Poet: Michael Quinlyn-Nixon
Illustrations: Michael Quinlyn-Nixon
First Published:2020
The Blurb: A totally fictional and completely unhistorical account of the origins of Newcastle’s mysterious grotesque, known as the Vampire Rabbit. Written as an original poem and fully illustrated by the author, Michael Quinlyn-Nixon, the story of the quirky Vampire Rabbit is brought ‘alive’ in the year of 1899, with the story concluding in the present day. Set in Victorian Tyne and Wear, the story illustrates the Vampire Rabbit’s unquenchable bloodlust and the consequences of its villainous actions.
Suitable for older children (with parental guidance), the book can be equally enjoyed by adults who enjoy dark poems with a drop of humour.
The review: This is quite a difficult one to review, in terms of the fact that it is essentially a short poem but expanded over a 30-page book with illustrations. My thanks to Everlost for bringing it to my attention and to Michael Quinlyn-Nixon for providing a copy for review.
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| the actual grotesque |
The poem tells the story of a vampire rabbit and whilst such a thing is not unique – I am sure all reading this have heard of Bunnicula, of course – this is based on a grotesque adorning Cathedral Buildings in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne that is a fanged rabbit and over 100-years old. Unlike Bunnicula, this rabbit likes a drop of the red stuff too and when I say drop, well it might be a bit more than a drop. The tale introduces us to this cotton-tailed fiend as it starts its career in late 19th Century Newcastle, how it came to be a grotesque and cautions us in the here and now.
The poem itself is designed as a humorous piece, composed of stanzas built through a simple rhyming couplet format but the joy of the volume is actually within the illustrations that adorn the pages – though I actually rather liked some ‘bonus’ stanzas, not part of the poem proper they were almost like little murder ballads at the end of the volume. Perhaps more aimed towards a younger market this could well be that Christmas stocking filler for the older vampire fan. And this is how I’m scoring the volume, based around it being a unique little gift that pleases through its art. 7.5 out of 10.
In Paperback @ Amazon US
In Paperback @ Amazon UK
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