Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard
Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard book cover

Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard

Paperback – September 16, 2014

Price
$14.95
Format
Paperback
Pages
480
Publisher
Titan Books
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1781164228
Dimensions
5.19 x 1.43 x 8.02 inches
Weight
1.02 pounds

Description

"Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard is a rollicking ride through the pop culture of 1976-1991, as Kim Newman cleverly twists and turns the events of those fifteen years to fit his vampiric narrative." -xa0Criminal Elementxa0 "I highly suggest picking up this book. 9/10" - Horror News Network "Axa0dream come true for long-time fans of the Anno Dracula series" - Open Letters Monthlyxa0 "This is yet another must read book from an accomplished author, don’t let it pass you by." - Pop Cultsxa0 "Recommended for literate horror fans who wants something cleverer than the latest True Blood or Twilight book. Great fun and definitely recommended."xa0- SciFi Movie Page "I entered a world which totally engulfed me."xa0- Horror-Movies.caxa0 "A rollicking ride through the pop culture of 1976-1991, as Kim Newman cleverly twists and turns the events of those fifteen years to fit his vampiric narrative."xa0-xa0Criminal Element "This book will delight fans of the series and bring in new fans as well, it’s a fun and easy read put together beautifully by Titan Books."xa0- City of Filmsxa0 "The sheer imagination, dark humor and masterful use of xa0vampire lore makes Johnny Alucard another triumph for Newman and should make the book top-of-shelf xa0for vampire lovers everywhere." - The Vampire Source Review "An interesting and relevant vampire story. Newman’s nuanced portrayal of vampires is incredibly refreshing." - Paper Droidsxa0 "Both gripping and horrific… and also slightly hilarious." - Comic Book Resources "Newman has crafted a remarkably entertaining story and found a way to breathe new life in the tired old vampire tropes. I particularly love the final scene, which I found to be rather beautiful and a perfect way to end this story. This book is one I highly recommend looking up, whether or not you're a fan of Nosferatu." - Horror Talk "This book was addicting, fun, intelligent, and exciting." - Nerd Span "xa0Tough and tender, funny and frightening, intellectual and poppy, Johnny Alucard is one vampire book that’s likely to put many others in its black and red-cloaked shade." - Adventures in SciFi Publishing "I would recommend Johnny Alucard for both it’s historical and entertainment value" - Atomic Moo "Newman is having a blast." - Den of Geekxa0 "stands above the rest of most of the vampire literature out on the shelves right now and for recent years." - Aint It Coolxa0 "The sheer quality of Kim Newman’s writing remains unchanged" - One Metal Kim Newman is the critically acclaimed author of the Anno Dracula series. He has won the Bram Stoker, International Horror Guild, British Fantasy and British Science Fiction Awards and been nominated for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.

Features & Highlights

  • Transylvania 1976 and the vampire Kate Reed is on the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s troubled production of
  • Dracula
  • . Fallen from grace and driven from the British Empire, the Count himself seems long gone. A relic of the past. But when Kate helps a young vampire outcast begin a new life in America, a fresh monster is born. He reinvents himself as Johnny Pop and makes his name selling a dangerously addictive drug that confers vampire powers on its users. As Johnny stalks the streets of Manhattan and Hollywood, sinking his fangs ever deeper into the zeitgeist of 1980s America, it seems the past might not be dead after all…

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(112)
★★★★
25%
(94)
★★★
15%
(56)
★★
7%
(26)
23%
(86)

Most Helpful Reviews

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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]
1 people found this helpful
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PREPOSTEROUS!

Bram Stoker is rolling in his grave!
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Five Stars

good
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Five Stars

i love it
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The second best in the 'Anno Dracula' series

I was a big fan of the initial "Anno Dracula" tome, but the sequels -- "The Bloody Red Baron" and "Judgment of Tears" (aka "Dracula Cha Cha Cha") failed to impress me. I can't really recall the plots too clearly, except that Dracula finally dies pretty much from boredom or because his plans failed. Maybe the time frame of the books did not interest me either, or maybe sequels weren't necessary. "Johnny Alucard" seemed more promising, with allusions to Hammer Horror, Coppola and Marlowe (both Conrad's and Chandler's). And I enjoyed it for the most part, except for the title character. I found his arc, his indestructibility and his transformation into the new Dracula uninteresting. The background and supporting characters were of interest however, and I will probably pick up the eventual sequel.
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Terrific read

Great new take on vampires, enjoy the humor, the normalcy of vampires living with the warm....