Fat White Vampire Blues

ISBN: 0345463331
Random House, 2003

Like many Americans today, Jules Duchon is obese, and like many Americans he believes it is the fault of his environment and not a personal weakness. Late night eating because of odd working hours; The convenience of fast food that is loaded with fat; not to mention that fatty, rich foods just taste much better than healthy food. However, Jules' eating disorder is different from most because his obesity was caused from drinking the blood of the overweight denizens of New Orleans.

In Andrew Fox's first novel Fat White Vampire Blues, he has created an Ignatius Reilly (A Confederacy of Dunces) of the undead and as in John Kennedy Toole's famous novel, Fox takes full advantage of the exotic and eccentric nature of New Orleans. Jules laments the decaying of his beloved city into a combination crack ghetto and homogenized strip mall. He sinks into even deeper depression over his breakup with his super plus size stripper vampire girlfriend, Maureen. The final blow comes when he is visited by a new black vampire who decides that Jules should stick to biting the very scarce white folks of New Orleans. Jules decides that he must shape up and fight for his home or join the ranks of the permanently dead. Joined by a transvestite vampire trained by Tibetan monks he sets out to reclaim New Orleans for the gluttonous while avoiding the plots of the always nefarious strategic helium reserve.

The true joy of the novel is the verisimilitude that Fox brings to the vampire life. Um, that is if it is possible to have verisimilitude for a mythical lifestyle. The rules of modern vampirism have been completely rewritten in the Buffyverse and movies such as Underworld and Blade in an attempt to add an Mtv coolness. In contrast, Fox decided to embrace the vampire myths and powers of the vampire lore in 1930's movies and pulp fiction and in the words of that great poet Huey Lewis, "It's hip to be square." Fox revives the long avoided stereotypes of vampires turning into bats, sleeping in coffins and hypnotizing mortals and adds modern day cynicism to them. Jules' rustiness with his hypnotism skills leaves him only able to will diarrhea into the bowels of mortals. He installs hand holds to help him lift himself from his increasingly snug coffin. His transformation skills leave his bats to fat to fly and his wolves easily winded.

Andrew Fox's Fat White Vampire Blues is like the drunken revelry of Mardi gras. You never know what odd character is going to show up on the next page. You often find yourself laughing hysterically and sometimes can't even remember why. In the back of your mind you will have an urge for a hurricane and basin street Jazz. Most of all you know you don't want all the fun to end.

Andrew Fox's next novel Bride of Fat White Vampire will be published in August, 2004.