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Drawing Dead: A Tale of Poker and Vampires
Eddie Nelson is a professional poker player, testing his skills in Las Vegas at the World Series of Poker for the first time. Unfortunately, he's on the worst run of his life and can't afford his buy-in to the Main Event. Then he meets a shadowy figure called Raphael who offers to back him for a fifty-fifty split of any winnings. But if he loses, he has to play in a private tournament of Raphael's choosing...
Drawing Dead is a tale of poker and vampires by Scott McKenzie, author of One Day in Gitmo Nation, Death by Autopen and Rebirth.
Drawing Dead is a tale of poker and vampires by Scott McKenzie, author of One Day in Gitmo Nation, Death by Autopen and Rebirth.
- GenresParanormalHorrorFantasy
90 pages, Paperback
First published March 22, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 24, 2014
The story is told using a few flashbacks to bring the reader up to date on how Eddie Nelson got to this deplorable state. A Brit, he and his girlfriend came to Las Vegas for a vacation. He returned home to nurse his blossoming addiction for on-line poker. That on-line addiction grew to playing in live tournaments. Soon, he was playing professionally, and living by himself. Fast forward to present day and Eddie has been on a losing streak for weeks now. He’s out of money, considering who he can call to wrangle a plane ticket home when a sketchy stranger buys him a beer. Raphael wants to stake him in a high-stakes game. If Eddie wins, he gives half his winnings to Raphael. If he loses, then Eddie has to do Raphael a favor and play in a private poker tournament.
This tale started off a little slow for me and I think that is because I don’t play poker and some of the lingo was lost on me. There was a quick run down of game rules and terms at the beginning of the book, but such a list is hard to absorb in audio form. Anyway, the story does pick up with the flashbacks of Eddie spiraling into the poker addiction whirlpool. I really enjoyed watching Eddie go from a winning high to another high to another high and then the bum of a loss, and then another loss, and finally to the point where Raphael finds him.
And I guess I am free to talk about the Las Vegas vampire aspect since there is line about these poker vampires in the book’s description. The vampires don’t show up until about half way through the book. Mckenzie has created this whole underworld society in Vegas for these vampires. Even the taxi drivers know about them; or know enough to not ask questions. This part of the book was the true story, and the gem of the tale. It was for more interesting, suspenseful, and messy. Not everyone makes it out alive.
For much of the book, there are no females. Sure, Eddie had a girlfriend that had one or two lines at one point, but she didn’t play a real role in the story. There is an epilogue to the tale told from a woman’s stand point. It is done well, so one can see that the author is very capable of writing female characters. But it would have been nice to make some of the other players, a dealer, or even a few of the vampires female. We make up 50% of the population (even more as a generation ages because men just don’t last like us ladies) so why not have them make up 25% or more of the characters in a book? But that is my only complaint.
The Narration: The narration started off a bit rough, like I could hear background noises. This was when the basics of poker were being introduced. But once the story started proper, the narration became excellent. So I wonder if that part at the beginning was tacked on as an after thought? Anyway, Hyde-White did a great job with Eddie’s voice, the few accents, and keeping each character distinct. He even had to make a few creepy vampire noises which were done well.
This tale started off a little slow for me and I think that is because I don’t play poker and some of the lingo was lost on me. There was a quick run down of game rules and terms at the beginning of the book, but such a list is hard to absorb in audio form. Anyway, the story does pick up with the flashbacks of Eddie spiraling into the poker addiction whirlpool. I really enjoyed watching Eddie go from a winning high to another high to another high and then the bum of a loss, and then another loss, and finally to the point where Raphael finds him.
And I guess I am free to talk about the Las Vegas vampire aspect since there is line about these poker vampires in the book’s description. The vampires don’t show up until about half way through the book. Mckenzie has created this whole underworld society in Vegas for these vampires. Even the taxi drivers know about them; or know enough to not ask questions. This part of the book was the true story, and the gem of the tale. It was for more interesting, suspenseful, and messy. Not everyone makes it out alive.
For much of the book, there are no females. Sure, Eddie had a girlfriend that had one or two lines at one point, but she didn’t play a real role in the story. There is an epilogue to the tale told from a woman’s stand point. It is done well, so one can see that the author is very capable of writing female characters. But it would have been nice to make some of the other players, a dealer, or even a few of the vampires female. We make up 50% of the population (even more as a generation ages because men just don’t last like us ladies) so why not have them make up 25% or more of the characters in a book? But that is my only complaint.
The Narration: The narration started off a bit rough, like I could hear background noises. This was when the basics of poker were being introduced. But once the story started proper, the narration became excellent. So I wonder if that part at the beginning was tacked on as an after thought? Anyway, Hyde-White did a great job with Eddie’s voice, the few accents, and keeping each character distinct. He even had to make a few creepy vampire noises which were done well.
May 14, 2014
DRAWING DEAD is a good short horror story in the classic sense; I believe it would've made for a fine episode of Serling's TWILIGHT ZONE or NIGHT GALLERY. It is indeed a tale of poker and vampires, as the subtitle promises, and it sticks to that commitment with hardly any variance. There's little description of the characters' appearance, their meals and clothing, or their surroundings; in fact, I believe that only four characters are even named. The plot swiftly unfolds (does that count as a card pun?), and the suspense builds quite well on its own without being overly described. The fast pace of the narrative doesn't leave time for the reader to foresee the ending too much ahead of time; it's essentially a deal-with-the-devil story, after all, and they pretty much -have- to have a pre-ordained ending. There's a great deal of poker action described which I couldn't really follow completely; despite a short introduction that explains the game and some of the technical terms I still felt a little lost at times with concepts like big and little blinds, but I don't think that hindered my appreciation of the story too much. It's a good vampire story that reminded me of some of the works of Robert Bloch. (I won a copy in a Goodreads Firstreads Giveaway.)
May 11, 2014
This was quite a surprisingly good book. I don't know very much about poker but it wasn't overwhelming throughout the book, and I actually feel like in understand it a little better now. The story was a little predictable at times but well-written and entertaining, I found myself wishing it was longer, it only took me about an hour to read. I do wish that some of the information about the vampires had been a little more in depth but I am a fantasy-nerd. Very good quick read!
June 7, 2014
Poker fans will love this short story. It's well written and gives a detailed account of the ultimate game of poker where only winning guarantees ... well, I'm not saying.
I downloaded a poker app and played while I was reading this. I'm not a bog poker player, but now I can't play the app wqithout thinking of vampires.
Definitely worth a read for vampire nuts and poker fans but be warned - it can get a bit gory.
I downloaded a poker app and played while I was reading this. I'm not a bog poker player, but now I can't play the app wqithout thinking of vampires.
Definitely worth a read for vampire nuts and poker fans but be warned - it can get a bit gory.
April 25, 2014
I liked this story. It is something a bit different then what I normally read but found it very entertaining. Wish the story was longer, I wanted to read more.
June 26, 2015
I got this short, snappy tale through a Goodreads giveaway, signed by the author.
It's a concept that hooks straight away, does what it says on the tin and is lean storytelling.
A diverting, quick read.
It's a concept that hooks straight away, does what it says on the tin and is lean storytelling.
A diverting, quick read.
February 4, 2015
Enjoyable quick read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews