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.

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.

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 Dra...

1.5Well, 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...

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 cha...

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 diseas...

All Reviews in One Place: Night Mode ReadingImagine 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 aro...

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 Ch...

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 t...

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 remarkab...

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.

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

"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 acti

Originally published October 3, 2013, at BORG.com.Spawn of Dracula pursues the American Dream in “Johnny Alucard”Review by C.J. BunceAt 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 conq...

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,...

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...

I'm a little upset - it started strange, then it got really fun, but then it somehow managed to fizzle out, even with the 'main action' being quite clever. Perhaps it was since I jumped into this without knowing anything (or even knowing it was part of a series), but I don't think the lengthy, list-like way of prose makes it easy to read (sometimes it's fine, but sometimes it felt like reading a Wikipedia list on 'insert topic here' (not even the actual articles, just the lists)). The concept is...

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...

I took a few years break from Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula universe. Of the, admittedly few, crossover fiction books I have read, AD is my favorite playground. Kim Newman’s cornucopia of vampire films and pop culture is a roller coaster ride. Some readers will find it an eye rolling exercise to hunt for Easter Eggs ranging from Buffy the Vampire Slayer homages to the history of Andy Warhol, but some like myself will thrill for it. This, the fourth book, is more a collection of connected novellas an...

Enjoyed it, but, like Angels of Music, this Newman novel is a series of strung-together short stories and novellas (some previously published) - although I felt this technique seemed less disjointed in AD:JA than in it did in AoM. A decent addition to the Anno Dracula universe, but I'd like to see Newman do a straightforward novel again, like Anno Dracula, Bloody Red Baron or Anno Dracula 1959. Excellent homages to all sorts of literary, cinematic and historical figures, although in parts it he