Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard Paperback – September 16, 2014

This is the fourth novel in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series, and although I feel like I've been waiting forever, I'm glad to say it's worth the wait. Fair warning - readers who didn't like the third book,  Anno Dracula: Dracula Cha Cha Cha , probably won't like this one, but I think it's the book of the year. It's smart, engaging, melancholy, deeply layered, and just generally awesome.The first book in the series,  Anno Dracula , started with two cool ideas. Set in 1888, it introduced the premise that Dracula survived the attempt on his life at the end of Stoker's novel, moved to England, and revealed the existence of vampires to the world. Second, it assumed that all of the horror novels set in that age, like Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or the various other classic vampire novels, all were happening simultaneously.Using those ideas and some common characters, the next novels were set in the mileu of World War I flying ace fiction, 1950s movies set in Italy, and now this one, set in 1970s - 1990s Americana, mostly movies and TV, with some real life characters and events thrown in. As I said, I loved it.This novel is a collection of linked short stories that follow the title character, Johnny Alucard, as he attempts to restore the (now dead) Dracula to the world, while crossing paths with series regulars Kate Reed, Penelope Churchward, and Geneviève Dieudonné. Johnny Alucard combines all of Newman's best traits. It's densely layered with references to other works, to the point where it's worthwhile to have a Google window open to figure out where each new character comes from. It's exciting, with some straightforward vampire politics, fights, and drama. And it's emotionally gripping, as it continues to follow the main characters through the years, as well as featuring some appearances from old favorites like the vampire wetworks specialist "Hamish Bond."As always, Newman's writing is first rate, and I ended up highlighting dozens of passages just because they were so well written or cool. On the other hand, like the last book, I think some people might be disappointed with the ending, which is more ambiguous than final. I enjoyed it though - it plays with Newman's core question of just what the idea of Dracula means to us and to the characters. Even more, it's just so fun to see vampires eating Sid and Nancy, or being questioned by Columbo, that I savored these stories.Speaking of Columbo, Newman gets him pitch perfect, which is awesome. Unfortunately, IMHO, he goes for a critical parody of a certain teenaged vampire slayer and her oh so British "Overlooker." That made me a bit sad, especially because in a rare failure, Newman doesn't really duplicate or successfully parody Whedon's distinctive dialogue style. But that's easily forgiven because, as I've said, the rest of this is IMHO the book of the year, at least. Strongly recommended.

In the 4th book of Kim Newman's vampire-heavy alternate history a young vampire, the 'get' of Count Dracula himself, travels to 70s New York and, over time establishes himself as a New York drug lord, a Hollywood mogul and finally the new king of the vampires.My bare bones summary does not even begin to describe the rich satire and cultural references that fill every page of the book. The first quarter tells the fictional story of Francis Ford Copola filming a Dracula biography in Transylvania, a story that is basically a retelling of the trials and tribulations he faced in making Apocalypse Now in the Philippines, but with vampires. The next section has Johnny Alucad establishing himself as the drug lord of New York selling the vampire blood concocation known as 'Drac'. It's Scarface, but with vampires. Other sections reference Top Gun, the end of the Cold War, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other historical and fictional events. It's fun, there are some real laugh out loud moments and even the most dedicated pop culture fan is sure to miss some references.But after a while it gets to be too much. At one point Alucard is faced with a team of vampire hunters including Robert De Niro's character from Taxi Driver, Gene Hackman from the French Connection and (why not) Shaggy from Scooby Doo. It's a cute scene, but would be so much better if we'd actually seen these characters before and if they had any point other than to be an obvious reference.As I read I got tired of going to Wikipedia to see what a company's name or a ship is really a reference too.Newman is a delightful writer and I'm always happy to have something new come out, but he needs to reign in some of his desire for in-jokes when they start to hurt my enjoyment of the story.

Kim Newman's "Anno Dracula" series is probably being avoided or ignored by the masses who have given up on literary vampires after watching the undead morph into broody angst-ridden teenagers, or worse, iconic prototypes for softcore Mom porn. This is a shame. Newman's now four book series is something special, an epic covering the years since Dracula succeeded in taking over the world instead of being destroyed.What really makes this strong story so appealing is Newman's obvious love for pop culture. All the "Anno" series are riddled with celebrities, both real and imagined. Every notable vampire, both literary and cinematic, has popped up on the pages of the books to perform various tasks and move the storyline along. With this fourth installment, the vampires share the pages with celebrities both real and imagined, human, animal, and even plants. The author's wisecracking prose deftly shuffles all the players into line, often making the reader stop to shake his/her head at the sheer volume of notable individuals identified. Travis Bickle is here. Columbo is here. The moon-flower from "Werewolf of London" shares a scene with a triffid and Audrey Jr. from "Little Shop of Horrors". James Bond makes a return, as does the Lone Ranger. Dozens of other laugh-out-loud notable cameos are effortlessly inserted, capped off by the revealing factoid that John Lennon was a vampire. Somehow, Newman makes all this work beautifully, dropping names right and left. It's a gift to the readers. "Anno Alucard" is a better, faster-moving novel than the second and third books, although all four have been great reading in their own right.Still, this reader was amazed by the appearance of Alucard's briefcase, being described as "made of velociraptor skin, from Maple White Land". To those in the know, the ficticious Maple White was the discoverer of A.Conan Doyle's "The Lost World". Pretty delicious stuff here, folks. Recommended.

This strangely disparate book is a collection of a framing story with several stand-alone pieces— which had been published at different times as short stories. Now, when all of them have been brought together in a shape of novel in the ‘Anno Dracula’ universe, the result is… peculiar.It contains~1. Prologue: Promises to Keep (Anno Dracula 1944);2. Part One: Coppola’s Dracula (Anno Dracula 1976-77) [reimagining of the shooting of ‘Apocalypse Now’]— Kate;3. Interlude: Castles In The Desert (Anno Dracula 1977)— Genevieve;4. Part Two: Andy Warhol’s Dracula (Anno Dracula 1978-79)— Penelope;5. Interlude: Who Dares Wins (Anno Dracula 1980)— Kate;6. Part Three: The Other Side of Midnight (Anno Dracula 1981)— Genevieve;7. Interlude: You Are The Wind Beneath My Wings (Anno Dracula 1986)— Penelope;8. Part Four” ‘You’ll Never Drink Blood In This Town Again’ (Anno Dracula 1990);9. Interlude: Miss Baltimore Crabs (Anno Dracula 1990)— Genevieve;10. Part Five: A Concert For Transylvania (Anno Dracula 1990);11. Interlude: Dr Pretorius and Mr Hyde (Anno Dracula 1991)— Kate;12. Part Six: Charles’s Angels (Anno Dracula 1991)— Genevieve & Kate.After these, we have two atrocious appendices.It’s the framing story (ostensibly the actual subject of this so-called ‘novel’) which is the weakest and the most unappetizing link of this book. Especially, the ending is a disaster. The shorter works with Genevieve as a PI and Kate working as a Political Correspondent are much better than those endless American pop-culture references masquerading as stories.Overall, rather disappointing, considering the explosive beginning of the series.

Kim Newman set the bar high, particularly with his Victorian-era Dracula and Cha-Cha-Cha. He has followed up with his new Dracula, of New York and Hollywood, is a tale for our times—money, exploitation, gumshoes and bad movies.

Kim Newman lässt uns in dieser "Fortsetzung", die wohl aus einem Sammelsurium von Kurzgeschichten zusammengeschustert wurde, wie toll er sich in der Filmgeschichte auskennt. Mehr nicht. Kein Vergleich zu den ersten beiden Bänden der Serie. Leider.

Stunning book featuring the apparent resurrection of the late Dracula (killed in Italy in the 1950s - See Dracula Cha Cha Cha) and featuring such characters as Orson Welles, Francis Ford Coppola, Andy Warhol, Marlon Brando, a serial-killing couple who any Tarantino fan might recognise, a Vampire-slaying cheerleader, as well as the trio of awesome female characters from the previous books. A MUST READ!!!

Good take on the vampire culture in mainstream society. Clever use of cinema world, vampires as social phenomenon rather than evildoers