient Sybil at a time when Greek had so many tones it sounded almost like singing.

The ending is apocalyptic, resulting in the complete destruction of a town by fire and Timmy's disappearance. But this is only the first book of a trilogy. If you're reading this, then read Valentine and Vanitas as well.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when it first came out back in the 80's. I think it is that rare combination of horror and black hunor that Robert Bloch was so well known for. That Timmy is a vampire is really just a device to take the reader on a wild ride that manages to satirize everything from bubble gum rock to psychotherapy to characters in history while delivering a truly horrific story. Somtow is a prolific, award winning Thai writer, musician and composer. This book has been rated as one of the top horror novels ever written and tho I usually don't pay much attention to ratings,I would second this one.

[Robert Adam Gilmour · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first heard of Somtow and this book in the additional recommendations at the back of Horror: 100 Best Books, his name stood out but so did the word "Junction", which is nothing like the words generally used in vampire titles. This is his most famous book (considered by many to be an early splatterpunk book), not his best, I've only read 4 of his books but the Inquestor series is on a higher plane.

Timmy Valentine is a 2000 year old vampire stuck with the body of a 12 year old boy, now he's an extremely successful pop star. We frequently visit previous eras of his life and the various characters connected to him. Jungian archetypes are central to the story and the more it gets into them, the more hallucinatory the story is. Vampires can change form based on the fears and desires of the people who see them and somehow Valentine's home has same ability.

This is very much set in the modern world (or the early 80s) with all the cultural references, videogames, famous brands and preposterous merchandise. Vampire films are often referenced and I think one scene was a nod to Stephen King's Salem's Lot. Somtow's classical music background is used even more extensively than in Inquestor.

The best scenes have an incredible energy, I really like the way it developed the archetypes concept, it's frequently funny. Stephen Miles is such an odd character.

Some complaints: the writing is not quite as refined as the other Somtow books I've read. As much as he executes his imagery very well (and he can do this brilliantly), there's still lots of scenes that I think needed more fleshing out and description, because so many things that seem ripe for a juicy description just pass by without conjuring much of a vivid picture or just land awkwardly (a scar that moves like a worm), Inquestor didn't have this problem often. It isn't a long book but I think quite a lot of scenes of relatively ordinary stuff could have been trimmed a bit (especially the vampire hunters getting supplies).
I don't think Somtow aims for realistic dialogue but some choices are just head scratching. This particularly in the chauffeur scenes that are told only in dialogue, it doesn't work very well, the scenes (as I say above) could have had more impact if they were more conventionally fleshed out and the characters describe what they see at such length that I wasn't sure if their dialogue was to be taken as completely literal.
Why couldn't Valentine escape the wooden cage? What does an "irish face" look like? Why does the shoshone mother let the children out so easily? In what way did Brian being with her resemble what his awful brother was doing?

But all in all it's an admirably ambitious, frequently fun and violently energetic novel with lots of fractured, hallucinatory images. I'm looking forward to the sequels but more excited about getting to many of his other books.
Just a warning: Somtow can be disarmingly light hearted and earnest before he plunges you into taboos and extreme horror, Valentine (remember he has the body of a 12 year old boy) has sex with a handful of adults, is raped and butchered and lives through and repeatedly dies in the holocaust. Enjoy!

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel and the two that follow it are about Timmy Valentine, who goes by many names, is a 2,000 year old vampire who looks like a 12 year old boy and in the present is a rock star. Like Saint Germain, he is not evil, but the vampires he makes are. Also like Saint Germain, Timmy and some of those who he is surrounded by for a very long time are musicians.

[Summer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, it could have been a fun romp if it didn't drag so much. I felt like so many passages were unnecessary. The writing isn't bad. I just wish the author would cut the fat out as it drowns out a lot of the important details and plot points while making certain character traits bland or just annoying.

[Quentin · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, having just recently finished S.P. Somtow's Vampire Junction, I wanted to give my opinions on it. I started it around April, and it pretty much took me an entire month to read the whole book (including school days). Suffice to say, it was kind of worth it!

I found out about Vampire Junction through Etsy (which I look through constantly to see any interesting horror paperbacks). The cheesy cover on the Tor reprint was one reason I was brought into its cold, dark grasp. The other reason was that its story was intriguing, to say the least. I'll make it brief: Timmy Valentine, a young pop (or rock?) star, sings hit songs that make his fans go absolutely nuts. There's just one thing, though—he's a vampire. Nobody really knows this secret except for Rudy, his butler if I'm correct, and Maria, an old woman who sometimes takes care of Timmy.

