The Traveling Vampire Show

By: Richard Laymon

Narrated by: Bob Barnes

Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

When the one-night-only Traveling Vampire Show arrives in town, promising the only living vampire in captivity, beautiful Valeria, three local teenagers venture where they do not belong, and discover much more than they bargained for.

©2000 Richard Laymon (P)2009 Audio Realms, Inc., all rights reserved. Produced by Audible, Inc. and distributed by Audible, Inc. and Brilliance Audio.

Richard Laymon at his finest.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator. The narration of this book did not work for me. I realized about 1/2 way into it why. The cadence and voice reminded me of the movie Christmas Story.

What other book might you compare The Traveling Vampire Show to and why?

Hell Hollow by Ronald Kelly.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Absolutely.

Any additional comments?

I had read this novel when it first came out and am happy to say that it is just as good today.

Addicting

This book had me addicted from the start. I didn't think it would because it seemed as if it was slow but it kept me intrigued and I couldn't stop listening. It reminded me of The Sandlot combined with Stephen King's, It.

Check it Out

Good Story, lots of tiny stories weaved into the big plot. Good descriptive scenes. I really liked the performance.

Better than IT

in the late 80's early 90's there were a number of Coming of Age horror novels: It, Boys Life, Summer of Night and Traveling Vampire Show. I'm mixed on which was the best but I can tell you, It, was the worst and I love King.

Traveling Vampire Show spoke to me then much more than the others probably because of its irreverence and insanity.

When I recently reread this it made me feel 15 again and at my age that's a feat.

Put on some headphones and let the waves of insanity wash over you.

Slow, But Intense

A majority of the story is the wind up to the climax. The story is well done and character development is thorough. Awesome read!

Old school Supernatural Entertainment

Coming of age Teen/ Young Adult Supernatural “ol school” tale of particular tastes from another decade but good entertainment in my opinion. While unlikely in the forefront, the background reminds me of the 70’s, although I would’ve been way younger than the kids in this story.
The entire thing is based on “what you are curious about - shouldn’t always be found out”, but you just can’t help it, and you’re clueless or at least somewhat okay with still wanting to find out, but maybe one you hang out with never uses reasoning or his brain so you’re sort of stuck with it. The main character sure wishes he wouldve decided otherwise, as in, what the heck is going on here!
Lol this story is fun and really just kids who possibly let their imagination run away like a freight train, Its all in good fun in the Main character’s mind , except that he’s a typical young person with hormones and he’s at the age where everything is sexual. He only wants to see The vampire chick who’s barely wearing anything, but unlike his stupid friend he’s willing to not risk it by a certain point in the story. But sometimes choices turn into a fuse lit and there’s no stopping it. Eventually - it will explode. And boy does it.
This is pure cheesy supernatural dark matter at its best, and a bit sick at the end. Laymon is awesome at this. You gotta have an open mind. I love this! It’s my favorite Laymon book- he’s pretty weird. But this is plain and simple - Freaking Fantastic! Hope you like it. Keep an open mind and forgot everything you know about supernatural and current times. This is not that!

Richard Laymon is UNDERRATED

I am a huge fan of Richard Laymon, and was excited to see that Audible has a handful of his books! the traveling vampire show is probably his most popular, and Audible has not disappointed! I just wish they would come out with the Beast house books!

What a great tale to keep you guessing..

Most of the Richard Laymon books ive read are horror/gore/wince inducing stories of terror.This was a pleasant break from the usual "wth" bloodfests, and actually had me engrossed in the mystery of a fairground with a dark past.The fairground ties in several terrible moments in the small town, and the main trio of young adults are well aware of the dangers.The insanity of the true intentions of the evil is too unbelievable but also a real type of threat among certain groups of mentally ill believers.Im hoping for an additional book/sequel to this concerning the 'present day' status of certain characters or even how the fairgrounds have changed or drawn more evils to it.This is NOT for the weak of heart and you might as well toss your prudish preferences out the window before beginning.Ill recommended this many but not family because= upbringing (lol)

good production

I read this book first about 12 years ago & loved it. I can't been a fan of this style of writing, bir enjoyed it for what ever reason at the time. not much of a fan now, but I saw this offered on kindle unlimited w the audio & thought "why not?". I remembered much of the story & still laugh ed in the same places, the audio production was much better than i would have expected for this style & age of book. but the writing wasn't 'right' for audio, for me.
still, our was interesting to revisit this book in a new way & filled some time.

Not really about Vampires. Great title though.

I am trying to find a way to rate this book with out coming off as a complete prude. For me this was almost a DNF a couple of times due to intense dislike of certain characters. Which itself could be a compliment to the vivid richness of Layton's writing. This is not really a horror novel, it does have some suspense, mildly scary scenes with a few gory descriptions.
It is more, a really seamy coming of age novel about 3 small town teens who develop a fascination and obsession with the Traveling Vampire show and its entourage which includes the mysterious vampire Valeria. The traveling vampire show is a traveling side show that turns out to be a showcase for Valeria in a sort of wrestling cage match forum.
There is Dwight, who is obsessive about sex, his bestie, teen tomboy Slim, AND his pretty sister in law Lee. Dwight spends pretty much every waking moment having sexual thoughts and fantasies about both females. And some of his fantasies are somewhat disturbing and didn't strike me as normal, veering off into strange bondage murder porn. Umm weird.
Even though for the most part Dwight was an ok kid, I never did develop much liking for his character.
There is Slim, who is the best character in the story, an awesome tomboy, pretty, super smart, well read with lots of practical street saavy as well. There are hints that Slim has been abused or molested, but no actual revelation.
Then there is Rusty who is the third member of the trio. I don't think I have every hated anyone who was just a fictional character on a page before, as much as I hated this guy and his gross whiney sister Bitsy.
There are not enough adjective in the dictionary to describe this nasty, lewd, indecent boy. My gut reaction to him was stomach roiling hatred. I hated him so much that a couple of times I actually almost stopped listening to this audiobook.
At the end, ole Rusty got what he deserved. And I could never, ever understand why Dwight or Slim would want to be friends with this crude, rude awful person.
All in all, this coming of age story did evoke strong emotion, just not sure it was the emotion that the theme and plot of the story intended. There was some interesting elements of suspense surrounding the traveling troop, and their possible nefarious actions that were intriging, but the mystery of the story wasn't strong enough for me to be fully captivated.
I did end up listening to the entire audiobook, and the final few minutes were pretty good, and I was happy that the "bad guys" mostly got their just desserts. I am left saying I am not sure if I liked this story or really hated it. I don't know if I can discern the difference. Good writing, strange peculiar story.
Bob Barnes narration was excellent. He brought this story and characters to brilliant colorful life.