“The Vanishing American” Charles
Beaumont(1955)
Charles BEAUMONTwas one of the most talented
short story writers in the fantasy and horror genres
and would probably be a considerably more famil-
iar name if his career had not been so short.
Among his many classic stories is this tale of an av-
erage man, so average, in fact, that in some ways
he ceases to exist as a distinct human being.
Mr. Minchell works as an accountant in a very
large company, so large that he has not spoken to
his boss in a decade and so anonymously that no
one even acknowledges him when he greets them.
One evening his alienation from his surroundings
reaches a critical point—he literally cannot be
seen. He first suspects something when the eleva-
tor operator fails to acknowledge his presence, but
it is his 47th birthday. He is too interested in get-
ting home to his family to worry about it. Before he
arrives his grasp on reality grows even weaker. He
is able to purchase items, but in such an imper-
sonal fashion that the vendor never even looks in
his direction. Minchell stops for a drink and can-
not see his own reflection in a mirror, although he
dismisses this as an optical illusion.
When he arrives home he can no longer deny
that something is wrong. His wife and son do not
respond to him, and when he looks in the bath-
room mirror, all he can see is an anonymous
smudge. Shaken, he goes for a walk, during which
he begins to realize that the dehumanizing, mono-
tonous, and demeaning facts of his life have literally
taken away everything that has made him real and
human. He experiments and confirms that he is ef-
fectively invisible.
Depressed and frightened, he happens to walk
past the local library and notices the large carved
lion he had always wanted to ride when he was a
child. As an adult it would be beneath his dignity
to be seen conducting himself in that way, but now
that he is invisible, he decides to indulge himself.
That single act of individuality and willfulness is
sufficient to restore his identity. He is suddenly vis-
ible again and attracts a small crowd of curious and
envious onlookers.
Beaumont’s point is obvious. The mechaniza-
tion and conformity of modern life steal that part
of ourselves that makes us distinct individuals, and
it is only by asserting the things that make us dif-
ferent, however small, that we can recover our in-
dividuality. Bentley LITTLEreprised this theme in
The Ignored(1997), suggesting an entire hidden
culture of people who have vanished from main-
stream consciousness, and the concept was also
adapted as one of the better episodes of the televi-
sion series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.Varney the Vampyre, or, The Feast
of BloodJames Malcolm Rymer(1845)
Although the Scottish writer James Malcolm
Rymer is generally credited as the author of this
long, rambling vampire novel published in serial
form in more than 100 installments, it is possible
that some portions were written by his fellow
writer Thomas Pecket Prest. The plot is very
straightforward and extremely repetitive, with the
undead Mortimer, who fought against Cromwell’s
forces and later fell under a curse after killing his
own son, changing his name to Varney and preying
on a steady succession of victims, enough to make
each weekly installment lurid if not entirely logical.
The story is filled with familiar scenes and de-
vices from the penny dreadfuls of that time, a miss-
ing body, chases, visits to mausoleums, and
mysterious figures appearing and disappearing in
the darkness. Varney is not particularly competent
as a vampire, and by contemporary standards some
of his antics are almost comical. Eventually, he is
thwarted so effectively that, in despair, he travels to
Italy and throws himself into Mount Vesuvius.
Varney the Vampyrewas the single major vam-
pire novel for more than 20 years, eclipsed only by
CARMILLA(1871), by J. Sheridan LE FANU, and, of
course, later by DRACULA(1897), by Bram STOKER.
It was largely forgotten until the renewed popularity
of vampire fiction raised its profile. Marvel Comics
used his character briefly in 1990, but there is noth-
ing distinctive enough about Rymer’s creation to
make Varney more than a historical curiosity.Viriconium SeriesM. John Harrison
(1971–1984)
The Viriconium series by the British writer M.
John Harrison is set on a far future Earth whereViriconium Series 363