From Amazon.com
With his 500-year lifetime so far, and centuries yet ahead, the character of Dracula has an ever-unfolding biography, to which this 100th-anniversary tribute contributes 33 stories (only 6 of which have been previously published). Dracula visits, in these pages, such locales as the Côte d'Azur, the wilds of Oregon, the Los Angeles of Raymond Chandler, communist Eastern Europe, Rome at the dawn of the 21st century (a chilling tale in which he is forced to imitate the Messiah), and the ruins of post-apocalyptic New Jersey. He encounters Bettie Page, Aleister Crowley, Timothy Leary, Lou Reed, and Francis Ford Coppola (with the entire cast and crew of
Apocalypse Now, in a hilarious spoof). The authors include such contemporary masters as Kim Newman, Nicholas Royle, Terry Lamsley, Joel Lane, Brian Stableford, and Ramsey Campbell. The book also has a foreword by Bram Stoker's great-nephew, and includes the never-before-published prologue to Stoker's theatrical version of
Dracula.
From Booklist
The first sentence of editor Jones' introduction probably speaks for us all: "Do we really need another collection of vampire stories?" Since 1997 is the centenary of Bram Stoker's
Dracula in influence and market share, the indisputable king of horror--we will get at least this one, needed or not. It differs from other bloodsucker compendia by offering 33 stories, all but 7 brand-new, that project Stoker's creations--Jonathan and Mina Harker, Renfield, and the novel's other personae besides the undead count--forward in spirit from 1890s London through successive decades to today and on into the future (F. Paul Wilson's volume closer is a variation on Richard Matheson's oft-filmed
I Am Legend [1954], about a future L.A. overrun by vampires). Contributors include horror hands living and dead, most notably Stoker himself in the previously unpublished prologue to the stage
Dracula he cobbled together to ensure his dramatic copyright.
Ray Olson
