Amish Vampires in Space by Kerry NietzMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
The story of how this book came to be is telling. Some people at a Christian publishing house, noting the popularity of Amish books, vampire books and science fiction in today's culture, thought up a title that would be a sure-fire hit. What they came up with was "Amish Vampires In Space," a hilarious idea, but so ridiculous that no writer would ever write it and no publisher would ever publish it.
This is the worst book I've ever read. I gave it one star only because that is the lowest one can go on Good Reads. As a person who was born Amish, I was offended that the portrayal of the Amish was just as made-up as the concept of vampires and of regular space travel and human settlements on other planets. The author allows his particular theological views to color his portrayal of the Amish. In the author's world, the teachings of Jesus about not resisting evil are impractical and he quickly converts the Amish in his book to the prevailing main-stream fundamentalist viewpoint of using physical weapons to fight and kill their brethren who have been infected by vampire bites.
I can take a joke. My understanding is that the title of the book started as a joke. If the book had been written in the same vein, it would have been tolerable. But the author decided to turn the joke title into an actual book with serious points and a sermon about the necessity of abandoning the pacifistic way of life the Amish have pursued for more than 500 years. His sermon would have been better preached behind the flag-draped pulpit of a pistol-packing preacher than by using the Amish as his weapon of mass destruction.
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