I just can’t get behind Glenn Reynold’s assertion that The Dracula Tape
deserves to be called “the single best vampire book.” I was tempted to give him a pass, given that Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula
(which – barely – edges out Saberhagen’s very good book) is part of a series – but then, so is Saberhagen’s. Newman’s knowledge of Stoker’s book easily matches Saberhagen’s, and the former’s grasp of the genre easily overshadows Saberhagen’s. While I readily admit that Saberhagen showed a real flair at creating a book that completely subverts the original text without contradicting the actual words, the outer world of Newman’s work is simply better fleshed-out, and somehow more real.
And then there’s all of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s
stuff, which is certainly literary enough to suit the folks that aren’t all that into the messy mechanics of it all.