Without trying to give away too many spoilers, Timmy seeks a psychiatrist named Carla Rubens, who helps delve more into his tragic past, which spans through different generations. Meanwhile, Stephen Miles, who knows Carla, returns to the Gods of Chaos, a cult that long ago encountered Timmy and are dead set on finding a way to get to him and kill him once and for all. There are many other characters (some don't even last long or are introduced later on in the book) that I don't feel like writing down who they are.

Now that the plot's out of the way, let's get into what I liked.

One thing that I have to mention is how well written this book is. There are some sentences that give a feeling as though some of these places could be real, and the word choices also give a Stephen King feel to me for some reason. Looking through some sentences of the book, I found this one interesting, as it is a dream sequence and details Carla going up "stone steps that dripped blood and moaned as her feet touched them, as if they were flesh and blood" (Somtow, 250).

Even though that was a short sentence, it just sounds...creepy. I can't really figure out a good way to describe it.

Another thing I liked about Vampire Junction was that it had some well-developed characters, such as Timmy himself. You somewhat feel bad for all the things he went through in his lifetime, and all the things he has witnessed. You also feel a bit bad knowing he cannot express as much emotion as we mortals do, and that even though he has killed several people, he feels a bit of grief for these victims.

One more reason this book was interesting was how it is considered a splatterpunk classic by some people. Now, you might say, "That isn't a reason at all!" Before you finish that, let me explain.

I'll sum this up quick for those who do not know what a splatterpunk book is. Splatterpunk is a term that I can really only describe as a book that has an emphasis on gore, sex, violence, all that jazz. Some of these books were crazy from what I read in Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix (which I highly recommend for those who want to learn of the horror paperback boom of the 70s to the 90s), and that's fine. I can see why this book is considered splatterpunk; it has sex; it has gore; it has the violence. Even if it might qualify to some as a book that is lazy or stupid, it has some redeeming qualities and a serious tone that I feel changes it into something more.

How this is a pro rather than a con is that it makes the book a bit more fun and a faster read (despite the small font on my copy). You might disagree, but it was enjoyable from beginning to end.

Now, onto the cons!

One thing I didn't like was that, even though I said it was enjoyable, it started to feel a bit more slow towards the end. There are too many characters to focus on (even the ones I did like) and it feels more overcrowded and stuffed as a result. Some of the material gets a bit too cheesy to the point where this almost qualifies as a B-movie rather than what it's trying to be. (Example: the scene of Bluebeard's castle and the exploding people at one of Timmy's concerts.)

Another con: I feel as though we never really feel for some characters. Like the ones I mentioned who were barely even in the book. At least, Somtow could've have filled a bit more so we could understand and know more about these minor characters. Also, we never hear more about Timmy's songs, which would've also been interesting to know besides the ones that are mentioned.

Other than that, Somtow has managed to make a vampire book much more intriguing with his writing skills and antique feel, giving it more life and character than I expected. I may be biased, but Vampire Junction may be one of my favorite vampire books that I've ever read. Sure, it isn't perfect, and it definitely isn't as acclaimed as, say, Stephen King's books or other horror writers, but it is a fun read overall and I'd like to give it a 4.5 out of five (if I could)!

Now, I have something I have to say before I really finish. Knowing that Vampire Junction is part of a trilogy, I should really start looking for a decent copy of the sequels. Hopefully they're as good as the first one! (I know this may have been pointless to mention, but I just wanted to say something about it.)

[Briar Page · Rating 2 out of 5]

HOO BOY. What I can say in favor of this novel: it's ambitious, it goes all-out, and Somtow isn't afraid to plumb taboo or disgusting territory. In general, I'm more sympathetic to literary sins of excess than sins of restraint: over the top disasters always get more artistic points from me than timid, boring slogs. And there are some scenes in here that are genuinely very good, with lush description that makes gore almost beautiful, an amoral empathy for even the worst human beings (or vampires), and an overwrought but earnest romanticism that reminds me of Poppy Z. Brite. At other times, Somtow veers into intentional black comedy and satire that lands pretty well, even if it's tonally incongruous with the novel as a whole.

However, there are a lot MORE scenes that rise to unintentionally hilarious levels of unbelievable absurdity and campiness, all delivered in a weighty self-serious tone that just makes them funnier.

