What are your favorite authors this fall? I would love to know. For Bronte/Pym lovers, I recommend memoris like, "Love Julia," and Julie and Julia, as well as Diana Raybourne's books. I really thought A.S.Byatt picked up where the Brontes left off in Possession, and H., The Story of Heathcliff by Linn Haire-Sargent is terrific!
My husband bought me a lovely English teacup with silver inlay from an anniversary trip this weekend. It has silver trim, and a floral silver medallion in the middle, and a matching saucer. It's for my Keurig, a weekend pleasure. I think Miss Pym would approve.
I would like to sponosor a contests; in 250 words, describe or submit your favorite recipe, pattern, or gadget. You may talk about crafts, knitting, crochet, latch hooking, tatting, dessert, main dish, side dish, novel, poem, play, fiction, nonfiction. Winner will receive copies of my club's cook/craft book or my shopping/book guide, compiled of sources all over the world.
The Contest will run from today, to Halloween. You may write your essays in the spaces provided for comments. Let the Games begin!
Miss Pym and a Friend
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Writing World for July
W R I T I N G W O R L D
A World of Writing Information - For Writers Around the World
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Issue 11:13 12,690 subscribers July 7, 2011
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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THE EDITOR'S DESK: Seeing the Light, by Moira Allen
THE INQUIRING WRITER: Technology or Old-Fashioned Ways?
by Dawn Copeman
NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF WRITING
FEATURE: Job Hunting Strategies for the Expat Freelance Writer,
by Suchi Rudra
COLUMN: Free Stuff for Writers: On the Road, by Aline Lechaye
THE WRITE SITES -- Online Resources for Writers
The Author's Bookshelf
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---> http://wwx.Writing.Com/ <--- Become a fan on Facebook: http://facebook.com/WritingCom Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/WritingCom **************************************************************** WRITERSCOLLEGE.COM has 57 online courses. Prices are low. If you can reach our web site, you can take our courses. http://www.WritersCollege.com ***************************************************************** WRITE CHILDREN'S BOOKS. Ever dreamed of being a published author? Writing for children is a great place to start. Learn the techniques from an experienced writer. This unique program has helped 1000's like you become published. Free qualifying test offered http://www.writingforchildren.com/H0480 ***************************************************************** You CAN Make a Great Full-Time Living As a Writer! Once you know the simple secrets of writing for this little-known lucrative market. You can work from home, be in control of your schedule and earn an average of $75-$150 an hour. http://www.thewriterslife.com/a63/full-time-living ***************************************************************** THOUSANDS OF WRITERS USE FANSTORY.COM FOR: * Feedback. Get feedback for every poem and story that you write. * Contests. Over 40 contests are always open and free to enter. * Rankings. Statistics will show you how your writing is doing. http://www.fanstory.com/index1.jsp?at=38 ***************************************************************** FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK ================================================================= Seeing the Light ---------------- I don't often use this space for "advocacy," but this month I'm going to make an exception. This month, I'm going to take a stand for something that is of rather great importance for writers: Light. Many of you are probably aware that a ban on incandescent light bulbs is scheduled to go into effect in the U.S. in January 2012. This ban will make it illegal to sell 100-watt bulbs at that time; the plan is to extend the ban to lower wattages over time. What is offered in place of such bulbs is a choice between halogen and "compact fluorescent" bulbs. What does this have to do with writers? Well, the next time you're hunched over your keyboard, squinting at the screen as you compose your epic novel, story, poem, memoir or whatever, think for a moment... how important is it to you to be able to SEE that screen clearly? Poor lighting is the writer's bane. It contributes to eye strain and headaches -- and to loss of productivity. Poor lighting is also a reader's bane. If we write, chances are, we read -- probably quite a lot. Good lighting makes that possible. It aids in everything a writer does. It aids in studying, in research, in composing our work and in reviewing it. I have yet to hear someone say, "Gosh, I just love the fluorescent lights at the office so much, I sure wish I could have something like that at home!" For many, the "flicker factor" of fluorescents can even be a health problem. I'm all for "going green." I'm also in favor of having choices. Being required by law to spend more money on less effective lighting is not, to my mind, a good choice. There are many other ways to encourage people (like writers) to make wise, "green" decisions. Fortunately, a bill has been introduced to overturn the pending light-bulb ban. If you feel that the lightbulb ban is not in your best interest as a writer (or in the best interest of your family, or of the nation as a whole), you have a chance to let your Senator and/or Congressman know about it. The vote will take place sometime in July - you can find out more, and send an e-mail to your Senator and Congressman directly from this website: http://freedomaction.org/index.php/take-action/?url=http://capwiz.com/freedomaction/issues/alert/?alertid=33961501 After all, shedding light on things is what we writers do, right? -- Moira Allen, Editor ***************************************************************** CHILDREN'S WRITERS' PUBLISHING NEWS Over 1,000 children's editors have it delivered to their desk each month. You can too - and get your first two issues delivered FREE. Maximize your chances to get published. http://www.thechildrenswriter.com/AK049 ***************************************************************** The Inquiring Writer: Technology or Old-Fashioned Ways? ================================================================= By Dawn Copeman Last month I wanted to know if there are still some writing tasks that you prefer to do the old-fashioned manual, pen-and-paper way, or if you have gone all techno-writer? I wondered if you had tried new technology and reverted back to old ways, or if you had you found a technology that really boosts your creativity and productivity. Only two of those who replied do things entirely using technology. "I do most of my writing on the computer," wrote Vicki Kennedy. "Paper and pen is fine for jotting down notes, but I've found that when it comes time to transfer it to the computer, the story changes so dramatically the pen and paper version was mostly a waste of time. It helps me to see a story in print, rather than scribbled on paper." Jerry Buerge sympathised with me and my shocking discovery that I could no longer read my writing. He wrote: "I'm sure that most of us would have the same experience. Particularly those who, like me, tend to write pidgin shorthand of notes or ideas that I intend to flesh out when the mood drives me to finish something. "However, lately I have been trying something else. I've bought a small voice recorder that I have been using to record notes and complete thoughts, which I then use while sitting at my computer, and there, transpose them into initial material for later editing and polishing. "While I do not claim to be a proficient writer, or even a good one, I do believe this is helping me to improve, as I find that I can generate clearer thoughts when my mind is not distracted with striking the correct keyboard entries, or even the strokes of my pen. "Perhaps this is something you might care to experiment with and see if this is helpful enough to consider suggesting that others might like to try it too." I will definitely give that a go, Jerry. Thank you. Quite a few of you, though, still prefer to do things the old-fashioned way, such as Beth T. Irwin. She wrote: "I am another author who writes entirely by hand, using fountain pen and good paper. I highly recommend Fountain Pen Network - check the Penmanship forum as there are CDs on improving your hand, which will speed and ease your writing as you forget about the tools you are using and concentrate on the flow." Thanks for the tip, Beth, I will be sure to check them out. Bonnie Perfetti also loves "writing the old-fashioned way with pen and paper, probably because that's what I grew up with and the only techy thing I own is a computer and a very basic cell phone. "There's just something about sitting down with a fresh, clean sheet of paper and a pen that writes so smoothly it glides across the paper as your thoughts pour out. Yes, it's easier to 'erase' on a computer, but I even like looking at my first drafts with cross-outs and notes written all over it. Call me old-fashioned - I'm proud of it." Jeannie Peace is another avid fan of pen and paper. She wrote: "Having a husband who is a techno freak, I decided to give it a try. I sat down in front of my computer and literally stared at the empty blank page. Oh no, my mind is a blank, just like the page! I finally had to close my eyes to shut out the glaring white page and just write. It worked. After that eventful moment, I sat in my comfortable chair with my pen and paper in hand and started writing. What a relief!" Some of you like the old-fashioned ways for more practical reasons, like Paige Lohr. She emailed: "I can't type very fast. So when I write, I use pen and paper. My pen goes faster than my typing. I type after a few rewrites and I know how I want the story to go; it still takes me two hours to type four pages!" Most of you, however, prefer to take the best of both options, as Eva Bell does. She wrote: "I am old-fashioned and still use pen and paper to do my writing, until I finish the final draft. Only then do I key it into the computer. This makes me feel more in control of my writing when I reconstruct sentences or substitute words as I write. Besides, it is not so much of a strain on the eyes or the back, as when glued for hours to the computer. And just in case the computer conks out, I still have my hand-written draft for ready reference." In fact, several of you seem to use this system. Sharnise Streaty e-mailed to say how it makes her writing life easier. She said "I've tried to do the whole writing process on computer and I often got stumped along the way. This would often lead to unfinished projects. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I finally figured out what my problem was. For some reason I can't remember, I didn't have access to my computer. I had an idea that I wanted to explore so I did the only thing I could do -- took a trip back to elementary school days and rediscovered notebook paper. My problem had actually been that on the computer when I tried to outline and organize my stories, I ended up going straight into writing it. Then once the story hit an inevitable wall I had nowhere to go. "Now, I outline, organize, and do a treatment in a notebook. I think because writing long-hand is so tedious, it forces me to be brief and to the point. I don't want to write pages of tangents, dialogue, or details that have nothing to do with anything (hand cramps are horrible!) It's straight-forward, task focused, and messy. I love it. "Then when I sit at the computer my brain automatically switches to 'write story' mode. I love having a notebook next to me that I can flip through for reminders and forgotten details. "Not only does it give my eyes a break from the screen, but when I touch the paper, it's like I can feel the story beneath my fingers. Thus, both the old and new ways work best for me overall." Heather Hutcheson also uses both systems for her writing, but for different reasons. She wrote: "Depending upon what I want to write, whether it is to get ideas out on paper, vent my thoughts and feelings, or organize my thinking, I use good old-fashioned pen and paper. "For more formal writing, rough drafts, and getting down business ideas, I use my computer. Both ways work for me. The computer is great for keeping the writing organized, while with pen and paper I can feel what I have to say coming out of my hand." "I write exclusively on my laptop," e-mailed Sandra Relford. "I like the convenience of having the thesaurus/dictionary site open and I find the composition flow is smoother for me." She is not a complete technology fan though. She continues: "I keep pen and paper handy so that as I get ideas, no matter where I am, I can jot them down and then transfer them to my tickler file that I keep at the end of the project that I am working on in my computer." Perle Champion finds that combining the two methods makes for easier editing. She wrote: "You have found out my secret about writing long hand. I love it, much prefer it to typing my thoughts, and it does give you time to think. I've always written first by hand; my favorite spiral pad goes with me everywhere. One of the benefits I find is when I transcribe a piece (I label in the margins: poem, essay, etc. as I write) I edit as I type, so it amounts to a painless 2nd draft. "The pad (spiral pad not Ipad) is so convenient. The requirement for all my purses is that they can comfortably hold my 5x8 pad. I write at coffee shop, at the happy hour bar, at lunch, early morning at a shady table at the pepper place farmers market sipping iced coffee and eavesdropping/people-watching." James E. Porter Sr. has also found a way to make the most of old-fashioned ways and new technology. He wrote: "I cannot, not WILL not, use plotting software. If I want to move the gun further down the river next to the dock, the clickety-click necessary to do this can be taxing. "On a sheet of legal-size, I draw an arrow and say, 'move it here.' I scratch out the gun up-river, and I am done. Similarly, I would rather plot or do my story lines on paper. I used to look for special buys of old dot matrix paper so I could write and tear and move around to my heart's content. However, that paper has disappeared around here. And end-rolls at the local newspaper have become kind of expensive. So now I do all my storytelling on legal size or Big Chief tablets, it is much easier for me. "Then, there is the question of retreating from one level of technology to another level of technology. Whether it is better to lug a laptop around, risking third degree burns on my thighs or scorching the picnic tabletops or starting a fire in coach at 35,000 feet but only risking all of that for only seven or so hours or writing time, or to shift to a Neo (about a third of the price of Mr. Gates' or Mr. Dell's finest) with about 700 hours of writing time on three AA batteries, has become a point of reality check for me. Because the question of whether or not I really want to write, or whether I want to say that I'm going to write, but actually I want to watch DVD's, is the real issue. So, to keep away from the temptation to turn on 'Battle LA', (so I can hone my screenwriting skills, naturally), I carry a Neo. I can use it anywhere. Now, the reality is, I do have to take along the laptop, so I can transfer from the Neo to my Word files on the laptop. But I can keep the laptop in my luggage or at the house or motel." That seems a sensible compromise between the two methods to me. I also wanted to know, however, if any of you had reverted back to old-fashioned ways after trying out technology, and Sue Fagalde Lick has. She wrote: "I have reverted to my old file-card system of keeping track of submissions. I still have a running list in a spreadsheet on the computer so I can get the overall picture, but the real information is in my file boxes. "I use different color cards for articles, essays, fiction, and poetry. Yellow is for markets. I never found a digital tracker that gave me the freedom to write whatever I wanted in the little spaces. I hate having to turn on the computer to find out what happened to a particular piece, and by writing each submission on the market and article/essay/poem cards, I develop a complete list of what has been where. Also, I can pull the cards out to remind me to do something about that particular piece or market they refer to. It's old-fashioned, but it works for me." And speaking of markets, that leads me to this month's question. I have had several e-mails from people wanting to know about content writing. They want to know if it is worth pursuing. Some sites say writers can earn up to $300 a week doing SEO content writing and naturally, many new writers want to know if this is too good to be true. Have you ever written for such SEO content sites? What was your experience? Send me your emails with your replies with the subject line "Inquiring Writer" to editorial@writing-world.com. Until next time, Dawn Copyright 2011 Dawn Copeman **************************************************************** LAST CALL! WIN UP TO $500 WRITING A POEM OR SHORT STORY Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest. Write a poem, 30 lines or fewer on any subject and/or write a short story, 5 pages max. on any theme, single or double line spacing, neatly hand printed or typed for a chance to win cash prizes. Postmark deadline: July 31 Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com for details! ***************************************************************** NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF WRITING ================================================================= Exclusive New Club for Writers -------------------------------- This is something you might start to hear more about. The Kindle Millions Club currently has eight members and is therefore very exclusive. To become a member of this club you need to have sold over 1 million Kindle books. For more on this story visit: http://www.publishyourownebooks.com/the-kindle-million-club/ Harry Potter Ebooks to be released by Author -------------------------------------------- When J K Rowling sold the publishing rights to her Hogwarts books she wisely kept hold of the digital rights. She will be releasing all seven Harry Potter books through her own publishing company, Pottermore Publishing, via the new Pottermore site, which goes live on 31 July, Harry Potter's 'birthday'. The site will also feature many of Rowling's notes and back stories for the characters that did not make it into the books. For more on this story visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13889578 Science Fiction Publisher Offers Subscription Option ---------------------------------------------------- And keeping with the theme of ebooks, Angry Robot, the science-fiction digital publisher, has launched a subscription service which will allow its readers a copy of every book published by the company in the year as well as vouchers for money off back-listed titles. For more on this story visit: http://tinyurl.com/5rchcfp ***************************************************************** EVERYHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SETTING FREELANCE FEES! Find out how to negotiate agreements, choose pricing strategies, define tasks, deal with difficult customers, and much more in "What to Charge: Pricing Strategies for Freelancers and Consultants" (2nd Edition) by Laurie Lewis. In print and Kindle from Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/setyourfees *************************************************************** Writing Jobs and Opportunities ================================================================= Writer wanted to write in Bulgaria, Expenses Paid ------------------------------------------------- Explore your creative potential at WriteCamp. Meet fellow writers and enjoy the summer together in Varna and at WriteCamp. Live near the beach this summer in sunny Varna and learn social media, SEO and publishing for the web with on-the-job copy and creative writing projects. We are 1st Online Solutions, a creative digital marketing and web development company and we would like to invite you to join us at WriteCamp! Spend three great months with our team of professional copy writers, web designers and web development specialists. We offer monetary compensation, paid seaside accommodations, and have full and part-time positions available. Pay is scaled according to the quantity of work you are willing and able to take on, and the quality you are able to deliver. Serious, talented, travel-ready applicants with UK/EU passport should check out writecamp.org for more information and apply with CV and cover letter to info@writecamp.org. We'd love to hear from you! More details: http://www.writecamp.org; Andersen Press Open to Submissions ---------------------------------- Andersen Press publishes children's picture books, juvenile fiction and young adult fiction. They do not publish adult fiction, poetry or nonfiction. They are open to submissions. For more details visit: http://www.andersenpress.co.uk/about-us/submitting-a-manuscript Atticus Books Open to Submissions --------------------------------- Atticus Books publishes material that 'falls through the cracks between genres'. They publish books, short stories, literary fiction and creative nonfiction both in print and on their website. For more information visit: http://atticusbooksonline.com/about/ and http://atticusbooksonline.com/about/how-to-publish-with-us/ ***************************************************************** HOW TO WRITE YOUR BEST STORY This inspiring, practical new book will help you write your best story and improve your chances to get published. These are the most durable, successful, and time-tested tips, techniques and examples of best practices used by great writers. http://www.crickhollowbooks.com/write_your_best_story.html *************************************************************** FEATURE: Job Hunting Strategies for the Expat Freelance Writer ================================================================= by Suchi Rudra So you've made the move abroad, you're still writing for some clients back home, but you'd also like to dig into the local and regional markets? Even if the local language remains a mystery to you, there are still plenty of ways to earn a decent income from local and regional freelance writing work in English. Having lived and worked abroad in India, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Russia, I've found that no matter where I set up camp, there are certain strategies that I can follow to enhance my success in writing for local and regional markets. And the best part about these strategies? They can still apply even if you're not an expat! 1) Always keep an eye out for local English-language magazines, newspapers and publishing houses. Anytime you are out and about, pick up all the free brochures, flyers and complementary magazines you can handle. Often, these are aimed toward tourists and study-abroad students, so you will find more of these English language publications to snatch up in the more happening and touristy spots. However, some publications, like trade journals, might only be found in banks, real estate agencies, travel agencies and other similar institutions. And don't forget about airport magazines and publications for expat organizations! I queried a popular website for expats in Prague with some story ideas and am now a frequent contributor. 2) Collect business cards. Anytime you find yourself at a cafe, restaurant, bar or boutique that appeals to you, ask for their business card. Look around to see if you can contribute your language skills to their advertising. If you're a stickler for grammar, you'll probably notice that many places serving food often need help with either proofreading or translation of their menu, advertisements or website. Offer your assistance for a small fee or for free as a trial period, and the manager will probably come running back to you for more help if you do a good job. Some places might even have a newsletter you can sign up for, so check to see if it needs some English help. Don't forget to scope out their website as well. 3) Inflight magazines are a huge, well-paying market that is constantly expanding with the growth of low-cost airlines. Each time you fly, use your flight time to carefully read through the magazine and get a good idea of the writing style and range of topics. Look up their website and contact info, and send them a query. 