This is the fourth novel in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series, and although I feel like I've been waiting forever, I'm glad to say it's worth the wait. Fair warning - readers who didn't like the third book,
Anno Dracula: Dracula Cha Cha Cha
, probably won't like this one, but I think it's the book of the year. It's smart, engaging, melancholy, deeply layered, and just generally awesome.
The first book in the series,
Anno Dracula
, started with two cool ideas. Set in 1888, it introduced the premise that Dracula survived the attempt on his life at the end of Stoker's novel, moved to England, and revealed the existence of vampires to the world. Second, it assumed that all of the horror novels set in that age, like Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or the various other classic vampire novels, all were happening simultaneously.
Using those ideas and some common characters, the next novels were set in the mileu of World War I flying ace fiction, 1950s movies set in Italy, and now this one, set in 1970s - 1990s Americana, mostly movies and TV, with some real life characters and events thrown in. As I said, I loved it.
This novel is a collection of linked short stories that follow the title character, Johnny Alucard, as he attempts to restore the (now dead) Dracula to the world, while crossing paths with series regulars Kate Reed, Penelope Churchward, and Geneviève Dieudonné. Johnny Alucard combines all of Newman's best traits. It's densely layered with references to other works, to the point where it's worthwhile to have a Google window open to figure out where each new character comes from. It's exciting, with some straightforward vampire politics, fights, and drama. And it's emotionally gripping, as it continues to follow the main characters through the years, as well as featuring some appearances from old favorites like the vampire wetworks specialist "Hamish Bond."
As always, Newman's writing is first rate, and I ended up highlighting dozens of passages just because they were so well written or cool. On the other hand, like the last book, I think some people might be disappointed with the ending, which is more ambiguous than final. I enjoyed it though - it plays with Newman's core question of just what the idea of Dracula means to us and to the characters. Even more, it's just so fun to see vampires eating Sid and Nancy, or being questioned by Columbo, that I savored these stories.
Speaking of Columbo, Newman gets him pitch perfect, which is awesome. Unfortunately, IMHO, he goes for a critical parody of a certain teenaged vampire slayer and her oh so British "Overlooker." That made me a bit sad, especially because in a rare failure, Newman doesn't really duplicate or successfully parody Whedon's distinctive dialogue style. But that's easily forgiven because, as I've said, the rest of this is IMHO the book of the year, at least. Strongly recommended.
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Drac's back (sort of)
Yes, it's been done before: Dracula spelt backward. The fourth volume of Kim Newman's zany sequels to Bram Stoker's chronicle finds our undead hero finally (excuse the pun) out for the count. A perennially teenage Romanian upstart, Ion Popescu, 'turned' by Dracula in 1944, is brought to New York in the 1970s by vampire journalist Kate Reed and sets about becoming the kind of celebrity bloodsucker we know from the novels of Anne Rice. Moving to Hollywood, he becomes a film producer and adopts the name Alucard in honour of his Master.This is the best of Newman's sequels to his original ANNO DRACULA (1992) in which Vlad Tepes became Queen Victoria's second consort in a London where vampires were the highest in high society. Similarly outlandish, JOHNNY ALUCARD is full of delicious historical and cinematic anomalies. Vampire Marlon Brando plays the count in Francis Ford Coppola's movie, relocated to the 1970s. In the 1980s Orson Welles is trying to get a version off the ground: Newman's mock screenplay is full of gags at the expense of CITIZEN KANE. A cult called Immortology pops up from time to time: no prizes for guessing who's being spoofed here.Characters from Bram Stoker's novel are real people in this adaptation: Harker, Mina, Van Helsing. Fact and fiction are wittily interwoven. John Lennon was murdered (with a silver bullet) by MISERY's Annie Wilkes. Newman's women are his best creations. As well as Kate Reed (undead since the Victorian era), 565-year-old 'elder' Genevieve Dieudonne returns from previous episodes. She now lives in a chrome Airstream trailer, whose eclectic furnishings include "a tacky Mexican crucifix with light-up eyes that she kept on show just to prove that she wasn't one of THOSE vampires". Vampires have careers like other girls: Genevieve is a private detective in LA, and later a CSI in Baltimore.There are misses as well as hits in Newman's scattergun satire on the world of celebrities and movie-makers. A section in the New York of Andy Warhohl and Studio 54 falls slightly flat. The Hollywood scenes are the most inventive and witty: Alucard ventures into porn production with DEBBIE DOES DRACULA, featuring Dirk Diggler and other cast members from BOOGIE NIGHTS. Later our hero organises a global benefit for Transylvania - not so much Live Aid as Undead Aid.Densely plotted with a Cecil B. De Mille-sized cast of extras, this richly inventive comedy makes the Vampire Lestat look like Thomas the Tank Engine. A fun read, well-written enough to be a good serious read.[Reviewer is the author of THE BEXHILL MISSILE CRISIS and SHAIKH-DOWN]
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