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    Fangland: A Novel
    Fangland: A Novel
    Fangland: A Novel
    Audiobook12 hours

    Fangland: A Novel

    Written by John Marks

    Narrated by Ellen Archer, Simon Vance, Todd McLaren and Michael Prichard

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    An acclaimed novelist and former 60 Minutes producer grandly reinvents the Dracula epic in the halls of a certain television newsmagazine

    In the annals of business trips gone horribly wrong, Evangeline Harker's journey to Romania on behalf of her employer, the popular television newsmagazine The Hour, deserves pride of place. Sent to Transylvania to scout out a possible story on a notorious Eastern European crime boss named Ion Torgu, she has found the true nature of Torgu's activities to be far more monstrous than anything her young journalist's mind could have imagined. The fact that her employer clearly won't get the segment it was hoping for is soon the very least of her concerns.

    Back in New York, Evangeline's disappearance causes an uproar at the office and a wave of guilt and recrimination. Then suddenly, several months later, she's heard from: miraculously, she's convalescing in a Transylvania monastery, her memory seemingly scrubbed. But then who was sending e-mails through her account to The Hour employees? And what are those great coffin-like boxes of objects delivered to the office in her name from the Old Country? And why does the show's sound system appear to be infected with some strange virus, an aural bug that coats all recordings in a faint background hiss that sounds like the chanting of...place-names? And what about the rumors that a correspondent has scored an interview with Torgu, here in New York, after all? As a very dark Old World atmosphere deepens in the halls of one of America's most trusted television programs, its employees are forced to confront a threat beyond their wildest imaginings, a threat that makes gossip about an impending corporate shakeup seem very quaint indeed.

    Written in the form of diary entries, e-mails, therapy journals, and other artifacts of early-twenty-first-century American professional-class life, compiled as an informal inquest by a very interested party, Fangland manages both to be a genuinely-in fact triumphantly-frightening vampire novel in the grand tradition and a, yes, biting commentary on the way we live and work now.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJan 25, 2007
    ISBN9781400173594
    Fangland: A Novel
    Author

    John Marks

    John Marks is a reader in the Department of Modern Languages, Nottingham Trent University. He has written on Michel Foucault and Andre Gorz.

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    Reviews for Fangland

    3/5

    88 ratings13 reviews

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    • 4/5
      From the very first page, I loved reading this book and was sad when it was finished. Marks puts a unique spin on the Vampire, where he comes from and why he exists. Also, I appreciated seeing 9/11 placed in the context of the grand sweep of human history. At Borders it is shelved in the literature section and I think a lot of potential readers who are browsing for something new to read will miss it. Maybe its a poor assumption on my part, but I don't think most people browsing in straight literature will pick up a book entitled Fangland and I don't think a lot of vampire/horror fans regularly browse the straight lit section.
    • 2/5
      Evangeline Harker is a producer for a television news show called “The Hour”. On the heels of her engagement she reluctantly leaves for Transylvania to investigate the possibility of a story about an international gangster, Ion Torgu. In this book Torgu steps into the count Dracula character. Unfortunately, he does not do it well. Mr. Marks attempts to update the vampire lore and I found he left much lacking. Although Torgu shares some of the classic vampire traits the rest is too ambiguous to define him as a vampire.

      The story unfolds to the reader in journal entries, letters and emails between the characters so is told in many voices. This technique often works but in this book it only adds to make the story a little disjointed.

      Fangland can best be described as Dracula dragged into the 21st century. The first quarter of this book started out with great promise and then, for me, it just started to run out of steam. The saving grace is that as a former 60 Minutes producer Marks does give the reader an intimate glance into the (possible) behind the scenes of a major news show. His tidbits of satire is what kept me reading to the end.
    • 1/5
      I hated this book. I understand that the author was trying to give a new perspective on vampires, but honestly? A vampire that has been around for centuries and seen all different kinds of massacre and death, has to use a bucket for blood drinking? You would think he would've figured out something a bit more sophisticated than that. There are characters that are brought into the story that are never explained or expanded upon. Can someone please tell what was with the Greek brothers that Torgu had in his hotel? This story seemed choppy at best. Nothing is ever fully explained and none of it flows very well. The author jumped perspectives, which is normally good to bring the story more detail but why change the perspective if you aren't going to say anything worthwhile. I was very disappointed and would not recommend this book at all.
    • 2/5
      Fangland re-tells the classic Dracula story with a modern day twist. Evangeline Harker is an assistant producer for The Hours, a 60 minutes type new show based in New York. Evangeline travels to Romania to research a possible news story for the program. However, instead of meeting an Eastern European crime lord, she finds Ion Torgu, a modern day vampire. The story simultaneously deals Evangeline’s disappearance and Ion Torgu’s creeping influence on the workers of The Hours. As Torgu’s presence infiltrates The Hours, one by one the news workers grow sick and deranged. The overall concept of Fangland is interesting and the novel starts out well. However as the story wears on the plot begins to plod along. There is no real sense of menace or emotional investment in the characters and soon their predicament becomes somewhat boring.
    • 4/5
      I wasn't too sure about this book when I first bought it but once I got into it I couldn't put it down. A wonderful 21 century vampire novel with the irony about america's love affair for the media and what a "dark" place working in the media industry can be. This brings to play what we all like to believe sometimes that there really are monsters behind the scenes pulling the strings.(or is it just me that likes to think that with my fascination for conspiracy theories?) After reading the book I was surprised I had not heard more about it before for it was definately a read on. With all the lovers of the vampire genre the books have becomed mass produced and written so more often than not I've been choosing not to read on with some of the vampire tails I pick up. One reviewer said it was a, "Dracula for the twenty-first century", and I would have to agree.
    • 4/5
      Well, I must say that the last couple of vampire books have really stuck in my mind into how many ways we can twist and turn the myth of the vampire! I found it so fascinating that people can really change the way the modern vampire works.First off, we're following Evangeline on a trip to Romania in search of the legendary (if not even real) Ion Torgu. Supposedly meeting a man for an interview to find out if he actually exists, but instead comes face to face with the man himself. Strange little man with bad teeth she gets to talking to him. As time goes on, she ends up not returning to her life in New York - it seems that she has lost her memory. But another person who is claiming to be her starts to send emails and items back to New York, but we know it's not Evangeline. Torgu is never actually proclaimed to be a vampire, but the feel is there and he wants to bring his sinister plans into New York. But once Evangeline's memory starts coming back to her, she has to find a way to stop Torgu!John Marks has the skills and mastered the art of confusing someone while reading the book. The POV changes quite a bit, but I really think if you can get past that - you throuoghly enjoy the book. It's dark and spooky but yet you just need to know what's going ot happen next. His descriptions of Transylvania and Romania are amazing. It makes you think like you're actually there! The characters are well defined. You can love them and hate them at the same time. But all in all - the book was a good read.If you're up for a chilling story about an old monster, then I suggest that you give this book a try!
    • 4/5
      What a strange little book Fangland is. I was initially intrigued because Audrey Niffenegger had a blurb on the back, but quickly got caught up in the actual story once I started reading it.Don't get me wrong, it does get off to a slow start, and is confusing at points in the beginning. As the story winds on, though, it's easy enough to figure out that you're supposed to be a bit confused, as it adds to the atmosphere.The first half of Fangland reminds me of Dracula, as far as suspense goes. I was actually a little frightened in that good horror way as I got closer to the second half of the book, while the story mostly remains in Transylvania.When the focus switches back to the US and the offices of a 60 Minutes clone known as The Hour, the suspense lightens up a little and the story isn't as... believable, I guess, as it was in the first half. I'm not sure why. It might be the diffusion of focus, from one person (Evangeline, the reporter stuck in Transylvania) to a multitude (a greedy handful of people who work in the offices of The Hour). It's still an enjoyable read in the second half, just not as gripping and creepy.One minor complaint: calling the offices of The Hour "Fangland" seems like a shoehorned-in explanation of the title. It doesn't feel organic at all, and I wish it was just mentioned in passing, once, instead of clumsily "explained" twice (that I counted).All in all, a good read if you're a fan of vampire novels. If you're just a suspense fan, you'll probably still enjoy it, but I think it's made more enjoyable by the allusions to standard vampire lore sprinkled throughout the novel, especially in the first half.
    • 4/5
      Not great poetry, but effective at relating this modern werewolf story with poetic compression, resulting in a taut, crisp thriller that had me turning the pages eagerly right up to its satisfying end. Enjoyable for having been daring enough to attempt relating a story in poetry in this prosaic age -- and the more rewarding for having pulled the experiment off. Kudos to Marks for a notable accomplishment.
    • 1/5
      i didn't like this book. you read it thinking it's a mystery and then you realize it's just the most boring vampire story ever written, and probably the only vampire book i've ever disliked.
    • 3/5
      A completely different story about vampires. Refreshing. A little hard to follow sometimes (perhaps I'm just slow).
    • 5/5
      Great example of modern horror. I had to stop reading it before bedtime. John Marks creates a new vampire, one capable of biting through 21st century technology using old-world skills.
    • 5/5
      a real hidden gem--and not JUST for vampire fans...suspenseful and funny and sad.
    • 4/5
      I liked it but I got confused and had to read the opener and closer again, with no enlightenment. Who was that guy? What did he have to do with the story? And who was Ed?