Not for the faint of heart! Award-winning artist Gary Blythe brilliantly captures the eerie mood of Bram Stoker's uneasy tale, expertly edited for today's reader.
Can there be a more terrifying tale than this? The story of the notorious vampire Count Dracula, lord of the undead, who rises from his coffin at night to suck the blood of the living is, undoubtedly, the stuff of nightmares. A lunatic asylum, a bleak Transylvanian castle, an ancient cemetary . . . these are the dark backgrounds to the even darker deeds portrayed in this most bloodcurdling of tales.
Narrated from several viewpoints, DRACULA is a complex story that many know, but few have actually read. Jan Needle's newly edited version makes the gripping events accessible to the twenty-first reader without losing the incomparably chilling atmosphere of Bram Stoker's original novel.
Grade 7 Up?A naive young Englishman travels to Transylvania to do business with a client, Count Dracula. After showing his true and terrifying colors, Dracula boards a ship for England in search of new, fresh blood. Unexplained disasters begin to occur in the streets of London before the mystery and the evil doer are finally put to rest. Told in a series of news reports from eyewitness observers to writers of personal diaries, this has a ring of believability that counterbalances nicely with Dracula's too-macabre-to-be-true exploits. An array of voices from talented actors makes for interesting variety. The generous use of sound effects, from train whistles to creaking doors, adds further atmosphere. Lovers of mysteries and horror will find rousing entertainment in this version of a classic tale.?Carol Katz, Harrison Public Library, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The Dover volume collects 14 of Stoker's lesser-known horror stories such as "The Crystal Cup," "The Burial of the Rats," and "A Gipsey Prophecy." Though most of his other fiction has been overshadowed by Dracula, these offer some real chills and warrant reading. While editions of Dracula, which celebrated its centennial in 1997, are legion, Broadview's offers several extras, including a chronology of Stoker's life and appendixes on Transylvania, London, Mental Physiology, Reviews and Interviews, and more. That along with the full text make this one of the best editions available, especially at this remarkable price.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.