4) Contact local NGOs and nonprofits and find out if they might want some help with their communications department. These organizations are constantly looking for solid sponsors and need to send out professional emails and informational packets in English. You won't make a ton of money by working for a nonprofit, but you will be contributing to a good cause, and may eventually land yourself a staff position, if that's what you are looking for. In Bombay, I was given a small but sufficient stipend to help a local NGO in corresponding with their corporate sponsor relations via e-mail and also to write up a few surveys that they were conducting. 5) Check out local university bulletin boards (put on a backpack and you can slip right into any academic building with the students). Some students will put up notices asking for help in editing or proofreading their English language essays or research papers. Conversely, you can post a notice with your number or e-mail advertising your editing/proofreading/research guidance abilities in English. I once responded to a bulletin board flier from a Czech PhD student (at a university in Prague) who needed help in editing and preparing the English translation of his doctoral thesis - it turned to be a nice, long project, since the thesis was rather complicated, and I ended up learning a good amount of Czech too! 6) NETWORK! There's never an end to networking, but this can help you especially when you are abroad and outside of familiar territory. Keep an eye out for local writer's groups. Usually these will be expat groups, but some of these expats may have been expats for years and can teach you a thing or two about the town you now call home. If you are a part of Rotary or Toastmasters or Kiwanis or any such international organization, join the local chapter right away! If you aren't already on it, join Facebook, LinkedIn and even Twitter, and hook up with everyone you start to meet in your new city. Also, keep your LinkedIn page up to date on your whereabouts, and you might just hear from an editor searching for the inside scoop on your city. You can also meet a plethora of new and fascinating people from an infinity of backgrounds if you join http://www.CouchSurfing.org or http://www.InterNations.org. And do not forget your alma mater -- check out the alumni database online to see if anyone from your university currently lives in or near your new hometown. And, don't cringe, but you may as well browse through your local Craigslist. You never know... 7) Take a walk. Stroll around your town like a detective and peer into office buildings, write down business names and addresses, take pictures of the signs. See if any of these places look like they could use your native English skills in one way or another. Likely candidates include translation agencies, marketing and PR firms, advertising agencies, bookstores, tour guide companies, hotels, or even an embassy or cultural center (better chance if you know their language!). Basically, think about companies that need to reach an English-speaking audience. Find their contact info and send them a nice email with your CV. 8) Join a co-working group or space. Here you are bound to meet other freelancers (writers and otherwise) who can give you the lowdown on your town, who might have some leads for you, or even have some work to load off on you. 9) Look up any local publishing houses, like an independent small press or an academic press. Contact the editors there to see if they need any English language proofreading, editing, research or other help. 10) Always have your camera with you. Try to invest in a good one that will produce high-res pictures. Take pictures often when you are out and about, not just when the mood strikes you or when you want to send mom a picture of the lasagna you made from her recipe. Travel articles especially require engaging and high-res photos as an accompaniment. The more photos you have to choose from, the better your chance at getting the article accepted. There are even publications that accept photo essays in addition to articles, or you might even look into selling your photos at photography stock websites, like http://www.shutterstock.com or http://www.istockphoto.com. 11) Make sure your resume is up to date and up to standard of the country you are living in. Most places outside the US will call your resume a CV; some require your head shot to go along with it. Have one of your new friends go over your CV with you and make any necessary changes. 12) Advertise your freelance English language services all over town: post flyers on those university bulletin boards, in bookstores, at student cafes, at language centers, place ads in the classified section of the local English language newspaper and/or magazine and of course on any local expat community portals or websites. See if you can get one of your new friends to translate your ad into the local language and place it in local language publications - some of your best clients might come from this effort. 13) Print up business cards, both in English and the local language. Or, have one side of the card in English and one side in the local language. Make sure you take a big handful with you when you head out to network, or just always carry them on you (just like your camera!) because you never know when an opportunity might present itself. 14) Try to contact local artists and musicians to see if they need any help with bios, posters, flyers, CD booklets. In Prague, I met musicians who were not native English speakers, but wanted their music to enter into the English market. So they needed help proofreading, editing and even writing their English lyrics. 15) Persist! The longer you are living in your new city, the more time you have to get acquainted with how things work. You will meet all sorts of people who can lead you to other people and job connections. If you can't get at least one local gig within the first month or two, you aren't trying hard enough! >>--------------------------------------------------<< Suchi Rudra is a full time expat and freelance writer who has lived here and there but prefers there. When not scribbling on Post-it notes, she likes hanging out at airports, singing in smoky cafes and learning languages through osmosis. Her writing can be found at Transitions Abroad, EuropeUpClose.com, India Currents, The Writer, Expats.cz, and other publications. Her first book, Kitaab, written after a year-long stay in Bombay, was published last summer. She is currently putting together her next book, a short story collection. Contact her at suchiprague AT gmail DOT com. Copyright 2011 Suchi Rudra For more information on writing abroad visit: http://www.writing-world.com/international/index.shtml **************************************************************** EBOOK SELF-PUBLISHING EXPLAINED An epublishing revolution is sweeping the industry. We explain what is happening and show you how to self-publish your own ebooks. http://www.PublishYourOwnEbooks.com ***************************************************************** Free Stuff for Writers: On the Road ================================================================= By Aline Lechaye Summer is the perfect time for that road trip you've been planning to take with your friends... or driving to that family get-together you've been finding excuses to avoid all year. Either way, we're sure you'll pick up writing inspirations along the way. With that in mind, this month our freebies are all tools to help you while on-the-go, whether you're writing, photographing, or songwriting. Taking a road trip or a vacation can be great fun, but you never know when your laptop might fail on you. Back up your writing projects and diaries using Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com/), which allows for up to 2GBs of free storage and automatically syncs all your devices (computers and mobiles) so that you won't have to worry about leaving your carefully typed schedule on the desktop of your home computer. Alternatively, email yourself any writing after each day's work, or upload them to your Google docs account (http://docs.google.com). If you're looking for some great classic stories to keep your passengers entertained on those long summer trips, remember that Project Gutenberg has a gigantic collection of works by Dickens, Hardy, the Bronte sisters, and so on. Volunteers work with LibraVox to provide high quality audio versions of the books, which you can download in various formats completely free of charge. Head over to http://librivox.org/ or http://www.gutenberg.org/ for free audio books and ebooks (Kindle versions available!). Don't want to carry your laptop around but still need some of the documents on it? Install 'Documents To Go' on your phone, Palm Pilot, or iPad. The free version allows you to view Word and Excel documents (edit functions only come with the paid version, unfortunately!) on your phone. Android, Symbian, Palm OS, Apple, and Blackberry devices supported. Go to http://www.dataviz.com/products/documentstogo/index.html for more details and to download. Edit your photos at Picnik (http://www.picnik.com) before sending them to your friends and family. At Picnik, you can crop images, change color tones, sharpen focus, and even click auto-edit to let the program do all your work for you! Picnik is a web-based application, so there's no need to install additional software. By the way, you can Picnik to directly upload your finished photos to Facebook and Flickr. If you find that traveling brings out the songwriter in you, you'll find Go Chord (http://www.gochords.com) invaluable. This web-based songwriting software has 1100 chords for you to choose from, and a custom chord builder for nontraditional chords. There are currently three instruments you can "play", and after you're done editing your masterpiece, you can download a printer-friendly version of it to share with your band members or friends. Sign up is free, and you access your account through the free mobile app, which is available for Android and Apple phones. Multiple writers traveling together? Use Writeboard ( http://writeboard.com/) to collaborate vacation plans and/or writing ideas. Create a virtual whiteboard at the site and add as many collaborators as needed. The Writeboard will automatically update when new notes are added, and you can export all the content into an .html or .txt file. Also, the site requires that you set a password for your Writeboard, so you don't have to worry that your top secret info will be compromised! >>--------------------------------------------------<< Aline Lechaye is a translator, writer, and writing tutor who resides in Asia. She can be reached at alinelechaye@gmail.com. Copyright 2011 Aline Lechaye ***************************************************************** THE WRITE SITES ================================================================= New Book Journal ---------------- Authors and publishers can submit press releases about new books, awards, events, etc. free to this site. Click on the "Contact Me" button to upload information. The site can also embed trailers and cover art, plus links to Amazon. http://NewBookJournal.com Opportunities for Artists ------------------------- Marcia Wall provides a list of contests, grants and other opportunities for writers of all types. Most opportunities are based in Louisiana, but many are open to all writers. http://www.411nola.com/contests/opportunities-for-writers/ How to Write Great Blog Content ------------------------------- With more and more jobs for bloggers being advertised and the growth of the blog set to continue, this site will help you to find ways to create blog content. http://www.problogger.net/how-to-write-great-blog-content/ **************************************************************** WIN PRIZES AND GET PUBLISHED! Find out how to submit your stories, poetry, articles and books to hundreds of writing contests in the US and internationally. Newly updated for 2010, WRITING TO WIN by Moira Allen is the one-stop resource you need for contests and contest tips. Visit Writing-World.com's bookstore for details: http://www.writing-world.com/bookstore/index.shtml ***************************************************************** AUTHOR'S BOOKSHELF: Books by Our Readers ================================================================= Lady Father, by Susan Bowman Find these and more great books at http://www.writing-world.com/books/index.shtml Have you just had a book published? If so, let our readers know: just click on the link below to list your book. http://www.writing-world.com/books/listyours.shtml ***************************************************************** ADVERTISE in WRITING WORLD or on WRITING-WORLD.COM! For details on how to reach more than 100,000 writers a month with your product, service or book title, visit http://www.writing-world.com/admin1/adrates.shtml ***************************************************************** Writing World is a publication of Writing-World.com http://www.writing-world.com Editor and Publisher: MOIRA ALLEN (editors@writing-world.com) Newsletter Editor: DAWN COPEMAN (editorial@writing-world.com) Copyright 2011 Moira Allen Individual articles copyrighted by their authors. Back issues archived at http://www.writing-world.com/newsletter/index.shtml Writing World is hosted by Aweber.com ***************************************************************** Subscribers are welcome to re-circulate. Sutton House, Meads Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?LEyszKyMtCwcrMxs7GwMtEa0jAzMLGwcrMw=
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A World of Writing Information - For Writers Around the World
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Issue 11:13 12,690 subscribers July 7, 2011
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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THE EDITOR'S DESK: Seeing the Light, by Moira Allen
THE INQUIRING WRITER: Technology or Old-Fashioned Ways?
by Dawn Copeman
NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF WRITING
FEATURE: Job Hunting Strategies for the Expat Freelance Writer,
by Suchi Rudra
COLUMN: Free Stuff for Writers: On the Road, by Aline Lechaye
THE WRITE SITES -- Online Resources for Writers
The Author's Bookshelf
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---> http://wwx.Writing.Com/ <--- Become a fan on Facebook: http://facebook.com/WritingCom Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/WritingCom **************************************************************** WRITERSCOLLEGE.COM has 57 online courses. Prices are low. If you can reach our web site, you can take our courses. http://www.WritersCollege.com ***************************************************************** WRITE CHILDREN'S BOOKS. Ever dreamed of being a published author? Writing for children is a great place to start. Learn the techniques from an experienced writer. This unique program has helped 1000's like you become published. Free qualifying test offered http://www.writingforchildren.com/H0480 ***************************************************************** You CAN Make a Great Full-Time Living As a Writer! Once you know the simple secrets of writing for this little-known lucrative market. You can work from home, be in control of your schedule and earn an average of $75-$150 an hour. http://www.thewriterslife.com/a63/full-time-living ***************************************************************** THOUSANDS OF WRITERS USE FANSTORY.COM FOR: * Feedback. Get feedback for every poem and story that you write. * Contests. Over 40 contests are always open and free to enter. * Rankings. Statistics will show you how your writing is doing. http://www.fanstory.com/index1.jsp?at=38 ***************************************************************** FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK ================================================================= Seeing the Light ---------------- I don't often use this space for "advocacy," but this month I'm going to make an exception. This month, I'm going to take a stand for something that is of rather great importance for writers: Light. Many of you are probably aware that a ban on incandescent light bulbs is scheduled to go into effect in the U.S. in January 2012. This ban will make it illegal to sell 100-watt bulbs at that time; the plan is to extend the ban to lower wattages over time. What is offered in place of such bulbs is a choice between halogen and "compact fluorescent" bulbs. What does this have to do with writers? Well, the next time you're hunched over your keyboard, squinting at the screen as you compose your epic novel, story, poem, memoir or whatever, think for a moment... how important is it to you to be able to SEE that screen clearly? Poor lighting is the writer's bane. It contributes to eye strain and headaches -- and to loss of productivity. Poor lighting is also a reader's bane. If we write, chances are, we read -- probably quite a lot. Good lighting makes that possible. It aids in everything a writer does. It aids in studying, in research, in composing our work and in reviewing it. I have yet to hear someone say, "Gosh, I just love the fluorescent lights at the office so much, I sure wish I could have something like that at home!" For many, the "flicker factor" of fluorescents can even be a health problem. I'm all for "going green." I'm also in favor of having choices. Being required by law to spend more money on less effective lighting is not, to my mind, a good choice. There are many other ways to encourage people (like writers) to make wise, "green" decisions. Fortunately, a bill has been introduced to overturn the pending light-bulb ban. If you feel that the lightbulb ban is not in your best interest as a writer (or in the best interest of your family, or of the nation as a whole), you have a chance to let your Senator and/or Congressman know about it. The vote will take place sometime in July - you can find out more, and send an e-mail to your Senator and Congressman directly from this website: http://freedomaction.org/index.php/take-action/?url=http://capwiz.com/freedomaction/issues/alert/?alertid=33961501 After all, shedding light on things is what we writers do, right? -- Moira Allen, Editor ***************************************************************** CHILDREN'S WRITERS' PUBLISHING NEWS Over 1,000 children's editors have it delivered to their desk each month. You can too - and get your first two issues delivered FREE. Maximize your chances to get published. http://www.thechildrenswriter.com/AK049 ***************************************************************** The Inquiring Writer: Technology or Old-Fashioned Ways? ================================================================= By Dawn Copeman Last month I wanted to know if there are still some writing tasks that you prefer to do the old-fashioned manual, pen-and-paper way, or if you have gone all techno-writer? I wondered if you had tried new technology and reverted back to old ways, or if you had you found a technology that really boosts your creativity and productivity. Only two of those who replied do things entirely using technology. "I do most of my writing on the computer," wrote Vicki Kennedy. "Paper and pen is fine for jotting down notes, but I've found that when it comes time to transfer it to the computer, the story changes so dramatically the pen and paper version was mostly a waste of time. It helps me to see a story in print, rather than scribbled on paper." Jerry Buerge sympathised with me and my shocking discovery that I could no longer read my writing. He wrote: "I'm sure that most of us would have the same experience. Particularly those who, like me, tend to write pidgin shorthand of notes or ideas that I intend to flesh out when the mood drives me to finish something. "However, lately I have been trying something else. I've bought a small voice recorder that I have been using to record notes and complete thoughts, which I then use while sitting at my computer, and there, transpose them into initial material for later editing and polishing. "While I do not claim to be a proficient writer, or even a good one, I do believe this is helping me to improve, as I find that I can generate clearer thoughts when my mind is not distracted with striking the correct keyboard entries, or even the strokes of my pen. "Perhaps this is something you might care to experiment with and see if this is helpful enough to consider suggesting that others might like to try it too." I will definitely give that a go, Jerry. Thank you. Quite a few of you, though, still prefer to do things the old-fashioned way, such as Beth T. Irwin. She wrote: "I am another author who writes entirely by hand, using fountain pen and good paper. I highly recommend Fountain Pen Network - check the Penmanship forum as there are CDs on improving your hand, which will speed and ease your writing as you forget about the tools you are using and concentrate on the flow." Thanks for the tip, Beth, I will be sure to check them out. Bonnie Perfetti also loves "writing the old-fashioned way with pen and paper, probably because that's what I grew up with and the only techy thing I own is a computer and a very basic cell phone. "There's just something about sitting down with a fresh, clean sheet of paper and a pen that writes so smoothly it glides across the paper as your thoughts pour out. Yes, it's easier to 'erase' on a computer, but I even like looking at my first drafts with cross-outs and notes written all over it. Call me old-fashioned - I'm proud of it." Jeannie Peace is another avid fan of pen and paper. She wrote: "Having a husband who is a techno freak, I decided to give it a try. I sat down in front of my computer and literally stared at the empty blank page. Oh no, my mind is a blank, just like the page! I finally had to close my eyes to shut out the glaring white page and just write. It worked. After that eventful moment, I sat in my comfortable chair with my pen and paper in hand and started writing. What a relief!" Some of you like the old-fashioned ways for more practical reasons, like Paige Lohr. She emailed: "I can't type very fast. So when I write, I use pen and paper. My pen goes faster than my typing. I type after a few rewrites and I know how I want the story to go; it still takes me two hours to type four pages!" Most of you, however, prefer to take the best of both options, as Eva Bell does. She wrote: "I am old-fashioned and still use pen and paper to do my writing, until I finish the final draft. Only then do I key it into the computer. This makes me feel more in control of my writing when I reconstruct sentences or substitute words as I write. Besides, it is not so much of a strain on the eyes or the back, as when glued for hours to the computer. And just in case the computer conks out, I still have my hand-written draft for ready reference." In fact, several of you seem to use this system. Sharnise Streaty e-mailed to say how it makes her writing life easier. She said "I've tried to do the whole writing process on computer and I often got stumped along the way. This would often lead to unfinished projects. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I finally figured out what my problem was. For some reason I can't remember, I didn't have access to my computer. I had an idea that I wanted to explore so I did the only thing I could do -- took a trip back to elementary school days and rediscovered notebook paper. My problem had actually been that on the computer when I tried to outline and organize my stories, I ended up going straight into writing it. Then once the story hit an inevitable wall I had nowhere to go. "Now, I outline, organize, and do a treatment in a notebook. I think because writing long-hand is so tedious, it forces me to be brief and to the point. I don't want to write pages of tangents, dialogue, or details that have nothing to do with anything (hand cramps are horrible!) It's straight-forward, task focused, and messy. I love it. "Then when I sit at the computer my brain automatically switches to 'write story' mode. I love having a notebook next to me that I can flip through for reminders and forgotten details. "Not only does it give my eyes a break from the screen, but when I touch the paper, it's like I can feel the story beneath my fingers. Thus, both the old and new ways work best for me overall." Heather Hutcheson also uses both systems for her writing, but for different reasons. She wrote: "Depending upon what I want to write, whether it is to get ideas out on paper, vent my thoughts and feelings, or organize my thinking, I use good old-fashioned pen and paper. "For more formal writing, rough drafts, and getting down business ideas, I use my computer. Both ways work for me. The computer is great for keeping the writing organized, while with pen and paper I can feel what I have to say coming out of my hand." "I write exclusively on my laptop," e-mailed Sandra Relford. "I like the convenience of having the thesaurus/dictionary site open and I find the composition flow is smoother for me." She is not a complete technology fan though. She continues: "I keep pen and paper handy so that as I get ideas, no matter where I am, I can jot them down and then transfer them to my tickler file that I keep at the end of the project that I am working on in my computer." Perle Champion finds that combining the two methods makes for easier editing. She wrote: "You have found out my secret about writing long hand. I love it, much prefer it to typing my thoughts, and it does give you time to think. I've always written first by hand; my favorite spiral pad goes with me everywhere. One of the benefits I find is when I transcribe a piece (I label in the margins: poem, essay, etc. as I write) I edit as I type, so it amounts to a painless 2nd draft. "The pad (spiral pad not Ipad) is so convenient. The requirement for all my purses is that they can comfortably hold my 5x8 pad. I write at coffee shop, at the happy hour bar, at lunch, early morning at a shady table at the pepper place farmers market sipping iced coffee and eavesdropping/people-watching." James E. Porter Sr. has also found a way to make the most of old-fashioned ways and new technology. He wrote: "I cannot, not WILL not, use plotting software. If I want to move the gun further down the river next to the dock, the clickety-click necessary to do this can be taxing. "On a sheet of legal-size, I draw an arrow and say, 'move it here.' I scratch out the gun up-river, and I am done. Similarly, I would rather plot or do my story lines on paper. I used to look for special buys of old dot matrix paper so I could write and tear and move around to my heart's content. However, that paper has disappeared around here. And end-rolls at the local newspaper have become kind of expensive. So now I do all my storytelling on legal size or Big Chief tablets, it is much easier for me. "Then, there is the question of retreating from one level of technology to another level of technology. Whether it is better to lug a laptop around, risking third degree burns on my thighs or scorching the picnic tabletops or starting a fire in coach at 35,000 feet but only risking all of that for only seven or so hours or writing time, or to shift to a Neo (about a third of the price of Mr. Gates' or Mr. Dell's finest) with about 700 hours of writing time on three AA batteries, has become a point of reality check for me. Because the question of whether or not I really want to write, or whether I want to say that I'm going to write, but actually I want to watch DVD's, is the real issue. So, to keep away from the temptation to turn on 'Battle LA', (so I can hone my screenwriting skills, naturally), I carry a Neo. I can use it anywhere. Now, the reality is, I do have to take along the laptop, so I can transfer from the Neo to my Word files on the laptop. But I can keep the laptop in my luggage or at the house or motel." That seems a sensible compromise between the two methods to me. I also wanted to know, however, if any of you had reverted back to old-fashioned ways after trying out technology, and Sue Fagalde Lick has. She wrote: "I have reverted to my old file-card system of keeping track of submissions. I still have a running list in a spreadsheet on the computer so I can get the overall picture, but the real information is in my file boxes. "I use different color cards for articles, essays, fiction, and poetry. Yellow is for markets. I never found a digital tracker that gave me the freedom to write whatever I wanted in the little spaces. I hate having to turn on the computer to find out what happened to a particular piece, and by writing each submission on the market and article/essay/poem cards, I develop a complete list of what has been where. Also, I can pull the cards out to remind me to do something about that particular piece or market they refer to. It's old-fashioned, but it works for me." And speaking of markets, that leads me to this month's question. I have had several e-mails from people wanting to know about content writing. They want to know if it is worth pursuing. Some sites say writers can earn up to $300 a week doing SEO content writing and naturally, many new writers want to know if this is too good to be true. Have you ever written for such SEO content sites? What was your experience? Send me your emails with your replies with the subject line "Inquiring Writer" to editorial@writing-world.com. Until next time, Dawn Copyright 2011 Dawn Copeman **************************************************************** LAST CALL! WIN UP TO $500 WRITING A POEM OR SHORT STORY Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest. Write a poem, 30 lines or fewer on any subject and/or write a short story, 5 pages max. on any theme, single or double line spacing, neatly hand printed or typed for a chance to win cash prizes. Postmark deadline: July 31 Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com for details! ***************************************************************** NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF WRITING ================================================================= Exclusive New Club for Writers -------------------------------- This is something you might start to hear more about. The Kindle Millions Club currently has eight members and is therefore very exclusive. To become a member of this club you need to have sold over 1 million Kindle books. For more on this story visit: http://www.publishyourownebooks.com/the-kindle-million-club/ Harry Potter Ebooks to be released by Author -------------------------------------------- When J K Rowling sold the publishing rights to her Hogwarts books she wisely kept hold of the digital rights. She will be releasing all seven Harry Potter books through her own publishing company, Pottermore Publishing, via the new Pottermore site, which goes live on 31 July, Harry Potter's 'birthday'. The site will also feature many of Rowling's notes and back stories for the characters that did not make it into the books. For more on this story visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13889578 Science Fiction Publisher Offers Subscription Option ---------------------------------------------------- And keeping with the theme of ebooks, Angry Robot, the science-fiction digital publisher, has launched a subscription service which will allow its readers a copy of every book published by the company in the year as well as vouchers for money off back-listed titles. For more on this story visit: http://tinyurl.com/5rchcfp ***************************************************************** EVERYHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SETTING FREELANCE FEES! Find out how to negotiate agreements, choose pricing strategies, define tasks, deal with difficult customers, and much more in "What to Charge: Pricing Strategies for Freelancers and Consultants" (2nd Edition) by Laurie Lewis. In print and Kindle from Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/setyourfees *************************************************************** Writing Jobs and Opportunities ================================================================= Writer wanted to write in Bulgaria, Expenses Paid ------------------------------------------------- Explore your creative potential at WriteCamp. Meet fellow writers and enjoy the summer together in Varna and at WriteCamp. Live near the beach this summer in sunny Varna and learn social media, SEO and publishing for the web with on-the-job copy and creative writing projects. We are 1st Online Solutions, a creative digital marketing and web development company and we would like to invite you to join us at WriteCamp! Spend three great months with our team of professional copy writers, web designers and web development specialists. We offer monetary compensation, paid seaside accommodations, and have full and part-time positions available. Pay is scaled according to the quantity of work you are willing and able to take on, and the quality you are able to deliver. Serious, talented, travel-ready applicants with UK/EU passport should check out writecamp.org for more information and apply with CV and cover letter to info@writecamp.org. We'd love to hear from you! More details: http://www.writecamp.org; Andersen Press Open to Submissions ---------------------------------- Andersen Press publishes children's picture books, juvenile fiction and young adult fiction. They do not publish adult fiction, poetry or nonfiction. They are open to submissions. For more details visit: http://www.andersenpress.co.uk/about-us/submitting-a-manuscript Atticus Books Open to Submissions --------------------------------- Atticus Books publishes material that 'falls through the cracks between genres'. They publish books, short stories, literary fiction and creative nonfiction both in print and on their website. For more information visit: http://atticusbooksonline.com/about/ and http://atticusbooksonline.com/about/how-to-publish-with-us/ ***************************************************************** HOW TO WRITE YOUR BEST STORY This inspiring, practical new book will help you write your best story and improve your chances to get published. These are the most durable, successful, and time-tested tips, techniques and examples of best practices used by great writers. http://www.crickhollowbooks.com/write_your_best_story.html *************************************************************** FEATURE: Job Hunting Strategies for the Expat Freelance Writer ================================================================= by Suchi Rudra So you've made the move abroad, you're still writing for some clients back home, but you'd also like to dig into the local and regional markets? Even if the local language remains a mystery to you, there are still plenty of ways to earn a decent income from local and regional freelance writing work in English. Having lived and worked abroad in India, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Russia, I've found that no matter where I set up camp, there are certain strategies that I can follow to enhance my success in writing for local and regional markets. And the best part about these strategies? They can still apply even if you're not an expat! 1) Always keep an eye out for local English-language magazines, newspapers and publishing houses. Anytime you are out and about, pick up all the free brochures, flyers and complementary magazines you can handle. Often, these are aimed toward tourists and study-abroad students, so you will find more of these English language publications to snatch up in the more happening and touristy spots. However, some publications, like trade journals, might only be found in banks, real estate agencies, travel agencies and other similar institutions. And don't forget about airport magazines and publications for expat organizations! I queried a popular website for expats in Prague with some story ideas and am now a frequent contributor. 2) Collect business cards. Anytime you find yourself at a cafe, restaurant, bar or boutique that appeals to you, ask for their business card. Look around to see if you can contribute your language skills to their advertising. If you're a stickler for grammar, you'll probably notice that many places serving food often need help with either proofreading or translation of their menu, advertisements or website. Offer your assistance for a small fee or for free as a trial period, and the manager will probably come running back to you for more help if you do a good job. Some places might even have a newsletter you can sign up for, so check to see if it needs some English help. Don't forget to scope out their website as well. 3) Inflight magazines are a huge, well-paying market that is constantly expanding with the growth of low-cost airlines. Each time you fly, use your flight time to carefully read through the magazine and get a good idea of the writing style and range of topics. Look up their website and contact info, and send them a query. 4) Contact local NGOs and nonprofits and find out if they might want some help with their communications department. These organizations are constantly looking for solid sponsors and need to send out professional emails and informational packets in English. You won't make a ton of money by working for a nonprofit, but you will be contributing to a good cause, and may eventually land yourself a staff position, if that's what you are looking for. In Bombay, I was given a small but sufficient stipend to help a local NGO in corresponding with their corporate sponsor relations via e-mail and also to write up a few surveys that they were conducting. 5) Check out local university bulletin boards (put on a backpack and you can slip right into any academic building with the students). Some students will put up notices asking for help in editing or proofreading their English language essays or research papers. Conversely, you can post a notice with your number or e-mail advertising your editing/proofreading/research guidance abilities in English. I once responded to a bulletin board flier from a Czech PhD student (at a university in Prague) who needed help in editing and preparing the English translation of his doctoral thesis - it turned to be a nice, long project, since the thesis was rather complicated, and I ended up learning a good amount of Czech too! 6) NETWORK! There's never an end to networking, but this can help you especially when you are abroad and outside of familiar territory. Keep an eye out for local writer's groups. Usually these will be expat groups, but some of these expats may have been expats for years and can teach you a thing or two about the town you now call home. If you are a part of Rotary or Toastmasters or Kiwanis or any such international organization, join the local chapter right away! If you aren't already on it, join Facebook, LinkedIn and even Twitter, and hook up with everyone you start to meet in your new city. Also, keep your LinkedIn page up to date on your whereabouts, and you might just hear from an editor searching for the inside scoop on your city. You can also meet a plethora of new and fascinating people from an infinity of backgrounds if you join http://www.CouchSurfing.org or http://www.InterNations.org. And do not forget your alma mater -- check out the alumni database online to see if anyone from your university currently lives in or near your new hometown. And, don't cringe, but you may as well browse through your local Craigslist. You never know... 7) Take a walk. Stroll around your town like a detective and peer into office buildings, write down business names and addresses, take pictures of the signs. See if any of these places look like they could use your native English skills in one way or another. Likely candidates include translation agencies, marketing and PR firms, advertising agencies, bookstores, tour guide companies, hotels, or even an embassy or cultural center (better chance if you know their language!). Basically, think about companies that need to reach an English-speaking audience. Find their contact info and send them a nice email with your CV. 8) Join a co-working group or space. Here you are bound to meet other freelancers (writers and otherwise) who can give you the lowdown on your town, who might have some leads for you, or even have some work to load off on you. 9) Look up any local publishing houses, like an independent small press or an academic press. Contact the editors there to see if they need any English language proofreading, editing, research or other help. 10) Always have your camera with you. Try to invest in a good one that will produce high-res pictures. Take pictures often when you are out and about, not just when the mood strikes you or when you want to send mom a picture of the lasagna you made from her recipe. Travel articles especially require engaging and high-res photos as an accompaniment. The more photos you have to choose from, the better your chance at getting the article accepted. There are even publications that accept photo essays in addition to articles, or you might even look into selling your photos at photography stock websites, like http://www.shutterstock.com or http://www.istockphoto.com. 11) Make sure your resume is up to date and up to standard of the country you are living in. Most places outside the US will call your resume a CV; some require your head shot to go along with it. Have one of your new friends go over your CV with you and make any necessary changes. 12) Advertise your freelance English language services all over town: post flyers on those university bulletin boards, in bookstores, at student cafes, at language centers, place ads in the classified section of the local English language newspaper and/or magazine and of course on any local expat community portals or websites. See if you can get one of your new friends to translate your ad into the local language and place it in local language publications - some of your best clients might come from this effort. 13) Print up business cards, both in English and the local language. Or, have one side of the card in English and one side in the local language. Make sure you take a big handful with you when you head out to network, or just always carry them on you (just like your camera!) because you never know when an opportunity might present itself. 14) Try to contact local artists and musicians to see if they need any help with bios, posters, flyers, CD booklets. In Prague, I met musicians who were not native English speakers, but wanted their music to enter into the English market. So they needed help proofreading, editing and even writing their English lyrics. 15) Persist! The longer you are living in your new city, the more time you have to get acquainted with how things work. You will meet all sorts of people who can lead you to other people and job connections. If you can't get at least one local gig within the first month or two, you aren't trying hard enough! >>--------------------------------------------------<< Suchi Rudra is a full time expat and freelance writer who has lived here and there but prefers there. When not scribbling on Post-it notes, she likes hanging out at airports, singing in smoky cafes and learning languages through osmosis. Her writing can be found at Transitions Abroad, EuropeUpClose.com, India Currents, The Writer, Expats.cz, and other publications. Her first book, Kitaab, written after a year-long stay in Bombay, was published last summer. She is currently putting together her next book, a short story collection. Contact her at suchiprague AT gmail DOT com. Copyright 2011 Suchi Rudra For more information on writing abroad visit: http://www.writing-world.com/international/index.shtml **************************************************************** EBOOK SELF-PUBLISHING EXPLAINED An epublishing revolution is sweeping the industry. We explain what is happening and show you how to self-publish your own ebooks. http://www.PublishYourOwnEbooks.com ***************************************************************** Free Stuff for Writers: On the Road ================================================================= By Aline Lechaye Summer is the perfect time for that road trip you've been planning to take with your friends... or driving to that family get-together you've been finding excuses to avoid all year. Either way, we're sure you'll pick up writing inspirations along the way. With that in mind, this month our freebies are all tools to help you while on-the-go, whether you're writing, photographing, or songwriting. Taking a road trip or a vacation can be great fun, but you never know when your laptop might fail on you. Back up your writing projects and diaries using Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com/), which allows for up to 2GBs of free storage and automatically syncs all your devices (computers and mobiles) so that you won't have to worry about leaving your carefully typed schedule on the desktop of your home computer. Alternatively, email yourself any writing after each day's work, or upload them to your Google docs account (http://docs.google.com). If you're looking for some great classic stories to keep your passengers entertained on those long summer trips, remember that Project Gutenberg has a gigantic collection of works by Dickens, Hardy, the Bronte sisters, and so on. Volunteers work with LibraVox to provide high quality audio versions of the books, which you can download in various formats completely free of charge. Head over to http://librivox.org/ or http://www.gutenberg.org/ for free audio books and ebooks (Kindle versions available!). Don't want to carry your laptop around but still need some of the documents on it? Install 'Documents To Go' on your phone, Palm Pilot, or iPad. The free version allows you to view Word and Excel documents (edit functions only come with the paid version, unfortunately!) on your phone. Android, Symbian, Palm OS, Apple, and Blackberry devices supported. Go to http://www.dataviz.com/products/documentstogo/index.html for more details and to download. Edit your photos at Picnik (http://www.picnik.com) before sending them to your friends and family. At Picnik, you can crop images, change color tones, sharpen focus, and even click auto-edit to let the program do all your work for you! Picnik is a web-based application, so there's no need to install additional software. By the way, you can Picnik to directly upload your finished photos to Facebook and Flickr. If you find that traveling brings out the songwriter in you, you'll find Go Chord (http://www.gochords.com) invaluable. This web-based songwriting software has 1100 chords for you to choose from, and a custom chord builder for nontraditional chords. There are currently three instruments you can "play", and after you're done editing your masterpiece, you can download a printer-friendly version of it to share with your band members or friends. Sign up is free, and you access your account through the free mobile app, which is available for Android and Apple phones. Multiple writers traveling together? Use Writeboard ( http://writeboard.com/) to collaborate vacation plans and/or writing ideas. Create a virtual whiteboard at the site and add as many collaborators as needed. The Writeboard will automatically update when new notes are added, and you can export all the content into an .html or .txt file. Also, the site requires that you set a password for your Writeboard, so you don't have to worry that your top secret info will be compromised! >>--------------------------------------------------<< Aline Lechaye is a translator, writer, and writing tutor who resides in Asia. She can be reached at alinelechaye@gmail.com. Copyright 2011 Aline Lechaye ***************************************************************** THE WRITE SITES ================================================================= New Book Journal ---------------- Authors and publishers can submit press releases about new books, awards, events, etc. free to this site. Click on the "Contact Me" button to upload information. The site can also embed trailers and cover art, plus links to Amazon. http://NewBookJournal.com Opportunities for Artists ------------------------- Marcia Wall provides a list of contests, grants and other opportunities for writers of all types. Most opportunities are based in Louisiana, but many are open to all writers. http://www.411nola.com/contests/opportunities-for-writers/ How to Write Great Blog Content ------------------------------- With more and more jobs for bloggers being advertised and the growth of the blog set to continue, this site will help you to find ways to create blog content. http://www.problogger.net/how-to-write-great-blog-content/ **************************************************************** WIN PRIZES AND GET PUBLISHED! Find out how to submit your stories, poetry, articles and books to hundreds of writing contests in the US and internationally. Newly updated for 2010, WRITING TO WIN by Moira Allen is the one-stop resource you need for contests and contest tips. 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Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Devotion (1946)
This film seems to be the basis of the novel, The Crimes of Charlotte Bronte. Plot features Emily and Charlotte fighting over Arthur Bell Nichols. Historically, I just don't see it. Anyone else?
Ladies in Retirement; Had the Brontes Lived to Old Age??
See below, very May Sinclair; dark humor re what happens to an excellent woman, and to elderly Bronte women!
Ladies in Retirement
Ladies in Retirement isn't the most exciting title a movie ever had, but don't let that fool you. There are plenty of dark doings in Charles Vidor's spooky 1941 melodrama, even if its payoffs seem too understated by the rollercoaster standards of today's thrillers.
The story takes place in a country house belonging to a retired music-hall actress named Leonora Fiske, who lives there with Ellen, her housekeeper, and Lucy, her maid. Lucy is a rural girl, but Ellen is a Londoner still adjusting to the quiet life in the hinterlands. And these hinterlands are really quiet: A house call by the local nuns is considered a major event, and everyone gets in a tizzy when Albert Feather, a rascally relative, drops by Miss Fiske's place to borrow a few quid.
Things get shaken up when Ellen receives a letter demanding that her two sisters, Emily and Louisa, be removed from the London house where they've been living, because their behavior has been too scandalous for decent folks to tolerate. Ellen pleads with Miss Fiske to let her eccentric sisters "visit" for a while, and when they arrive it's clear they aren't just eccentric, they're downright crazy. Emily is full of unfocused energy and fuzzy rebelliousness, while Louisa has the wandering mind of a backward child.
It's unlikely that prim and proper Miss Fiske will put up with these messy, chatty oddballs any better than their London landlords did. Sure enough, she soon announces that she's had enough chaos and confusion for one lifetime - among other offenses, the weird sisters have littered the house with dead birds and underbrush-and the visitors must immediately leave. Ellen is distraught, since Emily and Louisa will certainly be committed to a madhouse if they have no other place to live. Once again she argues with her employer, and this time the old lady not only stands firm but fires Ellen.
The next morning, Ellen gets her sisters out of the house and takes decisive action. [Spoiler Alert] As the haughty dowager plays Gilbert and Sullivan on her piano, the housekeeper creeps up and strangles her, then stashes her corpse in a bricked-up oven. And now the plot thickens rapidly. Albert returns, needing more than a few quid to escape an embezzlement charge, and asking uncomfortable questions about Miss Fiske's unexpected absence. Lucy the maid also starts wondering where the old lady might have gone, and--in a scene that anticipates Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) by almost twenty years - she puts on a wig and helps Albert scare Ellen into revealing the truth. Justice is served in the finale, which is happy for some characters, unhappy for others.
Ladies in Retirement belongs to the mini-genre of stories about seemingly dignified folks who cause undignified things like violence and death. The most famous of these is Joseph Kesselring's comedy Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), about a journalist who discovers that his maiden aunts are serial killers; it was written for the stage in 1939 and filmed by Frank Capra in the same year Ladies in Retirement was made, although Capra's picture was held for release until the Broadway play closed in 1944, three years later.
Kesselring's comedy might have inspired Reginald Denham and Edward Percy when they wrote the stage version of Ladies in Retirement, which ran on Broadway for several months in 1940; and it may have been a continuing influence when Denham and Garrett Fort wrote the screenplay for Charles Vidor's film. The popularity of Arsenic and Old Lace could also explain why Columbia Pictures tried to market Ladies in Retirement as a madcap romp rather than a madhouse-fearing melodrama. In its 1941 review of the movie, the New York Times described it as "an exercise in slowly accumulating terror," and then complained that "the producers have tried to create the impression that [it] is almost, though not quite, as hilarious as an Abbott and Costello comedy." This is a good reminder that misleading promotional blitzes are nothing new. Whatever else it may be, Ladies in Retirement is definitely not a laugh riot.
Charles Vidor was a less inventive filmmaker than his near-namesake, King Vidor, but he did direct the 1946 noir Gilda and a few other significant pictures. The low-key dramatic power of Ladies in Retirement comes mainly from George Barnes's moody camerawork and the solid acting of the principal cast. Top honors go to Ida Lupino, a bold and strong-minded actress who became a prolific film and TV director in her own right starting in the late 1940s. Although in the stage version Ellen was sixty years old, Vidor gambled that twenty-three-year-old Lupino could look forty with the right makeup and strong lighting to wash the softness from her face. It worked. Lupino seems almost ageless in the part, playing Ellen as a tightly coiled bundle of nerves, seething with determination beneath her generally calm appearance.
Elsa Lanchester, of Bride of Frankenstein (1935) fame, is memorable as Emily, the tempestuous sister. Vidor's then-lover Evelyn Keyes does well by Lucy, a secondary but important role. Isobel Elsom moved over from the stage production to reprise her portrayal of Miss Fiske, making the most of her image as an indomitable old dame. On the downside, Louis Hayward plays Albert Feather's roguishness too broadly, and Edith Barrett overdoes the eye-rolling innocence of Louisa, the childish sister. In all, though, they make a capable ensemble, moving with assurance through the creepy house outfitted by Lionel Banks and George Montgomery, who earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction. So did Morris Stoloff and Ernst Toch for the music.
Seeing the picture today, it's hard to imagine how the Times reviewer could find it a "hair-raising" experience; modern moviegoers are more likely to agree with critic Pauline Kael, who said it "seems to take itself too seriously, as if it really were a psychological study." But watch it with the lights off and you're certain to find a chill or two.
Producer: Lester Cowan
Director: Charles Vidor
Screenplay: Garrett Fort and Reginald Denham, based on the play by Reginald Denham and Edward Percy
Cinematography: George Barnes
Film Editing: Al Clark
Production Design: David S. Hall
Art Direction: Lionel Banks
Music: Ernst Toch
Music Director: M. W. Stoloff
Cast: Ida Lupino (Ellen Creed), Louis Hayward (Albert Feather), Evelyn Keyes (Lucy), Elsa Lanchester (Emily Creed), Edith Barrett (Louisa Creed), Isobel Elsom (Leonora Fiske), Emma Dunn (Sister Theresa), Clyde Cook (Bates), Queenie Leonard (Sister Agatha).
BW-91m.
by Mikita Brottman and David Sterritt
Ladies in Retirement
Ladies in Retirement isn't the most exciting title a movie ever had, but don't let that fool you. There are plenty of dark doings in Charles Vidor's spooky 1941 melodrama, even if its payoffs seem too understated by the rollercoaster standards of today's thrillers.
The story takes place in a country house belonging to a retired music-hall actress named Leonora Fiske, who lives there with Ellen, her housekeeper, and Lucy, her maid. Lucy is a rural girl, but Ellen is a Londoner still adjusting to the quiet life in the hinterlands. And these hinterlands are really quiet: A house call by the local nuns is considered a major event, and everyone gets in a tizzy when Albert Feather, a rascally relative, drops by Miss Fiske's place to borrow a few quid.
Things get shaken up when Ellen receives a letter demanding that her two sisters, Emily and Louisa, be removed from the London house where they've been living, because their behavior has been too scandalous for decent folks to tolerate. Ellen pleads with Miss Fiske to let her eccentric sisters "visit" for a while, and when they arrive it's clear they aren't just eccentric, they're downright crazy. Emily is full of unfocused energy and fuzzy rebelliousness, while Louisa has the wandering mind of a backward child.
It's unlikely that prim and proper Miss Fiske will put up with these messy, chatty oddballs any better than their London landlords did. Sure enough, she soon announces that she's had enough chaos and confusion for one lifetime - among other offenses, the weird sisters have littered the house with dead birds and underbrush-and the visitors must immediately leave. Ellen is distraught, since Emily and Louisa will certainly be committed to a madhouse if they have no other place to live. Once again she argues with her employer, and this time the old lady not only stands firm but fires Ellen.
The next morning, Ellen gets her sisters out of the house and takes decisive action. [Spoiler Alert] As the haughty dowager plays Gilbert and Sullivan on her piano, the housekeeper creeps up and strangles her, then stashes her corpse in a bricked-up oven. And now the plot thickens rapidly. Albert returns, needing more than a few quid to escape an embezzlement charge, and asking uncomfortable questions about Miss Fiske's unexpected absence. Lucy the maid also starts wondering where the old lady might have gone, and--in a scene that anticipates Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) by almost twenty years - she puts on a wig and helps Albert scare Ellen into revealing the truth. Justice is served in the finale, which is happy for some characters, unhappy for others.
Ladies in Retirement belongs to the mini-genre of stories about seemingly dignified folks who cause undignified things like violence and death. The most famous of these is Joseph Kesselring's comedy Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), about a journalist who discovers that his maiden aunts are serial killers; it was written for the stage in 1939 and filmed by Frank Capra in the same year Ladies in Retirement was made, although Capra's picture was held for release until the Broadway play closed in 1944, three years later.
Kesselring's comedy might have inspired Reginald Denham and Edward Percy when they wrote the stage version of Ladies in Retirement, which ran on Broadway for several months in 1940; and it may have been a continuing influence when Denham and Garrett Fort wrote the screenplay for Charles Vidor's film. The popularity of Arsenic and Old Lace could also explain why Columbia Pictures tried to market Ladies in Retirement as a madcap romp rather than a madhouse-fearing melodrama. In its 1941 review of the movie, the New York Times described it as "an exercise in slowly accumulating terror," and then complained that "the producers have tried to create the impression that [it] is almost, though not quite, as hilarious as an Abbott and Costello comedy." This is a good reminder that misleading promotional blitzes are nothing new. Whatever else it may be, Ladies in Retirement is definitely not a laugh riot.
Charles Vidor was a less inventive filmmaker than his near-namesake, King Vidor, but he did direct the 1946 noir Gilda and a few other significant pictures. The low-key dramatic power of Ladies in Retirement comes mainly from George Barnes's moody camerawork and the solid acting of the principal cast. Top honors go to Ida Lupino, a bold and strong-minded actress who became a prolific film and TV director in her own right starting in the late 1940s. Although in the stage version Ellen was sixty years old, Vidor gambled that twenty-three-year-old Lupino could look forty with the right makeup and strong lighting to wash the softness from her face. It worked. Lupino seems almost ageless in the part, playing Ellen as a tightly coiled bundle of nerves, seething with determination beneath her generally calm appearance.
Elsa Lanchester, of Bride of Frankenstein (1935) fame, is memorable as Emily, the tempestuous sister. Vidor's then-lover Evelyn Keyes does well by Lucy, a secondary but important role. Isobel Elsom moved over from the stage production to reprise her portrayal of Miss Fiske, making the most of her image as an indomitable old dame. On the downside, Louis Hayward plays Albert Feather's roguishness too broadly, and Edith Barrett overdoes the eye-rolling innocence of Louisa, the childish sister. In all, though, they make a capable ensemble, moving with assurance through the creepy house outfitted by Lionel Banks and George Montgomery, who earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction. So did Morris Stoloff and Ernst Toch for the music.
Seeing the picture today, it's hard to imagine how the Times reviewer could find it a "hair-raising" experience; modern moviegoers are more likely to agree with critic Pauline Kael, who said it "seems to take itself too seriously, as if it really were a psychological study." But watch it with the lights off and you're certain to find a chill or two.
Producer: Lester Cowan
Director: Charles Vidor
Screenplay: Garrett Fort and Reginald Denham, based on the play by Reginald Denham and Edward Percy
Cinematography: George Barnes
Film Editing: Al Clark
Production Design: David S. Hall
Art Direction: Lionel Banks
Music: Ernst Toch
Music Director: M. W. Stoloff
Cast: Ida Lupino (Ellen Creed), Louis Hayward (Albert Feather), Evelyn Keyes (Lucy), Elsa Lanchester (Emily Creed), Edith Barrett (Louisa Creed), Isobel Elsom (Leonora Fiske), Emma Dunn (Sister Theresa), Clyde Cook (Bates), Queenie Leonard (Sister Agatha).
BW-91m.
by Mikita Brottman and David Sterritt
Ancient Books Shredded; Miss Pym would be Shocked and Bemused
Every so often we hear it; the horror story that makes not only our collector’s collective hair stand on end, but everyone else collective general public’s hair stand on end. This week it was the story of the rare, shredded ancient Chinese books. That’s right, mega dittoes to the dumbest thing I’ve heard yet, one of the biggest blows against literacy that hit at an International Level. The worthy librarians of my alma mater, Augustana, not the one in Sioux Falls, who just chaired my wonderful neighbor Prof. Roger Rabbit, shredded a set of ancient Chinese texts,! Probably, they are now in a heap in Prof. Roger Rabbit’s garbage cum compost pile. One of the real professors discovered the sacrilege and went to the media. When the books were first donated to Augie Doggie’s library, they were worth, in the 1990s, $8,000. Now, they were worth around $50,000. Mere change, apparently, in the great non-profit empire. The defense of the loonie librarians; well, one book was missing. Oh, gee, now it’s worth only $30,0000.
And, wait, there’s more! They’ve been doing this all along, because like Margie R., and the rest of the well educated library scienced mavens, they claimed no one had told them not to do it!
Ah books, Ah humanity, Ah, Project Bartleby. Those books, and others, lasted for centuries. The digital e-book kindles, nookie Nooks, etc., can be gone in a flash of lightening, made obsolete in weeks, even days. We really are a throw away society, but then, there were the dark rumors of dumpsters coming in dead of night to BHC to haul away books people had left to The College.
In the good old days, we had book sales, and I used to walk down to the bowels of the old marble library designed once to be a mausoleum, to the basement lair of Mr. Sims, reference librarian and archivist, in his late seventies, widowed, and slightly dapper and English in accent. If he liked you, he sold you books, and gave you books. Whole sets of Hugo, Sherman’s My Life among the Indians, an 1847 Jane Eyre, Gaskell’s Life of Charlotte Bronte, a 1749 German Bible, art folios and prints, dozens of museum brochures, fifties novels, G.Wilson Knight on Shakespeare, all mine. Still mine. Treasured, studied, used, these many years.
I wonder if my Augie librarian friends are the descendants of the monks who burned most of The Popol Vuh. May the ghost of Dr. Bergendoff, whose library card was his painting on the wall across from the circulation desk, haunt their dimwitted souls forever. I think of my friend Mary Hillier making a plea for antique dolls and writing about how priceless Queen Anne dolls were used for kindling! And of course, there are the collector police, the anti “hoarders” who never had anything, and don’t want anyone else to have it, either. Well, antiquarian book collectors unite, we have nothing to lose but our acid free paper, and we will lower the temperature from Fahrenheit 451.
Posted by etquest at 5:05 PM 0 comments Email This
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Augustana Destroys Ancient Books!
See Below, with commentary in another Blog. My Alma Mater gets the Darwin Award for this one!
Rare, Ancient Library Books Destroyed
Updated: June 20, 2011 02:01 PM CDT
Top Stories from KWQC.com
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Wig Of The Week
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4th Of July Celebrations
Augustana library staff members made a mistake while doing some spring cleaning, and it ended up being very costly.
They accidentally destroyed a very rare and valuable ancient Chinese book collection.
"Librarians are lovers of books," said VP of Augustana Communications and Marketing, Scott Cason. "They value books greatly. Probably more than most of society. So, they feel very badly about what happened."
None of the books had been checked-out in over a decade, and in an effort to make room in the library, library staff removed and shredded the books. The 18th century collection was purchased for $8,000 roughly twenty years ago by faculty affiliated with Asian Studies.
"It was something very prized by the department," said Cason.
Cason said the library staff must now get approval from the college dean and president before recycling any more books.
And, wait, there’s more! They’ve been doing this all along, because like Margie R., and the rest of the well educated library scienced mavens, they claimed no one had told them not to do it!
Ah books, Ah humanity, Ah, Project Bartleby. Those books, and others, lasted for centuries. The digital e-book kindles, nookie Nooks, etc., can be gone in a flash of lightening, made obsolete in weeks, even days. We really are a throw away society, but then, there were the dark rumors of dumpsters coming in dead of night to BHC to haul away books people had left to The College.
In the good old days, we had book sales, and I used to walk down to the bowels of the old marble library designed once to be a mausoleum, to the basement lair of Mr. Sims, reference librarian and archivist, in his late seventies, widowed, and slightly dapper and English in accent. If he liked you, he sold you books, and gave you books. Whole sets of Hugo, Sherman’s My Life among the Indians, an 1847 Jane Eyre, Gaskell’s Life of Charlotte Bronte, a 1749 German Bible, art folios and prints, dozens of museum brochures, fifties novels, G.Wilson Knight on Shakespeare, all mine. Still mine. Treasured, studied, used, these many years.
I wonder if my Augie librarian friends are the descendants of the monks who burned most of The Popol Vuh. May the ghost of Dr. Bergendoff, whose library card was his painting on the wall across from the circulation desk, haunt their dimwitted souls forever. I think of my friend Mary Hillier making a plea for antique dolls and writing about how priceless Queen Anne dolls were used for kindling! And of course, there are the collector police, the anti “hoarders” who never had anything, and don’t want anyone else to have it, either. Well, antiquarian book collectors unite, we have nothing to lose but our acid free paper, and we will lower the temperature from Fahrenheit 451.
Posted by etquest at 5:05 PM 0 comments Email This
BlogThis!
Share to Twitter
Share to Facebook
Share to Google Buzz
Augustana Destroys Ancient Books!
See Below, with commentary in another Blog. My Alma Mater gets the Darwin Award for this one!
Rare, Ancient Library Books Destroyed
Updated: June 20, 2011 02:01 PM CDT
Top Stories from KWQC.com
Last Broadcast For KWQC Sports Anchor Dan Pearson
Salad Recall
Quad City Job Strength
Illinois Lawmakers Cut Their Pay
Clinton Levee Unacceptable
Bus Tour to Remember 10 Year Anniversary
Most Popular Stories
Flooding Forces Evacuations Throughout Midwest
Wig Of The Week
Last Broadcast For KWQC Sports Anchor Dan Pearson
Salad Recall
Bus Tour to Remember 10 Year Anniversary
Changes To Davenport's Tall Grass and Weed Ordinance
President Obama To Visit Alcoa
No charges against bar in Dunn death
4th Of July Celebrations
Augustana library staff members made a mistake while doing some spring cleaning, and it ended up being very costly.
They accidentally destroyed a very rare and valuable ancient Chinese book collection.
"Librarians are lovers of books," said VP of Augustana Communications and Marketing, Scott Cason. "They value books greatly. Probably more than most of society. So, they feel very badly about what happened."
None of the books had been checked-out in over a decade, and in an effort to make room in the library, library staff removed and shredded the books. The 18th century collection was purchased for $8,000 roughly twenty years ago by faculty affiliated with Asian Studies.
"It was something very prized by the department," said Cason.
Cason said the library staff must now get approval from the college dean and president before recycling any more books.
Rumer Godden A Dolls' House a Bronte Story?
This was one of my favorite books when I was young; it occurs to me that the little girls are named Emily and Charlotte, though if I remember, Emily is here the elder. This book, more about a dysfunctional family with a tragedy than toys, is instructive in many ways regarding class, evil, human relationships, and sibling relationships. I keep thinking of the Bronte juvenilia, and Branwell's toy soldiers. It isn't out of the realm of possibility that Godden had them in mind as she wrote. Both she and the illustrator, Tasha Tudor, had written me letters when I was researching them. I wish they were still with us so I could ask them their thoughts.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
For Lovers of Dracula; Some not so Excellent Men and Women
THE WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE The Anno Dracula Character GuideCompiled by Win Scott Eckert and various diverse handsVisit The Official Kim Newman Website Read about the influence of Philip José Farmer's theories on Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series.
Dead Travel Fast is Kim Newman's first American collection of short stories: "A Drug on the Market"; "Tomorrow Town"; "The Original Dr Shade"; "Famous Monsters"; "Organ Donors"; "Going to Series"; "Angel Down Sussex"; "Dead Travel Fast"; "Amerikanski Dead at the Moscow Morgue";and "The Big Fish." USA: Dinoship, Inc., 2005, PB.
Order it from: Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
This anthology is sure to be of interest to fans of both the Anno Dracula series and the Wold Newton Universe:
"Dead Travel Fast": What was the Count doing in London while he was "off-screen" during the events of Bram Stoker's Dracula? This story doesn't contradict anything in the Anno Dracula continuity.
“Famous Monsters”: A Martian actor recalls the Second War of the Worlds where Earth forces, in alliance with the Selenites (from Wells’ The First Men in the Moon) used cavorite to defeat the Martians.
"Angel Down Sussex": Autumn 1925. Edwin Winthrop and Catriona Kaye continue their work on behalf of the Diogenes Club, which is becoming the occult investigative arm of the British Secret Service, dealing with the apparently inexplicable. Charles Beauregard is still in charge of the Diogenes Club section of the BSS. Catriona mentions Dr. Martin Hesselius and Dr. Silence. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Aleister Crowley also figure in the case, which involves “Little Grey People” and mysterious undertakers who appear out of nowhere, all dressed in black with tops hats and smoked glasses covering their eyes.
Dr. Hesselius was a German psychic physician introduced in J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Green Tea” first published in the periodical All the Year Round (1869). Algernon Blackwood created and wrote the stories featuring the occult investigator Dr. John Silence. This crossover brings both characters into the WNU. The Diogenes Club appeared in Doyle and Watson’s tales of Sherlock Holmes. It is specifically stated that Sherlock Holmes and Mycroft Holmes are real people in relation to the man who brought their stories to the public, Doyle. The Little Grey People are possibly alien “grey” aliens as depicted in The X-Files and elsewhere. If so, then the “greys” visited Earth much earlier than 1947 (the Roswell incident). The undertakers evoke what later will be termed the “Men in Black.”
"The Big Fish": February 1942. In the rain-swept coastal town of Bay City, L.A. private eye Philip Marlowe has a brush with the Deep Ones and becomes one of the few people to lay eyes on The Necronomicon. Also appearing are Edwin Winthrop, agent of a special section of British Intelligence especially assigned to deal with Cthulhuoid horrors, and his vampire partner, Geneviève Dieudonné. Special Agent Finlay of the “Unnameables” Section of the FBI is also part of the anti-Cthulhu task-force.
A direct sequel to H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” and is one of the most skillful crossover pastiches I’ve ever read. The section of the FBI that employs Finlay is undoubtedly a precursor of the modern X-Files section. Edwin Winthrop and Genevieve Dieudonné are Wold Newton Universe versions of their counterparts in the Anno Dracula Universe (ADU), just as Charles Beauregard is a WNU version of his ADU counterpart in All-Consuming Fire. Furthermore, “The Big Fish” cannot take place in the ADU because Marlowe and Genevieve meet for the first time in 1977 in that Universe; see Newman’s story “Castle in the Desert.”
The Anno Dracula series features a virtual cornucopia of Wold Newton-related characters. There are three novels and six novellas (so far) by Kim Newman, set in an alternate universe where Dracula married the Queen and wielded great power in Victorian England. The three books are: Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron, and Judgment of Tears: Anno Dracula 1959 (aka Dracula Cha Cha Cha).
Below is a list of characters appearing in this alternate universe (I'm sure I'll miss some references, so please feel free to contact me if you identify any others).
1888 Anno Dracula
· Dracula, et al. from Stoker's Dracula
· Jack the Ripper
· Sherlock Holmes (Mycroft Holmes, Inspector Lestrade, the Diogenes Club (a front for the Secret Service, as it also is in the WNU), Professor Moriarty, Colonel Moran)
· Admiral Sir Mandeville Messervy (an obvious ancestor of Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, "M," from the James Bond novels)
· Waverly (an "avuncular figure," clearly an ancestor of Alexander Waverly, who headed the New York Headquarters of U.N.C.L.E.)
· Dr. Fu Manchu and his Si-Fan criminal organization
· Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Hyde (from Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
· A. J. Raffles ("the amateur cracksman")
· Griffin (from H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man)
· Dr. Nikola (the villain of Guy Boothby's novels)
· Reid, the designer of a particular type of silver bullet (this would be John Reid, The Lone Ranger)
· Dr. Moreau (from H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau)
· Clayton, the cabdriver (see P.J. Farmer's Tarzan Alive, Addendum 1, wherein Professor H. W. Starr, in his article A Case of Identity, or The Adventure of the Seven Claytons, concludes that John Clayton, the cabdriver from Watson's / Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, is actually the fifth Duke of Greystoke and the grandfather of the eighth Duke of Greystoke, Tarzan)
· Rupert of Hentzau (from the novel of the same name, by Anthony Hope, and the sequel to Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda)
· Allan Quatermain (H. Rider Haggard's adventurer and explorer)
· Lord John Roxton (Doyle's explorer and associate of Professor Challenger)
· Lord Ruthven (from the 1819 novel The Vampire by Dr. John Polidori)
· Johnny Upright (a character in Jack London's People of the Abyss)
Since the above list was compiled, the author, Kim Newman, has contacted me and graciously provided me with a much more complete and authoritative cast of the "borrowed characters" in Anno Dracula. Here is is, with great thanks to the author:
ANNO DRACULA/BORROWED CHARACTERS
Books, plays, etc.
COUNT DRACULA: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
DR JOHN SEWARD: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
ARTHUR HOLMWOOD, LORD GODALMING: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
LUCY WESTENRA: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
ABRAHAM VAN HELSING: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
MINA HARKER: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
RENFIELD: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
JONATHAN HARKER: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
QUINCY MORRIS: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
LULU SCHON: Pandora's Box, Frank Wedekind.
GENEVIEVE DIEUDONNE: Drachenfels, Jack Yeovil
CHANDAGNAC: Drachenfels, Jack Yeovil (the name, not the character, comes from On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers)
INSPECTOR LESTRADE: A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle
THE OLD JAGO: A Child of the Jago, Arthur Morrison
SHERLOCK HOLMES: A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle
KATE REED: Dracula, Bram Stoker (deleted).
IVAN DRAGOMILOFF: The Assassination Bureau, Ltd, Jack London
SERGEANT DRAVOT: 'The Man Who Would Be King', Rudyard Kipling
SIR MANDEVILLE MESSERVY: related to SIR MILES MESSERVY, Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
MYCROFT HOLMES: 'The Greek Interpreter', Arthur Conan Doyle
COUNTESS GESCHWITZ: Pandora's Box, Frank Wedekind.
MELISSA D'ACQUES: Drachenfels, Jack Yeovil
KOSTAKI: The Pale-Faced Lady, Alexander Dumas (ascr)
HENRY JEKYLL: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde', Robert Louis Stevenson
LORD RUTHVEN: 'The Vampyre', John Polidori
SIR FRANCIS VARNEY: Varney the Vampire, J.M. Rymer
COUNT BRASTOV: The Soft Whisper of the Dead, Charles L. Grant
VULKAN: They Thirst, Robert McCammon
COMTE DE SAINT-GERMAIN: Hotel Transylvania, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (but also a historical character)
SEBASTIAN VILLANUEVA: The Black Castle, Les Daniels
EDWARD WEYLAND: The Vampire Tapestry, Suzy McKee Charnas
KURT BARLOW: Salem's Lot, Stephen King
BARON KARNSTEIN: 'Carmilla', J.S. LeFanu
LADY ADELINA DUCAYNE: Good Lady Ducayne, Mary Braddon
SARAH KENYON: 'The Tomb of Sarah', F.G. Loring
ETHELIND FIONGUALA: Ken's Mystery, Julian Hawthorne
COUNTESS DOLINGEN: 'Dracula's Guest', Bram Stoker
SIR DANVERS CAREWE: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde', Robert Louis Stevenson
THE AMAHAGGER: She, Henry Rider Haqggard
EZZELIN VON KLATKA: 'The Mysterious Stranger', Anonymous
COUNT VARDALEK: 'The True Story of a Vampire', Eric, Count Stenbock
THE AMATEUR CRACKSMAN (A.J. RAFFLES): Raffles, E.W. Hornung
THE LORD OF STRANGE DEATHS (Dr Fu-Manchu): The Insidious Dr Fu-Manchu, Sax Rohmer
THE BHISTI WHO'S A BETTER MAN THAN MOST: 'Gunga Din', Rudyard Kipling
THE PROFESSOR (PROFESSOR MORIARTY): 'The Final Problem', Arthur Conan Doyle
SIKES: Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
DR NIKOLA: A Bid for Fortune, Guy Boothby
GRIFFIN: The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells
COLONEL SEBASTIAN MORAN: 'The Empty House', Arthur Conan Doyle
MACHEATH: The Threepenny Opera, Brecht & Weill
MADAME DE LA ROUGIERRE: Uncle Silas, J.S. LeFanu
CLARIMONDE: 'Clarimonde', Theophile Gautier
CARNACKI: Carnacki the Ghost-Finder, William Hope Hodgson
MARTIN HEWITT: Martin Hewitt, Investigator, Arthur Morrison
MAX CARADOS: Max Carrados, Ernest Bramah (I misspelled the name - oops)
AUGUST VAN DEUSEN: The Thinking Machine, Jacques Futrelle
COTFORD: Dracula, Bram Stoker (deleted)
MRS WARREN: Mrs Warren's Profession, George Bernard Shaw
INSPECTOR MACKENZIE: Raffles, E.W. Hornung
BERSERKER THE DOG: Dracula, Bram Stoker
GORCHA: 'The Wurdalak', Alexei Tolstoy (Boris Karloff, Black Sabbath)
LOUIS BAUER: Gas Light, Patrick Hamilton
REID: The Lone Ranger, George W. Trendle
BASIL HALLWARD: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
NED (EDWARD MALONE): 'The Adventure of the Grinder's Whistle', Howard Waldrop; The Lost World, Arthur Conan Doyle
A WESSEX CUP WINNER: 'Silver Blaze', Arthur Conan Doyle
MRS AMWORTH: 'Mrs Amworth', E.F. Benson
DR MOREAU: The Island of Dr Moreau, H.G. Wells
CLAYTON: The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle; Tarzan Alive, Philip Jose Farmer
CARMILLA: 'Carmilla', J.S. LeFanu
HENRY WILCOX: Howard's End, E.M. Forster
RUPERT OF HENTZAU: The Prisoner of Zenda, Anthony Hope
LESTAT DE LIONCOURT: Interview With the Vampire, Anne Rice
SOAMES FORSYTE: The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
ALLAN QUATERMAIN: King Solomon's Mines, H Rider Haggard
LORD JOHN ROXTON: The Lost World, Arthur Conan Doyle
THE RUSSIAN WHO USES THE TARTAR WARBOW/GENERAL ZAROFF: 'The Most Dangerous Game', Richard Connell
LUCIAN DE TERRE: The Werewolves of London, Brian Stableford
EDWARD HYDE: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde', Robert Louis Stevenson
Films, TV, etc.
MR WAVERLY: related to Alexander Waverly (Leo G. Carroll), The Man From UNCLE
GENERAL IORGA, Robert Quarry, Count Yorga-Vampire
COUNT VON KROLOCK: Ferdy Mayne, Dance of the Vampires (The Fearless Vampire Killers)
BARON MEINSTER: David Peel, Brides of Dracula
COUNT MITTERHOUSE: Robert Tayman, Vampire Circus
ARMAND TESLA: Bela Lugosi, The Return of the Vampire
BARNABAS COLLINS: Jonathan Frid, Dark Shadows
COUNT DUVAL: German Robles, El Vampiro
COUNTESS MARYA ZALESKA: Gloria Holden, Dracula's Daughter
ASA VAJDA: Barbara Steele, Las Maschera del Demonio (Black Sunday)
MARTIN CUDA: John Amplas, Martin
AN ANGRY LITTLE AMERICAN/CARL KOLCHAK: Darren McGavin, The Night Stalker
ANTHONY: Simon Oakland, The Night Stalker
PRINCE MAMUWALDE: William Marshall, Blacula
CALEB CROFT: Michael Pataki, Grave of the Vampire
GRAF VON ORLOK: Max Schreck, Nosferatu
DR RAVNA: Noel Willman, Kiss of the Vampire
THE CHINESE ELDER: Mr Vampire
DR CALLISTRATUS: Donald Wolfit, Blood of the Vampire
ELISABETH BATHORY: Delphine Seyrig, Daughters of Darkness (also a historical character)
1918 The Bloody Red Baron
· Captain Allard (An American pilot with a prominent nose, a black hat, and a chilling laugh: Kent Allard, the future Shadow)
· Bigglesworth (Biggles, a British pulp aviator)
· Mycroft Holmes and the Diogenes Club
· Lord Ruthven
· The British spy Ashenden (from Ashenden: or the British Agent by Somerset Maugham)
· Dr. Caligari (evil scientist from German film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)
· Fantômas (the arch-criminal "Lord of Terror" and "Genius of Evil" of French pulp fiction by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain)
· Dr. Thorndyke (Dr. John Evelyn Thorndyke, the scientific detective of a series of novels by Richard Austin Freeman)
· Captain Drummond (Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, hero of novels by H.C. "Sapper" McNeile)
· Lt. Templar (Simon Templar, The Saint, of novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris)
· Dr. Moreau
· Herbert West and Miskatonic University (from H.P. Lovecraft's story, The Re-Animator)
· Langstrom of Gotham University (could it be Kirk Langstrom, of DC Comics Man-Bat fame? Man-Bat first appeared in 1970, but since this is an alternate reality, perhaps he was born and conducted his experiments much earlier in this universe)
· Harry Flashman (from the novels by George Macdonald Fraser)
· Monk Mayfair (one of Doc Savage's five assistants)
· Captain Red Albright (Captain Midnite, hero of a 1930s radio show sponsored by Ovaltine)
· Mansfield Smith-Cumming (from Robin Bruce Lockhart's book Sidney Reilly: Ace of Spies)
· The duke of Denver (Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey)
· Mellors and Chatterley (from D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover)
· Arrowsmith (from Sinclair Lewis's novel of the same name)
· Jake Barnes (Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises)
· Chateau du Malinbois (from Clark Ashton Smith's tales of vampire-haunted Averoigne)
· The German pilot Hammer (DC comics had a WWI pilot by the name of Hammer who starred in the series Enemy Ace)
· Caleb Croft (Grave of the Vampire, aka Seed of Terror, 1972)
Rob Lewis writes:
· CPT Spenser is the character that becomes PINHEAD in the Hellraiser movies
Matthew Davis sends additional references:
· Courtney is from the film Dawn Patrol
· Robur is from Robur the Conqueror by Jules Verne
· Jaques Lantier is from the film La Bete Humaine
· Ten Brincken is from Alraune by H.H. Ewers
· James Gatz is from The Great Gatsby By F. Scott-Fitzgerald
· Des Esseintes is from A Rebours by J-K. Huysmans
· Hjalmar Poelzig is from the film The Black Cat
· Paul Baumer is from All Quiet on the Western Front
· Sadie Thompson is from the film Sadie Thompson
· Lemora is from the film Lemora:A Child's Tale of the Supernatural
· Lola-Lola is from the film The Blue Angel
· Eddie Bartlett is from the film The Roaring Twenties
· Gigi is from Gigi by Colette
· Jiggs is from the film Tarnished Angels
· Svejk is from The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek
· Jules and Jim are from the film Jules et Jim
· Private Charles Plumpick is from the film Le Roi de Coeur
· Cary Lockwood is from the film The Last Flight
· Greyfriars is the school in the Billy Bunter stories by Frank Richards
· Judex – the caped crusader from 1916 adventure serial Judex by Louis Feuillade
· The pacifist Godfrey –from the sitcom Dad’s Army
· Isolde is from the film Le frisson des vampires (The vampire thrills)
· Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff (Anton Walbrook) & Wynne-Candy (Roger Livesy) are from the film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
· Faustine is probably from the poem by Algernon Swinburne
· Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotton) – Citizen Kane
· Erich von Stalhein & Wilkinson – Biggles books
· Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) - The Bridge On The River Kwai
· General Sir William Robertson – from Oh! What a Lovely War
· General Mireau (George Macready) is from the film Paths of Glory
· Rotwang – the film Metropolis
· Hardt (Conrad Veidt)– from the film The Spy in Black
· The cowboy Severin (Bill Paxton) in the film Near Dark ( a typo – it ought to be "Severen")
· The idealist Knight is Nick Knight from the TV series Forever Knight
· Captain Tietjens is from the novel sequence "Parade’s End" by Ford Madox Ford
· Baron Eric Von Emmelman is the comic book character pilot who becomes The Heap in Skywolf, Airboy, etc.
· Schloss Adler – the name is used for the fortress in the film Where Eagles Dare
· The predatory Dandridge is from the film Fright Night
· Subaltern Raleigh is (I think - it depends upon whether a 2nd lieutenant is also a subaltern) from the play and film Journey's End
· Armand Tesla (Bela Lugosi) from the film The Return of the Vampire
· Lady Marikova is from The House of Dracula by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
· Apperson (John Gilbert) from the film The Big Parade
Steven Costa adds:
· The little white dog that was casually shot and killed by the Red Baron . . . Snoopy. AUGH! (with apologies to C. Brown)
Mark Odell also adds:
· Pontianak - probably a reference to the Malaysian vampire film Anak Pontianak (1958)
Kim Newman writes me to say that:
· In BLOODY RED BARON, Bertie isn't Bertie Wooster but -- along with Algy and Ginger -- a sidekick of Biggles, from the WE Johns books
· Bruno Stachel is from the book and film The Blue Max
· Tom Cundall (from Yeates' brilliant novel Winged Victory, which was written as a 'realist' version of the first Biggles book)
Andrew J. Brook points out that the detective fiction periodical "Crime Time" printed a chapter from The Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman, "The Private Files of Mycroft Holmes," that wasn't included in the finished book. References in addition to the book proper are:
· 'The true identity of the murderer of Edwin Drood' - Charles Dickens' unfinished last novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood
· The Borgia Pearl - from Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons". Cunningly, in the Anno Dracula universe, Holmes was in a concentration camp and so cannot have solved this case
· The Nautilus - Nemo's submarine in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
· 'Griffin's invisibility drug' - HG Wells' The Invisible Man; Griffin appeared briefly in Anno Dracula
· Lyonesse - a kingdom in Arthurian legend
· Atlantis - legendary kingdom mentioned by Plato
· Opar - lost African kingdom featuring in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan novels
· Kôr - city in H. Rider Haggard's She series
· Arsène Lupin - French gentleman thief created by Maurice Leblanc
· Fink-Nottle the under-secretary - Bertie Wooster's newt-fancier friend Gussie Fink-Nottle
1959 Judgment of Tears: Anno Dracula 1959 (aka Dracula Cha Cha Cha)
Again, I'm sure I'm missing at least half of the borrowed characters, especially the Italian references. I'm skipping references to real persons and sticking with the fictional borrowed characters who either appear or are mentioned in Judgment of Tears. Thanks to Mark Brown, Loki Carbis, Chris Davies, Greg Gick, and Lou Mougin. Comments and suggestions are welcome.
· Dracula, et al. from Stoker's Dracula
· Genevieve Dieudonne (Drachenfels, by Jack Yeovil. Jack Yeovil is a pen name used by Mr. Newman)
· Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Lestrade, the Diogenes Club
· Dr. Fu Manchu and his Si-Fan criminal organization
· Marcello (Marcello Rubini from Fredrico Fellini's movie La Dolce Vita)
· Inspector Silvestri (Blood and Black Lace aka Six Women for an Assassin, 1964 film, Italian)
· Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Hyde
· The Crimson Executioner (Il Boia Scarlatto (The Bloody Pit of Horror aka The Crimson Executioner), 1965 film, Italian)
· Dr. Moreau
· Inspector Clouseau ("the Surete sent one of their best men, and he spent most of his time falling down")
· Lord Ruthven
· Herr Doktor Mabuse (Dr. Mabuse, The Gamber (Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler), 1922 film, German)
· Sergeant Dravot
· An American pilot with a prominent nose, a black hat, and a chilling laugh: Kent Allard, The Shadow
· Fantômas
· Herbert West and Miskatonic University
· Anibas (The Mask of Satan aka Black Sunday, 1960 film, Italian)
· Count Brastov (The Soft Whisper of the Dead by Charles L. Grant)
· Saint-Germain
· Asa Vadja (Barbara Steele, Las Maschera del Demonio aka Black Sunday)
· Armand (novels of Anne Rice)
· Count Gabor Kernassy (L'Ultima Preda del Vampiro (The Playgirls and the Vampire), 1960 film, Italian)
· Malenka (La Nipote del Vampiro (The Niece of the Vampire, Malenka the Vampire, La Sobrina del Vampiro, Fangs of the Vampire), 1968 film, Spanish/Italian)
· Monsieur Erik (The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux)
· Flambeau (former criminal turned associate of detective Father Brown, in stories by G.K. Chesterson)
· Richard "Dickie" Fountain (Incense for the Damned aka Bloodsuckers, 1970 film, English)
· Mr. and Mrs. Addams (cartoons of Charles Addams, television and films: The Addams Family)
· Dondi (newspaper comic strip character)
· British Rocket Group (Quatermass films and television)
· "Lord Graystoke" (Tarzan the ape-man, Lord Greystoke, Tarzan of the Apes et al., Edgar Rice Burroughs)
· Lemmy Caution (American detective)
· Michael Corleone (The Godfather Parts I & II)
· Dr. Hichcock (The Terror of Dr. Hichcock aka The Horrible Dr. Hickcock, 1962 film, Italian)
· Illuminati (Robert Anton Wilson's stories)
· Monsieur Anthony Zenith (Sexton Blake's greatest adversary)
· Klove (a servant of Dracula from the Hammer film series, Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1965) and Scars of Dracula (1970))
· Dr. Septimus Pretorius (Bride of Frankenstein, 1935 film)
· The American yard-wide Kansas quarterback named Kent (Clark Kent. Is he Superman in this universe also?)
· Sergeant Ginko (Inspector Ginko, the arch-enemy of the costumed thief Diabolik, from Italian comics)
· The most prominent borrowed character in this novel, other than Dracula himself, is Commander Hamish Bond, a vampire and British Secret Service agent with a license to kill: Ian Fleming's James Bond (a combination of the character from the novels and the films)
o "Hamish" is the Scottish version of "James"
o silver Aston Martin
o Ronson lighter
o Walther PPK 7.65 mm with Berns-Martin Triple-Draw holster
o cigarettes with three gold bands
o sea island cotton shirts
o Chapter 2: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Fleming book of that title)
o "You only live twice" p. 33, Avon Trade edition, October 1999 (Fleming book of that title)
o Chapter 6: From Moldavia with Love (Fleming book entitled From Russia with Love)
o the Chinese doctor (Doctor No, Doctor No) and the Jamaican voodoo master (Mr. Big, Live and Let Die)
o "The bitch was dead" p. 71 (play on last line of novel Casino Royale)
o Chapter 9: Live and Let Die (Fleming book of that title)
o other car is a Bentley
o East German Ladies Rifle Champion (Fleming short story "The Living Daylights")
o SMERSH
o "shaken, not stirred"
Andrew McLean was able to help me with a few more references:
· Tom, the lost American (Ripley from the novels by Patricia Highsmith, the first being The Talented Mr. Ripley, 1957)
· Lemmy Caution is mentioned as an American detective - He is also from the Jean-Luc Godard movie Alphaville (1965)
· The most important of all - the Mother of Tears (This creation comes via Dario Argento's proposed "Three Mothers" trilogy, of which only two parts ever appeared. The first, Suspiria (1976), featured the Mother of Sighs, and the second, Inferno (1980), featured the Mother of Darkness. The third of the three Mothers never got a film, but thankfully Kim Newman remembered.)
Vincent Fish sent me a few:
· Father Merrin is the exorcist in The Exorcist by William Blatty
· Cabiria is probably from the Fellini film, Nights of Cabiria
Tristan Sargent adds that,
· The items which Tom intends to steal include an ugly but valuable statuette of a bird of prey, and an Egyptian scarab with a set of pinpoint flaws in the shape of the big dipper. These sound rather like Hammet's Maltese Falcon, and Stoker's Jewel of the Seven Stars
· The monkey paw from The Monkey's Paw (big shock there) by F.W. Jacobs
· The last one, and probably the toughest, would appear to be one of the solid gold models of the Eiffel Tower from the Ealing comedy The Lavender Hill Mob
Matthew Davis also sends additional references:
· Jeremy Prokosch is from the film Le Mepris – Le Mepris also features Fritz Lang shooting a film about Ulysses
· Palazzo Otranto is from The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
· Professor Adelsberg is from the film Der Fluch der grünen Augen (Cave of the Living Dead)
· Clare Quilty and Vivian Darkbloom are from Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
· I think "an English subaltern…with whom he had been flogged at school" is some sort of reference from Simon Raven, who is notorious for novels about school floggings – Newman refers to Raven in the credits, but I’ve never read him
· Hamer Radshaw from Fame is the Spur by Howard Spring
· "a button-nosed French reporter whose stiff fore-lock stood up" is Tin-Tin from numerous cartoon strips by Herge
· Flattop is Frankenstein’s Monster (Boris Karloff version)
· clay monster is the Golem from Jewish folklore, but in particular this description is from The Golem film 1920
· robot doll is Olympia from The Sandman by ETA Hoffman
· Basil Hallward from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
· The Kool Tones are from Flying Saucer Rock and Roll by Howard Waldrop
· Roger Penderel is from the film The Old Dark House
· Irena Dubrovna from the film Cat People by Val Lewton
· Anthony Aloysius St. John Hancock is from the film The Rebel
· Bianca Castafiore is another character from the Tin-Tin series
· Cagliostro in a conjuring competition with Orson Welles is an in-joke since Orson Welles played Cagliostro in Black Magic
· Catriona Kaye is from Jago by Kim Newman
· Viridiana is from the film Viridiana by Bunuel
· spies with NHS glasses and Marks & Spenser macs refers to Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) in the The Ipcress File, etc
· Toby Dammit would probably be the actor Terrence Stamp who played the role Toby Dammit in Fillini’s section of Tre passi nel delirio which featured three adaptations of stories by Poe
· Irma Vep is from the film Les Vampires
· Dr Orlof is from the film The Awful Doctor Orloff (aka The Demon Doctor; Screams in the Night)
Paul Chamberlain adds:
· Max Brock - the (excruciatingly bad) beat poet from Roger Corman's A Bucket of Blood
· Flattop/Frankenstein that attacks Bond also seems to be an amalgamation of Oddjob from Goldfinger (the razor brimmed bowler hat) and Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me (the steel teeth)
Paul Andinach adds:
· Don Simon Ysidro is a character from Barbara Hambly's novels (Those Who Hunt By Night (aka Immortal Blood) and Traveling With the Dead)
· There's a lovely joke about Bond reminding Beauregard of Sergeant Dravot: in the 1975 film of The Man Who Would Be King, Dravot was played by Sean Connery...
· Hamish Bond may be based on the Fleming novels, but the sequence with the Russian spymaster (with the white cat -- you know) plays with the movies. Flattop's movie influences have already been noted; the secret base plays on the general perception of Bond Movie Villain Secret Bases, if not on any particular one; and the cat-holding man whose face is always in the shadows is based on the way Blofeld appeared in the movie of From Russia With Love: his face was always off screen or turned away from the camera, and whenever he spoke the camera went for a close-up of his omnipresent pet cat. (A cat which, incidentally, doesn't exist in the books.)
Mark Odell also adds:
· The American yard-wide Kansas quarterback named Kent - Standing in for the late, great Steve Reeves (who was also from Kansas)
· Miriam Blaylock: Catherine Deneuve's character from Tony Scott's film The Hunger (1983)
· Jonas Cord: from Harold Robbins' novel The Carpetbaggers (and the 1966 film starring George Peppard)
· Chriseis: also from Incense for the Damned aka Bloodsuckers, 1970 film
Brian Combe adds:
· Flattop, as the Frankenstein creature, also has the teeth of Jaws from the films The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, and the bowler hat of Oddjob from the film Goldfinger. His name probably refers to the Dick Tracy character and his inclusion is a reference to the film version of Casino Royale. Another pointer to that film is the conjuring antics of Orson Welles. Another connection to Mr Welles is the appearance of the Martian from War of the Worlds.
· The clay creature may also be a link with the DC universe, as besides being the Golem he may also be Clayface from the Batman comics.
