Before there was Kim Newman and Anno Dracula, Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan and The Strain, and Justin Cronin and The Passage, there was The Empire of Fear.
First published in hardback in 1988, this Ballantine Books paperback edition (470 pp) was released in October 1993. The cover artist is uncredited.
'Empire' is set in the 17th century, in a world where Attila the Hun was transformed into a vampire, and then, in turn, converted selected kings and princes into vampirism. The result is that the ruling heads of Europe and Asia are not only centuries old, but surrounded by courtiers and flatterers who hope to trade their servility for the rarely bestowed gift of long life (if not immortality itself).
The vampires of Stableford's novel are not the world-destroying, blood-ravenous creatures of the Del Toro and Cronin novels, but rather, fashionably bored aristocrats who need only take small sips of blood from their human victims.
However, these vampire kings and princes are ever-ready to use sadistic violence to maintain their grip on the human cattle they rule. Aided by bands of vampire knights (whose resistance to pain, and ability to quickly heal from even grievous wounds, makes them formidable troops in combat) the vampires won't hesitate to imprison, torture, and execute any humans who seek to upend the social order.
As the novel opens the young English scientist Noell Cordery has dedicated himself to the overthrow of King Richard the Lion-Heart and his court. Secreted in a monastery in Wales, Cordery researches what little data is available on the condition of vampirism in the hope that he may learn the closely held secret of how new vampires are made, a secret that he hopes to use to the disadvantage of the vampires.
But Cordery will not be left undisturbed to consult his books and parchments. A new era of independent thought and action is gradually coming to the human population of Europe, and with it, a growing threat to the stability of vampire rule.
A hazardous journey into the unexplored interior of Africa will bring Noell Cordery to the truth underlying the myths and legends of vampirism.........but will he survive long enough to be able to use that knowledge to free Europe from the rule of the vampires ?
I remember reading 'Empire' when it first came out and concluding it was a solid four-star novel. Upon re-reading it, I reach the same conclusion.
Not so much a horror novel as an alternate history novel, 'Empire' relies on actual historical events to underpin the narrative. The logic governing vampirism that Stableford introduces in the latter pages of the book is novel, but believable, as is Stableford's decision to render the vampires of his book more a class of mutants than the supernatural creatures of traditional vampire lore.
Where 'Empire' loses a chance for a five-star rating is in its static quality. Passages of action are few and far between in its pages; Stableford regularly uses lengthy passages of dialogue and internal monologues to discourse on metaphysical and philosophical questions, through which the main theme of the novel is overlaid: namely, the rise of Humanism and scientific inquiry as the alternatives to the superstition and feudalism that have aided and abetted the rule of the vampires, and crippled man's ability to rise against his oppressors.
If you are in the mood for a long and contemplative novel that offers a 'scientific' take on the legend of vampirism then you're likely to enjoy The Empire of Fear. However, those looking more for the blood-and-staking excitement of a novel like John Steakly's VampireS probably will not find 'Empire' all that rewarding.
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