Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard

Anno Dracula #4

by Kim Newman

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…

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Vampires, Fiction, Alternate History, Historical Fiction, Supernatural

509 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Note: This author also writes under the pseudonym of Jack Yeovil.
An expert on horror and sci-fi cinema (his books of film criticism include Nightmare Movies and Millennium Movies), Kim Newman's novels draw promiscuously on the tropes of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. He is complexly and irreverently referential; the Dracula sequence--Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron and Dracula,Cha Cha Cha--not only portrays an alternate world in which the Count conquers Victorian Britain for a while, is the mastermind behind Germany's air aces in World War One and survives into a jetset 1950s of paparazzi and La Dolce Vita, but does so with endless throwaway references that range from Kipling to James Bond, from Edgar Allen Poe to Patricia Highsmith.
In horror novels such as Bad Dreams and Jago, reality turns out to be endlessly subverted by the powerfully malign. His pseudonymous novels, as Jack Yeovil, play elegant games with genre cliche--perhaps the best of these is the sword-and-sorcery novel Drachenfels which takes the prescribed formulae of the games company to whose bible it was written and make them over entirely into a Kim Newman novel.
Life's Lottery, his most mainstream novel, consists of multiple choice fragments which enable readers to choose the hero's fate and take him into horror, crime and sf storylines or into mundane reality.

Reviews

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5

Well, fuck.

I was a bit reticent to start this book. The first Anno Dracula book remains one of my favorite vampire novels to date. I loved the blending of history and fiction, mingling Queen Victoria and Jack the Ripper with Dracula and Mina and Dr. Seward, etc.

I was a bit less thrilled with the next two books, but I did like the third better than the second.

So when I heard about this new release in the series - I can't really say "long awaited" 'cause I had no idea there were even plans to continue - I was excited. But when it came time to actually read it, I was worried. I really wanted to like it, but my history with Newman, aside from that first book, has never really been spectacular...

After two days of not reading, I finally bit the bullet.

And now there's a part of me which wishes I never had.

***

The book is written in parts, each part having a different character as the main point-of-view. Some of these follow Johnny directly, but many follow familiar faces from the other books (and the sort of off-shoot Diogenes books): Kate Reed, Geneviève Dieudonn , and Penelope Churchward. Each part covers a year or so span on time, with some years skipped in between, and, after the prologue, we cover from the 70s thru the 90s.

It was interesting to see the different pop cultures represented - both through their takes on Dracula (starting with a Coppola version which is based on stories of Apocalypse Now) and going through to a sort of Live Aid for vampires. And it was kind of fun to play spot the reference for awhile, as both historical and fictional figures are, again, interwoven into the story.

But the different parts were uneven. I liked the Warhol better than the Coppola part, for instance, but the Welles part started well, then dragged. Apparently, according to some stuff I've read, Newman wrote this story over a 10 year period, and several parts of it have already been released as short stories. And you can sort of tell, because it almost feels like its written by different people at times.

Ultimately, the biggest problem is I was just bored. The only attachment that I had to the three female leads is mostly due to my prior encounters with them. Johnny, himself, was an interesting mind to travel in, and Kitty/Holly was kinda cool - but when it got bogged down in references and details and historical trivia, I started losing interest.

For most of the book, though, I was gonna give it 2-stars, 'cause it was good in places and I liked the overall conceit, if not always the execution... but then that ending.

Oh my gods, that ending.

Or, rather, lack of ending.

I kept going, trudging along despite my boredom and the general tedium of it, expecting a real knock-down, drag-out, spectacular showdown - or something - but this book is so incomplete. At the end, it feels like set-up. 400-some pages of set-up with no punch.

I mean, it basically ends with Dracula coming back through Alucard, and a promise for a future battle. It's the first half of a story. Hell, maybe the first third of a story - depending on how much the next parts get strung out.

***

I still can't decide if I want to go 2-stars for the good parts, or 1-star because, ultimately, I didn't like it. I think, for now at least, I'll go 2, because there's still a part of me that thinks I might read the next book in the series - and hope it's gotten an editor. ('Cause if there wasn't just so much *stuff* - trivia and minutae and pointless detail - in this book, it still could've been pretty decent.)

I won't rush out an put a hold on it as soon as it comes out, though. I'll wait awhile and see what the reviews say - mostly because I'll want to know if it at least ends in the next book or not. That might be the deciding factor, ultimately, about whether I'll read it or not.

I guess we'll see...

[Horror DNA · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit, I had the lowest expectations for this book. I had my fill of vampires so, so long ago. Most modern vampires are neutered shadows of the creatures of the night. The best vampires come in one of two varieties: pure predatory instinct (best exemplified by Steve Niles' series 30 Days of Night, Vol. 1) or the sophisticated aristocrat with that dangerous edge (your classic Dracula). I'm happy to say Johnny Alucard was a wonderfully pleasant surprise. To put it simply: this is a remarkably well-written and well-executed novel. Though it does have its problems, they are very few.

You can read Lauren's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth Anno Dracula book, the series of alternate history books where Dracula won and there are now vampires everywhere. Except this book covers the 1980s and 1990s, which seems odd because Dracula died in 1959 didn't he?

Well yes, but here we are introduced to Johnny Alucard, son-in-darkness of Dracula and a shrewd, scary vampire. The book follows him more than other characters from the series (although Kate, Genevieve and Penny do get quite a look in) as he heads to America and changes the world.