Steve Kydd chimes in with:
· The "unhappy-looking hollow-cheeks named Collins...a rare American vampire" (pp 160-1), is Barnabas Collins from the TV series Dark Shadows
· Joshua York (p.163), one of the guests at the wedding, is a vampire from Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
· Edward Weyland (p. 163), another wedding guest, is from The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas
· Hugh Farnham (p. 163) - wedding guest again - is a vampire-like character from Kim Newman's Bad Dreams
· Edmund Cordery (p. 208) is a vampire researcher from Brian Stableford's The Empire of Fear
· And just in case anyone missed it, there's that great joke on p. 261: Genevieve notices that Hamish Bond has changed subtly: "There was something different about him. He was the sort who always seems to be play-acting, taking a part. But the quality of his acting had changed, become broader, less convincing. He'd been expressing himself too much with his eyebrows. The Scots in his accent had faded." This of course refers to the Roger Moore, famed for his eyebrow-gymnastics, taking over from Sean Connery as James Bond in the film series.
Kim Newman writes me with some additional information:
· ANIBAS -- is from the remake of LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO
· PETER BLOOD -- is the one from the film DR BLOOD'S COFFIN
· Though the MOTHER OF TEARS is from Argento's trilogy, her various aspects come from other European films -- the little girl is from Fellini's Toby Dammit, Viridiana from Luis Bunuel's film of that name, Mamma Roma from Pasolini's film of that name and the old furtune-teller from BICYCLE THIEVES.
The author, Kim Newman , December 31, 1998
"Besides the three novels, the Anno Dracula series includes 'Coppola's Dracula,' a novella published in Stephen Jones's The Mammoth Book of Dracula (and his The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: 1998, and available on the web at the Infinity Plus site). I am about to start work on another novella, 'Andy Warhol's Dracula,' which further extends the series into the late 1970s. It is my current plan to fix up these two pieces, along with a section set in Los Angeles, into a novel with the preliminary title Johnny Alucard: Anno Dracula 1976-79. That may well be it, at least for a while."
More recent news: 'The Other Side of Midnight', the last short story in the Anno Dracula triptych, is now finished. It is proposed the three stories ('Coppola's Dracula' and 'Andy Warhol's Dracula' being the previous two stories) will be published as a novel entitled Johnny Alucard.
1976 Coppola's Dracula (in The Mammoth Book of Dracula, Stephen Jones, ed., Carroll & Graf, 1997) or read it online.
Again, I'm skipping references to real persons and sticking with the fictional borrowed characters.
· Baron Meinster (The Brides of Dracula, 1960 film, English)
1977 Castle in the Desert: Anno Dracula 1977. Read it online.
I'm skipping references to real persons and listing the fictional borrowed characters. This list is compiled by Loki Carbis, Jess Nevins, Dennis Power, Jean-Marc Lofficier, and Win Eckert
· narrated by Philip Marlowe
· Castle in the Desert is a Charlie Chan movie with the Manderlys as main characters
· Jim Rockford - The Rockford Files
· The Anti-Life Equation - taken from Jack Kirby's Fourth World comics line at DC
· R.D. (The Rubber Duck) - Convoy
· Khorda/General Iorga - Count Yorga, Vampire
· "A funny little Chinaman from Hawaii" - Charlie Chan
· Ohlrig from Max Ophuls' Caught
· Poodle Springs from Chandler's/Parker's Poodle Springs
· Wild Angels motorcycle gang from the eponymous 1966 film
· Sternwood case from Chandler's The Big Sleep
· Lady in the Lake from Chandler's Lady in the Lake
· Bernie Ohls is Marlowe's cop buddy in Chandler's books
· Sonny Tufts was a minor Hollywood actor with a well-earned reputation for drunkenness and brutal behavior
· Manderly Castle is from Rebecca
· Noah Cross was John Huston's character (also known as "The Epitome of Evil") in Chinatown
· L. Keith Winton and his "new religion that involves the faithful giving himall their money" -- a reference to L. Ron Hubbard
· Geneviève Dieudonné is from Anno Dracula
· "A funny little Chinaman from Hawaii" - Charlie Chan
· Linda Loring - Playback by Raymond Chandler and Poodle Springs by Chandler/Parker
· Chief Ed Exley from L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
· Lew Archer, hard-boiled private eye from books by Ross MacDonald
· Last paragraph: "long goodbye" and "big sleep" are references to Marlowe novels of the same name by Chandler
Kim Newman writes me with some additional information:
· L. Keith Winton is a reference to Hubbard, but the character comes from Fredric Brown's What Mad Universe? I added the L, though.
· I intended Smith Ohlrig Jr to be the son of the character played by Robert Ryan in Caught.
Hooper_X adds:
· Genevieve's red Plymouth Fury is a reference to Stephen King's Christine
Dan Cziraky points out that:
· Diane LeFanu is from the film The Velvet Vampire (1971), and she was played by Celeste Yarnell
Michael Turyn adds:
· Iorga/Khorda -- their being one-and-the-same is a joke on the fact that Robert Quarry played both Count Yorga (Count Yorga, Vampire and The Return of Count Yorga) and Khorda the Deathmaster (Deathmaster)
1978-79 Andy Warhol's Dracula: Anno Dracula 1978-1979. Read it online.
· Tony Manero (Saturday Night Fever, 1977 film)
· Lestat de Lioncourt and Claudia (Anne Rice's vampire series)
· Andrew Bennet (I, Vampire, DC Comics)
· Rozokov (Dimitri Rozokov, Nancy Baker's vampire series)
· Bald detective in a good suit (Kojak)
· Hippy cop (Serpico)
· Maniac driver in the porkpie hat, Doyle, the cop who swore to break the Transylvania Connection ("Popeye" Doyle, The French Connection, film)
· Baron Meinster (The Brides of Dracula, 1960 film, English)
· Jonathan and Jennifer Hart (Hart to Hart television series)
· Batman and Wayne Foundation (Batman, DC Comics)
· Spider-Man and the Daily Bugle newspaper (Spider-Man, Marvel Comics)
· Michael Corleone (The Godfather Parts I & II)
· Corrado Prizzi (Prizzi's Honor, novel by Richard Condon, and film)
· Victor Von Doom (Doctor Doom, Fantastic Four, Marvel Comics)
· Travis, the taxi driver Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver, film)
· Apollo Creed (Rocky films)
This is as far as I got. Then some other Kim Newman fans stepped up to help me out: Loki Carbis, Heath Graham, Andrew McLean, and Hooper_X. Thank you gentlemen. Here's the remainder of the list:
· Sonja Blue (from Nancy A. Collins story Sunglasses After Dark and sequels)
· Skeeter - (Vamps, Vertigo Comics)
· Black hunter who is half vampire (Blade, Marvel Comics)
· Beatnik with the van and the dog (Shaggy and Scooby Doo)
· A couple who look like David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve, but turn out to be someone else (the two vampires from the film The Hunger)
· A red-skinned turncoat devil boy with the tail and sawn-off horns (Hellboy)
· The exterminator with the skull on his chest and a flame-thrower in his hands (The Punisher, Marvel Comics)
· Nocturna (not sure about the character as described, but there was a Nocturna who was a love interest of Batman in the seventies and eighties)
· The Bramford (where Johnny lives - Rosemary's Baby)
· Patrick Bateman (American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis)
· Nothing (Lost Souls, Poppy Z Brite)
· "The demon Pazuzu" is the "star," so-to-speak of William Peter Blatty's novel The Exorcist
· Elvira (well, ... Elvira (aka Cassandra Peterson) - almost going beyond the "fictional" characters with this one...)
Hooper_X adds quite a few:
· Hal Phillip Walker (politician from Robert Altman's Nashville)
· Adrian Woodhouse (Rosemary's Baby)
· Satanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek, From Dusk Til Dawn)
· Roy Race (comic book soccer player)
· Carmilla Karnstein (title character of Carmilla by J. Sheridan LeFanu)
· The characters Youngblood Priest and Tommy Gibbs appear. They are better known as Superfly and Black Caesar, from the films of the same name
Nick Ramos adds:
· Rudy Pasko is the subterranean badass vampire from Light at the End by Skipp and Spector
Michael Turyn adds:
· "And their bodies were weapons, a finished blade, an arrow shaft." (One is Blade, the other is Shaft; Kim Newman tells me that he's "sorry about the arrow-related pun")
· "The money was on the polished oak dining table, in attaché cases. It had already been counted, but Johnny sat down and did it again. Rudy called him 'the Count,' almost mockingly. The boy didn't understand; the money wasn't Johnny's until it was counted." (This is reference to Sesame Street's "The Count" who counts compulsively)
· "He couldn't keep Andy's blood down. His stomach heaved, and gouts poured from his mouth and nose." (Reference to the best-known image (of Udo Kier) from the movie Andy Warhol's 'Dracula'/Blood for Dracula)
Mark Odell adds:
· Scumbalina: from the film Geek Maggot Bingo (1983)
· Frank White: Christopher Walken's character from Abel Ferrara's film King of New York (1990)
· Thana: Zoe Tamerlis' character from Abel Ferrara's film MS. 45 (1981)
· "An architect, on his own crusade...": Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) from Death Wish (1974) and sequels, alas
Kim Newman writes me with this information:
· NOCTURNA -- refers to both the DC Comics character and Nai Bonet as Dracula's disco granddaughter in the film NOCTURNA
1980 Who Dares Wins: Anno Dracula 1980. Read it online.
Skipping references to real persons and noting only fictional borrowed characters:
· Baron Meinster (The Brides of Dracula, 1960 film, English)
· Sergeant Dravot (The Man Who Would Be King, Rudyard Kipling)
· Inspector Cherry (detective, novels by Peter Van Greenaway)
· Caleb Croft (Grave of the Vampire, aka Seed of Terror, 1972)
· Hamish Bond (Ian Fleming's James Bond)
· Lord Ruthven (from the 1819 novel The Vampire by Dr. John Polidori)
· Graf von Orlok (Nosferatu)
Steve Smith adds:
· "An elderly bobby, survivor of a more genial past." I believe this refers to Dixon of Dock Green, a British TV series
And Paul Chamberlain adds:
· A character, Patricia Rice appears. It mentions her great-uncle was a famous comedian. This is probably a reference to Archie Rice, the protagonist of John Osborne's play The Entertainer.
1981 The Other Side of Midnight (in the anthology Vampire Sextette, Science Fiction Book Club)
Again, real people and events are not listed, just fictional cross-references.
· Don Drago Robles (Curse of the Undead, 1959; film about a vampire gunfighter in the old West)
· Baron Meinster (The Brides of Dracula, 1960 film, English)
· Timmy Valentine (rock star vampire in Vampire Junction and Vanitas, novels by S.P. Somtow)
· Esoteric Order of Dagon (Innsmouth cycle of Cthulhu Mythos stories by H.P. Lovecraft and others)
· Marty Burns (former child star (from hit sitcom Salt and Pepper) and detective, created by Jay S. Russell)
· Red 1958 Plymouth Fury (Christine, Stephen King)
· Annie Wilkes (Misery, Stephen King)
· Carmilla Karnstein (title character of Carmilla by J. Sheridan LeFanu)
· Asa Vadja (Barbara Steele, Las Maschera del Demonio aka Black Sunday)
· Barbara Dahl Winters aka Barbie the Vampire Slayer (analogue of Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer film and television show)
· Overlooker (analogue for Watcher, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
· Ernest Ralph Gorse (from the novels The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr. Gorse and Unknown Assailant by Patrick Hamilton; also in The Charmer, British television)
· Crumpled little police lieutentant in overcoat with Frach car and on glass eye who always says, “There’s just one think I don’t understand…” (Columbo)
· Chief Exley (L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy)
· Count Von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne, Dance of the Vampires (The Fearless Vampire Killers))
· Beth Davenport (attorney on The Rockford Files)
· Officer Baker (Officer Jon Baker, ChiPs television program)
· Adrian Marcato (Rosemary’s Baby, 1968 film)
· New Orleans-based Elders (reference to Anne Rice’s vampire novels)
· Visaria (locale in many horror/monster films from Universal)
· Borgo Pass (locale in Bram Stoker's Dracula)
Kim Newman writes to tell me:
· The 'Barbara Dahl' part is also a reference to Mattel's Barbie Doll, if she counts as a character. I know Mattel have put out Star Trek and X-Files Barbie and Ken, but if they did a Buffy and Angel tie-in, the dolls would just look like their regular product.
· Shadow Bay is the setting of Dennis Etchison's novel Shadowman. And the Nighthawks Diner is from his short story 'The Late Shift' (not to mention the painting by Edward Hopper). Jack Martin is a pseudonym Dennis uses, and has appeared as a character in his books and stories.
Dennis Power and Brad Mengel add:
· Moondoggie (Gidget)
· Dirk Diggler (main character of Boogie Nights, film, 1999)
and Dennis Power also identified these:
· Noah Cross (Chinatown)
· Mariphasa lupino lumino (flower from Werewolf of London)
· Audriensis junior (man-eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors)
· Triffidus celestus mobile (intelligent plants from Day of the Triffids)
· Sharkko Press (a reference to the person who cheated Phil Farmer out his money for the first Riverworld novel)
· Tenebrous Twilight (another name for Dark Shadows)
· The Dude (Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski from the film The Big Lebowski, 1998)
· The Sawyers (Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
· Anchor persons Karen White and Lew Landers (from the film The Howling, although Lew also makes an appearance in Gremlins)
· Lina Lamont (silent film star from Singin' in the Rain)
· Blanche Hudson (former film star from What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)
· Norma Desmond (from Sunset Boulevard)
Loki Carbis adds:
· "Simon Sharp" the slayer's stake, is a parody of "Mr. Pointy" (the name of Buffy's favourite stake in the TV show)
· 'In-bred backwoods brood... struck it rich down in Texas, and moved to Beverly Hills.' (The Beverly Hillbillies)
· Orson Welles Count Dracula has stage directions which parallel those of Touch of Evil, and his The Other Side of Midnight has stage directions which parallel those of Citizen Kane
Matthew Davis adds:
· Jack Horner is from the film Boogie Nights
· Griffin Mill is from the film/book The Player
· Boris Adrian is from Blue Movie by Terry Southern
· Pat Hobby is a hack screenwriter from a series of short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald
· Miracle Pictures is from the film Hollywood Boulevard
David Serchay adds:
· One of the porn actresses is Holly Body, and while there is a real porn star with that name, I have a feeling Newman was referring to Melanie Griffith's character in Body Double
1984 You Are the Wind Beneath My Wings: Anno Dracula 1984 (in Horror Garage No. 3)
Real people and events are not listed, only fictional cross-references. This list is compiled by (in no particular order) Jess Nevins, Dennis Power, Steven Costa, Loki Carbis, Greg Gick, Dan Cziraky, Matthew Rutsala, Rick Lai and Win Eckert.
· Rogers (Steve Rogers, aka Captain America)
· Nazi vampire superman with scarlet skulls (a reference to the Red Skull from the Captain America comics)
· The Shop (covert government agency from Stephen King's Firestarter)
· Maverick and Iceman (Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and Lieutenant Tom 'Iceman' Kazanski from the film Top Gun)
· Desire (female vampire-demon played by Barbara Stock from 1982 TV-movie Desire, the Vampire, aka I, Desire)
· Jedburgh (Darius Jedburgh, a CIA agent, Edge of Darkness, 1986)
· The Confessor (a vampire from Kurt Busiek's Astro City comics)
· Nikita (from the French film Nikita, aka La Femme Nikita)
· The Angel (this character affects white eagle feathers instead of leathery bat wings, and dies in the process; he is probably meant to be the Angel from Marvel Comics' X-Men)
· Vincent Velcro (Sgt. Vincent Velcro, a vampire soldier from DC Comics' The Creature Commandos)
· Dr. Paul Beecher (The Vampire, 1957)
· Dr. Darryl Revok of the ESP division (Scanners, 1981)
· Alexis Ziska (Baron Alexis Zane Ziska from The Vampire by Sydney Horler)
· Baron Lajos Czuczron (Baron Lajos Czuczron fought Jules de Grandin in Seabury Quinn's The Man Who Cast No Shadow)
· Baron Meinster (The Brides of Dracula, 1960 film, English)
· Asa Vajda (Las Maschera del Demonio, aka Black Sunday)
· Rainbird of Infiltration and Liquidation (character from Stephen King's novel Firestarter)
· Caleb Croft (Grave of the Vampire, aka Seed of Terror, 1972)
· CIA analyst named Ryan (Jack Ryan, from Tom Clancy's series of techno-thrillers)
· Graf von Orlok (Nosferatu)
· Andrews, the gaunt pilot (from Stephen King's The Night Flyer)
Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series has even inspired online fiction by other writers:
1988-1989 Tim Burton's Red Reign: Anno Dracula 1988-1989 by Dan Cziraky. Read it online.
In general, real people and events are not listed (except to demonstrate parallel themes), only fictional cross-references.
