Arts & Culture

The Opinionated Jewish Man: How the Hell did This Book About Vampire Nazi Hunters Make it to Paperback?

I know a little about the publishing industry, and I know that a book has to do decent (in terms of sales) to merit a trade paperback release a year after it’s come out. Using that tiny bit of logic, … Read More

By / September 15, 2010

I know a little about the publishing industry, and I know that a book has to do decent (in terms of sales) to merit a trade paperback release a year after it’s come out.

Using that tiny bit of logic, I can deduce that there was a large enough amout of people who bought The Midnight Guardian by Sarah Jane Stratord, because I’m sitting here looking at a new paperback edition of it.

If you’re unfamiliar with the book, I’ll do my best to sum it up by relaying the synopsis from the back:

“It’s 1938, and Hitler’s tentacles have commenced their stranglehold on Europe. The Nazi empire will soon be purged of all “tainted” bloodlines…including vampires.”

Okay, call me crazy, but I think that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Sure, I cheered as hard as any other self-respecting Jew when Eli Roth sunk hot lead into Adolf Hitler in Inglorious Bastards. Granted, I knew Tarantino’s film was outlandish and ridiculous, but seriously, did vampires really have it that hard during World War 2? Do they really need some fictional revenge scenario against the Third Reich? And call me crazy (and this is pointed out in this review), but do Jews and “bloodsuckers” really need to belumped into the same category yet again?

  • Yitzy

    It looks like a terrible book.  Just say that!  

  • Jason Diamond

    I get what what your saying, but I think you’re confusing sensitivity for the fact that I think something is just plain stupid.  The book we’re talking about seems (to me) stupid. 

    It’s not a "sacred cow" issue as much as the pairing of the two things seems in poor taste and an attempt to cash in on two things that really don’t need to be combined, but can sell a lot of product when put together.

  • Jason Diamond

    I’m all for reality in fiction, that’s great.  But what we’re talking about here is inserting a fictional "race" into a time period that really happened.  And not just any period, but Nazi Germany.  

    The galaxy far, far away didn’t happen, but it’s a smart meraphor for totalitarian rulers, so I can appreciate that. 

    Bringing the Red Sea into the conversation totally takes the it in a whole other direction.  It’s a biblical story and could be taken as fiction, non-fiction, or metaphor; it all depends on who you talk to.  But that doesn’t mean you should insert Frankenstein’s monster into Moses crossing the desert.

  • miconian

    Vampires, like all other fantastical creatures, are a metaphor. They stand in for things that are real. The Death Star isn’t real either, but its destruction is cathartic because of what it represents. If you want to go down the "isn’t real" road, you’re essentially dismissing all fiction and mythology. And, for that matter, religion. Do you think the Red Sea really parted? If it didn’t, does that mean the story has no value?

  • Jason Diamond

    And since we’re on the subject, True Blood and this book are totally different aside from the fact there are vampires.  The political aspect of True Blood is an allegory for gay marriage.  The show is smart and serves a purpose. 

    This book on the other hand, takes a real event and places vampires into it.  That is not only stupid, but it’s insulting.  I’d say the same thing if Roma gypsies were hot, and somebody wrote "Ezmerelda: Nazi Hunting Gypsy" to pander to the trend.  The only thing is, I dont write for a Roma website, I write for a Jewish one so therefore, in this case, it is about the Jews. 

     

  • Jason Diamond

    Vampires aren’t real.  Jews are. 

  • miconian

    I don’t think you’re crazy, just painfully naive.  Maybe you’ve heard of a TV show called True Blood, where the core concept is that vampires are a stand-in for all marginalized and disenfranchised people. This is exactly the same thing.

    If vampires were real, you don’t think the Nazis would have tried to exterminate them too? It’s not always about the Jews.