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What a handy format these Binary novels come in -- two stories in one binding, one of them tumbled. There are two front covers and even the spine features both titles -- conveniently colour-coded. I really like this idea because shorter novels, that would normally only appear in an anthology or in a magazine, get paired with an equally short work by another author, packaged in a soft cover that makes great reading for the bus or the plane.

The first story I read was Andy Warhol's Dracula by Kim Newman. Now I have to say that this story really isn't primarily about Andy Warhol, it's about Johnny Pop, the Dracula family's latest incarnation. Johnny shows up in America, promptly drains a budding disco king, and sets out to conquer the world of Andy Warhol and Studio 54. The opening scene depicts him sucking the life out of Nancy while Sid looks on in a stoned haze (interesting punk vs. disco tension there -- and with not just anybody). Johnny then attracts the attention of Andy, a suspected vampire himself, and uses Andy's connections to build up his own power and infamy. His power over the Studio 54 set is drac, the latest drug of choice -- wait until you find out how it's made! Drac is also what almost leads him to his doom. Only his superior strength saves him in the end.

I had fun with this story. I am a bit younger than that set and that era, so most of what I know about it is second-hand info, but it was amusing to see the allusions to vampirism and to read who the author considered to be a vampire in that world (a lot of it made sense, too). The story proper -- I mean the story about Johnny making his way in the world -- was interspersed with biography-style excerpts about Andy Warhol's life and times, with musings about Andy's vampirism. Frankly, I found those bits less interesting than the story bits, but felt compelled to read them for fear of missing something. So read them I did, albeit impatiently wanting to get back to what I considered to be the real story all the while. The work on the whole was a satisfying, quick read.

The flip side of the Binary 2 tome is The Vaccinator, by Michael Marshall Smith. The lead character of this story is Eddie. Eddie fixes things for a living. Right now, he negotiates abduction vaccines for unfortunate about-to-be-beamed-up humans with a trio of tall, spidery golden aliens who are often too wasted to talk. Despite the weirdness of his current transactions, everything has gone smoothly so far. However, now those spindly *ucks have screwed him over. Nobody screws Eddie over.

Does this sound weird enough for you? I was absolutely delighted with this story -- there's nothing quite like a drunken alien, I always say. It was somehow empowering for me as a human seeing Eddie not stand for the bullshit with which he was being presented. He goes out and does battle, despite inferior weaponry and technology. And somehow (rah rah humans!) he comes out ahead.

The only criticism that I have about the Binary book is that the tumbled format always messed me up -- I invariably ended up opening the current work I was reading upside down. A minor irritation though, considering the enjoyment I received from both stories.

Lisa Brunetta shoehorns reading into her day whenever she is not working in her day job, doing her crafts in her studio (the REAL job), or taking care of her one-year-old. Which doesn't allow for much time, but she makes the most of it!