The book uses some previously published novellas and short stories to make-up most of the novel. This is problematic, meaning it feels bitty and distracted but the way the characters and plots are tied together in the end does mean it works as a proper novel. A few of the more notable parts of the story: Francis Ford Coppola struggles to make the film of Dracula (based on real-life making of Apocalypse Now), Johnny becomes friends with Andy Warhol, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer pastiche and a Live Aid-like concert for Transylvania.

As ever, the book features many real-life and fictional characters borrowed from other works. It sticks more with the real-life here, with Coppola, Warhol and Orson Welles being key-players but countless other figures appear or are mentioned. There are less obvious fictional characters here than in other books, but Hamish Bond appears a few times and the Buffy pastiche is well done. My favorite was the appearance of Spinal Tap in the Translyvania concert.

The stuck-together nature of this book means it doesn't quite work as well a novel as the previous books do, but in terms of ideas and characters I think this is the best. I've fallen in love with this vampire-filled world over the previous three books so I will always going to like this. It has problems but I felt it was a suitable continuation of the series and I am salivating for more.

[julia ☆ [owls reads] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the novellas were fantastic, some weren't. I'm still fascinated by the alternate history and all of the real life and fictional people cameos.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This strangely disparate book is a collection of a framing story with several stand-alone pieces— which had been published at different times as short stories. Now, when all of them have been brought together in a shape of novel in the ‘Anno Dracula’ universe, the result is… peculiar.
It contains~
1. Prologue: Promises to Keep (Anno Dracula 1944);
2. Part One: Coppola’s Dracula (Anno Dracula 1976-77) [reimagining of the shooting of ‘Apocalypse Now’]— Kate;
3. Interlude: Castles In The Desert (Anno Dracula 1977)— Genevieve;
4. Part Two: Andy Warhol’s Dracula (Anno Dracula 1978-79)— Penelope;
5. Interlude: Who Dares Wins (Anno Dracula 1980)— Kate;
6. Part Three: The Other Side of Midnight (Anno Dracula 1981)— Genevieve;
7. Interlude: You Are The Wind Beneath My Wings (Anno Dracula 1986)— Penelope;
8. Part Four” ‘You’ll Never Drink Blood In This Town Again’ (Anno Dracula 1990);
9. Interlude: Miss Baltimore Crabs (Anno Dracula 1990)— Genevieve;
10. Part Five: A Concert For Transylvania (Anno Dracula 1990);
11. Interlude: Dr Pretorius and Mr Hyde (Anno Dracula 1991)— Kate;
12. Part Six: Charles’s Angels (Anno Dracula 1991)— Genevieve & Kate.
After these, we have two atrocious appendices.
It’s the framing story (ostensibly the actual subject of this so-called ‘novel’) which is the weakest and the most unappetizing link of this book. Especially, the ending is a disaster. The shorter works with Genevieve as a PI and Kate working as a Political Correspondent are much better than those endless American pop-culture references masquerading as stories.
Overall, rather disappointing, considering the explosive beginning of the series.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume of Anno Dracula is set in the 1970s through to the 1990s.

Like all of these books it jumps all over the place so you need to concentrate. Also like the other books it is chock full of pop culture references.

There are several 'WTF did I just read' moments, but, all in all, it was pretty enjoyable. You do have to have a familiarity with the Anno Dracula world though.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 on the basis of the subtle 'Christine' reference.

[Wee Lassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find this book by far the creepiest of all the Anno Dracula Series - if for no other reason then just how human and banal the evil is. Sure this is a world where Vampires are common place but don’t mistake me it’s the humans that are the actual terrifying monsters.

[F.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orson Welles, a reimagining of the making of APOCALYPSE NOW and vampires - what more can you want?

[Isidore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A splendid addition to the AD series. It's an assemblage of some previously published stories and new material, and the seams show, but these concerns are largely silenced by its many inspired moments and an unexpectedly moving finish.

Newman's level of inspiration seems to me to be higher here than in the two preceding volumes, and the darkness of his vision is closer to that of the original book than the lighter, often playful sequels. In reinventing Dracula so as to reflect our present diseased society, Newman is serious and even grim; but there is still plenty of goofy satire, and the usual fun of identifying cameos and untangling his characteristic web of allusions. There's a particularly noteworthy guest appearance by an unnamed and aging Philip Marlowe; in an oddly touching way, the spirit of the much beaten but never defeated detective underpins the book.

I don't recommend reading it without having read its predecessors, however. The brilliant way in which Newman closes the circle of narrative can only be appreciated if you've read at least the first volume.

With some reluctance, I've docked it a star for occasional narrative patchiness. But I liked it a lot.

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard" by Kim Newman [4/5]

This is the fourth book in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series. I was surprised, to say the least, to learn there are more books after the initial trilogy because I think it wrapped up quite nicely. But here we are, another book - expanding the universe.

The premise seems to be an interesting one; Johnny Alucard is one of the vampires from Dracula's bloodline and he goes to the US and from there on everything revolves more or less around his actions in the 80s. The reader gets to see familiar faces too - Penelope, Kate, and Geneviève are also POV characters but if you read this book because you love those characters I suspect you might find this a bit of a disappointing read. The focus of this novel is Johnny Alucard, not the three female vampires the reader already knows (and possibly loves). I think it works fine because the blurb does not suggest that this novel is NOT about Johnny Alucard but instead about them. Johnny Alucard begins his rise to fame - both outside vampire society and inside.

Spot the Reference

If you have ever read a book by Kim Newman, you probably know how much he likes to throw reference around. If you like to play spot and guess the reference this is totally fine (I know I do and it is one of the reasons I try to get my hands on his entire backlist). But if you don't... You probably gave up after the first book. I have to say I am not well versed regarding history of the 1980s in the US. I know of certain figures (e.g. Warhol) but I think I missed a lot of the references. Both regarding cultural and historical stuff. But it was fun nonetheless.

Being a Vampire

Johnny Alucard is an intriguing character and I think he works fine as a POV character in this book I really enjoyed it whenever he became Dracula. It is a bit difficult to connect to his point of view though. I think it might be on purpose because he is not as human as Geneviève or Kate and he is a contrast to both women when you compare their view on humanity. I think it is also interesting how he differs from the elders we see in this book. Johnny Alucard is quite unique in regards to his view on Romania and it's importance for the vampires.

Romania is also a huge aspect of this book - it is not the place most of the novel takes place (Johnny Alucard is a vampire novel about vampires in the US) but Romania is one of the aspects that drive the novel. There is this conflict in the novel that Baron Meinster wants to claim it as a country for all vampires and Johnny Alucard gets involved in this process too killing Meinster in the process and proclaiming himself Dracula. It is very interesting to see the differences and similarities between those two. Meinster behaves more like a conservative noble while Johnny seems to be the one with the revolutionary ideas, looking into the future and not the past. But both seem to share their contempt for the human race.

There is a Story and there is an End...Kind of

If you are looking forward to a real and definitive ending... you won't get one in this book. It seems much more like the beginning of a new story for Kate and Geneviève. I am a bit annoyed because of this because I know the next book in the series takes place back in the 19th century and in Japan and I have no idea when Kim Newman wants to deal with this somewhat more open ending.

The story itself presented in this novel is sometimes a bit boring, I think the book could have done with less pages. Sometimes it seems as if scenes won't come to an end. It is not as annoying as this could be because most of the characters (both fictional and based on real people) are quite interesting. I really like the chapters revolving around Orson Welles even if they dragged on a bit.

In the end this book is a 4/5 for me. I do not like it as much as I like the original trilogy but still enjoyed it a lot. I think you should not try to use this book as an entry point for the Anno Dracula universe even though it is the beginning of a new story within it because there are many references to the books before this one.

[Vakaris the Nosferatu · Rating 3 out of 5]

All Reviews in One Place: Night Mode Reading

Imagine America during the 60s to 80s – full of vampires. Andy Warhol? Vampire. Mad Men? Probably vampires. Vampires, just like the warm, feel the need and want to get famous, become movie stars, rock stars. Much like actual movie stars, famous people, rock stars – wish to become vampires. Problems are: some vampires don’t even show up on film, leaving them with such duties on set as special effects (ripping off clothing, carrying “floating” things around); while talented folk who are becoming vampires – often lose their talents. But this problem, unlike having no image on film, can be solved by faking it. There’s a new drug in town, called Drac, that gives you all the vampire traits for an hour or six. And this is how some young man named Johnny Alucard has evened out the scales among these two tribes of humans vs vampires: both parties crave each others blood. For if Drac runs out, well, some states don’t even consider vampires legally alive to be killed for blood again. In the meantime, Dracula is on everyone’s lips. Stoker’s name as pseudonime is as common as Smith. Directors are trying to overthrow each other by making better Dracula movie. Adult film industry is blooming with Dracula Rising and Dracula Sucking. Capes, castles, and intense need to tell the folk you are an indirect Dracula’s get is a must in Hollywood if you want to be a somebody.

Johnny Alucard, back then known as Ion, is the last of Dracula’s get. During war in Romania his own people, his own commando, threw him at Dracula’s feet as a tribute, as a snack, as an exchange for their own necks. Ion felt no regret over it for, in truth, the boy barely felt anything at all. This empty shell of a boy, with no fear or emotions in him, became the perfect vessel for Dracula and his final plan. For, after all, World can be taken in more than one way, and it doesn’t have to involve guns.

The book is very fine and interesting. It’s the author’s constant need to put names, backstories for the names, references, and so on, together with massive scene descriptions (which are great, don’t get me wrong, but what’s too much is too much!) – made it a chore, no longer a pleasure. I couldn’t listen to this book in audio form, for my mind would start filtering the droning that was in no way relative to the story and the next thing you know – missed a bit. So I can’t give the book more than 3 out of 5, but be assured, I shall read the fifth one in the series.

[Sean Goh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Choppier than the first three books because it skips across different time periods of Johnny Pop/Alucard's life. As such the plot was less compelling to me, feeling at times like stories written by different people. Skippable.

[Milou]

DNF at 45%

[Tom Elliot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dumb pulpy fun. Essentially half a dozen interconnected novellas in a trenchcoat. If you're not up on your vampire/hollywood miscellany, much of what is clever about it will likely go over your head (as it did mine). Narrative is fairly basic, and its structure means its pacing is all over the place, often leading to story beats that don't land as well as they should. Having said that, Genevieve and Kate are still as cool as ever, and Alucard himself is an interesting addition to the lore. I really enjoyed the Apocalypse Now/Heart of Darkness/Dracula chapter as well as the fun little short told by an unnamed Phillip Marlowe. I'd say its the one I've enjoyed the most since the first one, but certainly no masterpeice.

