Books to bite into
Several new books have come to my attention over the past few weeks.
First of all, right now I am reading Mortal Touch by Inanna Arthen (By Light Unseen Media, 2007). So far, I am enjoying it. It’s a vampire novel set in a small new England town, but this is not Salem’s Lot. It’s very well written, with what is shaping up to be a believable plot.
Another novel worth checking out is The Stoker File by Tony Noto (PublishAmerica, 2007). Here we have an alternative history behind the creation of the novel Dracula. Fans of Stoker’s novel are likely to enjoy it.
Here is an ambitious project - James Malcolm Rymer’s Varney the Vampire; or, The Feast of Blood. Introduction & Notes by Curt Herr (Crestline, CA: Zittaw Press, 2007). This new edition of Varney the Vampire is presented to us in readable text. Annotated with a reader’s guide, it provides contextual essays on the Penny Dreadful as well as the novel itself.
Finally, we have yet another edition of Stoker’s Dracula edited by Richard Appelbaum (New York: Pearson Longman, 2008). But this is one with a difference. It includes pedagogical tools useful for both teachers and students working with the text.