Talbot's 1982 tale, "The Delicate Dependency" is an extremely unusual and original vampire novel. Although Niccolo Cavalanti and his brethren "subsist primarily upon blood," and the fangs and hypersensitiveness of the vampire and their ability to rapidly heal is ever present, the author does away with most traditions linked with vampire lore. There are no wooden stakes, fear of crosses and holy water and garlic and running water, no turning into other creatures or mist, no sleeping in coffins lined with native soil, etc., etc., etc. This is not Bram Stoker's Count Dracula.