Every Madison resident knows the nightlife here can be a truly hedonistic experience. Think how a vampire, a creature that can only experience the night, might feel in Madison. It would always see the city at its most exuberant.
“Vampire Cabbie,” by local author Fred Schepartz, is the imaginative story of Al Farkus, a vampire who deftly narrates what a creature of the night would think of this city.
Al comes to Madison to find work while in the unique and undesirable position of having lived through an entire millennium, only to lose his fortune in the stock market crash of 1987. Al resents not only the loss of his affluence but also the necessity of moving to Madison, certain it will be filled with cows and provincial citizens unworthy of his attention.
When his prospective employer turns out to have died before Al can begin work, he is essentially trapped. Practically penniless, he turns to a job he feels is also beneath him: becoming a cab driver. He soon finds that being a cabbie, in an unfamiliar city besides, is not as simple as he assumed.
Al learns to deal with the unique challenges that come with being a vampire cabbie and the difficulties that come with starting over in a new place. In his cab, he handles everything from cranky customers to drunken frat boys.
In his new and decidedly different life situation, he takes on more personal issues, such as a fellow driver that may suspect his identity and a beautiful woman who reminds him of his long-lost lover.
Schepartz, who draws from his own experiences as a cabbie in Madison, shows his love for the city on every page. Local readers will recognize many Madison landmarks, such as State Street and more than a few bars in the area, and enjoy the combination of a familiar setting and an otherworldly plot. While taking a lot from his own life, Schepartz also does a wonderful job of crafting the story through his character’s eyes.
Al’s narration is real and vivid, and every word of the plot is filtered through his vast experience and the innate ‘otherness’ that comes from being inhuman. He provides a jaded yet admiring view of Madison.
Though at first Al scorns his co-workers and the myriad of colorful characters that pass through his cab, he quickly grows to like and even identify with many of the people around him. The men and women that he meets and becomes friends with help him regain some of his own, nearly forgotten humanity. One of the best things about “Vampire Cabbie” is that it offers up a fresh look at the supernatural novel.
Al may be your typical bloodsucker, brooding and often having a severe superiority complex, but the setting is down-to-earth and easy to identify with, even to people who aren’t from the Madison area.
Although the plot takes a little while to really get going, there’s plenty of action throughout the book to satisfy readers of any genre. Schepartz mixes the daily—or nightly—grind of driving a cab with mystery, romance, history and the supernatural in a way that can appeal to anyone.
