WHAT MUSIC THEY MAKE. So I've recently started reading Kim Newman's Anno Dracula because from what little I read of Johnny Alucard in a horror anthology told me that it was all I have ever wanted in life. This glorious new venture has led me to want to talk about vampires. To create a small cave for other vampire obsessed nerds to hide in. Vampires are the shit. I have loved the bastards ever since I was a kid. Grew up on a book about them and the Crestwood House Monster series and other books. So even while I wasn't able to watch a lot of vampire films, I was able to absorb vampire lore and history from books. I was not only the kid who would drink red kool-aid and tomato juice and pretend it was blood, but also the kid who knew what Varney the Vampyre was. But yes, Anno Dracula is super cool. It's an alternate history thing where the conceit is that Vlad Tepes Dracula was actually a vampire like in the Stoker novel. However unlike in the novel Dracula isn't defeated. He survives and goes on to marry the Queen and begins turning England into a vampire state. Dissidents, such as Bram Stoker himself, are sent away to concentration camps and people like Arthur Holmwood urge others to become vampires themselves. A Jack the Ripper-esque vampire hunter is going around killing streetwalkers. It's a lovely thing full of politics, history, folklore, media references, and more and I am so happy with it. Another neat thing is that Newman doesn't appear to demand that the reader know this shit. Things like the Diogenes Club are explained in a way that isn't horribly dull and excessive, but also allow people who aren't aware just what the hell this group is to know what they're about.
((I found a box of abandoned books by the side of the road a bunch of years ago and carried home an armload including The Queen of the Damned. Read a few other Anne Rice novels including the one called Cry to Heaven or something? Her work is a little concerning, very good, and makes me think. Good memories. Thank you book-box-abandoner.))
I've only ever read Interview of her stuff. I did like it, but the lack of chapters really kind bugged me. Made it hard for me to read sillily enough. Loved the hell out of the very silly movie though. I do think it kind of falls apart when Armaund gets into the picture if only because he's just Antonio Banderes being Antonio Banderes. First half of the film is solid though and the ending is lovely.
