| The Travelling Vampire Show | |
| Author: | Richard Laymon |
| Cover Artist: | Alan M. Clark |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Horror, Vampires, Coming of age |
| Published: | May 2000 Cemetery Dance Publications |
| Media Type: | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages: | 534 |
| Isbn: | 978-1-58767-000-8 |
| Oclc: | 44409667 |
The Travelling Vampire Show is a 2000 horror novel by American author Richard Laymon.
The book follows three 16-year-olds on an idle summer day in 1963. The narrator, Dwight, and his best friends Rusty and Slim (a tomboy), find flyers for an exotic vampire show. They make a journey to a local clearing called Jank's Field in an attempt to sneak a peek at Valeria, who is billed as the world's only living captive vampire, but they are attacked by a dog and separated, leading to a series of misadventures. Meanwhile, Dwight's attractive sister-in-law Lee purchases four tickets from the show's frontman, Julian Stryker. Later that night the group is reunited and attends the titular Vampire Show, where they discover a sinister plot involving the vampires.
The book focuses on the interactions between the three teens and their sexual awakening.
The first run of the book included two special limited editions. A signed limited edition hardcover (1000 copies) had the same production values as the hardcover and included a signature sheet. Thetraycased lettered edition (26 copies) was signed and lettered, and bound in leather with a satin ribbon page marker and additional full-color artwork.[1] Lettered, limited editions are marked A-Z instead of numerically, and limited to 26 copies. Each book was enclosed in a traycase, a clam shell construction which completely encased the book, a key feature which separates lettered editions from numbered editions.
The book was one of Laymon's more popular novels and won a posthumous Bram Stoker Award for best novel in 2001.[2] A starred review from Publishers Weekly praised the novel for its "emphasis on atmosphere" specifically pointing out the social and sexual tensions among the three teens.[3]