"Vampire a Go-Go"

Victor Gischler's novels include Gun Monkeys, which was nominated for the Edgar Award, and Shotgun Opera, an Anthony Award finalist. His work has been translated into Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese. Bestselling author James Rollins has called him "Part Christopher Moore, part Quentin Tarantino, ... a raving, badass genius."

He applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Vampire a Go-Go, and reported the following:

"Not for the first time or the last, Kelley wondered if his work here at Rudolph's court wasn't in fact a terrible, terrible idea."

That is the first sentence of page 69 in Vampire A G-Go, and I think it pretty much hits the nail on the head. The characters in Vampire A Go-Go are constantly suffering the results of terrible ideas, all stemming back to the original terrible idea of the Alchemists who worked in the court of mad Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II. The novel is really two stories woven together; the first story is about young Allen Cabbot, well-meaning but semi-bumbling grad student. But the terrible ideas began with John Dee and Edward Kelley so long ago. Kelley's story takes place centuries before Allen's, yet both are connected. What is the secret of the Philosopher's stone? What was Kelley part of all those years ago that has come back to haunt Allen in the present day.

Answer: A Terrible, Terrible idea.

Browse inside Vampire a Go-Go, and learn more about the author and his work at Victor Gischler's Blogpocalypse.

Check out the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue