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Dhampire
Young David Bathory, heir to the vampire throne, returns to his ancestral home with two choices: either claim his birthright at the cost of his immortal soul--or suffer the immediate torments of hell. It's Hades one way or the other.
This book was also published as Ancestral Hungers .
This book was also published as Ancestral Hungers .
384 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1982
5 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Scott Baker
84 books10 followersScott Baker discovered his love of reading in grade school when his mother bet him he couldn't stay up until midnight every night reading Dracula. He finished the book, won 50 cents, slept with the lights on for the next four years, and was hooked for life on science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
Scott first attempted a novel in third grade. It was a page long and featured a rocket ship that ran on liquid copper.
In college, Scott drifted away from SF, but he was driven back to it by the deadly dullness of U.C. Irvine's Ph.D. program. Abandoning academia, he devoted himself to chemically-assisted hedonism in the Los Padres National Forest. During this time, Scott made several attempts at novels, but it was only after his van was stolen, he lost his job, his girlfriend left, and his roommate stole his rent money that he decided a life devoted to the joys of the moment wasn't all that much fun, so it was time to get serious about writing.
Scott wrote four novels-Nightchild, Dhampire, and Symbiote's Crown--before selling Symbiote's Crown. By the time it was published, Scott and his wife were living in the archetypical writer's garret, a cramped fifth-floor walk-up in Paris. Symbiote's Crown won the 1982 Prix Apollo for best French science fiction novel of the year.
Scott stayed in Paris for twenty years, working as translator and publisher's reader. He collaborated on several film scripts, working with directors such as Raoul Ruiz, Chile's former Minister of Culture. One film, Litan, won the Critic's prize at the Avoriaz Film Festival.
He also began writing shorter fiction. Four of Scott's stories were World Fantasy Award finalists and Still Life with Scorpion won the World Fantasy Award. He has three short story collections published in France.
Scott's next two novels, Drink the Fire from the Flames and Firedance, were fantasies set in the world of Ashlu. Inscrutable editorial imperatives meant that Firedance, second in the series, was published first, creating some confusion. The Ashlu books were followed by Webs, a psychological thriller with rather large spiders. Dissatisfied with Dhampire, he rewrote it from scratch. The vastly improved version was published as Ancestral Hungers.
After moving back to California, Scott created websites for the on-line tie-in for Steven Spielberg's film, AI, including one written in pseudo-Boolean code. The tie-in, AI: Who Killed Evan Chang was the first Alternate Reality Game. It was ranked Entertainment Weekly's number one website for 2002 and one of the New York Times' "Cool Ideas of the Year."
Scott's work has been published in England, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, and Finland. He has been a judge for the World Fantasy Awards, and is currently chairman of the judge's panel for the 2011 Philip K. Dick award.
After a long hiatus, Scott is currently working on an alternate history novel revolving around ethnopsychiatry, dire leopards, ancient Nubian medicine, traumatic brain injury, behavior-modifying parasites, and Napoleon's attempted conquest of Egypt.
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
2002 Entertainment Weekly's number one website (AI: Who Killed Evan Chang?)
2002 A New York Times' "Cool Idea of the Year" (AI: Who Killed Evan Chang?)
1990 World Fantasy Award Finalist (Varicose Worms)
1990 Chosen for The Year's Fantasy and Horror (Varicose Worms)
1987 World Fantasy Award Finalist (Nesting Instinct)
1987 Chosen for The Year's Best Science Fiction (Sea Change)
1985 World Fantasy Award Winner (Still Life with Scorpion)
1983 World Fantasy Award Finalist (The Lurking Duck)
1982 Critic's Prize, Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival (Litan)
1982 Prix Apollo for best science fiction novel published in France (Symbiote's Crown)
NOVELS
Symbiote's Crown (1978)
Nightchild (1983)
Drink the Fire from the Flames (1987)
Firedance (1985)
Webs (1989)
Ancestral Hungers (1995)
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS (French)
Nouvelle Recette Pour Canard Au Sang (1983)
Fringales (1985).
Aléas (1997).
FILM SCRIPT
Scott first attempted a novel in third grade. It was a page long and featured a rocket ship that ran on liquid copper.
In college, Scott drifted away from SF, but he was driven back to it by the deadly dullness of U.C. Irvine's Ph.D. program. Abandoning academia, he devoted himself to chemically-assisted hedonism in the Los Padres National Forest. During this time, Scott made several attempts at novels, but it was only after his van was stolen, he lost his job, his girlfriend left, and his roommate stole his rent money that he decided a life devoted to the joys of the moment wasn't all that much fun, so it was time to get serious about writing.
Scott wrote four novels-Nightchild, Dhampire, and Symbiote's Crown--before selling Symbiote's Crown. By the time it was published, Scott and his wife were living in the archetypical writer's garret, a cramped fifth-floor walk-up in Paris. Symbiote's Crown won the 1982 Prix Apollo for best French science fiction novel of the year.