[Daniel Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't feel like I can say much at all about the specifics without massive spoilers, but...

The series is still fun, and there's a number of consistent elements from previous novels, i.e. a wild mish-mash of characters borrowed from history, movies and fiction, and some mini-adventures for the recurring characters from previous novels.

Some of the "guest" (borrowed) characters include Andy Warhol, Tony Manero (Saturday Night Fever), Francis Ford Coppola, and Orson Welles. There's some fun use of 1970s New York, and 1980s Hollywood as a setting.

I probably put in a previous review, but this isn't that much of an alternate history - it's just historical settings with vampires. There's not a lot of the historical "what ifs" you might get in alternate history.

Anyway, if you liked Books 1-3, you'll probably like this.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book a bit disjointed and uneven. Some parts of it were really enjoyable, but other parts dragged.

[K.A. Laity · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’ve not read the earlier entries in the Anno Dracula series, I pity you – but it’s not necessary before diving into this one. What you will need is a good knowledge of vampire films and novels, popular culture for the last several decades and a good sense of fun. I suppose as long as you have the latter the others can be acquired but you’ll miss a lot of the pleasure in this book.

Over and over you hear the same tired assertion: vampires are so over! It’s as true or as false as it ever was. The fun of Newman’s mash-ups is that they throw into sharp relief just how multifaceted the tropes of the vampire continue to be. To call these novels pastiche grossly underestimates the skill and the joy involved. To kick things off, Newman imagines Francis Ford Coppola making Dracula instead of Apocalypse Now but in that time with all those actors and with all the attendant mania surrounding that massive undertaking: Duvall’s crew charging into battle with music blasting, Martin Sheen’s obsession leading to heart attack and a massive Brando not Kurtz but a very Kurtzian Drac.

The trimulierate of women from earlier adventures return: Katie Reed, Geneviève Dieudonné and Penelope Churchward provide touchstones for the disparate threads of narrative (parts of this book were published piecemeal as shorts) which intertwine more tightly as the narrative develops. The three offer camera-eye observations of the unfolding events, coloured by their greater knowledge and long lives. The titular characters develops from a pitiable foundling to a force to be reckoned with, ingratiating himself with the cast and crew on Coppola’s epic in Romania, worming his way into Andy Warhol’s inner circle in NYC and then heading west because Hollywood beckons.

Along the way Newman weaves together his encyclopedic knowledge of both film and vampire lore, touching on just about every meme or mythos (Buffy fans may be a little irked) and weaving unexpected tropes into vamp stories that delight with their unexpectedness (two words: Top Gun). But it’s achieved with thoughtfulness: Newman makes a Chandler-esque homage lightly so and a Welles script both amusing and believable. While the references to films, books and fellow writers come thick and fast it’s always done with a point not simply gratuitously, though sometimes to the point of making you laugh out loud. There’s a moment in the NYC section where a crowd of vampire hunters gathers that edges into excess, but since one of them is Popeye Doyle, you forgive.

This book will delight film fans, vamp buffs and anyone who enjoys unraveling a clever puzzle of narrative strands and cultural references. In short, if you like to have fun, dive in.

A word about the design: Titan Books is making a deserved name for packaging and designing lovely books – just look at the gorgeousness of Dracula Cha Cha Cha. In this era of stock photo collages and the horrors of self-published tomes with no interest in cover design, this is much appreciated. Publishers, keep this in mind. A fetching cover is half the battle.

[Gareth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This instalment of Anno Dracula comes after what you might reasonably expect to be the end of it - Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha has an air of finality - but it finds reasons to go on without certain protagonists and antagonists. The titular character is a new one and we follow his evolution from a young vampiric wastrel to the scrappy inventor of vampire drug “drac” to a powerful figure in the film business. Johnny Alucard, the book but also the man I suppose, is largely concerned with Dracula and his impact on the movies, perhaps his immortality through them as well. This gives Kim Newman an excuse to really go for it in terms of intertextuality, dropping in familiar names and faces from anywhere and everywhere. Columbo is in it, along with Stephen King’s Christine, Spinal Tap and a parody (interestingly) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There are far too many pop culture oddments to list.

Where Johnny Alucard really differs is that it’s broken up into different times and places - in reality because most of it was already published as novellas. I think the central question of Alucard keeps it together, and the usual faces of Geneviéve, Kate and Penelope show up to keep it grounded. But the story inevitably has a bitty quality, and the frequent changes in setting and rebooting of style and frame of reference make it feel a bit like Anno-Dracula-shtick overkill.

I’ve seen complaints that the story, for all its mountains of matter, feels incomplete. Certainly it works towards a new status quo rather than an end, with situations open for characters to come back and have adventures again. I felt like it got where it was headed: a comment on the increased acceptance of vampirism in Newman’s universe, the way the modern world can accept and even become bored with anything. It’s a less definitive statement than Anno Dracula or Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha and much less riproaring than The Bloody Red Baron, but in tying together novellas around the idea of a vampire upstart looking to rule them all, I think it justifies another bite.

[C.J. Bunce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published October 3, 2013, at BORG.com.

Spawn of Dracula pursues the American Dream in “Johnny Alucard”

Review by C.J. Bunce

At long last, Johnny Alucard, Kim Newman’s sequel to 1992’s Anno Dracula, 1995’s The Bloody Red Baron, and 1998’s Dracula Cha Cha Cha is now available. And for fans of Newman’s richly detailed universe, the first Anno Dracula universe tale in 15 years was worth the wait. It’s a ballad of a kid born with nothing, who has a destiny, and that destiny takes him to conquer America. And it all happens in a parallel world where Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a biography of an historical figure, and humans and vampires live side-by-side in a universe similar, yet very different, from our own.

Known for its deeply layered world building occupied by well-known fictional and historical characters with jumbled realities, this latest Anno Dracula entry doesn’t let up. We at borg.com last year named the re-release of Dracula Cha Cha Cha the best read of 2012. That novel followed Newman’s four protagonists as their stories collided with the death of Dracula in the 1950s. Three women vampires are at the heart of the Anno Dracula universe: Geneviève Dieudonné, a centuries-old French vampire who watched and participated in key historic events in this timeline; Kate Reed–the most accessible of the three–a plucky Irish journalist who carries the reader through many events in Newman’s stories; and Penelope (“Penny”) Churchward, the third wheel who never quite becomes friends with the other “Charles’s Angels”. The Charles is Charles Beauregard, a British spy all three women had relationships with over the years, and who died in Dracula Cha Cha Cha, around the time of the death of Dracula himself.

This latest installment of Newman’s series picks up with the tale of an up-and-coming vampire legend. Born Ion Popescu, Johnny Alucard was “turned” at the age of 13 in 1944. But the story begins in 1976 when he ends up as a gofer under Francis Ford Coppola as he is agonizing over the production of, not Apocalypse Now, but his own Dracula film. Geneviève, Kate, and Penny are back, and they have key roles in Ion’s story as he transforms himself into “Johnny Pop” and ultimately the wealthy Johnny Alucard, elevating himself higher than anyone thought possible.

The name Johnny creates its own aura without knowing anything else about the character–it could be an image of Matt Dillon as the bad boy greaser in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders, or maybe a free-wheeling 1950s surfer kid, or the pretty boy in Anytown, U.S.A. that all the girls fall for. Alucard, as you catch right away or learn from characters in the novel, is Dracula backwards. It has is own mystique, rolling off the tongue like a la carte–giving it a sort of European feel.

Ion is a true golden boy. He wasn’t just turned by any other vampire. He was turned by Dracula himself. And something of Dracula stayed with him, charisma, influence, power, the ability to win over anyone and everyone. When war breaks out on the Transylvania set of Coppola’s production, Ion makes his way to America, where he enters the nightlife world of New York City like Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy or Richard Gere in American Gigolo–complete with the style and clothes and image. He is a ladies’ man strutting to the disco beat of the Bee Gees. He has absorbed the dance moves of John Travolta’s Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever (leaving the poor Brooklyn kid a shell of himself). Ion–Johnny Alucard–has arrived, and he is 1978 personified.

During his stay in New York City he befriends vampire Andy Warhol and becomes a haunt at Steve Rubell’s Studio 54. Johnny and Warhol hang out the sun roof as they drive the streets of New York City, playing chicken with the dawn. Johnny encounters Sid and Nancy–punk sucks, disco is cool. The French Connection’s Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) is even there– instead of taking to drugs to fight crime he becomes a dhampir–a not fully turned vampire–to catch vampires in Newman’s world. Johnny figures out a creepy way to produce a new drug called drac, which becomes the trendy addiction of the 1980s, prompting a certain first lady to launch a very appropriately titled “Just say yuck” campaign to fight it.

Circumstances bring Johnny to Hollywood, where he decides he can get the most money–the only thing he cares about–by making movies. Along the way we meet The Dude–yes, Jeff Bridges’ “The Dude.” Even a certain vampire slayer and her librarian mentor enter the picture, and we get to see that librarian character fully realized like never before in Joss Whedon’s vampire universe. Johnny ends up financing Orson Welles’ own new biopic of Dracula, which brings Geneviève into the mix. Geneviève’s been passed a torch of sorts in detective skills from a dying Philip Marlowe in an excellent film noir segment of the story. She’s charged with learning what all is behind this new up-and-comer.

As much as a Dracula tale, Newman tells a story about the business and relationships of Hollywood. Newman cuts into the scripts of Coppola and Welles’s Dracula films to make the novel feel cinematic. Part of the novel even plays like the John Malkovich/Willem Dafoe “making of Nosferatu” film Shadow of the Vampire.

One funny–and over-the-top–sequence finds Geneviève at the set of what amounts to a drac-sploitation version of a porn film shoot made by a wannabe director of mainstream films earning his living within the seedier side of Hollywood. Another scene finds Johnny acquiring a shape-shifting vampire named Holly when he stumbles into a hold-up by Bonnie & Clyde at a video store run by a typical, quirky Quentin Tarentino as Quentin Tarentino (he thanks Johnny for saving the day by giving him free rentals for life).

With the non-stop name dropping and celebrity and 1970s and 1980s references, pop culture hounds and trivia aficionados should consider Johnny Alucard a must read.

Most satisfying are Newman’s many scenes where he artfully–and sometimes just barely–drops references to celebrities or events without actually naming them. The lightbulb that goes off as you pick these off one by one is very rewarding. As with Dracula Cha Cha Cha, Johnny Alucard plays out like its own movie–a blood-soaked horror flick to be sure–but more than that, with plenty of satire and commentary on society.

