Archangel

Discovering a weird series of murders that resemble vampire attacks, Danny Constantine, a reporter from a plague-stricken, alternate universe Minneapolis of the 1920s, finds that the glut of bad news prevents the release of his story.

Conner's (Eye of the Sun) second novel, though obviously influenced by Geoff Ryman's Was (1992), is a tour de force. Set in an alternative Minneapolis ("Milltown") in a world that was infected near the end of WWI by the "Hun," a disease that kills whites but leaves blacks unharmed, the narrative refreshingly features no significant adult characters who are wholly sympathetic. Everyone, black or white, is driven by prejudices, a trait that Conner uses to enhance the frisson that keeps the action moving along. The Archangel of the title is a pirate radio broadcaster (whose identity is obvious well before it is revealed), who rails against the town leaders' refusal to acknowledge the dire present and future. Conner exposes the corruption in all strata of the society through the investigations of reporter Danny Constantine, who accidentally photographs one of a series of grisly deaths in which the victims' blood is entirely drained from their bodies. Danny and black police sergeant Dooley Willson's search for a "vampire" leads them to Dr. Simon Grey's Hematological Institute, which is working on a cure for Hun. The several subsequent pilot twists follow naturally from the biases and presumptions of Conner's fascinating melange of characters, ranging from charming Selena Crockett and precocious Shirley Lund to alcoholic reporter Bing Lockner and misguided Lou Ravelli, a pro baseball player in a major league that integrates by necessity. The real-life parallels to Conner's tale are obvious yet elegantly understated; even those tired of the recent myriad of "vampire/AIDS" stories should delight in the author's fresh, character-driven approach.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Capitalizing on the media's current preoccupation with AIDS and potential viral epidemics, Conner introduces the Hun, a deadly blood disease affecting everyone but people of African lineage. In an alternative-universe Minneapolis of the late 1920s, the Hun has reduced the city to a fraction of its former population, and Danny Constantine is a photographer for one of Minneapolis' surviving newspapers. After discovering a series of corpses drained of blood and bearing vampirelike marks on their necks, Danny is yet more alarmed when his paper refuses to cover the story. Reluctantly assisted by a black police chief, Danny follows the suspicious trail of Simon Gray, a brilliant surgeon chasing down a cure for the Hun while using, Danny learns, diabolical means to reach his goal. Backing hard-boiled, Hammett-style action with realistic dialogue and convincing period detail, Conner brings his vision of a disease-ridden Jazz Age to vivid life. A rare and original alternative history novel that also provides insightful commentary on our times. Carl Hays

In an alternate post-World War I America plagued by an AIDS-like disease that is killing off the country's white population, a young reporter for the Milltown Journal stumbles across a series of vampire-like murders that no one in town seems to want investigated. In his pursuit of the killer, he is joined by black detective Dooley Wilson. Despite their growing opposition, the two men confront and overcome their own ingrained preconceptions in order to serve a higher purpose. Conner's dystopic vision of a nation wracked by fear and prejudice serves double duty as a modern parable and a taut sf thriller. This disturbingly thought-provoking novel belongs in most sf collections.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.