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Treating Vampires As Real
Anatomy of a Vampire: Part 2, Present Day centers around the investigation of a brutal attack in the Canadian forest that leads scientists to connect the deaths to a mysterious adaptive virus. At what point did you decide you wanted to completely rethink the traditional vampire myth?
The works of Le Fanu and Stoker along with the movie adaptations had always fascinated me as a young man but I wanted to approach this genre now through a modern lens.
I had once read about uncovered vampire burials, one such individual was found with a stone slab placed in his mouth. This plus the sheer amount of undiscovered biodiversity gave me a plausible seed — what if the myth wasn’t purely imaginary but describes something real we haven’t yet classified?
That’s the premise I built the book on, treating vampires as a real, undiscovered species rather than a figment of our imagination.
The SAV virus gives the novel a strong scientific foundation. How did your interest in biology and virology influence the story?
I’ve always been drawn to biology’s edge cases, and viruses are the strangest of them. They sit in a gray area on how we define life — they carry traits of living organisms but lack others, and that only resolves once they enter a host and start replicating. That ambiguity has even led some scientists to float the idea that viruses may not have originated on Earth at all. I found that gap irresistible — a place where real science stops short and imagination can take over. SAV grew directly out of that space: as something not of this world.
Was there a supporting character who became more significant than you originally planned?
Yes, there was an emotional tie to one main character who grew as I wrote. However, I cannot reveal who the character is. The sequel will reveal this.
If you could have readers ask you one question about the novel after finishing it, what would you hope it would be?
Is there more to this than just a science fantasy novel. Is there a personal or moral message imbedded the story you are telling?
Anatomy of a Vampire: Part 2, Present Day
Anatomy of a Vampire: Part 2, Present Day, by John Matthias, is a paranormal science thriller that blends vampire mythology, virology, ancient history, and FBI investigation into one sprawling modern conspiracy. The story begins with a brutal attack in the Canadian wilderness that looks like a bear mauling but quickly points toward something stranger, especially once the deaths connect to scientists studying SAV, a mysterious adaptive virus. From there, the novel follows Ariel, an unusually long-lived science writer, FBI agent Josh Cummings, Monica, and the hidden Houses of Anu and Lilith as old secrets push their way into the present.
What I liked most was the book’s refusal to treat vampires as familiar creatures of cape, coffin, and cliché. Matthias builds his own mythology, tying “vampires” to ancient beings, bloodlines, viruses, portals, and rival houses with deep moral fractures. It’s a lot, but I found that ambition interesting because the novel isn’t just asking, “What if vampires were real?” It is asking what would happen if myth, disease, evolution, and human history were all tangled together in one long, hidden thread.
The writing has a direct, investigative quality that suits the thriller side of the story. The forensic details, lab discussions, and casework give the book a grounded feel, even when the plot moves into winged beings, ancient scrolls, and supernatural politics. I did feel at times that the explanations somewhat slowed the pace, especially when characters unpacked large pieces of lore through dialogue. Still, I appreciated the author’s patience with his own world. Matthias wants the reader to understand the machinery behind the mystery, not just watch shadows move in the dark. That choice gives the novel weight.
I would recommend Anatomy of a Vampire: Part 2, Present Day to readers who enjoy paranormal thrillers with a strong science fiction edge, especially those who like vampire fiction that rewrites the rules instead of repeating them. Fans of conspiracy-driven stories, ancient bloodline mysteries, secret societies, viral outbreak plots, and genre blends that move between crime procedural and dark fantasy will find a lot to dig into here. It’s best for readers who enjoy deep lore and don’t mind a dense, layered plot that takes its mythology seriously.
Pages: 330
