The Top 10 Best Vampire Novels of All Time and How They Influenced My Own Dracula Prequel...

Описание: What are the top 10 best Vampire Novels of all time and how did they influence my own Dracula prequel STOKER: Evolution of a Vampire?
10. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (2005)
• This best seller blends the lore and stories of Vlad the Impaler with Count Dracula
9. Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood by James Malcolm Rymer (1847)
• This is a collection of penny dreadful stories that were eventually published together in a single text
8. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1872)
• This is an interesting female vampire novella that predates Dracula by 26 years and is a well-written example of a Gothic horror masterpiece every vampire enthusiast should read.
7. The Vampyre by John Polidori (1819)
• This story was conjured up the same night Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was born. It is an exceptional, atmospheric, chilling tale that proceeds Dracula by 78 years
6. The Vampire Lestat by Ann Rice (1985)
• The Vampire Lestat is my personal favorite because it is narrated by Lestat de Lioncourt himself and tells of his numerous worlds traveling adventures with his partner Louis De Pointe du Lac
5. Dracula in Instanbul: The Unauthorized Version of the Gothic Classic (1928) by Bram Stoker and Ali Riza Seyfioglu (Translation 2017)
• This is an abbreviated re-write of Dracula by a Turkish writer 31 years after Bram Stoker’s publication
• Unlike the Icelandic version, this rework follows much of Stoker’s abridged text while removing secondary characters with many positives which must be considered:
1. Dracula relocates to Istanbul instead of London 2. The Count is originally considered to be a descendant of Vlad III but then realized to be Vlad the Impaler once his Un-Dead nature is fully revealed
• At present, this is the first known version to tie the fictional Count to the historical Dracula
4. Dracula the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt (2009)
• This is a sequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula; several familiar characters from Bram Stoker’s novel return to not only face the resurrection of Dracula’s but also an infamous blood countess
• Characters that were in Bram Stoker’s working notes which did NOT make their way into his masterpiece also joined the cast
• The book is jam-packed with fast paced action, over the top gore and controversial ideals that many new readers enjoy
3. Dracul by Dacre Stoker & J.D. Barker (2018)
• This is a prequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• Using Bram Stoker’s notes, journal, Dracula’s Guest, and bits and pieces of Bram Stoker’s family history, this story follows a young Bram and other supporting family members down a harrowing journey
• This novel is a page turner, filled with mystery, thrills and suspense, and keeps you on edge all the time
2. The Un-Dead: The Dracula novel, rewritten to include Stoker’s deleted characters and events by Joel H. Emerson and Bram Stoker Revised (2007) edition
• This novel is commonly referred to as the literary “director’s cut” of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Emerson took all of Bram Stoker’s notes, many of his other published works and various other materials such as Stoker’s letters, newspaper articles concerning Jack the Ripper, different Dracula editions and went to work.
• For anyone who has studied Stoker’s working notes for Dracula, it is understood the final manuscript did not contain many of the characters, plot twists, events, or even the opening chapter that was originally planned. Many Stoker enthusiasts have wondered for years what this ‘director’s cut’ might have looked like. I believe Emerson answered that calling beautifully.
• Stoker’s list of characters in his notes mentions A Painter named Francis A. Aytown, along with a comment on page 4 stating that “painters cannot paint him –their likenesses always like someone else”
• Emerson brilliantly introduces this character into the opening Whitby Bay chapter as the suspect boyfriend of Kate Reed, another added character Mina knows from school. Francis paints Dracula from afar and pens Dracula a note closely resembling the letter Bram Stoker wrote to Walt Whitman. Francis’ painting efforts become very reminiscent of the hellish, grotesque one from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray
1. Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) The Leslie S. Klinger (2008) New Annotated Edition
• I have made it my lifelong passion to study and read everything I could find about Bram Stoker, the historical Dracula, and all things vampire related.
• The pages of Dracula are filled with practically every emotion and reason why people read in the first place: travel, mystery, science, thrills, suspense, history, love, knowledge, fear, humor, friendship, mortality
• Takes you on a secondary journey through the myriad of notes, manuscripts, editions, and back story of practically every facet of the novel
• It also includes recent revelations about the cast of characters, copious illustrations, historical maps, Victorian-era oddities and the science of blood transfusion