And there are EVEN MORE scenes that simply come off as horror cliches, sub-Stephen King depictions of minor, soon-to-be-vampirized-or-killed characters' working and middle class lives, or unearned, clumsy, gratuitous forays into subject matter like the sexual abuse of children and the Holocaust. (Also, yes, the treatment of race, sexuality, gender, disability, etc. etc. etc. in this novel is...what you would expect from a horror novel written in the early 1980s. Get ready for uncomfortably sexualized pre-teens, flamboyantly gay pedophile serial killers, women whose personalities are defined entirely by their relationships with and effect on men, Magical Native Americans, and a thoroughly unnecessary "village idiot" character named Cherry Cola who's described as having "the mongoloid features of Down's syndrome".)

Obviously I found the novel compelling enough to finish, but I can't recommend anyone read it; everything that's good here, you can also find in better books.

Another review, most of which I agree with, by Will Errickson of Too Much Horror Fiction: http://toomuchhorrorfiction.blogspot....

[Stephen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the first book I ever threw in the bin. In fact, possibly the only one! I don't like throwing books away! Especially ones given to me.

But this book left me feeling sullied and disturbed. No doubt that is partly the author's intention - it is, after all, a horror story. But this was one of the first "splatterpunk" novels, filled with gratuitous violence and far too much sex and deviancy. All this is mixed in with a kind of musical snobbery - the author's other trade - which clearly seeks to lift the novel out of the gutter into something more literary, but in fact it just grates horribly.

There is also pop psychology. In fact the whole premise of the story revolves around some rather dubious pop psychology - and again that grates.

This is not a book I am proud to have read. One to studiously avoid.

[Ana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to try to enjoy it... but I won´t exactly recommend it. Especially if you´re a really squicked. The writing was too confusing. Plus Castle Bluebeard scene, just Castle Castle Bluebeard. If you´re familiar with Gilles de Rais reputation as a child murderer and rapist yeah.

I read this because I thought this would be a fresh new take (well old take) on the vampire genre. Especially considering since it´s from the perspective a vampire stuck with a child body since most vampires are usually adults/or teens. But yeah kinda disapointed. I think I´ll just stick to Let the right one in as my go-to horror story involving a childlike vampire.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some interesting ideas in this story, but I thought it was too disjointed. It didn't seem like a singular cohesive story. It seemed like the author had a few different stories to tell, but decided to squish them all together without any real connection. All the weird psychology was boring too.

[Gemma · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love vampires (yes vampires, not weird sparkly things that are overly romanticised) then this one and Valentine are the books for you.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

amusing schlock with a talking bowel

[David Stephens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. So the singer for a famous band who presents himself as a vampire is actually a two thousand year old vampire. And he wants to know more about his own past that he’s forgotten, so he hires a psychiatrist to come live with him and his housekeeper/adoptive mother and chauffeur/adoptive father, whom he rescued from Auschwitz years before. Meanwhile a young girl who has been sexually abused by her father and, therefore, thinks the shark from Jaws is after her, becomes obsessed with this singer while her uncle tries to track her down. Also meanwhile, there is a group of horny and sadistic geriatrics who are trying to relive their sadistic glory days, and they need the second half of an ancient idol to unleash some unearthly force, so they travel to Thailand and steal this idol from the natives in record time. Then, they bring it to one of the vampire kid’s concerts where they put the idol together and an old woman in a wheelchair explodes in front of the entire audience. So the vampire kid retreats to a small town in Idaho named Junction, because it’s one of the words from the title, I guess, where we’re introduced to some uninteresting families and everyone starts turning into vampires and the uncle finally tries to do something but isn’t very productive and the vampire kid finally uncovers the truth of his past and he and two others, one of which gets really excited about fire, recreate an ancient ritual in a room where “the door palpitated like the vagina of a cosmic earthmother.”

In other words, this story is bonkers. Somtow took every idea he knew–the music industry, opera, vampires, Jungian psychology, cults, various bits of history–and tossed them into the mix. The writing style is all over the place as well. Sometimes, it’s full on gothic, other times it’s (accidentally?) silly, like when one of the vampires uses fingers as a garnish or a fat kid keeps farting as he’s dying. The pacing is all out of whack. There are long build ups to certain events that end in a matter of sentences. Plus, there are several moments where it feels like information is just missing, where I wasn’t sure if certain characters were still present or we had switched locations.

I guess I should have had some idea how big of a trainwreck this was going to be when I saw the sexy androgynous vampire’s name was Timmy Valentine. Or when I found out he had an obsession with toy trains. Or when his stupid song lyrics were treated like real wisdom. Or when his persona kept randomly switching from one thing to another.

