The Fly-By-Nights

Based on this paltry effort, it would be extremely difficult to justify Lumley's Horror Writers Association and World Fantasy lifetime achievement awards. In a tired post-apocalyptic setting, a ragged small band of surviving humans battle for their lives against vampires, known as the fly-by-nights. Stock characters included angsty teen Garth Slattery, pressed by events to grow up before his time; his sweet first love and eventual wife, Layla Morgan; and the evil leader of Slattery's scavenger team, Ned Singer, who%E2%80%94surprise, surprise%E2%80%94lusts after Layla. The soap opera relationships are interwoven with attacks from the vampires, who are believed to have bided their time until a nuclear war that destroyed humanity and the ozone layer gave them an opening to attack. Liberal use of exclamation points ("But too late! Robeson's pursuer was upon him!") contribute to an hyperbolic, pulpy vibe. (June)