Anno Dracula Paperback – May 24, 2011

The historical influences made me think of Last American Vampire where the author uses vampirism to explain historical events. I do love the society where vampires in a way coexist like in True Blood

There are books one simply shouldn't attempt to describe to the casual reader; regardless of merit, they sound not just uninteresting, but deeply silly. In eighth grade I was reading Harry Turtledove's Worldwar tetralogy, and a well-meaning classmate mentioned to our history teacher that I was reading a book about World War II. I was left to explain, "Yes, it's an alternate history where World War II is underway... and then aliens invade." Mercifully, I've forgotten what Mr. Dennett's reaction was.The other day I was in the car, reading the new edition of Kim Newman's landmark vampire alternate history Anno Dracula, and I happened to read a passage out to my mother. (For readers familiar with the book, it was the exchange of insults in the pub.) She asked what the book's premise was, and I dutifully replied: "Well, it's like Dracula, except Dracula wins and he marries Queen Victoria." Mother was not amused.I suppose it does sound ridiculous, but it isn't really. Dracula was a prince, and his ambitions were not small; had he not been defeated by Van Helsing's merry band, he might well have ingratiated himself with the British royal family, and the consequence would have been the world Newman portrays: a country where vampires have emerged into everyday life, where the best way to advance in high society is to "turn" and vampire-resisters are dragged off to concentration camps, where the prostitutes of the East End are as likely to offer blood as sex. Unless they're vampires themselves.The story around which Newman's evocation of this alternate England is woven is the author's second quirky stroke of genius: Jack the Ripper is active in this world as well, but all his victims are vampires. The police, urged on by the government, are desperate to find this madman and potential folk hero, and so is the Diogenes Club, a secretive organization devoted to the national interest. The Club's agent, Charles Beauregard, finds himself working alongside the centuries old vampire Geneviève to find the Ripper. But their investigation is complicated by the sheer range of suspects, not to mention a vendetta against Geneviève and an increasingly repressive palace regime.As one might expect, the characters of the novel include several from Dracula-- those, at least, who have survived, including Dr. Seward and Arthur Holmwood. But other Victorian and Edwardian literature is amply represented. One of the police detectives is Inspector Lestrade, while two doctors consulted about the murderer's knowledge and motivations are named Jekyll and Moreau. Vampires from other fiction have flocked to England for safety and freedom. Readers who don't like this sort of cameo appearance are advised not to read Anno Dracula, which is littered with them. For those who enjoy the game of tracking down references, there are plenty of semi-obscure names to identify. Historical figures, from Oscar Wilde to Sir Charles Warren, also appear.But the novel is much more than a complicated game of Where's Waldo. Its world-building, in which real-world issues like sodomy raids and child prostitution are given a vampire twist, is ingenious enough, but it also includes vivid action sequences, intricate political intrigue, and a well-thought-out investigation. The Ripper's identity (itself a brilliant notion) is revealed to the reader early on, turning the book into a howcatchem rather than a whodunit, but allowing a powerful, disturbing insight into the killer's motivations. Anno Dracula is a fast-paced, delightful entertainment, a marvel of storytelling for those who like this sort of thing.The book, first published in the 1990s, has long been out of print, but was recently released in a new edition by Titan Books. In addition to the original text, the new edition includes a number of bonus features: annotations by the author, identifying some of the more obscure references; an afterword on the novel's genesis; an excerpt from the novella "Red Reign," which preceded the novel and has a slightly different ending; extracts from Newman's unproduced screenplay for a film version, which includes a few new sequences and some altered characters; "Drac the Ripper," an essay on other Ripper/Dracula stories; and "Dead Travel Fast," a short story featuring Dracula that, while not formally part of the Anno Dracula universe, could fit into it, and is in any case a sharp, nasty piece dealing with a less-appreciated trait of the vampire.I mention the Anno Dracula universe. Newman followed the original novel with two sequels: The Bloody Red Baron, set during World War I, and Dracula Cha Cha Cha (released in the US under the dull title Judgment of Tears), set in the 1950s. A fourth novel, Johnny Alucard, bringing the series into the present day, has long been in the works. Titan Books now plans to publish the entire series. Anno Dracula came out this month; The Bloody Red Baron (containing a never-before-published novella) will follow in October 2011, while Dracula Cha Cha Cha (with another new novella) will appear in April 2012 and Johnny Alucard in October 2012. Fans of Wold Newton-esque vampire fiction have much to look forward to.

