The Traveling Vampire Show

The Travelling Vampire Show

First edition
Author	Richard Laymon
Cover artist	Alan M. Clark
Language	English
Genre	Horror, Vampires, Coming of age
Published	May 2000 Cemetery Dance Publications
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages	534
ISBN	978-1-58767-000-8
OCLC	44409667

The Travelling Vampire Show is a 2000 horror novel by American author Richard Laymon.

Plot

The book follows three 16-year-olds on an idle summer day in 1963. The narrator, Dwight, and his best friends Rusty and Slim (a tomboy), find flyers for an exotic vampire show. They make a journey to a local clearing called Jank's Field in an attempt to sneak a peek at Valeria, who is billed as the world's only living captive vampire, but they are attacked by a dog and separated, leading to a series of misadventures. Meanwhile, Dwight's attractive sister-in-law Lee purchases four tickets from the show's frontman, Julian Stryker. Later that night the group is reunited and attends the titular Vampire Show, where they discover a sinister plot involving the vampires.

The book focuses on the interactions between the three teens and their sexual awakening.

Publication

The first run of the book included two special limited editions. A signed limited edition hardcover (1000 copies) had the same production values as the hardcover and included a signature sheet. The traycased lettered edition (26 copies) was signed and lettered, and bound in leather with a satin ribbon page marker and additional full-color artwork. Lettered, limited editions are marked A-Z instead of numerically, and limited to 26 copies. Each book was enclosed in a traycase, a clam shell construction which completely encased the book, a key feature which separates lettered editions from numbered editions.

Reception

The book was one of Laymon's more popular novels and won a posthumous Bram Stoker Award for best novel in 2001. A starred review from Publishers Weekly praised the novel for its "emphasis on atmosphere" specifically pointing out the social and sexual tensions among the three teens.