Anno Dracula

It is 1888 and Queen Victoria has remarried, taking as her new consort Vlad Tepes, the Wallachian Prince infamously known as Count Dracula. Peppered with familiar characters from Victorian history and fiction, the novel tells the story of vampire Geneviève Dieudonné and Charles Beauregard of the Diogenes Club as they strive to solve the mystery of the Ripper murders. Anno Dracula is a rich and panoramic tale, combining horror, politics, mystery and romance to create a unique and compelling alternate history. Acclaimed novelist Kim Newman explores the darkest depths of a reinvented Victorian London. This brand-new edition of the bestselling novel contains unique bonus material, including a new afterword from Kim Newman, annotations, articles and alternate endings to the original novel.

Amazon.com Review

As Nina Auerbach writes in the New York Times, " Stephen King assumes we hate vampires; Anne Rice makes it safe to love them, because they hate themselves. Kim Newman suspects that most of us live with them . . . . Anno Dracula is the definitive account of that post-modern species, the self-obsessed undead." In this first of what looks to be an excellent series, Victorian England has vampires at every level of society, especially the higher ones, and they engage in incessant intrigue, power games, and casual oppression of the weak--activities, as we know, that are all too human. Numerous characters from literature and from history appear in both major and cameo roles. Spectacular fight scenes, stormy politics, and a serial vampire killer keep the action lively. A scholarly bibliography is included.

From Publishers Weekly

What if Count Dracula married Queen Victoria? On this intriguing, but inescapably silly, conceit, Newman ( Jago ) bases his exercise in historical horror fiction, previously published in the U.K. In England, circa 1888, "turning" vampire is all the rage: such luminaries as Oscar Wilde, Inspector Lestrade, Sherlock Holmes's collaborator, and the Queen herself have embraced vampirism. Those who haven't find themselves shunned by society and facing banishment to internment camps if their opposition to the new regime becomes threatening. Enter Jack the Ripper. In this version of history, he is none other than Jack Seward, the lovelorn doctor of Bram Stoker's Dracula , who here murders vampire women to avenge the death of his beloved Lucy. While Londoners, vampire and "warm" alike, vie to catch the Ripper for their own agendas, Charles Beauregard, agent of Conan Doyle's mysterious Diogenes Club, must track him down for the most vital reason of all: the future of England. Newman's meticulous attention to historical detail occasionally seems superfluous in a work of such unabashed fantasy, but his prose is sure-handed and vivid, especially in Seward's diary entries, which, free of the welter of Victorian trivia, are truly engrossing. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Newman goes over the top in every novel (Night Mayor, Bad Dreams, Jago), each featuring a monstrous overlord of horror unlikely to be dethroned--but this time he leaps to new heights, drawing the Dracula novel that sets a benchmark for vampire fiction. Warning: the blood, well, you can't say it's overdone, for a vampire novel, but two qualities distinguish Newman's story: the immense physiological detail shoring up the reality of the undead, and the gathering sense of the author's enjoyment in what he does here--among other things, his sheer love of chockablock Victorian detail. The plot: Vlad Tepes, or Dracula, did not die as in Bram Stoker but rather survived and, political genius, rose to marry Queen Victoria in 1885 and become her consort. Dracula rules England, with Victoria doglike in a leash at his feet. What's more, it's now fashionable to be a vampire, especially among the nobility, while among the lower orders the change from ``warm'' to the immortal undead can be bought from any corner whore for the price of a shot of gin or draft of pig's blood at the pub. Jack the Ripper, however, hates undead whores and knows that destroying any vital organ can kill them. Who is Jack? None other that Stoker's Dr. John (Jack) Seward, who helped drive a stake into Lucy Westenra, Stoker's heroine. Jack's gone round the bend, living among a people who look upon vampirism as, well, pretty nice. The police assign Genevieve Dieuxdonne, a vampire detective, herself a half-century older than Dracula, to chase down Jack, assisted by Charles Beauregard, handsome henchman of Conan Doyle's The Diogenes Club, England's Star Chamber. Also on hand: Mycroft Holmes, Dr. Jekyll, and dozens of famed Victorians from literature and real life, all mingling in a fogbound milieu that rubs like cat fur on the reader's imagination. A bloody delight. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

New York Times

"Stephen King assumes we hate vampires; Anne Rice makes it safe to love them, because they hate themselves. Kim Newman suspects that most of us live with them… Anno Dracula is the definitive account of that post-modern species, the self-obsessed undead."

Daily Telegraph

"A brilliantly witty parallel-world saga… builds sure-footedly to bravura climax which entirely redefines ‘Victorian values’"

Seattle Times

"Anno Dracula will leave you breathless... one of the most creative novels of the year"

Time Out

"Politics, horror and romance are woven together in this brilliantly imagined and realised novel. Newman's prose is a delight, his attention to detail spellbinding"

The Times

"A tour de force which succeeds brilliantly"

The Independent

"A marvellous marriage of political satire, melodramatic intrigue, gothic horror and alternative history. Not to be missed."

Washington Post Book World

"A ripping yarn, an adventure romp of the best blood, and a satisfying… read"

San Francisco Chronicle

"Powerful... compelling entertainment... a fiendishly clever banquet of dark treats"

Locus

"The most comprehensive, brilliant, dazzlingly audacious vampire novel to date. ‘Ultimate’ seems an apt description... Anno Dracula is at once playful, horrific, intelligent and revelatory... Newman’s prose will remain gloriously unique."

Christopher Fowler

"Anno Dracula couldn’t be more fun if Bram Stoker had scripted it for Hammer. It’s a beautifully constructed Gothic epic that knocks almost every other vampire novel out for the count."

Stephen Volk

"Bloody excellent.  Kim Newman has exsanguinated the best of fact and fiction and created a vivid vampirous Victorian world uniquely his own.  This clever, delicious extravaganza – Hammer Horror meets True (Blue) Blood – is just the tonic for the year of a Royal Wedding."

Paul McAuley

"Anno Dracula is the smart, hip Year Zero of the vampire genre’s ongoing revolution."

TLS

"Kim Newman's answer to Thatcher's 'Victorian Values'"

About the Author

Kim Newman is a popular and respected author and movie critic, known for his acclaimed alternate-history series, Anno Dracula. He writes regularly for Empire magazine and contributes to The Guardian, The Times, Time Out and others. He makes frequent appearances on radio and TV, and is the chief writer of the BBC TV series Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema. He has won the Bram Stoker, International Horror Guild, British Fantasy and British Science Fiction Awards and been nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and James Herbert Awards. He lives in London.

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