Fevre Dream (1982)

Steamboating along the antebellum Mississippi River, Martin contrasts two opposing vampire philosophies through the lens of human appetite. While the sinister Damon Julian revels in cruel feeding that mirrors the region's slave-trading atrocities, Joshua York concocts a chemical potion designed to curb bloodlust and free his people from predation. The sensual pleasures of Southern cooking and muddy river commerce provide a vivid counterpoint to vampiric craving. Martin uses the riverboat setting to examine whether primal hunger can ever be tamed by scientific discipline and moral willpower.