because “sometimes they come back.” Although
King never wrote a follow-up, the 1991 film version
was later followed by two sequels, Sometimes They
Come Back Again(1996) and Sometimes They Come
Back... for More(1999), but the sequels diluted
the impact of the first rather than enhanced it.
Somtow, S. P.(1952– )
S. P. Somtow is the pen name of Somtow Suchar-
itkul, a native of Thailand although he has lived
most of his life abroad. In addition to his fantasy
and horror, he has written a considerable amount
of science fiction, mostly under his real name. The
majority of his horror and fantasy, which often
draws on his cultural background, has appeared
under this pseudonym. His first major horror fic-
tion was Vampire Junction (1984), which mixes
vampires with rock and roll. The vampire rock
singer protagonist later returned in two sequels,
Valentine(1992) and Vanitas(1995), but the origi-
nal is by far the best of the three volumes.
His next horror novel was Forgetting Places
(1987), a quietly suspenseful novel in which a
teenager begins receiving e-mails from his dead
brother. Although he originally believes it to be a
cruel prank, he eventually comes to believe that he
is actually communicating with the land of the
dead. Darker Angels(1997) is his best book-length
horror for adults, an evocative story of voodoo
magic and a man who visits Civil War battlefields
in order to raise the dead. The Vampire’s Beautiful
Daughter(1997) is a very offbeat, cleverly done
story for young adults.
Somtow’s fantasy is much less varied than his
horror fiction. The Shattered Horse(1986) is a his-
torical fantasy set shortly after the fall of Troy. The
Fallen Country(1986, as Sucharitkul) is much bet-
ter, even though it is for young adults. The protag-
onist lives partly in our world and partly in one
locked under a sheath of ice where magic works.
The Riverrun trilogy consists of Riverrun(1991),
Forest of the Night(1992, also published as Armor-
ica), and Yestern(1996), the last of which appeared
only as part of the omnibus Riverrun Trilogy.A
young man from our world battles sorcery and
other dangers both in our world and in another re-
ality. The next two young adult fantasies appeared
under the name Sucharitkul. A young American
boy becomes a trainee magician in The Wizard’s
Apprentice(1993), and a similar young protagonist
has less overt contact with magic in Jasmine Nights
(1994).
The Pavilion of Frozen Women(1996) assembles
some of the best of the author’s short supernatural
fiction. A second collection, Dragon’s Fin Soup
(1998), is mostly fantasy. Tagging the Moon(2000)
is an interesting collection of classic fairy tales re-
told in the form of horror stories. Somtow won a
World Fantasy Award for the novella The Bird
Catcher,in 1992.The Sonja Blue SeriesNancy Collins
(1989–2002)
By 1989 the popularity of vampire fiction had al-
ready increased so dramatically that it was hard to
believe any writer could find some radically new
approach to the form. There were good vampires
as well as bad, happy ones and others tormented by
their new condition, vampire detectives and vam-
pire lovers, and vampires in just about every other
situation readers might imagine. Nancy COLLINS
not only found a new niche, but scored highly with
her debut novel, Sunglasses after Dark (1989),
which introduced Sonja Blue and which won the
Bram Stoker Award for first novel.
Sonja is a violent mental patient diagnosed as
having a split personality. After she escapes from
custody, we discover that she is not crazy and that
she really is a vampire, though not modeled along
traditional lines. She is also capable of seeing the
invisible world of magical beings and events that
takes place in and around human society, com-
pletely concealed from the rest of us. Her half-
human, half-vampire nature suspends her between
two very different worlds, in both of which she has
to find a way to survive. Her second adventure was
In the Blood(1991), not quite as remarkable but
still very good, this time causing her to make com-
mon cause with a private detective as they seek to
track down the local vampire lord.
Vampire turns vampire hunter in Paint It Black
(1995), an episodic and only intermittently inter-
esting follow-up. A Dozen Black Roses(1996) is
considerably better, set in an urban neighborhood332 Somtow, S. P.