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The Last Vampire
Elmo Land was a young man when he first met strange and enigmatic Regina Watson. He'd heard she was crazy, but Elmo was drawn to her even though he knew something wasn't right. Then he noticed the bite marks on her neck. That was the beginning of Elmo's new life--and the beginning of a headlong descent into a dark world of compulsion and desire--and the ever-present need to feed.
275 pages, Paperback
First published May 9, 1991
About the author
T.M. Wright
64 books66 followersTerrance Michael Wright (AKA T. M. Wright) is best known as a writer of horror fiction, speculative fiction, and poetry. He has written over 25 novels, novellas, and short stories over the last 40 years. His first novel, 1978's Strange Seed, was nominated for a World Fantasy Award, and his 2003 novel Cold House was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. His novels have been translated into many different languages around the world. His works have been reviewed by Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and many genre magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 5, 2020
This is strange series of vampiric reminiscences wrapped up in science fiction framework. It's typical of Wright's trademark quiet horror, being very light on blood and gore and violence, but is still a nice chiller in a shadowy way. It opens in 2047, sixty years in the future of the time of writing, and there's been war, but the setting meanders through the memories that are recounted. It's not a straight narrative, but the pieces do fit together to tell an interesting story. Not among my favorites of Wright's work, but I enjoyed it... although I had trouble taking a vampire named Elmo as seriously as the story required.
June 5, 2019
A remarkable, lyrical, nontraditional horror novel. Not as quiet as his reputation it's actually quite pulpy and vicious in sections. A vampire's memoir nestled in a couple layers. A scifi prologue, an apocalyptic past, beyond it a twentieth century full of murder and hunting and questions. I especially admire the relationship between Elmo and Lemuel, his hillbilly Renfield, his killer accomplice who feels like a very human evil. Just a great, weird book.
November 12, 2010
T. M. Wright is a master of "quiet" horror. His stories are subtle and strange and really really good.
February 24, 2026
A decades long existential crisis told out of chronological order from an unreliable narrator who is also a vampire. Very thought provoking.
Unfortunately, the book has not been put on Kindle and was not at my local library so I had to buy a used copy. Anybody who wants to read it will have to go out of their way to do so which is really a shame.
Unfortunately, the book has not been put on Kindle and was not at my local library so I had to buy a used copy. Anybody who wants to read it will have to go out of their way to do so which is really a shame.
May 10, 2026
T.M. Wright has been forgotten. Praised in life, he hasn't been blessed by posterity. He wrote short, sharp stories that played with expectations. Despite the brevity, his stories disturb more than some twice their length.
Elmo Land is a vampire, turned in the 1920s. Coming from humble stock, he drifts through the world, feeding and surviving. Told from his perspective, 'The Last Vampire' depicts his decline, the transition being sublime.
Mr. Wright was a rare horror writer: he never raised his voice. Shocks appear with scarcely a ripple. Being undead, our narrator is selfish, sinister, and unreliable - but in ways that undermine established tropes.
Vampires, being dead, are senseless. They see, hear, and smell through those living around them. Brilliantly, Mr. Wright invents a reason for keeping familiars: animals in cages serve as portable equipment.
Likewise, he plays with the act of 'turning'. Victims don't necessarily become vampires, their souls trapped in dead flesh, screaming for release. Immortality is also a myth: vampires degenerate, albeit more slowly.
Sometime in the recent past, a war erupted, destroying nations and making blood scarce. Survivors come across Elmo Land as he dithers through the night - and the novel compels us to draw a dark conclusion.
As he degenerates, mentally and physically, he becomes the victim of the same parasitic behaviour that ensures his survival. Worse, his account becomes jumbled and repetitive, his senses skewed by a sort of senility.
In this way, Elmo Land shifts from being a villain to a victim. We imagine a mortal man with dementia, exploited by others in his proximity. Ultimately, his fate is unknown to us - because it is unknown to him.
In conclusion, 'The Last Vampire' manages a subtle shift, carrying us from disgust to pity. Our subject suffers the very abuse he visited on others, but the tragedy is he can't learn from this. Perhaps, however, we can.
Elmo Land is a vampire, turned in the 1920s. Coming from humble stock, he drifts through the world, feeding and surviving. Told from his perspective, 'The Last Vampire' depicts his decline, the transition being sublime.
Mr. Wright was a rare horror writer: he never raised his voice. Shocks appear with scarcely a ripple. Being undead, our narrator is selfish, sinister, and unreliable - but in ways that undermine established tropes.
Vampires, being dead, are senseless. They see, hear, and smell through those living around them. Brilliantly, Mr. Wright invents a reason for keeping familiars: animals in cages serve as portable equipment.
Likewise, he plays with the act of 'turning'. Victims don't necessarily become vampires, their souls trapped in dead flesh, screaming for release. Immortality is also a myth: vampires degenerate, albeit more slowly.
Sometime in the recent past, a war erupted, destroying nations and making blood scarce. Survivors come across Elmo Land as he dithers through the night - and the novel compels us to draw a dark conclusion.
As he degenerates, mentally and physically, he becomes the victim of the same parasitic behaviour that ensures his survival. Worse, his account becomes jumbled and repetitive, his senses skewed by a sort of senility.
In this way, Elmo Land shifts from being a villain to a victim. We imagine a mortal man with dementia, exploited by others in his proximity. Ultimately, his fate is unknown to us - because it is unknown to him.
In conclusion, 'The Last Vampire' manages a subtle shift, carrying us from disgust to pity. Our subject suffers the very abuse he visited on others, but the tragedy is he can't learn from this. Perhaps, however, we can.
August 10, 2009
Elmo Land is the last vampire left and decides he needs to write his history before he chooses to die and this is his story. Not quite as entertaining as it could have been as the author makes Elmo a bit repetitve (I guess because he is so old?), but it was an interesting tale, very light on the blood and gore.
November 14, 2009
About vampire Elmo Land's life as a vampire. It's mostly separated paragraphs of flashbacks. It was a fast read, but not at all what I expected. I would've enjoyed it a LOT more if it had been written in story form, NOT a bunch of random thoughts, ramblings and flashbacks.
I hate flashback after flashback after flashback.
I hate flashback after flashback after flashback.
August 2, 2014
The Last Vampire - Elmo Land's life as a vampire. It's mostly separated paragraphs of flashbacks. It was a fast read, but not at all what I expected. Just a bunch of random thoughts, ramblings and flashbacks.
January 8, 2010
A little, and little-known gem of the genre.
Want to Read
August 28, 2011Stephen King recommended author: "T.M. Wright is a rare and blazing talent!"
July 22, 2012
I didn't mind the style of the book being mostly in first person, but I did not enjoy the ending not really getting it. Oh well.
September 6, 2010
Certainly the best contemporary vampire novel I have read.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews