a sweet, tender story with a lot of heart and surprisingly a lot of humor. while i thought this one would have a bit more of the spook factor due to the themes of vampirism, the setting of the archives gives an eeriness that is cozy and molded all at once. sol's internal monologue was striking and i appreciated his narrative voice, but i felt like there was a lot in his words that were extraneous to the plot and didn't really contribute to his relationship with elsie or the hidden past that the two of them shared. the transfiguration of gender as a major theme was poignant, but not as nuanced as i would have liked. still, would recommend this one for anyone looking to dip their toes into trans lit.

I think this is a perfect book. I loved every aspect of the exploration of identity, lore, and relationships. It was witty and engaging and often beautiful. Truly one of the most unique books I have ever read and I look forward to more from this author.

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman follows the life a newly-afflicted vampire Sol, a transgender archivist in California.

Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy this one. It felt.... bad? Reading it was an uncomfortable and awkward experience, and I disliked every moment. I couldn't possibly say why -- it just left me feeling weird. Like I was wearing a shirt two sizes too small.

However. It's got some good trans rep, sweet romance notes, and fun fandom moments (albeit, I felt them badly written, and a little shoehorned at times). This could absolutely be someone else's cup of tea, and so I will probably still recommend it to my patrons.

Wow. This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and it did not disappoint. First of all, this is the most accurate depiction of archives work I have ever read. It was so fun to see it portrayed here so honestly, both in terms of the frustrations, minutiae, and senses of accomplishment that it can entail. But let's get into the real star of the show here: gender. The journeys that are explored here are so honest and messy but smooth and respectful that I cried while reading. It was so deeply refreshing to see this kind of representation, a respectful stumble with a partner who is patiently waiting for you to find the steps to the dance. Fellman captures an authentic look into an interior life, and I look forward to reading every book he publishes from here on out.

I loved this book! It was just a lovely and very very written queer love story. Absolutely recommend.

Lovely premise, but not quite the book for me! The parts I enjoyed most were playful moments of genre and gender – Fellman captures the fluidity and exploration that comes with being trans around other trans people, those who have "it" figured out, and those who don't. There are flashbacks and flashforwards that are plain interesting!
But some of the genre play, the shift between prose, script, texting/email... didn't quite do it for me. The reflection felt high-handed in moments, and a little too cerebral for me.
Readers of fanfic, especially those who love diving into meta, will enjoy this book – there's an attention to structure and internal thought processes that are interesting, but again, not quite for me.

Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am almost automatically into any story about archivists, and if we're talking queer archivists, I'm already in love. And if we're talking something-is-going-on queer archivists, well.

So the story of Sol, a trans masc vampire archivist, and his journey through not-quite-life and his encounter with a person who becomes very important to him and the rest of his not-quite-life, well. It worked for me! I loved the creativity of this from all angles -- vampires as a part of life, structures that kinda-sorta support them, the supernatural element of vampirism in an archive. And I loved the way this book drags gender behind it like cans taped to the back of a Just Married car. Loud, constant, but after a while, the noise becomes something you're used to until someone brings it up again.

Anyway, Read this for a spooky but romantic (though intense at times re: gender, transphobia, Big Feelings about death, etc) time. More queer archivist stories, please!

4 stars.

This is a great, very unique take on literary speculative fiction, since the vampiric elements were injected in fairly realistic ways into a world that's otherwise almost identical to our own. The characters were interesting, as was the narrative voice, though I do agree with the reviewer who felt that the tone was somewhat 'distant'. This is what prevented the book from reaching 5 stars for me, but it was still fascinating.

Sol is a trans archivist and vampire who is forced to live in his office to avoid the California sun. He meets and falls for Elsie when she drops off materials at the archive from her late wife who was the writer on one of Sol’s favorite 90s television shows.

This was an offbeat book unlike any I’ve read. Sol’s vampirism technically puts the book in the fantasy genre but it’s still very realistic. The harsh realities of his vampirism are gritty and not at all magical or phantasmagorical. It kinda sucks to be a vampire (no pun intended). The relationship between Sol and Elsie could also categorize this book as a romance novel. I liked the uniqueness of this book. I think the way it dealt with grief and the way it dealt with gender and sexual identity was great. The fan fic references and depictions of library/archival work were also a great addition to the story–3.5/5 stars.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I requested an ARC of Dead Collections because it features a vampire who is also an archivist. As a librarian and vampire-lover, I had to try it. Sol is a trans vampire, who lives and works in the basement of a California archive. His existence is fine, though not terrible exciting, until Elsie shows up. Elsie's departed ex-wife was a famous tv writer, and she wants to donate the writers remaining records to the archive.
Sol not only accepts the donation (he was an avid fan of the writer's work) but he also starts a relationship with Elsie, who after years of marriage is finally start to discover more about herself.

