Some people are born boring. Some live boring. Some even die boring. Fred managed to do all three, and when he woke up as a vampire, he did so as a boring one. Timid, socially awkward, and plagued by self-esteem issues, Fred has never been the adventurous sort.
One fateful night — different from the night he died, which was more inconvenient than fateful — Fred reconnects with an old friend at … friend at his high school reunion. This rekindled relationship sets off a chain of events thrusting him right into the chaos that is the parahuman world, a world with chipper zombies, truck driver wereponies, maniacal necromancers, ancient dragons, and now one undead accountant trying his best to “survive.” Because even after it’s over, life can still be a downright bloody mess.
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Again another lighthearted find I discovered through bookbub. A different spin on the ever popular “life as a vampire” story. An easy read to just kick back and relax with. An unlikely hero who makes you laugh. I look forward to continuing the journey.
One of my favorite series ever!!
The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant is Book One of an incredibly entertaining series written by Drew Hayes. Brilliantly narrated by Kirby Heyborne, the books follow Fred the vampire ‘growing’ from ordinary to awesome as he encounters and makes friends with other parahumans in the community. The first book consists of a series of short stories where Fred’s social world begins to expand as follows: 1) He reconnects with a lady schoolmate Krystal who is well aware of the supernatural creatures existing in the world; 2) Fred and Krystal encounter a teen guy necromancer and his zombie during a live-action role-playing game; 3) The couple helps a truck-driving were-steed with his gambling debt to a dragon; 4) They locate a missing mage who was appointed to mentor the teen guy necromancer from the previous story; 5) Krystal is abducted by the butt head vampire that changed poor Fred and left him to fend for himself. The short stories comprising this book result in enlarging Fred’s social circle and populating his world for us all to read and enjoy. Folks, this series is anything but boring!
THE UTTERLY UNINTERESTING AND UNDADVENTUROUS TALES OF FRED THE VAMPIRE ACCOUNTANT is the overly long (but entertaining) title for a new urban fantasy series. I’ve read several of Drew Hayes other novels, mostly his Superpowered series, and enjoyed them greatly. As a fan of vampires fiction, I was extra invested in seeing what it was like. Horror and humor are two great tastes that taste great together when done well.
The premise is Fred Frankford Fletcher is a certified CPA who finds himself transformed into one of the undead. Not knowing his sire, Fred goes about his incredibly boring life until his high school reunion when he discovers that the number of supernatural creatures in the world far exceeds just vampires. The book is full of Fred’s adventures dealing with dragonkin, high as a kite mages, necromancer gamers, wereponies, and sexy government agents who have a vampire fetish.
Fred’s adventures are effectively a series of loosely connected short stories ranging from Fred going back to his high school reunion to finally confronting his absentee sire. They tend to be on the silly side with Fred forced to joust for the fate of a friend’s soul (despite no horse or melee experience) or getting caught up in a deranged LARP where everyone is going to be sacrificed for supernatural power but him.
Fred is a fantastic protagonist and while he’s a bit overly drawn as a boring milquetoast nerd, he works well as a point of view character for the weird wild world he’s found himself in. Polite and reserved are not qualities normally associated with urban fantasy heroes. He’s a good guy despite his blood-drinking status but not so good as to be unbelievable. He’s a nice contrast to characters like the Tome of Bill’s protagonist or my own Straight Outta Fangton’s lead.
I also love Fred supporting cast, particularly Krystal Jenkins who serves as Fred’s romantic partner. A fellow nerd from high school who has grown out of her awkward phase, she’s also ended up working for the United States’ sinister Agency. It is the organization that attempts to maintain the fragile peace between all the various supernaturals while keeping the US propped up against its enemies. I found her a likable character and also someone who is out of Fred’s league but still believable in returning his affections.
The book is half-parody, half-serious adventure and that’s really where the best humor in these sorts of books resides. As Mel Brooks once said, “the key to doing a great parody is when it works as a successful example of the work as well as a send-up.” That’s certainly the case here with Fred blundering his way through a complicated world of monsters, magic, and conspiracy while just trying to live a thoroughly mundane life.
It’s difficult to say which story I liked the most because I enjoyed all of Fred’s peculiar adventures. If I had to choose, I enjoyed him visiting his high school the most. Fred is trying to show up his old classmates but because he can’t reveal he’s a vampire, he utterly fails in the process. I think we all would react like Fred if we could as the urge to show off is innate human need. It’s also nice to hear what Krystal was doing before she became a super-spy.
In conclusion, this is a great book and I absolutely loved it. If you don’t necessarily like your monsters to be particularly scary and enjoy a bit of camp with your reading then this is a solid piece of fiction. Fred is a great character and I’ll definitely be picking up the other volumes in the series. It’s not a particularly serious novel but that’s not what it was going for.
I’m not normally big on vampire stories but I tried this because I enjoyed another book by the author called “Super Powereds.” It turns out that I’m glad I tried it because I enjoyed it. It’s not deep entertainment, but it is lighthearted fun as it tells several adventures of Fred, the nerdy vampire accountant, and his equally flawed friends.
While some of the adventures were better than others, all in all it was a fun read.