112 years later, an “official” Dracula sequel

A descendant of Irish novelist Bram Stoker has this month published what he claims is the first authorised sequel to Stoker’s 1897 classic horror story Dracula.

The book is dubbed Dracula: The Un-Dead (which was Bram Stoker’s first title for the original Dracula novel) and is being published by Stoker’s great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker and Dracula historian Ian Holt, who is also a screenwriter. It’s already out in the UK, and will hit the US and Australia in October.

According to the book’s website, it’s is the first story in the Dracula universe to win official support from the Stoker family since the 1931 Bela Lugosi film, and the book has been written based on Bram Stoker’s own handwritten notes for characters, and “plot threads excised from the original edition”. The book’s website states:

“Dracula: The Un-Dead begins in 1912, twenty-five years after Dracula “crumbled into dust.” Van Helsing’s protégé, Dr. Jack Seward, is now a disgraced morphine addict obsessed with stamping out evil across Europe. Meanwhile, an unknowing Quincey Harker, the grown son of Jonathan and Mina, leaves law school for the London stage, only to stumble upon the troubled production of “Dracula,” directed and produced by Bram Stoker himself.

The play plunges Quincey into the world of his parents’ terrible secrets, but before he can confront them he experiences evil in a way he had never imagined.  One by one, the band of heroes that defeated Dracula a quarter-century ago is being hunted down.  Could it be that Dracula somehow survived their attack and is seeking revenge? Or is their another force at work whose relentless purpose is to destroy anything and anyone associated with Dracula?”

The book has already won some positive reviews. Publisher’s Weekly wrote in late August that it was “energetically paced and packed with outrageously entertaining action”. And Alternative Worlds writes:

The clever story line is fast-paced while introducing the audience to the survivors of the previous horrific encounter to include Bram Stoker … Filled with terrific twists fans of Dracula and those who appreciate a strong historical urban fantasy will relish the THE UN-DEAD.

Dacre Stoker has a Twitter account here.

Commentary
Give me strength. Is there a relative of any famous writer anywhere who doesn’t feel the need to write a sequel to their deceased uncle/aunt/cousin/great grandfather/son’s work?

We’ve already got sequels and follow-up books from descendants of Frank Herbert, J. R. R. Tolkien and more. The estate of Kurt Vonnegut is publishing “un-published” short stories by the author. And now we have an “official” sequel to Dracula, which was published more than a hundred years ago.

What’s next? “The official sequel to Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers: penned by his late cousin’s fourth grandchild’s second wife?”

Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt

The website of Dracula: The Un-Dead pompously states: “At last—the sequel to Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula”.

Well I’ve got a message to pass on to Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt: You can’t possibly describe this book as a canonised sequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Firstly, the book was published more than 100 years ago. There are no fans of the original book still waiting around for a sequel.

Secondly, you can’t know what Bram Stoker himself would have thought of this project. And, forgive me for my opinion, but it’s really only the original author that can bestow officialdom on sequels. Or maybe their spouse. But certainly not their great-grandnephew.

Now I will acknowledge that some sequels to deceased authors’ work have merit. For example, the books published by Christopher Tolkien following his father’s death have been praised, and there is the fact that Robert Jordan’s estate had the support of the author to arrange for his Wheel of Time series to be finished, following his death.

But that doesn’t change the fact that all, and I repeat all, such initiatives have a slight smell of cash-grab about them.

There was nothing to stop Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt from writing a book set in the Dracula universe, after all. The copyright on the original book has expired, and anybody is free to write a book using those characters and universe.

The attempt to badge this as an “official” sequel is a transparent attempt to grab hold of the fame of Bram Stoker’s original masterpiece and re-direct it to this new book, in my opinion.

There is no doubt that this book could be awesome on its own merits, and it should be reviewed as such. Maybe it will go on to achieve great fame on its own merits. But I believe its authors have already cheapened its image by marketing it the way they have.

And the last word? Maybe there’s a reason Bram Stoker excised certain plot elements from his original book. Maybe he didn’t want them published.