Space Vampires [Hardcover]

Colin Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 1976

Circa 2100

A scourge of sex and death from an alien spaceship

WHEN CAPTAIN CARLSEN ENTERED THE VAST DERELICT SPACESHIP, he was shaken by the discovery of its immobilized humanoid passengers.

Later, after three of the strange aliens had been transported to Earth, his foreboding was more than justifi ed. The creatures were energy vampires whose seductive embraces were fatal, whose lust for vitality was boundless. As they took over the willing bodies of their victims and sexual murders spread terror throughout the land, Carlsen worked toward their destruction-even while he was erotically drawn to the most beautiful vampire of all!

 "Thoroughly intriguing" -Chicago Sun-Times (1976)

"New slant on horror...unique rendering of the age-old enigma of the kiss of death" -Chicago Tribune (1976)

COLIN WILSON is the author of more than 100 fiction and nonfiction books. The Outsider (1956), published at the age of 24, earned him worldwide critical acclaim. The Space Vampires, his fi fty-fi rst book, was translated into Spanish, Japanese, French, Dutch and Swedish and was later adapted for screen in the movie LIFEFORCE, directed by Tobe Hooper (SALEM'S LOT, POLTERGEIST, THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE). The movie failed however to capture the true spirit of the cult classic reprinted here by popular demand.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

British author of THE OUTSIDER and many other books

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Distribution Services; 1st Ed. edition (September 27, 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0246109130
• ISBN-13: 978-0246109132
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,541,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deeper and darker..., September 2, 2002

By 

"debarnville" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Space Vampires (Hardcover)

Gaining cult status fame from the film based upon it (Lifeforce), Space Vampires goes far beyond the screenplay giving rhyme and reason to the alien lifestealers and their actions.

The surviving astronaut is a far more intelligent character and makes a good psychologist and detective - trying to understand what has befallen him and what is yet to follow. He travels Europe researching vampiric legend, is tempted by the heady thrill of sadomastic domination, and eventually confronts an extraterrestrial being with luciferian traits. Like fallen angels, the energy vampires seek to regain their former state of glory, a classic case of the end justifying the means.

The book's ending is far more satisfying than the film's despite the latter's fun Hammer-horror feel, great Mancini score, and Mathilda May's glorious body. Enough to stir even the most space-frozen soulstealer to acts of volcanic passion...

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprising and engaging little gem, April 1, 2008

By 

JCD "Page Flipper" (SCar) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Space Vampires (Paperback)

Loved the campy horror movie from the 80s...who knew it was based on such a dark and well written story. This is a surprising little gem of a novel...quickly read and "absorbed" if you will...gives a much more believable backstory that the movie ever attempted. A nice find after all these years...give it a try and be pleasantly rewarded...

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Movie actually compares well...unfortunately, November 7, 2005

By 

Rottenberg's rotten book review (nyc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Space Vampires (Paperback)

In the middle 21st century, when man can reach the edge of the solar system in a few months, a group of astronauts discovers a huge spaceship - a derelict. Led by Olaf Carlsen, the astronauts brave the ship's cavernous interior and discover that it contains human beings who appear to be dead. Taking several back to Earth, Carlsen soon realizes that the humans are actually alien vampires - beings who suck the life forces out of their victims, and even possess some humans as well. Teaming up with Dr. Hans Fallada, a criminologist with an interest in the science behind vampires, Carlsen hunts an escaped vampire across England, struggling to uncover the truth before the rest of their kind can be brought to Earth by oblivious atronauts.

I've always wondered what sort of fame "Vampires" if it hadn't been adapted by Hollywood for the horrible movie "Lifeforce". I think people flock to the book because they're fascinated by the idea of life-sucking aliens, and figure that the book must be way-better than the movie. Viewers must have thought that Tobe Hooper simply junked a perfectly acceptable plotline that would have worked just fine on the screen. The problem is that the book is as weak as the movie, just for different reasons - many of them are painfully obvious. The writing is pedestrian, and some plot points are just clumsy. (The alien vampire is brought to life by an unwitting reporter brought to the spacelab by Carlsen; the reporter is the son of an old romantic interest - a plot point that seems unnecessary and is never explored again. It's a minor problem, but typical of the story.) Worse, Wilson goes out of his way to take the edge out of his edgy premise. Vampires? Perfectly rational - if aberrant - outgrowths of natural phenomenon. Contemporary science of the era of the story can not only detect the presence of life forces, but quantify it as well. Fallada and Carlsen are surprisingly calm in light of the threat of space vampires. Once the vampires escape their earthly confinement, Fallada & Carlsen jet off to Europe in search of a reclusive expert on vampires - the epidemic of life-sucking zombies not only fails to materialize, but the threat remains missing as well. When Carlsen finally corners the space vampire, he gets easy answers to his questions about the origin of the space vampires - there's no emotion, no tension. It's almost as if the book had been robbed of its own life forces.