I will give Somtow credit for trying to do something different. He did write a book that’s very unexpected and managed to incorporate some interesting ideas. Religious icons have little to no effect on vampires in this story since our age is a faithless one, which is an idea I don’t think I’ve seen before. He also works in ideas on archetypes and the vampire’s shadow self: “If the madness of a human manifests itself in insensate cruelty, could it be that for a vampire, man’s dark mirror-image, madness could be compassion?”

But on the other hand, look at that cover! (I know the author didn’t pick this, but still!)

[Cassie]

My introduction to the series was through Vanitas at 11 or so years old. This was prior to having resources like GoodReads, so without spending all day at the bookstore or library, I had no way to know that Vanitas was book 3 of a trilogy. Hadn't thought of the book in years (at least 16 by this point) and was thinking about rereading it for fun this last May. This was when I find out about the series, so I get the books on ebook.

The ebook version could definitely use a good edit for formatting in some places. It made it so hard to follow along with conversations when there are two different people speaking o on the same line or one person is speaking and it's broken up over two lines and on the second line, it's way over on the right hand side. There were random paragraph breaks as well.

I got into Vanitas at the height of my love of vampires and don't remember the writing being this boring. It took me nearly two months to get through this when it should have taken no more than a couple of days. I am more in the disappointed side than anything else.

[Eero · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I would have devoured this book and the sequels had I come across them in the 1980s. I certainly was aware of the author and remember reading a very positive review of this book in Analog magazine, but aside from shorter pieces (Fiddling for Waterbuffaloes in Analog, I think) I never read any of Somtow's work. Until now when I found the Kindle edition of this novel for free. Alas, the formatting issues with the electronic edition deter me from continuing with the series: there are the usual random line and page breaks and OCR errors, and sometimes the dialog is hard to make out (who exactly is speaking and when did the speaker change).

Aside from all that, this book is definitely something in its operatic gory excesses.

[Sriram · Rating 1 out of 5]

S.P Somtow continues to disappoint

If you ever read Somtows short stories"Lottery Night" and "Fiddling for Water Buffaloes" you'll know he's an amazing writer. Unfortunately, everything else I've read of his has failed to reach those heights. Vampire Junction is long, boring and devolves into a typical zombie movie style of the sort that Americans seem to love. I can't believe he wrote two sequels to this drivel. Why? Where is his grotesque, macabre, horror-humor mix? Are those 2 short stories the only sign of his potential? I'm about ready to give up on him now

[Zach Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only got 2/3rds of the way through this one before giving it up. Plenty of wacky splatterpunk goings-on (seaweed-infested vampires, little boy vampires feeding on menstrual blood, etc.), but this thing is WAYYY too long, bloated with a preposterous number of characters and plot threads, and pretentiously written and filled with half-baked Jungian ramblings. Gets points for audacity, but that's about it. Yeech.

[Raechel Gasparac · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m going to be nice and just say this book wasn’t for me. I could go on about all the things wrong in my eyes, but I am holding out hope I am simply the wrong demographic for this work.

I’ve never had such a hard time continuing to read a book, but I forced myself through it as it was part of this years reading goal. I still urge other to try reading it for themselves and make up their own mind about it. However for me, “It’s a no for me,DAWG…”

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 stars

[Pattie]

Unfinished

[India · Rating 1 out of 5]

mess mess mess

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 2 out of 5]

While well-narrated and has some interesting parts, pretty cheesy and dated. 2.5 stars

[Deathburst · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une histoire de vampire relativement originale, qui par certains côtés me rappelle le cycle du Bois des Mythagos, et qui me laisse la même impression bizarre.

J'ai apprécié ma lecture parce qu'elle m'a poussé hors de ma zone de confort et de mes ouvrages habituels, mais j'aurais du mal à dire s'il s'agit vraiment d'un bon bouquin.

Réflexions sur la nature humaine, sur les archétypes, les sentiments et leur influence sur le monde réel. Pas inintéressant, mais relativement abscons.

Je suis surpris de voir que c'est le 1er tome d'une trilogie. L'histoire est entière et se conclue sur une fin qui pourrait parfaitement être définitive. Je me demande ce qu'il se passe dans les tomes suivants.

[Kimm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this way back in HS. I think it was my first Vampire Novel and I found it equal parts harrowing and thrilling. To this day it stands out in my mind as the standard for vampire lore. Disturbing but oh so good!