Scott stayed in Paris for twenty years, working as translator and publisher's reader. He collaborated on several film scripts, working with directors such as Raoul Ruiz, Chile's former Minister of Culture. One film, Litan, won the Critic's prize at the Avoriaz Film Festival.
He also began writing shorter fiction. Four of Scott's stories were World Fantasy Award finalists and Still Life with Scorpion won the World Fantasy Award. He has three short story collections published in France.
Scott's next two novels, Drink the Fire from the Flames and Firedance, were fantasies set in the world of Ashlu. Inscrutable editorial imperatives meant that Firedance, second in the series, was published first, creating some confusion. The Ashlu books were followed by Webs, a psychological thriller with rather large spiders. Dissatisfied with Dhampire, he rewrote it from scratch. The vastly improved version was published as Ancestral Hungers.
After moving back to California, Scott created websites for the on-line tie-in for Steven Spielberg's film, AI, including one written in pseudo-Boolean code. The tie-in, AI: Who Killed Evan Chang was the first Alternate Reality Game. It was ranked Entertainment Weekly's number one website for 2002 and one of the New York Times' "Cool Ideas of the Year."
Scott's work has been published in England, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, and Finland. He has been a judge for the World Fantasy Awards, and is currently chairman of the judge's panel for the 2011 Philip K. Dick award.
After a long hiatus, Scott is currently working on an alternate history novel revolving around ethnopsychiatry, dire leopards, ancient Nubian medicine, traumatic brain injury, behavior-modifying parasites, and Napoleon's attempted conquest of Egypt.
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
2002 Entertainment Weekly's number one website (AI: Who Killed Evan Chang?)
2002 A New York Times' "Cool Idea of the Year" (AI: Who Killed Evan Chang?)
1990 World Fantasy Award Finalist (Varicose Worms)
1990 Chosen for The Year's Fantasy and Horror (Varicose Worms)
1987 World Fantasy Award Finalist (Nesting Instinct)
1987 Chosen for The Year's Best Science Fiction (Sea Change)
1985 World Fantasy Award Winner (Still Life with Scorpion)
1983 World Fantasy Award Finalist (The Lurking Duck)
1982 Critic's Prize, Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival (Litan)
1982 Prix Apollo for best science fiction novel published in France (Symbiote's Crown)
NOVELS
Symbiote's Crown (1978)
Nightchild (1983)
Drink the Fire from the Flames (1987)
Firedance (1985)
Webs (1989)
Ancestral Hungers (1995)
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS (French)
Nouvelle Recette Pour Canard Au Sang (1983)
Fringales (1985).
Aléas (1997).
FILM SCRIPT
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 13, 2012
It's weird, it's convoluted, you want to recommend the author lay off the drugs for a while... But it's also different and features what may be horror literature's first credible villain. If you often scratch your head at the common motives of horror novel villains (he wants to conjure up the devil - but WHY if that means he's going to die a horrible and painful death?! Horror novel villains seem rather daft that way), then you will enjoy this one because he actually knows what he's doing.
November 19, 2015
This is probably the most messed up book I've ever read. I'm not interested in drugs, in sex, or in Satanism, and I felt like Dhampire was a continuous pummeling of all three.
The first inclination I had that I might not like what I had chosen to read was when the main character and his wife truly did have something to hide - cocaine. It wouldn't be the first time I had read a book in which drugs featured prominently though, and I could overlook it. The second inclination was when I got to the first sex scene. Once again, not something I haven't found before, though this one was more graphic than most, and once again I knew I could endure. Third was the Satanism which does often involve bizarre and uncomfortable sexual rituals. As mentioned, any of these three things I could accept and overlook, but all three together became a bit questionable.
Especially because, as the book went on, these things seemed to be the whole of the story.
Now, there is an underlying message and it is not that you should do drugs, have sex, or engage in perverted ritual activities.
But when I'm having trouble following the actual story because I'm wincing away from parts just like I wince away from the amputation scene in Pan's Labyrinth, we've got a problem.
Overall, I enjoyed Scott Baker's writing style and I felt some of the concepts were rather interesting. I was truly intrigued by the main character discovering his powers and reopening himself to his heritage. And I am fully aware of how monstrous that heritage was. I just needed those reminders to either be less frequent, more spaced out, or less front-and-center to the narrative. This isn't a bad book, I just don't see a reason for me to read it again.
The first inclination I had that I might not like what I had chosen to read was when the main character and his wife truly did have something to hide - cocaine. It wouldn't be the first time I had read a book in which drugs featured prominently though, and I could overlook it. The second inclination was when I got to the first sex scene. Once again, not something I haven't found before, though this one was more graphic than most, and once again I knew I could endure. Third was the Satanism which does often involve bizarre and uncomfortable sexual rituals. As mentioned, any of these three things I could accept and overlook, but all three together became a bit questionable.
Especially because, as the book went on, these things seemed to be the whole of the story.
Now, there is an underlying message and it is not that you should do drugs, have sex, or engage in perverted ritual activities.
But when I'm having trouble following the actual story because I'm wincing away from parts just like I wince away from the amputation scene in Pan's Labyrinth, we've got a problem.
Overall, I enjoyed Scott Baker's writing style and I felt some of the concepts were rather interesting. I was truly intrigued by the main character discovering his powers and reopening himself to his heritage. And I am fully aware of how monstrous that heritage was. I just needed those reminders to either be less frequent, more spaced out, or less front-and-center to the narrative. This isn't a bad book, I just don't see a reason for me to read it again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2019
A highly original take on vampire lore, with some witchcraft and world cosmology linked in too. Also, a good novel.
It gets very weird towards the end though, like 2001: A Space Odyssey in novel form.
I've read it twice, and feel that I will embark on a 3rd reading soon. I'm sad that the author provided no more books in this universe. Perhaps I will write one.
It gets very weird towards the end though, like 2001: A Space Odyssey in novel form.
I've read it twice, and feel that I will embark on a 3rd reading soon. I'm sad that the author provided no more books in this universe. Perhaps I will write one.
January 9, 2022
This is a one star book that gets a bonus star for being a creative, albeit bizarre, story. Reading this book made my head hurt. I’m not typically one to not finish a book, no matter how bad it is, but this one truly tried my patience several times, and made me contemplate the idea of putting it away, in the far corner of my bookshelf where I don’t have to look at it.
Lots of incest. Lots of rape. Lots of rereading the page to make sure you read something correctly, and then determining that, yes, in fact, you DID just read that the main character went out into the woods and had sex with his sister, and then was possessed by his brother who then raped their sister through him, right before their uncle came out of nowhere and began to anally rape him while his brother was using him to anally rape his sister all at the same time, creating some weird human centipede.
If that’s your thing, then this is the book for you. If not, then I would take a hard pass. I myself will be gifting it to someone that I don’t like at work next Christmas, so that it can be out of my possession forever.
Lots of incest. Lots of rape. Lots of rereading the page to make sure you read something correctly, and then determining that, yes, in fact, you DID just read that the main character went out into the woods and had sex with his sister, and then was possessed by his brother who then raped their sister through him, right before their uncle came out of nowhere and began to anally rape him while his brother was using him to anally rape his sister all at the same time, creating some weird human centipede.
If that’s your thing, then this is the book for you. If not, then I would take a hard pass. I myself will be gifting it to someone that I don’t like at work next Christmas, so that it can be out of my possession forever.
December 26, 2022
This book lacks any depth, and just rushes from one plot point to the next. Also, the author shoe horns in several sex scenes that are unnecessary, add nothing, and make it incredibly apparent that he has never had sex. The fact that this managed to win an award is appalling.
October 26, 2025
One time a friend and I ate mushrooms and watched the live action Masters of the Universe movie - a movie I'd seen many, many times and him never. As the mushrooms came on and the film progressed he continually uttered, "Oh man, no way," in scintillating waves of incredulity and astonishment.
This book reminded me a LOT of that experience. As soon as the main characters smokes a joint sprinkled with dried psilocybin spores (??? !!!) this book is off and running, and that's like 5 pages in.
From barrages of dialogue exposition and the strange incestual sex scenes to actually pretty good and disturbing ritual sequences, this shit is pretty insane. I wish it was better. The last third reads like the finale of 2001 if the members of a 1970s Golden Dawn group wrote it.
I can't recommend it to anyone really, but I think I'm gonna keep my copy for reference.
Take a bump of blow every time the author writes the word Naga (for psychic self defense of course...)
This book reminded me a LOT of that experience. As soon as the main characters smokes a joint sprinkled with dried psilocybin spores (??? !!!) this book is off and running, and that's like 5 pages in.
From barrages of dialogue exposition and the strange incestual sex scenes to actually pretty good and disturbing ritual sequences, this shit is pretty insane. I wish it was better. The last third reads like the finale of 2001 if the members of a 1970s Golden Dawn group wrote it.
I can't recommend it to anyone really, but I think I'm gonna keep my copy for reference.
Take a bump of blow every time the author writes the word Naga (for psychic self defense of course...)
February 5, 2024
Really and truly awful. Akin to a train wreck that your brain doesn’t fully comprehend, because the train was so high when it derailed that you’re not entirely sure what you’re looking at.
This couldn’t have been more convoluted or outrageous.
Made it to the end, but Lordy that was a struggle.
This couldn’t have been more convoluted or outrageous.
Made it to the end, but Lordy that was a struggle.
January 23, 2024
It is a super fun novel. A little whacky, but hey this is the world of vampires, dhampires, and the devil. You'll definitely remember it for years to come.
May 21, 2012
Oh boy, this was bad.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews