John Marks in his novel Fangland reinvents Bram Stoker's Dracula. Set in post 9/11 times, the monster Ion Torgu carries all that historical carnage with him and that knowledge is a virus that corrupts The Hour. Modeled after 60 Minutes where Marks worked as a producer, The Hour is infected by a monster drawn to the recent slaughter over which The Hour's offices tower. Fangland is the nickname of the workplace at The Hour.
"People are not nice in Fangland, to say the least," .... "They are crazy. They are ambitious. They shout. They criticize and rebuke. They rise, at best, to a kind of low decency. But as far as I know, none of them are real bloodsuckers."Fangland is written in the form of diary entries, e-mails, therapy journals and can be confusing at times when the reader is switched from one person to the next. The book gives the reader an insight into the production of a "60 Minutes" and the people who work there, and a remarkable view of Romania today. It makes you wonder what would happen to us if we had a better memory. Would it make us more humane or send us over the edge. The author reminds us that just in the last century 187 Million people have been killed!
Marks is a skilled writer and the book was hard to put down.
In similar vein, see The TV Set a film that shows how the "blood" of a TV series can be sucked dry by studio execs.
Full disclosure: I requested the book from the publisher and received the book for free and was not obligated to a "pro" or "con" review.
John Marks Fangland60 MinutesDracula Bram Stoker The TV Set Mover Mike
