- How did the famous/historical angle affect your reading experience? For instance, if you remembered from history class the way Lincoln dies, did you ever feel suspense or worry about him earlier in his life? Was it ever boring to read because you know (from history) how things were going to turn out? Do you feel more or less curious about history after reading this fantastical version of it?
- Many chapters open in the middle of some action and then the chapter rewinds to give you more info on how we got to that action. How did that structure change your reading experience? What about the historical summaries? Like Abe meets Poe, but then the action pauses so that we can get a big chunk of info on Poe—did you like that structure? Did it help you follow along? Or did you ever feel like all this history was getting in the way of the story?
- This book mashes together history and vampire/horror, but were there ever any points where you thought the two types of book didn't go together? Were the two issues ever out of sync?
- The book starts with a frame story in which Henry Sturges gives "Seth Grahame-Smith" the Lincoln journals; but the book ends without returning to that frame. Did you ever wonder what happened to that narrator character? Did you ever feel that the frame didn't fit with the story? If you were to write the next part, what would happen?
- If you're listening to the audiobook, this question won't make sense; but if you read the book, what did you think of the images in the book? Did the photos look real or fake/photoshopped? Did they help you imagine what the book told you about?
- Each chapter begins with some epigraph, mostly from Lincoln's real historical speeches or writing. (Check out the list in the Shout-Outs, because that stuff took us forever to catalog.) How did you feel about these epigraphs? Does each quote clearly relate to the issue of the chapter? Did they help you by setting the tone or introducing the chapter's key issues? Or did they distract you from the narrative? Did you have a favorite?
- We have a whole section on this, but what did you think about the ending? When it's revealed that Abe and Henry have been fighting vampires all over the world, did that make you think that all history is defined by vampires? How does that make you feel about history?
- How do the vampires in this book differ from the vampires in other books? Were you ever scared by the vampires here? What powers do vampires have here that they don't have in other books/movies? For instance, the vampires here start out vulnerable to the sun, but grow used to it (except their eyes are always sensitive). Why do you think Grahame-Smith gave the vampires here this set of characteristics?
- If you were to write a sequel or a spin-off, what historical period would you add vampires to and why? Looked at one way, slavery and vampires make sense together, since they're both forms of exploiting others' blood (as we argue in our "Symbols" section). What other period would it make sense to add vampires to?
- At the end of the book, Abe and Henry are fighting vampires in 1963. But at the beginning of the book, Henry is alone. Where do you think Abe is by 2007 (when Henry comes to Rhinebeck)? How would it change your reading if Abe walked into the store at the beginning of the book?