The Fear Vampire

A solid, agreeably disagreeable short story. Our journalist protagonist interviews a (perhaps?) genuine "fear vampire", who feeds on the dread of others. Bottone does a good job of depicting the professional but peripheral journalist, Fischel, doing a serious interview that will only ever be obscure. It's far from the high-profile examples that more commonly show up in media, but also a genuine effort by our journalist, not a tabloid hack looking for exploitable material to bolster a narrative. I felt the depiction of the journalist, the unglamorous setting, and the actual interview process was convincing (though I'm no journalist to back that up).

With only two significant characters, he has time to convey personality and nuance even in a limited wordcount. I felt I had a sense of our journalist, particularly in how he reacts to the interviewee's behaviour.

Speaking of which, in "Carl", Bottone gave me a thoroughly convincing portrayal of a person who probably doesn't count as bad (much less Evil) in the grand scheme of literature, or even the lesser scheme of modern supernatural fiction, but is remarkably unpleasant to be around. I could feel Fischel's visceral repugnance as Carl, answering his questions and occasionally holding forth, lays bare his personality.

Honestly, what is horrible about Carl is not particularly that he feeds on human fear - you can't blame him for that, or even for the connoisseur's attitude he has towards it, given it's part of his nature - but his attitude to the people around him. He has contempt for everyone, and salivates - perhaps literally - at the thought of tragedies and atrocity and the banquets they would provide. Were he merely a travel agent or the third cousin you only see at weddings, content to sate himself on salad or cheese toasties, he'd be just as unpleasant a person. How much was shaped by his nature as a fear vampire, versus his own choices in life?

In the end, there's room to question how much of what Carl says is true. In the end, it *doesn't matter* whether it's objective truth, a sincerely-held delusion, or a bit carried to extremes. He is who he is, no matter what he is.

I don't generally enjoy reading about unpleasant people - it tends to feel far too much like simply spending my time unpleasantly. The balance Bottone has struck here makes this a compelling read nonetheless - I've read it twice, and I'm confident I'll read it again.