I'm always wary of reading books that have wonderful "blurbs" about the content scattered across the back page. "Unique underground classic" "iconoclastic" "wildly blasphemous" "classical punk fiction" "the novel is bound to become a classic" are a few of the lavish comments about this book that are liberally sprinkled on the back cover and inside front cover.

Unfortunately the expectations that were raised by the fulsome praise of the books content didn't even come close to fulfilling my expectations. Don't let em put you off the book, it's a good yarn that deserves a few hours of somebodies time, but a classic, far from it. Possibly the books cult status has evolved as a consequence of the lack of good anarchist fiction. Considering the number of books in the world, it's difficult to find overt anarchist fictional material.

The Last Days of Christ the Vampire is a pioneer in this field. It has enough twists and turns in the plot to warrant a few hours of your precious time. If you are looking for something beyond a good anti-authoritarian yarn, give it a miss. If you want something to read to fill in flying time or a cold winters weekend, you wouldn't go astray reading The Last Days of Christ the Vampire.

As more and more people become familiar with anarchist ideas and more people identity as anarchists, it's possible that new people to the movement will try to create anarchist fiction that's rooted in everyday life not historical precedents.

I encourage budding authors to read J.G. Eccarius's The Last Days of Christ the Vampire to see how post-modern anarchist fiction can be written.

The Last Days of Christ the Vampire By J.G. Eccarius is available from Anarres books post free.

Look up their web site www.anarres.org.au and have a peek at their extensive range of books. Order your books by email mailorder@anarres.org.au or snail mail PO Box 150 East Brunswick Melbourne Australia.