Others have already said that Amish Vampires in Space is not some campy or cheesy book.¹ For my part, I remember actually being disappointed when I heard from author Kerry Nietz that it was not camp. It would make such a delicious bit of camp, after all.

I also admit that when I first head of this book, I struggled to imagine this subject realized in a realistic way. But I took Nietz’s word that he had done just that.

This was an excellent read. Nietz made this story believable and even scientific to an extent. That was truly impressive, for this science fiction work that straddles the line between the genre’s hard and soft sides.

Amish Vampires in Space (AVIS) introduces a far-future planet called Alabaster, where Amish settlers from Earth relocated. This is a risky move, terraforming a planet in an old solar system. So one family over generations inherits the responsibility of upholding secret technological tests to see if the planet’s aging red son ever threatened to go nova. If so, they must call for outsiders’ help to evacuate. Now, at the end of the star’s life, that controversial task falls to Jebediah Miller.

Jeb takes action to save his people. This leads to him being shunned for violating his people’s rules, called the Ordnung. Nevertheless, Jeb and his pregnant wife join the rest of the Amishers aboard the ship of Captain Seal Drake and his crew.

That’s where one unscrupulous crewmember’s actions lead to a peculiar and horrifying outbreak. Jeb, Seal, and Seal’s trusted crew must prevent this plague that could, if unchecked, spread across the galaxy and literally destroy all life.

AVIS arguably rushes to its ending. But within its own constraints, a quick wrapup fit with the science and story aesthetic feel of the story. This leaves some plot threads unresolved. How will the Amishers resettle on their new world? How will Jeb and Sarah choose to live? Will Seal keep his new relationship and find Christ? Who is the shadowy group behind the banned research that birthed so much onboard horror?

I encourage Nietz to write more books in this universe. He has enough unanswered questions to justify it.² This page-turner encouraged me to think carefully about people with different views on self-defense, such as the Amish, while wonderfully executing its terrific and actually realistic premise. I highly recommend Amish Vampires in Space.