Johnny Alucard is available in bookstores everywhere.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did still enjoy this but it was a little disjointed compared to the smooth writing of the previous novels. I'm not sure if this is due to the time gap between this and the previous one in the series or whether this is because Newman has incorporated previously written novellas from the previous novels into this one. It does come together in the end though, in a rather pleasing and entertaining climax that leaves the series open for more novels to come. This jumps from the end of Dracula Cha Cha Cha to the eighties and nighties, where Dracula is dead but not gone as a young vampire takes on his persona and his quest of dominantion across the Atlantic to New York and L.A., where the film industry provides the perfect springboard. Once again there is plenty of references to the real world that makes this work all the more familiar and all the more real, although this did feel a little overdone in places (although that could just be my own aversion to celebratey). Overall this is a good entertaining read but not quite up to Newman's usual five star standards.

[Baal Of · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gives impression of having been short stories, re-edited in to a novel, and thus it was a mixed bag. I still enjoyed it, but maybe not as much as the other books in the series. I found the movie-making sections particularly interesting. The idea of Dracula being re-incarnated in another vampire was also intriguing. There were some elements of the story that seemed to be glossed over, such as how Kate escaped from the Romanian jail. To be fair, it was implied that she scratched her way out through the old mortar, but it seemed abrupt, the way she was suddenly back in the story later, with no real explanation. I'm still not sure how much I liked the Buffy parody, but it at least made me smirk for a second.
Overall, this series was great, and I'm glad the I've joined The Nightmare Factory horror book club, because it has introduced to me this, and a bunch of other enjoyable books.

[Tasula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved the first 3 books in the alternate history Anno Dracula series, and I liked this one too, but not as much because it was heavily laced with movie and music celebrities and facts (plus political figures- and I am not a movie aficionado, and not interested in politics. Francis Coppola, Pres. Bush, Andy Warhol, Martin Sheen, Marlon Brandon, Orson Welles, Nicolae Ceaușescu, Harvey Keitel and many many other prominent politicians, actors, singers, artists from the 1940's to late 1990's share the stage with the latest incarnation of Dracula and the three key female vampires from the previous novels (Katie Reed, Geneviève Dieudonné and Penelope Churchward). For movie buffs, this book should be especial fun.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed the previous Anno Dracula (Draculae?) books, but this one just seemed a little... less than. I think part of it is due to it being mostly composed of short stories, but it seemed more like a way for Newman to play around with references instead of give us a full plot. I love seeing Gené and Kate—and honestly Penny!—again, but it made me long for the days of the previous books, where I felt higher stakes, and there were characters I cared about. Johnny himself is just... dull, and I couldn't really care about his main goals—and so ultimately this fell flat because of that. There were definitely some bright spots, so it'll be three stars.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kim Newman's latest ANNO DRACULA book brings the alternative vampiric timeline up to the early 90's, which follows vampirism to America and the rise of a 'new' Dracula - and also more of Newman's satiric 'bounce' off of other cultural touchstones, such as "Francis Ford Coppola's DRACULA", "Andy Warhol's DRACULA" (with appearances by Sid & Nancy and Travis Bickle), THE ROCKFORD FILES, WHO DARES WINS, Live Aid, amongst others.

[Antonio Fanelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pessimo, sotto ogni punto di vista.
Storia poco interessante, troppo frammentata, con personaggi buttati lì a manciate senza alcuno spessore.
Le due protagoniste sono le uniche multidimensionali, la terza purtroppo è tornata tappezzeria.
Alucard è improponibile.
L'intera storia non sta in piedi, non prende, non appassiona.
Peccato.

[David]

Johnny Alucard opens with a prologue in 1944 when Dracula visits his native Transylvania and turns a young man named Ion Popescu into a vampire. We then jump ahead thirty-two years to 1976. Francis Ford Coppola is in Transylvania filming his version of Dracula. This isn’t an alternate version of the one we know from 1992. Instead Coppola is creating this world’s version of Apocalypse Now with Marlon Brando as Dracula and Martin Sheen as Jonathan Harker. Katherine Reed is on hand to document the filming and serve as a consultant. Also on hand is the vampire Ion Popescu with Dracula’s blood in his veins and Dracula’s will in his consciousness. Ion is captivated by the production and over the course of this first part begins his transformation into John Popp who follows the film crew back to New York.

We then take a brief interlude into 1977 and find Geneviève in Southern California. She helps a man track down his daughter who has been taken in by a cult out in the desert. I enjoyed the cameo at a diner by a trucker known as the Duck. Through her long history, Geneviève has helped people by working as a doctor, but this episode gives her a taste for working as a private detective.

Our episodic novel next continues John Popp’s journey in America where he winds his way into Andy Warhol’s inner circle. Also in Warhol’s orbit is Penelope Churchward. Through the series, we have learned that a little vampire blood can give humans a boost of strength and stamina. It can help heal them and make them feel very good. Popp realizes that in America, people will pay for this rush and begins selling his blood like a drug. As vampire blood hits the streets and becomes increasingly addictive and expensive, Popp encourages other vampires to get in on the action. Ultimately he stops sharing his own blood and becomes something of a kingpin in the world of vampire blood dealing. Through his association with Warhol, Johnny Popp learns there’s an even better way to wend his way into the hearts and souls of Americans and that’s through Hollywood.