The media could not be loaded.  Maybe it seems so wonderful because I had just slogged though The Southern Book Club Guide to Vampire Slaying, which seriously damages Amazon’s Editors Pick validity, as well as other positive reviewers reputations. “Don’t believe Amazon Reviews— require a group of reviewers before you spend money and time on a book” - is a sad reality. But Anno Dracula’s premise—what if Queen Victoria married Count Vlad Tempes?— intrinsically fraught with peril and not for the faint of pen, is magically marvelous even if you are weak in history and need your phone at hand to Google the historical personages ( a lot!) throughout the long (500 plus page) book. It’s worth it, worth it, worth IT!

There is no logical reason that Anno Dracula should work, honestly. To call Anno Dracula “overly ambitious fan fiction” wouldn’t seem like a bad idea, based off of the description of the novel. After all, this is a book in which Bram Stoker’s Dracula ascends to the British throne by marrying the Queen, resulting in the emergence of vampires out of the shadows. Oh, and it also means that Bram Stoker has been arrested for trying to write the book – which is better than what happened to Abraham van Helsing. But not content with just writing a sequel to Dracula, Newman turns Anno Dracula into a positive maelstrom of cultural, literary, and social references, with Sherlock Holmes (and his brother Mycroft, as well as more than a few other Holmesian supporting characters), the good doctors Moreau and Jekyll, Gilbert and Sullivan characters, opera icons – oh, and Jack the Ripper, of course. Indeed, it’s such a dense web of allusions both fictional and factual that this anniversary edition has a multi-page guide to some of the more obscure ones after the book ends.And yet, not only does Anno Dracula succeed, it’s an absolute blast of a book, focusing on telling a great story rather than just playing an elaborate game of “spot the reference”. Using the Ripper’s crimes as a framework, Newman dives deeply into his alternate history, exploring how Victorian England might have shifted with the introduction of vampires, diving into the mythology of vampires (as well as the politics, given that they might not all be fans of the famed Count), exploring how class politics might change with the possibility of “turning”, and more. Rather than just telling a simple vampire story, in other words, Newman builds a whole alternate universe, and takes his time exploring it, following every small change and watching as it ripples outward, and investing us in disputes ranging from paid murder to broken engagements.More than that, Newman invests us in his characters, letting the sides of his book be populated with the allusions and giving us his own original takes for our heroes (and some of the villains). From the outwardly mild-mannered Charles Beauregard (who covertly works for Conan Doyle’s infamous Diogenes Club) to Newman’s fascinating elder vampire Genevieve Dieudonne (older, indeed, than Dracula, and somewhat disgusted by the violence and depravity of the Count), Newman doesn’t just create an interesting, rich world; he gives us characters that we enjoy and care about, and makes their stories every bit as important as the macro story going on behind them. Indeed, despite the title, Dracula himself is barely in the book as a character, instead mainly working as scene-setting – although his eventual appearance is well worth the wait.Yes, Newman has some great ideas about vampires (my favorite is the “murgatroyds,” vampires who wear capes and act like, well, stereotypical vampires in an effort to appear fashionable); yes, his use of the Ripper makes for a great hook for the book, particularly with the identity of the Ripper in the novel and his motivations. But more than anything else, every single page of Anno Dracula is just dripping with imagination and surprises. From obscure allusions to surprising cultural shifts, from character evolutions to horrific violence, Anno Dracula is, first and foremost, a fantastic piece of storytelling. I got swept up into this ambitious, wonderful world, and I’m glad to know that Newman kept it going – I’m guessing that he’s like me, and just didn’t want to have to leave it.

It starts off a bit “meh” with a whole bunch of Victorian names & literary allusions that might go over your head if you’re not a connoisseur of the genre. But THEN, as the plot thickens like a sulfurous London fog, you get drawn into the story and characters for themselves. And, of course, you can’t help but be aware of the artistically folded-in interplay of classic tropes and archetypes.If you ARE a customer of Victorian literature, you’ll love this. If you aren’t, give it a minute, you’re gonna love it anyway.

