Described by the author as homage to Richard Matheson’s famous Vampire novel, this book has little in similarity to I Am Legend other than it is focused upon one mans’ fight for survival in a dangerous and lonely world. Oh, and it features characters most of us would interpret as Vampires.

I Am Nero tells the tale of the survival of one man in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco. Told in the first person, the story leads the reader into a bleak and pessimistic world. Following the Great Collapse, during which the effects of global warming have devastated the planet, a few unfortunate people struggle to survive in the destroyed City of San Francisco. The wealthier San Franciscans have already left in a futile search for civilisation, leaving behind those less fortunate or more ignorant to fight over the scarce supplies of food and fresh water.

Gang warfare is a common event; the police are corrupt and violence rules the streets. Throughout the book there are strong visual descriptions of the ravaged landscape and the broken buildings of the City. The reader can almost feel that they are there, living in this wasteland, fending off those more desperate than themselves.

The narrator views this landscape from his penthouse apartment, taking trips into the decaying city only when necessary to trade his most valuable commodity or when his hunger grows too strong. He watches the fires burn around him, the hordes of desperate people growing ever closer; his instinct to survive remaining strong despite his lonely existence.

He limits his interactions with others as he doesn’t trust them and he doesn’t trust himself; he also needs to keep himself hidden as he has been grotesquely deformed - There are some stomach churning descriptions of his injuries and the narrator’s feelings of physical pain are clearly portrayed throughout the book

When he does start to form a friendship with a young girl he takes on the role of a reluctant protector, yet attempts to widen the distance between them both, seeing any feelings of responsibility as a weakness.

When he meets those similar to himself the readers’ questions arise - Will he join forces with them and join them in their fight or is he too tired of living this life? Throughout the book he sounds weary, yet why does he not end his life? At times he has slight glimpses of hope, but this is beaten away; he is trapped in this life and this world and it isn’t until the end of the book that he gains acceptance of who and what he is.

I Am Nero is a book any fan of Vampire literature or Gothic Horror should read at least once. It is true Gothic horror with a modern twist in its strong message against global warming – the reader is very aware of the narrator’s sad acceptance and distaste for man’s destruction of the earth and mankind. The quality of writing is superb – with every sentence the reader can sense the desolation and despair. The stark imagery can make for uncomfortable reading, yet the powerful prose keeps the reader gripped from start to finish.

The book is available via Lulu.Com which provides print-on-demand digital publishing; (perhaps not so very different from vanity publishing) although I would imagine it won’t be very long before some publishing giant buys the rights.