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.

A fantastic story

This book is amazing and the narrator is one of the best that I have heard. His narration perfectly matched the atmosphere and emotion of this tale.

This is one of the best Richard Laymon stories and puts me in mind of a scary Stand By Me.
This is one of the few audible books I listen to many times.

It is also one of the few books I want to write a sequel for.

You won't regret giving this one a try.

Hmmm

Read all of Layman's books long ago and loved them......hated that this narrator gave a 14 year old boy the accent of a 50 year old Brooklyn cabbie...audible is great done well and ruins a book when not thought through.....Love the author hate the narrator...

Sometimes, you can't go back.

I used to love Richard Laymon's work as a teen/young adult. But I haven't read him in probably three decades, so I picked this up to see if it was as good as I remembered.

Wow, definitely not.

The Traveling Vampire Show is a frustrating read/listen. The writing is superb, Laymon is very skilled as an author. The problem is how rapey it can be on NUMEROUS occasions. There isn't a female character in here, from 14 to seemingly hundreds of years old, that doesn't get sexualized in some sort. If there's a female mentioned, there's a male character either fondling her breasts or oogling them. The Traveling Vampire Show is what you get when a 16-year-old man child with exceptional skills publishes a book. Every female character is a target.

However, you pluck out all the uncomfortable sexualization and deal strictly with the show, the book is great. It's a superb coming-of-age story with vampires.

The problem is, you can't do that. So you're stuck with an amazing tale ruined by moments of grossness. It's unfortunate.

Now, that said, I have to give high marks to the narrator, Bob Barnes. He is phenomenal in his delivery. His different voices for different characters are great, with my personal favorite being Julian, the vampire wrangler. That Julian is a car salesman, and Barnes makes you know it.

I don't know who to recommend this to because it really shows its age with the full-on mysogony. It's just a sad missed opportunity to be something great.

It used to bother me when I was younger that Laymon wasn't more recognized, but I can see now why that is. I can appreciate why he influenced so many authors because his writing is rock solid, but I can also appreciate why he wasn't recognized more. He's kind of like that uncle you thought was cool when you were growing up because he'd tell you dirty jokes and buy you inappropriate gifts. He was your favorite uncle, but as you got older, you started to see the flaws and they made you uncomfortable. That's The Traveling Vampire Show.

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!