The Vampire Tapestry (1980)

The Vampire Tapestry is a 1980 horror novel by American author Suzy McKee Charnas. The story follows a vampire by the name of Dr. Edward Lewis Weyland as he preys upon humanity while simultaneously trying to uncover who and what he truly is. Weyland is unlike many traditional vampires, such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, in that his condition stems from biologic rather than supernatural causes. This fact, coupled with Weyland's social behaviors, has led some critics to consider The Vampire Tapestry as a work of feminist science fiction.

Initially, Suzy McKee Charnas did not intend to publish The Vampire Tapestry as a full-length novel. Instead, Charnas claims that the first chapter, "The Ancient Mind at Work", spun another story out of itself, and eventually a book with five stories all connected through Dr. Weyland. The third of these stories, "Unicorn Tapestry", was adapted into a play called Vampire Dreams after being published as a separate novella which won the 1981 Nebula Award for Best Novella.

Plot summary

The Vampire Tapestry is composed of five free-standing novella-length chapters which are stitched together to form one episodic plot, or hence the name, tapestry. In the first half of the novel, the narrative is presented from the point of view of different characters as their paths cross Weyland's. In the final chapters, the focus centers on Weyland himself.

The ancient mind at work

In the opening chapter of the novel, the narrative follows a woman by the name of Katje de Groot who happens to work at the same college, the Cayslin Center for the Study of Man, where Dr. Weyland is a professor. One late night, Katje observes what she fantasizes to be a vampire fleeing from the scene of a feeding session. Although she comes to the conclusion that what really happened was nothing more than an anthropologist, Dr. Weyland, leaving the lab with one of his sleep subjects, her imagination begins to run wild.

When Dr. Weyland gives a public lecture on "The Demonology of Dreams," Katje naturally decides to attend. During the lecture, the subject of vampirism gets brought up by the audience. From the back of the lecture hall, Katje watches in astonishment as Dr. Weyland provides uncanny insight into how vampires might actually look and behave. For example, they might utilize a needle in their tongue to extract blood rather than having the more conspicuous canine fangs.

The next day, Katje compliments Weyland on his lecture. He returns the compliment by inviting her to participate in his sleep study. Initially, she refuses the offer but eventually reconsiders. When she reaches the lab, however, Weyland forces Katje back to his car. While trying to escape from Weyland, Katje manages to shoot him twice. The chapter ends with Weyland driving off into the distance.

The land of lost content

The second chapter begins with a pair of bystanders finding Weyland collapsed at the wheel of his Mercedes-Benz. When Weyland refuses the men's offer to alert the authorities, they plot to capitalize on the suspicious nature of his situation. After pawning the car, a friend of the bystanders proceeds to tend to Weyland's injuries. Weyland's state of medical emergency leads him to rip out an IV and begin drinking the blood coming from the other end. This queer activity subsequently leads the men to sell Weyland to a man named Roger.

Roger holds Weyland captive in the spare room of his Manhattan apartment where he plans to display the vampire as a museum exhibit. The situation gets complicated when Roger's nephew Mark, the protagonist of the chapter, empathically befriends Weyland. Before long, Roger employs the aid of a satanist by the name of Alan Reese to market Weyland's captivity. When Alan's feeding schedule forces Weyland into starvation, Mark intervenes. In doing so, Weyland is able to escape the confines of Roger's apartment, which brings the chapter to a close.

Unicorn tapestry

Just as the first two chapters are told from the point of view of Katje and Mark respectively, "Unicorn Tapestry" offers a new perspective on Weyland from yet another source, Dr. Floria Landauer. Floria is a psychotherapist who has been asked to counsel Dr. Weyland by Doug Sharpe, the dean of Cayslin College. Initially Weyland is resistant to Floria's sessions, claiming for example that he is being made ridiculous by her techniques. Eventually he warms up to her therapy and even begins to embrace it. He begins by coyly admitting his "delusions" of being a vampire, but this flowers into explications of his hunting habits, sexuality, take on humanity, and much more. Ultimately, Weyland sees the therapy sessions as a method of self-discovery for he has no knowledge of his origin and no other members of his species to interact with.

One day when Floria arrives at her office, her secretary Hilda exclaims that someone has been through their records. Floria immediately realizes that the perpetrator was Weyland and that he had confiscated all incriminating evidence of his condition. That evening when Floria returns home, Weyland is waiting for her. After acquiring a written testament to his mental well-being, Weyland threatens to kill Floria. Floria is able to convince him otherwise however by offering to fulfill his sexual curiosities. In the end, Weyland accepts her offer and leaves her be as he flees to New Mexico.