It has since arrived, in the form of Vampires of Vermont, the third installment in Sumner's ongoing Tales From the Edge series from Ace Books. Like the stories Mark shared that night, the novel is funny, surprising, and guaranteed to take a brand new direction when you least expect it.

The premise for the series is an intriguing one: what if we lived in a world where the horrors and unearthly goings-on reported by tabloids were true? What if the intrepid journalists of those publications -- underpaid, ridiculed, and largely ignored -- were our most trusted sources for the dark secrets of the American Heartland?

Savannah McKinnon, a.k.a ace reporter Savvy Skye of the Global Query, is on the front lines of that world, and this time she's deep in the woods of Vermont, seeking to verify the existence of Count Yorga, an alleged nosferatu. She's spoken with the Count several times on the phone, and gathered enough material to publish a number of articles, but this time Yorga is hinting at something really big -- a sinister secret that will make his other tales... well, pale in comparison. But when Savannah sets up a risky face-to-face meeting in Vermont, only to have her source drop dead in her hotel room and then promptly disappear from the morgue, Savvy soon finds she's up to her neck in trouble.

One of the inherent problems with serial fiction is that it's tough to accept any serious sense of danger, at least where the main character is involved. Leads may get axed with cheerful abandon in the average Stephen King novel, but that rarely happens in Book Three of a successful series. Fortunately, Sumner doesn't take us down that path. In fact, comparison to Stephen King or Dean Koontz is probably misleading. Tales From the Edge isn't nail-biting suspense or R-rated horror -- it's the midnight Chiller Theatre, where fondness for the characters (including the monsters) is as big a component of the enjoyment as any of the orchestrated frights.

A successful Chiller Theatre episode is very different from typical drive-in fare, and it's here that Sumner's real understanding of his material shines through. From the central cast -- including Savvy Skye, her various sidekicks and support staff -- to the crotchety small-town sheriff and his wide-eyed deputy, we're always in familiar hands. I haven't met many authors who can make you comfortable with a new character in under two lines, but Sumner makes it look easy. The prose is almost seamless, carrying you through the action (and the surprising moments of comedy) with polished momentum.

Too much of the material on the shelves today is rigidly by-the-book fantasy, or I'm-more-gruesome-than-you horror, all of which takes itself far too seriously for my liking. The last half a dozen books I read would all have been improved if they'd contained even a fraction of the element of fun I found in Vampires of Vermont. I'll be keeping my eyes out for the next episode of News From the Edge. You should as well.