Thus begins week three of AWESOME-tober-fest. This week begins TV week. Let’s start things off with a little known Canadian vampire TV show, shall we?
Today, we are looking at Dracula The Series. This show originally aired in 1991. In this show, Dracula poses as a wealthy tycoon named Alexander Lucard (A. Lucard…get it? Like we don’t get enough backwards Dracula references). Dracula had plans every week for some dastardly doings. The group opposing him was led by Gustav Van Helsing and his nephews Max and Chris. At the very least, the show followed the lore of the books in that Dracula could walk in the daylight, but loses his powers when doing so.
The show had several guest stars that were famous in Canada. Geraint Wyn Davies would appear in several episodes as Gustav’s son who was turned into a vampire. For those that don’t know, Geraint would go on to star in his own vampire TV show one year later. But I’ll talk more about that show tomorrow. Other guest stars include Kim Coates who has starred in tons of movies and TV shows like Waterworld, Prison Break and Sons of Anarchy as well as Barry Morse from The Fugitive and Space: 1999.
Here’s the intro to the show:
You can also watch several of the episodes on YouTube starting with Episode 1.
Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.
Today is the final day of Dracula book week. Yesterday I looked at Bram Stoker’s original Dracula novel. Today, I take a look at a semi-sequel to that novel. Fred Saberhagen’s The Dracula Tape.
If this seems familiar, I reviewed a similar Saberhagen book back in 2009 called The Frankenstein Papers. My theme that year was, obviously, Frankenstein and I had just read Mary Shelley’s book. It seemed like fun to read a sequel to such a seminal work in horror literature. Saberhagen’s book told Mary Shelley’s story from a different point of view. Most notably, the monster’s.
Well, after deciding that I was going to try, again, to read Stoker’s Dracula, I wanted to read another book that did the same thing. Well, as the fates would have it, Saberhagen did the same thing with Dracula. He wrote this book which looks at the events in Dracula from the Count’s point of view. And it’s all narrated by the Count himself. Saberhagen’s Dracula would become fairly popular and would spawn a series of books featuring the title character. The second book even features Dracula facing off with Sherlock Holmes. So, needless to say, I thought this sounded very interesting so I read it.
This story is actually very interesting. Like I said, the conceit is similar to The Frankenstein Papers. The events in Bram Stoker’s novel are told from the perspective of Dracula himself. Saberhagen’s Dracula is much more refined than Stoker’s. He paints the group of vampire hunters in Stoker’s tale as a group of misguided bufoons. Especially Van Helsing who comes off as a bully or a thug. Many of Van Helsing’s actions in the original novel are called into question by Saberhagen’s Count, especially his decision not to tell anyone about Dracula being a vampire until it was too late. It was actually very entertaining reading passages of the book I had trouble following in Stoker’s novel told in a more clearly defined way in Saberhagen’s book. It made my understanding of the original more complete. Even more so than the Cliff’s Notes I purchased (Yes, I purchased the Cliff Notes for Dracula).
So, I can recommend this book. I don’t even think you need to read the original Stoker novel because this just goes over the same territory and does it more clearly. Reading it may help for you to get the experience of seeing the events from Dracula’s eyes as opposed to the original novel, but I just don’t hate you enough to tell you to read Stoker’s novel.
Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.
Day 4 of Vampire book week. Today, we look at the original vampire novel. The one that began the popularization of the vampire myths. Let’s take a look at Bram Stoker’s original Dracula.
I really enjoy doing AWESOME-tober-fest. It has given me a reason to read and watch books and movies I’ve always wanted to but never really “sucked it up” and made the commitment to do. Two years ago I read Shelley’s Frankenstein and I was surprised at how readable it was. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And based on that success, I was anxious to read Stoker’s Dracula.
Now, to be fair, I tried to read Dracula once already. It was back in the late ’90s when I was going through my “must read classics” phase. I couldn’t get through it. I remember thinking the first third of the book was good, but it completely fell apart after that. However, being older and wiser, I thought I could better appreciate it now. Besides, while not the first vampire novel, it certainly is what made them popular. Plus it influenced the original Universal Dracula with Bela Lugosi which would further the ingraining of vampires into popular culture.
Like I said, Stoker’s 1897 book was not the first vampire story. An essay published in the periodical Ninteenth Century in 1885 called Transylvania Superstitions discussed the mythical creatures. Lord Byron created a vampire story during the same night of ghost story telling that Mary Shelley created Frankenstein. Byron wouldn’t finish the story but John Polidori would polish it up and finish it as The Vampyre in 1819. However it was Stoker’s Dracula that popularized the monster. But it wouldn’t be until Universal’s 1931 movie based loosely (and I mean loosely) on the novel that Dracula would receive the popularity it currently achieves.
….aaaaaaaaand we are BACK! Episode 6 of the Nerd Lunch podcast has the group discussing the first two Star Trek Next Generation movies; Star Trek Generations and Star Trek First Contact.
We are literally all over the place with our discussion but it’s clear one of us doesn’t like First Contact and none of us really liked Generations. Come see why…
Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner.
We’ve made it to Hump Day of vampire book week. Click the banner above to see all of the other books and comics I’ve looked at these past two weeks of AWESOME-tober-fest 2011.
Today I’ll be looking at Seth Grahame-Smith’s Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
Seth Grahame-Smith wrote the seminal Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (P&P&Z). The success of that book launched a niche publishing empire. Classic lit/horror mashups are still being released in droves. Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter. The Undead Land of Oz. Android Karenina. Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters. There was even a prequel to the original P&P&Z called Dawn of the Dreadfuls. I haven’t read any of those other books, but I read the original P&P&Z. It’s a surprisingly subtle book considering the title. Grahame-Smith deftly weaves his more outlandish story into the original Austen story with much success. There is a reason the book became a sensation, it’s well written. Grahame-Smith’s followup stuck to the same genre. It was to be today’s book; Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and was released in Spring 2010.
Judging just from the cover and that trailer, you expect this book to be completely over the top. Like a Zack Snyder fever dream while tripping on acid. However, Grahame-Smith pulls a similar feat with this book that he did with P&P&Z, deftly combining a history of Abraham Lincoln and subtly revealing the secret existence of vampires in early America. The book is based on the assumption that it is revealing the contents of several of Lincoln’s “hidden” journals. All of which reveal the vampire secrets and his efforts to kill all the vampires.
The book begins with a chapter in how Grahame-Smith came into possession of Lincoln’s hidden journals. They were ostensibly given to him one day by a very mysterious person. Unfortunately, Grahame-Smith doesn’t ever go back to that introduction, but the story that follows is fascinating. It really does start off like you are reading a biography of our 16th President. Even after we meet the first vampire, it never completely takes off into Buffy the Vampire Slayer territory. It always stays true to the Abe Lincoln story, while occasionally detouring into vampires. And the way Grahame-Smith deftly integrates vampires into the secret history of the Civil War and slavery is just fascinating.
This book was surprising. I expected a ridiculous sendup of vampire movies/books. Something more along the lines of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel but with Abe Lincoln. However Grahame-Smith has crafted a very good vampire hunter story that cleverly uses famous events in Lincoln’s life and turns them on their ear and somehow manages to make them, in some way, connect to this hidden vampire conspiracy. I was surprised, but pleasantly so. I definitely recommend this book and say be prepared for a story that is better written than this subject has any right to be.
Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.
Cavalcade of Awesome 