In 1981, Orson Welles hires private detective Geneviève Dieudonné to find out who is funding his version of the Dracula story. During this episode she gets involved with Columbo and even Buffy, or rather Barbie, the vampire slayer.

The novel continues to trace Popp’s transformation from Transylvanian peasant Ion Popescu to Hollywood mogul Johnny Alucard. Meanwhile Dracula’s influence over him continues to increase. In both the Universal and Hammer films, Dracula was often killed at the end and the screenwriters found inventive ways to bring him back for the next film. This book effectively becomes Kim Newman’s story of how Dracula can come back after he’d been killed off in the previous version. Unlike other volumes in the series, this one took me through a tour of the pop culture I actually experienced first hand. I gather the sections of the novel originally appeared as short stories and novellas. This might put some readers off, but I enjoyed this journey through the years and through multiple points of view. Overall, threads from the different eras come together at the end of the novel to deliver a satisfying conclusion.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Johnny Alucard, Book 4 of the Anno Dracula series, is not something that I ever expected to see, but I’m very glad I did.

For Book 3, (Dracula Cha Cha Cha) published in 1998, seemed to draw things to a definite close – Vlad Tepes, Count Dracula of the Undead, was beheaded, his ashes spread into flowing water and gone, an ending which would normally pretty much decide a villain’s fate.

And yet, like the best of the undead, fifteen years after the last novel (Dracula Cha Cha Cha) we’re back to Kim’s world, an alternate reality where for decades vampires (‘the undead’) live alongside the living, using the ‘warm bloods’ as a source of food, as an entertainment, as a plaything.

For those who don’t know, the series shows an alternative history that reflects how culture deals with the consequences of this, from the 1880’s to the First World War and the 1920’s, and with Cha Cha Cha the 1950’s and 60’s. With Johnny Alucard, subtitled ‘Anno Dracula 1976-1991’, we’re probably in our last book of the 20th century.

Johnny Alucard begins in Transylvania in 1976 where one of our heroines of the series, vampire Kate Reed, is a consultant on the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s troubled production of Dracula. Facing appalling conditions, local difficulties and production issues, Kate and Coppola return to Hollywood to begin again, but bringing with them a young vampire outcast, Ion Popescu, who Coppola employed as a member of the film crew in Transylvania.

Now renamed Johnny Pop, the young man settles into the Hollywood lifestyle of girls, drink and drugs, making 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…

In terms of structure, Johnny Alucard is similar to the other books in the series in that there are six main stories in the novel, separated by five ‘Interludes’. Some of these have been published before as novellas. As ever with these Titan Books publications, there is supplementary material at the back. This time there are two appendices: Destroying Drella, which purports to be an essay by Kathleen Conklin about Andy Warhol’s fascination with vampyrism, and Welles’ Lost Draculas, an article by ‘Jonathan Gates’ summarising the many attempts of Orson Welles to complete his film version of Stoker’s tale. Both of these add detail to some of the events in the main body of the novel and are interesting additions to the novel.

Kim once again uses his encyclopaedic knowledge of film and movie making here to create an exciting tale that highlights the hedonistic lifestyle of Hollywood in the 1970’s, but with – erm, added bite. As usual, there’s a brain-straining list of homages and references for anyone who wants to know nicely listed at the back, but the tale is entertaining enough to work without them. Our heroines of earlier Anno Dracula novels, Kate Reed, Penelope Churchward and Genevieve Dieudonne, are intertwined throughout to create both continuity and a point from which all these events can be observed.

There’s some nice little ‘other’ touches, as well. Some of the short chapters in the first part of the novel are Coppola’s Dracula script as if written by John Milius, which are a delight – think Conan as Dracula, with some very cheesy (and yet rather appropriate) dialogue. Similarly there’s a knowing wink with extracts from two versions of an Orson Welles Dracula, first in 1939/40 (where it echoes Citizen Kane) to a jazzier version in the 1980’s. Welles himself goes from portraying Dracula to Van Helsing between the two versions.

Because we’re now ever closer to the present day, part of the fun is reading how Kim merges real people with his fantasy world. There are mentions of so many still-known names and cultural reference points, from Andy Warhol, and John Lennon to Orson Welles and Stephen Spielberg, from Colombo to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, that much of the book is enjoyed by just seeing who or what appears next. This is apparent from the start. One of my most enjoyable parts is at the beginning when Kim mixes some of the apparently real (and often quite jaw-dropping) stories associated with the filming of Coppola’s Apocalypse Now with his alternate version of Dracula – Martin Sheen’s heart attack whilst filming, Robert Duvall’s famous line from Apocalypse Now re-written about vampires.

The story then becomes something else when our characters reach America. Most of the books this far have concentrated on vampires in Britain and Europe, but here Kim lets them loose in the USA. We have a tale of drugs (here called ‘drac’), vampires and Andy Warhol, fused with an energy and seedy excitement often associated with those cocaine-filled days of the 1970’s and 80’s but with a Horror twist, and some provocative social commentary:

“In the months he had been in New York, Johnny had learned that being an American was just like being a vampire, to feed off the dead and go on and on, making a virtue of unoriginality, waxing a corpse-face to beauty. In a country of surfaces, no one cared about the rot that lay beneath the smile, the shine and the dollar.”

