This is a most extraordinary book written by one of the present masters among the practitioners of gothic & classic tales. The book is purportedly the memoirs of Dr. Martin Bellorius (1553-1635). It is preceded by a prologue (which is a slightly modified version of Reggie Oliver's "The Devil's Number") as well as an introduction from Dr. Abraham Van Helsing himself, eventually describing the strange, terrible, beautiful and often tragic chain of events that had introduced Bellorius to Vladimir,

Easily the most impressive book I've read so far this year, and the most enjoyable book I've read for a long time. It is a retelling of the origins of Dracula, and is set in the 16th century. This is the first of four planned books telling the story. It is exquisitely crafted. Each chapter is like a jewel on its own, and together they build to something very special. The storytelling is sublime, the imagination of the writer superb, and the variety of places and characters encountered, both in C...

To begin with, I must confess I've never read the original Dracula by Bram Stoker. I did see the movie with Keanu Reeves and Gary Oldman, but that is generally the extent of my familiarity with Dracula. Vampires are less of an unknown quantity thanks to Buffy and Angel, but still, I'm hardly an expert. So when I was approached to review The Dracula Papers I was intrigued. Especially since the story seemed to have a bit of a historical fiction flavour.Don't be mistaken though, this is not an hist...

My Reading voyage of this book.3/26/2014 - Being currently without an active book in my reading process, and yet knowing that this is the Horror Group read for April, I will damn the torpedoes and begin the book tonight anyway as sort of a carrot. I first considered reading Stokers "Dracula" because it has been about fifteen or twenty years since I read that particular book. I remember "Dracula" with great fondness as it scared the shit out of me. The movies never did that, they only entertained...

Not worth it.don't bother, or waste your time. this was not even close to what I expected. certain things added into this book didn't even belong. I don't even give it a star. A waste of money.

This book was less of a horror story and more of an adventure/fantasy. A bit different than Reggie Oliver's normal fare. Smartly told, vividly written, this was a fast paced book, epic in scope. Monsters, magic, tales of ribaldry and lots of blood. Had a lot of fun reading this. Will there be a Book 2?

Michael W. Thomas, review of Reggie Oliver, The Dracula Papers, Book 1: the Scholar’s Tale. The Chomu Press: chomupress.com, 2011. E-mail: [email protected] 978-1-907681-02-8. Paperback, 470pp. No price.Tricky matters, they are: sequels, prequels, pastiches, hommages. Essentially, they depend upon two factors: that the original narrative is engaging and robust enough to withstand such re-visiting; and that the re-visitor is skilled enough to convince the reader that the enterprise was wort...

This is a fascinating book written, Reggie claims, from old discovered manuscripts, one of which by Abraham Van Helsing. This book exposes how Dracula and Van Helsing were (are?) real, and, in the foreward, Van Helsing claims this book will drive you insane if read merely for entertaiment. The author of most of the book, the one who'd been followed and tormented by Dracula, said it should be burned. This is the first part of the tetraptych, and I can't wait to read the other three.

I enjoyed the short supernatural fiction of Reggie Oliver--I consider Reggie Oliver a major voice in our new Golden Age of the weird tale--so I decided to give his novel a go.This might be the first novel I've read in two years. In the past two years, I've mainly been reading either short fiction, or non fiction. Around two years ago I read a novel which suffered from padding and I am still somewhat wary about big, fat novels. _The Dracula Papers_, though, is a normal size novel. This novel is s...

Great gothic prequel-of-sorts to Stoker's "Dracula", set in the 16th century, mostly in Transylvania. Hits all the right notes--frame stories, secret passages, pirates/bandits, and madness. (Oliver references "The Monk" several times, if I'm not mistaken.) I particularly liked the pedantic narrator, who does not seem to recognize his own bravery.

Full of imaginative contraptions, wild scatological and eschatological conceits and the hurly-burly of visionary fiction-on-the-hoof (controlled and uncontrolled at times, if not controlled all the time to seem that way) – this is as I earlier anticipated: a genuine popular and literary classic in the Gothic arena, while tantalised by humour and theatricality and adventure.The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.Above is one of its

Forget any preconceived notions that you may have by having watched endless Hammer Horrors - this is the real deal, a book that should be read by those who simply enjoy the act of reading. Forget genre for this book is legion. Dramatic, bursting with intrigue and adventure, fear and superstition Oliver's debut novel is stunning and as a reader I can rejoice in the knowledge that 3 further volumes are forthcoming.I should also note that folks should not be put off from reading this because of the...

This is a genuinely pleasing literary event with an author finally managing to match the better side of Hollywood with an origin story for Dracula (before all the unpleasantness, so to speak). What might, in other hands, have become an over-the-top supernatural and Gothic exaggeration is reduced to more or less factual prose by a learned academic of the age. We must thank Reggie Oliver for persuading the relevant authorities into releasing this historical document to the public. It is wonderfull...

WARNING FOR MINOR SPOILERS ...In the mid-16th century, Prince Vladimir Dracul of Transylvania, son of the vain and greedy king, Xantho, commences his rise to prominence as ‘the Impaler’ and in due course as ‘Dracula the Vampire’, through a series of violent, hair-raising adventures, an intense love affair and a succession of bizarre supernatural events.All of this is observed and related to us in diary form by the German scholar, Doctor Martin Bellorious, who at the start of this book, along wit...