Many years ago (so many, in fact, that I believe I may have referenced it in the dissertation on the character of Dracula that I wrote for my degree) I read a short story by Kim Newman in a vampire-themed anthology which proposed that Count Dracula, instead of being destroyed by Van Helsing, could have married the widowed Queen Victoria and become the second Prince Consort, spreading a plague of vampirism through the nation.This story was then developed into a series of full-length novels, the first of which, Anno Dracula, my brother bought me for Christmas. Anno Dracula expands on the above premise, taking as its setting a version of Victorian London in which vampirism is rife (and even fashionable) and the Prince Consort has brought back impalement as a form of punishment. Amid this steampunk-gothic dystopia, secret agent Charles Beauregard is assigned by the mysterious Diogenes Club to solve the mystery of Jack the Ripper, who brutally dismembers vampire prostitutes with a silver knife. He's aided by Genevieve Dieudonne, a vampire 'elder' from mediaeval France who pre-dates even Dracula himself.Anno Dracula is full of period atmosphere, whether we're meeting the characters in a dark Whitechapel alley, a disreputable pub or a fashionable society drawing room. Newman also appears to have put a huge amount of thought into every conceivable consequence of vampire rule which combined with the well-researched Victoriana makes for impressive world-building. Beauregard and Dieudonne; make an engaging pair, and Newman also makes a excellent job of developing a number of characters created by other writers, including Bram Stoker's John Seward and Arthur Holmwood and John Polidori's Byronic vampire Lord Ruthven (now Prime Minister).The plot proceeds at a fairly steady pace and builds to an adventurous climax, although in some ways the plot itself is somewhat secondary to other elements of the book. Kim Newman is not only a prolific writer of fiction but also a renowned academic expert in all things horror, science-fiction and fantasy - and it shows. If you happen to have an interest in vampire myths, Victorian literature or horror cinema, the sheer number of mentions of familiar characters and events will make you dizzy; barely a page goes by without one and the character notes at the back of the book run to sixteen pages.There is a degree to which this can distract from the story itself. Although I found it great fun because I share these interests and my frame of reference for this kind of thing is huge (my brother enjoyed this aspect too and gave me the book for this reason) I would imagine that someone less obsessed would miss out on a lot of the in-jokes and nods towards other sources, which are often included seemingly for their own sake. In other words, you don't have to be a hardcore Dracula aficionado and vintage horror fan to read this book ... but it helps.