The latter parts of the novel show Johnny’s evolution into Johnny Alucard (and if you haven’t realised by now, read that surname back in reverse order) – the age of the vampire as King of America, Anni Draculae.

Getting there we encounter a variety of stories, with a great wry sense of humour (Debbie does Dracula, anyone?) Many of the tales are about drugs and film making, a process not always mutually exclusive. In the 1980’s Orson Welles is funded to create the ultimate Dracula picture, better than the Coppola version mentioned earlier, only to find that, once again, fate determines things otherwise. Penelope Churchward shows us a top-secret American vampire-soldier project, Kate Reed finds herself the target of a vampire assassination group.

In its latter stages, Johnny Alucard becomes a tale more about the decline of Hollywood, the business it has become and the lifestyle it promotes, a sad reflection of the filmic glory it once had. By the 1990’s the film industry is a place of defeated dreams rather than celluloid celebration. I can’t help but feel that this is a reflection of Kim’s personal view, although it is always dangerous to feel that you have determined the personal views of a writer when reading their work. The ending brings the disparate stories together and ties things up fairly well.

In terms of writing, there’s a fifteen year gap between Cha Cha Cha and Alucard. Kim has been rather busy – reviewer for Empire Magazine and author of many other non-fiction and fiction novels, he’s not let the grass grow under his feet. What this time has also done is allow the writer to develop his craft, and the technical skill and ambition of Johnny Alucard shows that evolution clearly. This is a denser, much more complex and nuanced book in the Anno Dracula series, which shows an intelligence, an intensity, a knowing wink in a novel designed to homage as well as entertain that many other similar books lack.

Johnny Alucard is an interesting and entertaining addition to the Anno Dracula series. I think it will be best appreciated if you have read the earlier novels, but it is not essential, for its well-referenced irreverency, meticulous cultural referencing and satirical commentary make this an accessible and worthwhile read. Despite being a book I never thought would be assembled, I’m very pleased I got the chance to read it. A great Halloween read.

[Robin Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have thoroughly enjoyed all the Anno Dracula books I've read to date, and I enjoyed this one too, but I did find the story quite fragmented. The way real people and real characters from popular media 'pop' up in these books is great fun and - arguably - the time period of this fourth entry in the series provides the most fertile ground from which to harvest those references. There are far too many even to reel off a woefully inadequate selection but - as a devotee of the detective genre - I took particular satisfaction from the mention of Jim Rockford and Beth Davenport! Wonderful stuff.

Another strong recommendation for this book (which caused me in fact to go back and add a star to my rating of 3 just while writing this review) is the author's basing of events around the movie industry. In addition to there being sound narrative reasons for doing so, it also heightens the reading experience significantly, I think, to finally see Newman set himself loose on 'home turf', namely talking about cinema. In this respect in particular the book provides wonderful detail, both real and imagined.

The story's episodic nature does give this the strong feeling of a collection of stories rather than a novel, but it's no less compelling a read (or listen), if perhaps not quite as satisfying in its overall arc. Still, this only compels me to continue with the series, and to look forward to what the author does with the awful 80s, and the nasty 90s, and the Noughties weren't great, and where do we start with the Teenies?

p.s. How can you have Gene Hackman and Popeye Doyle appear as characters in the same story?

[Zach Laengert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is the lowest point in the series for me, but hot damn is it still pretty fun. Incredibly cool to see Johnny's plan play out - though had this been planned as a novel (rather than a collection of short stories) from the beginning, I would have liked to get more insight into the process that culminates at the Concert.

The endless crossovers and cameos are great of course! Does get a little exhausting to have a ton of 70s-90s LA included in addition to [every vampire in fiction] but Newman gets it done. Kind of funny that Vito Corleone seems to show up in the previous novel and be discussed as a character created by Coppola in this one.

Again, the nature of short stories is that they let you explore strange corners of the world in a way that doesn't necessarily mesh well into a novel, and so a) it's tough to get a handle on this as a single story and b) there are sections that feel completely irrelevant overall.

I... guess Newman loves the hell out of 'Badlands' (1973)? Had never heard of the movie and so it was strange to see Kit and Holly take up so much page time - especially watching Holly become arguably one of the most powerful vampires in the series - but I liked their arc well enough in the end.

Also, I still just feel strange about Kate and Gené being the only protagonists in this entire series post-Charles? They're fine, but idk, you'd think there would be some other decent people in the world.

[Bill Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 *s is too limiting. While the 1st Anno Dracula remains the best, I'd have given the next 3, including this, 9/10, so I refuse to give them 4. I'd actually thought this was a collection of the uncollected novellas and short stories before I got it, and was a bit disappointed that it turned out to be a novel. Fortunately (alas, there is no index), it turned out to be a fix-up of most (not quite all) of the shorter material with some added framing chapters. I had previously read Andy Warhol's Dracula when PS published it as one of their 1st releases in 1999, but I was too lazy to get it out and see what (if anything) had been changed for this edition. So, I was in the end glad that the book includes most of the titles I'd seen on isfdb but never read. Newman still has it in spades. There are still plots and characters and throw-away references that would put the most devout fan of Wold Newton to shame, several from earlier books, but to mention any would constitute a kind of spoiler. Given the time frame, you can probably guess what many of them are. I know a lot went over my head and Googling unfamiliar names invariably turned up some reference, real or literary. There are set pieces which are thrilling and at the same time hysterical. Newman's own characters remain fascinating. On to One Thousand Monsters