Anno-Dracula series
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The Anno-Dracula series by Kim Newman is a work of fantasy depicting an alternate history in which vampires are a common and more-or-less accepted part of society (as a result of Dracula's reign in England, depicted in Anno-Dracula, the first in the series). The series is known for its carefully-researched historical settings and the author's use as supporting characters of both historical people and fictional characters of the appropriate period. Another interesting aspect of the series is that while Dracula is a central figure in the events of the series he is a minor character in the books themselves and usually appears in only a few climactic pages of each book.
Entries in the series have won awards from the Dracula Society, the Lord Ruthven Assembly, and the International Horror Guild, and been short-listed for the Bram Stoker Award and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History.
The series currently consists of three novels, and a number of novellas.
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Novels
Anno-Dracula
1888. Dracula has married the widowed Queen Victoria, and rules as Prince Consort. A virtual checklist of fictional vampires have come out of hiding and gained new social status. But all is not going smoothly for the new regime: Jack the Ripper stalks Whitechapel, murdering vampire prostitutes. Charles Beauregard, a (non-vampire) agent of the Diogenes Club, is sent to track the murderer down, and finds himself enmeshed in a plot to free England from Dracula's rule.
Unusually for the series, several of the borrowed characters in Anno-Dracula have no links to the period. To give just two examples: the heroine is recycled from one of Newman's own earlier novels, and Carl Kolchak has a brief cameo as a reporter following the Ripper case. (Newman has said that if he had realised he would get so many sequels out of the premise, he would have saved Kolchak up for a story set in the character's native 1970s.)
Anno-Dracula has won the Dracula Society's Children of the Night Award, the Lord Ruthven Assembly's Fiction Award, and the International Horror Guild Award for Best Novel, and was short-listed for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel.
The Bloody Red Baron
World War I. Dracula sides with Germany against the English, but vampires, now a part of everyday life, fight on both sides. The Red Baron of the title is the historical ace fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen, who in this altered history leads a squadron of monstrous flying vampires.
The Bloody Red Baron was shortlisted for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, Long Form.
Dracula Cha Cha Cha
- also published as Judgment of Tears
1959. Every vampire who is anybody is flocking to Rome for Dracula's wedding, but there's a mysterious vampire killer on the loose. Events are complicated by the arrival of a British secret agent called Bond (but not James Bond), on the trail of a Russian spymaster who never goes anywhere without his cat. (The films of Federico Fellini are an influence on the setting and atmosphere, and several of his characters appear in the novel.)
Johnny Alucard
1980s. Newman has stated he is working on a fourth novel in the series. Several of the novellas listed below contain material that will be incorporated into this book.
Novellas
"Red Reign"
1888. This was the first work in the series. Newman wrote the novella "Red Reign" in 1991. This novella was later expanded into the novel Anno-Dracula and covered the same events.
"Castle in the Desert"
1977. The story's first-person narrator, a private investigator, investigates the death of his ex-wife, found at the bottom of her swimming pool with an iron stake driven through her, and the disappearance of her daughter, last seen falling in with a crowd of vampire cultists. (The private investigator, though not named in the story, is clearly Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, and his ex-wife is based on a character in one of Chandler's novels - though in that novel, Marlowe decided not to marry her, knowing it wouldn't last.) (online (http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/newman/newman1.html))
"Coppola's Dracula"
1976. Francis Ford Coppola is making the film for which he will always be remembered - an adaptation of Dracula starring Marlon Brando as Dracula and Martin Sheen as Jonathan Harker. (Yes, it's Apocalypse Now, complete with all the famous quotes and mishaps during filming, albeit in Romania instead of the Philippines.) The film crew is befriended by a young-looking vampire, who leaves with them when they return to America. (online (http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/coppola.htm))
"Coppola's Dracula" won the International Horror Guild Award for Best Long Fiction, and was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction.
"Andy Warhol's Dracula"
1978. New York. Johnny Pop, the young-looking vampire who came to America with Coppola's film crew, finds his place in his new homeland, on his way to becoming the next Dracula. He becomes rich (creating a drug ring that sells "drac", derived from vampire blood) and socially successful (befriending many luminaries, including Andy Warhol), but risks losing it all when the many enemies he makes along the way join forces against him.
"Who Dares Wins"
April 30 1980. The Romanian Embassy has been taken over by 'freedom fighters' who want Transylvania to become a homeland for the undead. As Special Air Service troops mass for an assault, journalist Kate Reed is invited into the embassy to meet the leader of the terrorists. (The equivalent event in recent history involved the Iranian embassy: see the Special Air Service article for more information.) (online (http://www.johnnyalucard.com/whodares.html))
"The Other Side of Midnight"
1981. Orson Welles receives funding from a mysterious source to film the ultimate version of Dracula, and hires a private detective to find out why. (The title combines those of two of Welles' movies: Chimes at Midnight and The Other Side of the Wind, the latter of which was left uncompleted at Welles' death in 1985.)
"The Other Side of Midnight" was shortlisted for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, Short Form.
"You Are the Wind Beneath My Wings"
1984. A covert mission using undead agents to unseat the Ceausescu regime in Romania.
"Concert for Transylvania"
Not yet published: due to see first publication as part of Johnny Alucard. (May be about an alternate version of Concert for Bangladesh.)
"Dead Travel Fast"
Published in the anthology Dracula in London, this story features an untold tale of Dracula's deeds during the events of the original novel. Although it is not technically an Anno-Dracula story, it occurs before the events of Anno-Dracula diverge from those in Dracula, and thus can also be considered a part of the Anno-Dracula series. In the story, Dracula visits the manufacturers of one of the earliest automobiles.
External Links
- Anno-Dracula Character Guide (http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/AnnoDracula.htm) - a complete guide to all the fictional characters appearing in the Anno-Dracula series.