Anno Dracula is credited with being a pioneer of the horror "mash-up" subgenre, whose recent surge in popularity has brought Kim Newman's "original" back into the limelight. In fairness, some of the more recent efforts in this vein seem to be a gimmicky and based on a fairly thin concept, and it will be interesting to see how many of them are still being read and enjoyed twenty years after publication. Newman, by contrast, has attempted to create a world of his own within a horror genre that he knows and love very deeply, with nods and references to most of the classics along the way. For the most part he succeeds, and it makes for enjoyable reading.It is the late nineteenth century, an alternative Victorian era peopled with pretty much all the real and fictional characters of the age along with some new characters invented by the author. In this world, the events depicted by Bram Stoker in "Dracula" are real, except that the heroes of the story failed to defeat the vampire. Jonathan Harker and Van Helsing are dead (the latter's head displayed at Traitor's Gate), Mina Harker irrevocably turned into a vampire and the other survivors scattered. Dracula aka Vlad Tepes, who in this story is both the Impaler of historical fact and vampire of fiction, has married Queen Victoria, turned her into a vampire and imposed the rule of the undead over the land. Stoker himself has been disappeared into an internment camp, along with Sherlock Holmes and multiple other potential enemies of the state. Vampires provide a kind of new ruling class more likely to advance than their "warm" counterparts, but also an underclass, often starving and ill after being turned and left to fend for themselves in a world where blood donors, willing or otherwise, are not so numerous. Almost all the prostitutes on London's streets are vampires, and there is a very blurry line between the selling of sex and the selling of blood.Into this world step the main protagonists: Charles Beauregard, spy and problem solver at the service of the Queen (but not her new consort); Genevieve Dieudonne, a beautiful four hundred year old beautiful vampire who after a long and eventful life now finds herself in the East End running a charitable foundation for socially-deprived vampires; and Jack the Ripper himself. The latter's victims are vampire prostitutes, despatched much as in the public record but with a knife made of silver which is lethal to the undead. His murders shock society, but they also threaten the new order of vampires, and start to destabilise the uneasy balance of a society only just coming to terms with a whole new class system. Here vampires are divided into Carpathians and the rest, elders and "new-born", and the "warm" humans are divided into those who embrace the new world and prepare to be turned into vampires for immortality and success, and those who would fight the vampires by increasingly desperate means.Kim Newman's hugely enjoyable book provides a chilling alternative world where the vampires have won, but it may not have turned out as they hoped. It also muses on the nature of Victorian society with obvious parallels with the divide between rich and poor, and people who literally and figuratively live off the blood of others. The story depicts the dark and sometimes erotic, but frequently violent and bloodsoaked world the vampires have created, and how the faultlines of such a volatile world may be breached and even blown apart by the murder, suspicion and panic now sweeping the city.If I have a criticism, it's that while Newman is clearly an aficionado of horror, vampires and Victorian fact and fiction, he does cram an awful lot of it into his story, not all of which is necessary. Some of the constant namechecks to other real and fictional characters add little to the story, and some of the cameo appearances of these figures are a distraction. The central story though is very good and the author creates a beguiling alternative history of London and of horror. The end of the book leaves the story open for sequels that Newman duly went on to write, and I'm sure I will read the rest of the series.

Anno Dracula is frustrating because it is full of brilliant ideas and written by a very experienced and knowledgeable writer, but it does not flow well and is therefore difficult to read. It would work better visually, which may be a reflection of Newman's background. I felt a good editor might have turned it into the 4 or 5 star read it should be. Putting together fact and fiction in Victorian England and using the idea of vampires as an increasingly important part of the population worked remarkably well, especially with regard to Jack the Ripper and the dangers of Whitechapel. The Diogenes Club was not well used, it might just as well have been any secret society and Wilde and Swinburne were introduced but not really integrated into any part of the plot. I was left feeling dissatisfied, not by the resolution of the story but by the missed opportunities and how much better it could (should) have been.

I never see the point of retelling the story in a review so I'll just say what I think of it.I'm sure you can guess as I gave it 5 stars! I've been wanting to read this for quite a while now but never got round to it - but while listening to a Wittertainment podcast (Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode) Mr K mentioned his friend Kim Newman and it reminded me to download this book and finally get round to reading it.The joy in reading Anno Dracula is partly recognising the characters mentioned. Being a very novice ripperologist it was fun to read this familiar story being weaved amongst vampire mythology. Newman also drops in characters from other contemporary fiction such as Jekyll & Hyde and Dracula as well as a passing nod to other notables who stalked and sauntered through the streets of London during Queen Victoria's reign. I highly recommend reading the Annotations at the end of the book as it reveals many of the other characters who some of us may not have heard of (but promptly have looked up!).Perhaps it's my fascination with all things associated with London, Jack the Ripper, Vampires, Sherlock Holmes and Victoriana that made me fall in love with this novel so much but I also was gripped but the storming narrative that drives the reader through this crazy, imagined, mashed-up world.If you, like me, love these things and are willing to immerse yourself in the (almost) ridiculous I highly recommend you pick this book up straightaway.

I read Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' as a young girl and fell in love with the movie upon seeing it. As a 30 something, both remain firm favourites which I've revisited many times over the years. I'm a lover of the true crime genre, as well as of historical accounts of pretty much anything and as many others, I'm fascinated by the Victorian era and find the dark and mysterious steampunk genre more hit than miss, provided there's not too much romance getting in the way.Anno Dracula is a deliciously indulgent fusion of all of the above and more. I enjoyed losing myself in a few hours of pretty believable, if at a stretch, entertainment.Everything a good story should be.