This was an interesting read. In a way, it was slow and contemplative, with a rather distant writing style. But never so plodding that I abandoned the story.

I'll be honest, as a LGBT librarian I wanted to badly to enjoy this book. Also as someone who has always been obsessed with vampires. But I was really disappointed! I DNF'd it around 25%, I found it almost too corny to read... I don't know the right word to describe exactly why I found it off putting. I will always be willing to back and try to enjoy it on a second try, but for now I must hang my coat up on it. I will still suggest it to readers of it seems like it's up their alley.

Absolutely obsessed with this novel! A gorgeous, evocative exploration of grief, illness, transness, and queerness through the lens of vampirism and hauntings. The archival metaphor is so beautifully wrought and the central love story is stunning and heart stopping.

Interesting concept, good characters, lots of vocabulary and archive love. Public library appeal: very niche, unlikely to check out much in smaller collections. Good for those with a strong lgbtq readership.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books for my DRC in exchange for my unbiased review.

I really really REALLY wanted to love this one. An archivist in San Francisco, Sol, meets the wife of a semi-famous television writer when she comes to donate her late wife's papers to the archive Sol works at and what begins is a romance built around grief, fandom, and love. Here's the catch: Sol is a vampire. And without getting too into the summary, that's the gist of everything. On the surface, this has everything that I would love: a transmasc main character, discussions about fandom and how transformative fanfic can be, a surprising and awkward romance, and vampires!

Unfortunately, I feel like Fellman tried to do too much and failed in the execution. It wasn't an epic failure or anything because I do feel that they get some things right like how vampirism is represented in the world of their novel and how nerve-wracking the first hit of romance can be. But there's just SO MUCH happening in this novel and it does not feel like there's a good conclusion to any of it. On top of it, the writing style was just weird and difficult to get through. The writing felt awkward and the dialogue did not feel natural in any way. In those earlier chapters when Sol and Elsie first meet, their conversations are just so awkward and not quirky awkward which can be endearing if done right, but just painfully and cringey awkward. I sped read through those sections because I hated how they spoke. I hate to just crap on this book because I do feel there needs to be more representation in contemporary fiction but it was just weird.

One last thing that bothered me were the discussions on fandom. Sol and Elsie are supposedly older characters but the way they discussed fandom felt so textbook and stilted, not at all like people who were in fandom. And the mentions of different media (The X-Files, Star Trek, Ghost World, etc.) came across so unnaturally mentioned. It honestly came across as if these characters weren't actually fans of these works. It all just felt so shallow and vapid. And mentioning that Elsie was a BNF? Could have been cool and funny but again, it comes across so static.

I just didn't enjoy the book and honestly as someone who grew up in fandom and taking part in all those aspects of fandom (like fanfic-writing), I felt kind of offended by the portrayal and presentation of fandom in this.

I loved the premise of this book - in Dead Collections, a transmasc vampire who works in an archive meets a person named Elsie looking to donate the papers of her late wife Tracy: a pioneering lesbian television writer. Said archivist, Sol, was a big fan of the television show that Tracy wrote, and the two (somewhat living) survivors bond over what Tracy meant to them individually and how they both are archivists in a sense. Unfortunately, the execution fell flat for me. It seemed to me that Fellman attempted to fit too much into the book - the romance felt forced, the plot felt loose and wild, and I didn't think that enough ends got tied up. The style of writing confused me as well: parts of the book were written as a screenplay, but not enough parts that it felt like an integral part of the plot. I appreciated some of the more fantastical themes that involved vampires being kept alive by blood banks, the use of vampirism as a cure for other more immediately deadly diseases, and vampires having an effect on archival material. I also liked the idea of using a book to explore gender exploration, but I felt that using Elsie as a character to do that felt sudden and unnatural. I suppose I was expecting more vampire story and less love story and therefore was disappointed.