The Inside Scoop on Gaming

A lot of bookstores fill their shelves with big names, leaving lesser known authors to duke it out for what little space remains, and the poor ones who have last names similar to a big seller suffer the worst, as those who decide what to stock figure a well known author with lots of books can cover the entire letter of his/her/their last name on their shelves.

Thus it's harder to find Linda Grant's books, stuck as they are between Sue Grafton and Martha Grimes on whatever space a store reserves for paperback Mysteries. Which is a pity, because Linda Grant is a very good writer.

Vampire Bytes is the latest installment in Grant's Catherine Sayler series, dealing with the prerequisite murder(s) within a high tech San Fransicsco/Berkely/Palo Alto area.

It concerns gamers in that the victim was killed after playing in a game of White Wolf's "The Masquerade" in a manner that makes gamers prime suspects. (The victim has two puncture marks on his throat and was drained of blood.)

This is where things could get hairy for gamers, but Grant shows far more tolerance for gaming than Poul Anderson did in 'The Saturn Game' or the rightly reviled Rona Jaffe did in that abominable "Mazes and Monsters" trash.

Part of this may well be because Grant's inpiration for the book came when her daughter told her she was going to play in a Vampire game. Certainly it's doubtful she'd want to depict something her daughter did as evil or insane.

But the other part is, Grant took the time to research the material, even play the game a bit, and LISTENED to and OBSERVED the players, and doesn't condemn.

This isn't to say gamers are treated as saints, some of the players are pure pond scum, and an important player in the book does assume her character's persona, but not out of any diminished capacity to distinguish fiction from reality. A very plausible reason for doing so is given.

She gets her facts fairly straight, overall a non-gamer could achieve a decent understanding of what 'The Masquerade' is and how it operates and a fair understanding of RPGs in general from her text.

Grant does pass along the D&D suicide myth as fact but no one's perfect.

The plot is generally very well handled, the effort to make Catherine Sayler's job harder does strain credibility at one point. I *HOPE* the real Palo Alto police department wouldn't put a murder task force comprising experienced detectives under the command of a Patrolman who is handling his first homicide case.

The fact that said patrolman is convinced there is a vast satanic conspiracy behind things makes putting him in charge a far greater obstacle to Sayler's efforts but also hurts the story as a whole. In a an otherwise realistic book, this cartoon character is too over the top.

Some of you will figure out who did it before the detective does. That's a statistical certainty. This time out I pegged the wrong suspect, and I think over all she did a good job of keeping the perp's ID secret while nonetheless giving the readers all the information to spot the killer.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Vampire Bytes
Author: Linda Grant Category: Fictional Novel Company/Publisher: Ballantine Books Line: Catherine Sayler mysteries Cost: $5.99 US $6.99 Canadian Page count: 304 ISBN: 0-8041-1862-0 Capsule Review by SD Anderson on 07/29/99. Genre tags: Modern_day Live-action	A lot of bookstores fill their shelves with big names, leaving lesser known authors to duke it out for what little space remains, and the poor ones who have last names similar to a big seller suffer the worst, as those who decide what to stock figure a well known author with lots of books can cover the entire letter of his/her/their last name on their shelves. Thus it's harder to find Linda Grant's books, stuck as they are between Sue Grafton and Martha Grimes on whatever space a store reserves for paperback Mysteries. Which is a pity, because Linda Grant is a very good writer. Vampire Bytes is the latest installment in Grant's Catherine Sayler series, dealing with the prerequisite murder(s) within a high tech San Fransicsco/Berkely/Palo Alto area. It concerns gamers in that the victim was killed after playing in a game of White Wolf's "The Masquerade" in a manner that makes gamers prime suspects. (The victim has two puncture marks on his throat and was drained of blood.) This is where things could get hairy for gamers, but Grant shows far more tolerance for gaming than Poul Anderson did in 'The Saturn Game' or the rightly reviled Rona Jaffe did in that abominable "Mazes and Monsters" trash. Part of this may well be because Grant's inpiration for the book came when her daughter told her she was going to play in a Vampire game. Certainly it's doubtful she'd want to depict something her daughter did as evil or insane. But the other part is, Grant took the time to research the material, even play the game a bit, and LISTENED to and OBSERVED the players, and doesn't condemn. This isn't to say gamers are treated as saints, some of the players are pure pond scum, and an important player in the book does assume her character's persona, but not out of any diminished capacity to distinguish fiction from reality. A very plausible reason for doing so is given. She gets her facts fairly straight, overall a non-gamer could achieve a decent understanding of what 'The Masquerade' is and how it operates and a fair understanding of RPGs in general from her text. Grant does pass along the D&D suicide myth as fact but no one's perfect. The plot is generally very well handled, the effort to make Catherine Sayler's job harder does strain credibility at one point. I HOPE the real Palo Alto police department wouldn't put a murder task force comprising experienced detectives under the command of a Patrolman who is handling his first homicide case. The fact that said patrolman is convinced there is a vast satanic conspiracy behind things makes putting him in charge a far greater obstacle to Sayler's efforts but also hurts the story as a whole. In a an otherwise realistic book, this cartoon character is too over the top. Some of you will figure out who did it before the detective does. That's a statistical certainty. This time out I pegged the wrong suspect, and I think over all she did a good job of keeping the perp's ID secret while nonetheless giving the readers all the information to spot the killer. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)