· Gomez, Morticia, and Fester Addams, and Thing (The Addams Family; actor Jack Nicholson's flirtation with Morticia is a play on his prior relationship with Angelica Huston, who played Morticia in the film versions of The Addams Family; Nicholson's role in Burton's third film, Red Reign, is analogous to Nicholson participating in the "real" Tim Burton's third film, Batman)
· The character Renfield (actor Tracey Walter plays Renfield; in our universe Walter was also in Burton's Batman as Bob the Goon)
· The character Charles Beauregard (actor Michael Keaton plays Beauregard; in our universe Keaton played Bruce Wayne/Batman)
· The character Van Helsing (actor Michael Gough plays Van Helsing; in our universe Gough played Alfred the butler in Burton's Batman)
· Baron Meinster (The Brides of Dracula, 1960 film, English)
· The dictator Von Doom (Dr. Victor von Doom from Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four)
· Janos Skorzany (Janos Skorzeny from the original Kolchak: The Night Stalker novel by Jeff Rice and T.V. movie; another Janos Skorzeny was a character played by Chuck Connors in the television program Werewolf (1987-88))
· Lord Ruthven (from the 1819 novel The Vampire by Dr. John Polidori)
· Graf Orlok (Nosferatu)
· Anton Phibes (Vincent Price, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, 1971; Dr. Phibes Rises Again, 1972)
· The Paris Opera House and Monsieur Erik (Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera)
· The character Dr. Caligari (Danny DeVito plays Caligari in the film sequel, The Bloody Red Baron; in the real universe, DeVito was in the Batman sequel, Batman Returns)
· Many other actors involved in Burton films in this universe, such as Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, and Kim Basinger, are mentioned as appearing in analogous Burton films in the Anno Dracula Universe)
Dan Cziraky adds the following:
· I'd add Raoul Duke, author of BLOOD AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS. Duke, of course, was Hunter S. Thompson's pseudonym in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS. Since Newman put Carl Kolchak in the first ANNO DRACULA book, set in 1888, I decided that Duke would be the substitute reporter that stakes Skorzany in Las Vegas. Of course, Johnny Depp played Duke/Thompson in the film version of FEAR AND LOATHING.
· You might also add Tommy Lee Jones and Joel Schumacher, as the film THE LOVES OF GENERAL IORGA is meant to parallel BATMAN FOREVER.
· Dr. Quincy, mentioned in passing in reference to BLOOD AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, is the Jack Klugman TV-series character.
· "Kate had seen such pendants before. They had been sold around 1975 to raise money for Baron Meinster's Transylvanian Movement, which had hoped to establish a vampire homeland on Dracula's old estates in Transylvania." Of course, this whole sequence refers to the Dracula's Castle Dirt pendants sold by the Captain Company in Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, and Famous Monsters of Filmland magazines in the '70s.
· It should be noted that while this story is set in the ANNO DRACULA universe, it DOES violate continuity in that is supposes Dracula is STILL DEAD. Once Newman publishes JOHNNY ALUCARD, we'll see Dracula resurrected. (C'mon! It's Dracula -- he NEVER stays dead!)
Many thanks for their assistance on all the lists: Paul Andinach, Andrew J. Brook, Mark Brown, Loki Carbis, Brian Combe, Steven Costa, Dan Cziraky, Chris Davies, Matthew Davis, Vincent Fish, Greg Gick, Heath Graham, Hooper_X, Steve Greenfield, Steve Kydd, Rick Lai, Rob Lewis, Jean-Marc Lofficier, Andrew McLean, Brad Mengel, Lou Mougin, Jess Nevins, Mark Odell, Dennis Power, Nick Ramos, Matthew Rutsala, Tristan Sargent, David Serchay, Royce Testa, Michael Turyn, and, of course, Kim Newman(!)
Dead Travel Fast is Kim Newman's first American collection of short stories: "A Drug on the Market"; "Tomorrow Town"; "The Original Dr Shade"; "Famous Monsters"; "Organ Donors"; "Going to Series"; "Angel Down Sussex"; "Dead Travel Fast"; "Amerikanski Dead at the Moscow Morgue";and "The Big Fish." USA: Dinoship, Inc., 2005, PB.
Order it from: Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
This anthology is sure to be of interest to fans of both the Anno Dracula series and the Wold Newton Universe:
"Dead Travel Fast": What was the Count doing in London while he was "off-screen" during the events of Bram Stoker's Dracula? This story doesn't contradict anything in the Anno Dracula continuity.
“Famous Monsters”: A Martian actor recalls the Second War of the Worlds where Earth forces, in alliance with the Selenites (from Wells’ The First Men in the Moon) used cavorite to defeat the Martians.
"Angel Down Sussex": Autumn 1925. Edwin Winthrop and Catriona Kaye continue their work on behalf of the Diogenes Club, which is becoming the occult investigative arm of the British Secret Service, dealing with the apparently inexplicable. Charles Beauregard is still in charge of the Diogenes Club section of the BSS. Catriona mentions Dr. Martin Hesselius and Dr. Silence. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Aleister Crowley also figure in the case, which involves “Little Grey People” and mysterious undertakers who appear out of nowhere, all dressed in black with tops hats and smoked glasses covering their eyes.
Dr. Hesselius was a German psychic physician introduced in J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Green Tea” first published in the periodical All the Year Round (1869). Algernon Blackwood created and wrote the stories featuring the occult investigator Dr. John Silence. This crossover brings both characters into the WNU. The Diogenes Club appeared in Doyle and Watson’s tales of Sherlock Holmes. It is specifically stated that Sherlock Holmes and Mycroft Holmes are real people in relation to the man who brought their stories to the public, Doyle. The Little Grey People are possibly alien “grey” aliens as depicted in The X-Files and elsewhere. If so, then the “greys” visited Earth much earlier than 1947 (the Roswell incident). The undertakers evoke what later will be termed the “Men in Black.”
"The Big Fish": February 1942. In the rain-swept coastal town of Bay City, L.A. private eye Philip Marlowe has a brush with the Deep Ones and becomes one of the few people to lay eyes on The Necronomicon. Also appearing are Edwin Winthrop, agent of a special section of British Intelligence especially assigned to deal with Cthulhuoid horrors, and his vampire partner, Geneviève Dieudonné. Special Agent Finlay of the “Unnameables” Section of the FBI is also part of the anti-Cthulhu task-force.
A direct sequel to H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” and is one of the most skillful crossover pastiches I’ve ever read. The section of the FBI that employs Finlay is undoubtedly a precursor of the modern X-Files section. Edwin Winthrop and Genevieve Dieudonné are Wold Newton Universe versions of their counterparts in the Anno Dracula Universe (ADU), just as Charles Beauregard is a WNU version of his ADU counterpart in All-Consuming Fire. Furthermore, “The Big Fish” cannot take place in the ADU because Marlowe and Genevieve meet for the first time in 1977 in that Universe; see Newman’s story “Castle in the Desert.”
The Anno Dracula series features a virtual cornucopia of Wold Newton-related characters. There are three novels and six novellas (so far) by Kim Newman, set in an alternate universe where Dracula married the Queen and wielded great power in Victorian England. The three books are: Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron, and Judgment of Tears: Anno Dracula 1959 (aka Dracula Cha Cha Cha).
Below is a list of characters appearing in this alternate universe (I'm sure I'll miss some references, so please feel free to contact me if you identify any others).
1888 Anno Dracula
· Dracula, et al. from Stoker's Dracula
· Jack the Ripper
· Sherlock Holmes (Mycroft Holmes, Inspector Lestrade, the Diogenes Club (a front for the Secret Service, as it also is in the WNU), Professor Moriarty, Colonel Moran)
· Admiral Sir Mandeville Messervy (an obvious ancestor of Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, "M," from the James Bond novels)
· Waverly (an "avuncular figure," clearly an ancestor of Alexander Waverly, who headed the New York Headquarters of U.N.C.L.E.)
· Dr. Fu Manchu and his Si-Fan criminal organization
· Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Hyde (from Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
· A. J. Raffles ("the amateur cracksman")
· Griffin (from H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man)
· Dr. Nikola (the villain of Guy Boothby's novels)
· Reid, the designer of a particular type of silver bullet (this would be John Reid, The Lone Ranger)
· Dr. Moreau (from H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau)
· Clayton, the cabdriver (see P.J. Farmer's Tarzan Alive, Addendum 1, wherein Professor H. W. Starr, in his article A Case of Identity, or The Adventure of the Seven Claytons, concludes that John Clayton, the cabdriver from Watson's / Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, is actually the fifth Duke of Greystoke and the grandfather of the eighth Duke of Greystoke, Tarzan)
· Rupert of Hentzau (from the novel of the same name, by Anthony Hope, and the sequel to Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda)
· Allan Quatermain (H. Rider Haggard's adventurer and explorer)
· Lord John Roxton (Doyle's explorer and associate of Professor Challenger)
· Lord Ruthven (from the 1819 novel The Vampire by Dr. John Polidori)
· Johnny Upright (a character in Jack London's People of the Abyss)
Since the above list was compiled, the author, Kim Newman, has contacted me and graciously provided me with a much more complete and authoritative cast of the "borrowed characters" in Anno Dracula. Here is is, with great thanks to the author:
ANNO DRACULA/BORROWED CHARACTERS
Books, plays, etc.
COUNT DRACULA: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
DR JOHN SEWARD: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
ARTHUR HOLMWOOD, LORD GODALMING: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
LUCY WESTENRA: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
ABRAHAM VAN HELSING: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
MINA HARKER: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
RENFIELD: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
JONATHAN HARKER: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
QUINCY MORRIS: Dracula, Bram Stoker.
LULU SCHON: Pandora's Box, Frank Wedekind.
GENEVIEVE DIEUDONNE: Drachenfels, Jack Yeovil
CHANDAGNAC: Drachenfels, Jack Yeovil (the name, not the character, comes from On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers)
INSPECTOR LESTRADE: A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle
THE OLD JAGO: A Child of the Jago, Arthur Morrison
SHERLOCK HOLMES: A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle
KATE REED: Dracula, Bram Stoker (deleted).
IVAN DRAGOMILOFF: The Assassination Bureau, Ltd, Jack London
SERGEANT DRAVOT: 'The Man Who Would Be King', Rudyard Kipling
SIR MANDEVILLE MESSERVY: related to SIR MILES MESSERVY, Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
MYCROFT HOLMES: 'The Greek Interpreter', Arthur Conan Doyle
COUNTESS GESCHWITZ: Pandora's Box, Frank Wedekind.
MELISSA D'ACQUES: Drachenfels, Jack Yeovil
KOSTAKI: The Pale-Faced Lady, Alexander Dumas (ascr)
HENRY JEKYLL: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde', Robert Louis Stevenson
LORD RUTHVEN: 'The Vampyre', John Polidori
SIR FRANCIS VARNEY: Varney the Vampire, J.M. Rymer
COUNT BRASTOV: The Soft Whisper of the Dead, Charles L. Grant
VULKAN: They Thirst, Robert McCammon
COMTE DE SAINT-GERMAIN: Hotel Transylvania, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (but also a historical character)
SEBASTIAN VILLANUEVA: The Black Castle, Les Daniels
EDWARD WEYLAND: The Vampire Tapestry, Suzy McKee Charnas
KURT BARLOW: Salem's Lot, Stephen King
BARON KARNSTEIN: 'Carmilla', J.S. LeFanu
LADY ADELINA DUCAYNE: Good Lady Ducayne, Mary Braddon
SARAH KENYON: 'The Tomb of Sarah', F.G. Loring
ETHELIND FIONGUALA: Ken's Mystery, Julian Hawthorne
COUNTESS DOLINGEN: 'Dracula's Guest', Bram Stoker
SIR DANVERS CAREWE: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde', Robert Louis Stevenson
THE AMAHAGGER: She, Henry Rider Haqggard
EZZELIN VON KLATKA: 'The Mysterious Stranger', Anonymous
COUNT VARDALEK: 'The True Story of a Vampire', Eric, Count Stenbock
THE AMATEUR CRACKSMAN (A.J. RAFFLES): Raffles, E.W. Hornung
THE LORD OF STRANGE DEATHS (Dr Fu-Manchu): The Insidious Dr Fu-Manchu, Sax Rohmer
THE BHISTI WHO'S A BETTER MAN THAN MOST: 'Gunga Din', Rudyard Kipling
THE PROFESSOR (PROFESSOR MORIARTY): 'The Final Problem', Arthur Conan Doyle
SIKES: Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
DR NIKOLA: A Bid for Fortune, Guy Boothby
GRIFFIN: The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells
COLONEL SEBASTIAN MORAN: 'The Empty House', Arthur Conan Doyle
MACHEATH: The Threepenny Opera, Brecht & Weill
MADAME DE LA ROUGIERRE: Uncle Silas, J.S. LeFanu
CLARIMONDE: 'Clarimonde', Theophile Gautier
CARNACKI: Carnacki the Ghost-Finder, William Hope Hodgson
MARTIN HEWITT: Martin Hewitt, Investigator, Arthur Morrison
MAX CARADOS: Max Carrados, Ernest Bramah (I misspelled the name - oops)
AUGUST VAN DEUSEN: The Thinking Machine, Jacques Futrelle
COTFORD: Dracula, Bram Stoker (deleted)
MRS WARREN: Mrs Warren's Profession, George Bernard Shaw
INSPECTOR MACKENZIE: Raffles, E.W. Hornung
BERSERKER THE DOG: Dracula, Bram Stoker
GORCHA: 'The Wurdalak', Alexei Tolstoy (Boris Karloff, Black Sabbath)
LOUIS BAUER: Gas Light, Patrick Hamilton
REID: The Lone Ranger, George W. Trendle
BASIL HALLWARD: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
NED (EDWARD MALONE): 'The Adventure of the Grinder's Whistle', Howard Waldrop; The Lost World, Arthur Conan Doyle
A WESSEX CUP WINNER: 'Silver Blaze', Arthur Conan Doyle
MRS AMWORTH: 'Mrs Amworth', E.F. Benson
DR MOREAU: The Island of Dr Moreau, H.G. Wells
CLAYTON: The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle; Tarzan Alive, Philip Jose Farmer
CARMILLA: 'Carmilla', J.S. LeFanu
HENRY WILCOX: Howard's End, E.M. Forster
RUPERT OF HENTZAU: The Prisoner of Zenda, Anthony Hope
LESTAT DE LIONCOURT: Interview With the Vampire, Anne Rice
SOAMES FORSYTE: The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
ALLAN QUATERMAIN: King Solomon's Mines, H Rider Haggard
LORD JOHN ROXTON: The Lost World, Arthur Conan Doyle
THE RUSSIAN WHO USES THE TARTAR WARBOW/GENERAL ZAROFF: 'The Most Dangerous Game', Richard Connell
LUCIAN DE TERRE: The Werewolves of London, Brian Stableford
EDWARD HYDE: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde', Robert Louis Stevenson
Films, TV, etc.
MR WAVERLY: related to Alexander Waverly (Leo G. Carroll), The Man From UNCLE
GENERAL IORGA, Robert Quarry, Count Yorga-Vampire
COUNT VON KROLOCK: Ferdy Mayne, Dance of the Vampires (The Fearless Vampire Killers)
BARON MEINSTER: David Peel, Brides of Dracula
COUNT MITTERHOUSE: Robert Tayman, Vampire Circus
ARMAND TESLA: Bela Lugosi, The Return of the Vampire
BARNABAS COLLINS: Jonathan Frid, Dark Shadows
COUNT DUVAL: German Robles, El Vampiro
COUNTESS MARYA ZALESKA: Gloria Holden, Dracula's Daughter
ASA VAJDA: Barbara Steele, Las Maschera del Demonio (Black Sunday)
MARTIN CUDA: John Amplas, Martin
AN ANGRY LITTLE AMERICAN/CARL KOLCHAK: Darren McGavin, The Night Stalker
ANTHONY: Simon Oakland, The Night Stalker
PRINCE MAMUWALDE: William Marshall, Blacula
CALEB CROFT: Michael Pataki, Grave of the Vampire
GRAF VON ORLOK: Max Schreck, Nosferatu
DR RAVNA: Noel Willman, Kiss of the Vampire
THE CHINESE ELDER: Mr Vampire
DR CALLISTRATUS: Donald Wolfit, Blood of the Vampire
ELISABETH BATHORY: Delphine Seyrig, Daughters of Darkness (also a historical character)
1918 The Bloody Red Baron
· Captain Allard (An American pilot with a prominent nose, a black hat, and a chilling laugh: Kent Allard, the future Shadow)
· Bigglesworth (Biggles, a British pulp aviator)
· Mycroft Holmes and the Diogenes Club
· Lord Ruthven
· The British spy Ashenden (from Ashenden: or the British Agent by Somerset Maugham)
· Dr. Caligari (evil scientist from German film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)
· Fantômas (the arch-criminal "Lord of Terror" and "Genius of Evil" of French pulp fiction by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain)
· Dr. Thorndyke (Dr. John Evelyn Thorndyke, the scientific detective of a series of novels by Richard Austin Freeman)
· Captain Drummond (Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, hero of novels by H.C. "Sapper" McNeile)
· Lt. Templar (Simon Templar, The Saint, of novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris)
· Dr. Moreau
· Herbert West and Miskatonic University (from H.P. Lovecraft's story, The Re-Animator)
· Langstrom of Gotham University (could it be Kirk Langstrom, of DC Comics Man-Bat fame? Man-Bat first appeared in 1970, but since this is an alternate reality, perhaps he was born and conducted his experiments much earlier in this universe)
· Harry Flashman (from the novels by George Macdonald Fraser)
· Monk Mayfair (one of Doc Savage's five assistants)
· Captain Red Albright (Captain Midnite, hero of a 1930s radio show sponsored by Ovaltine)
· Mansfield Smith-Cumming (from Robin Bruce Lockhart's book Sidney Reilly: Ace of Spies)
· The duke of Denver (Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey)
· Mellors and Chatterley (from D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover)
· Arrowsmith (from Sinclair Lewis's novel of the same name)
· Jake Barnes (Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises)
· Chateau du Malinbois (from Clark Ashton Smith's tales of vampire-haunted Averoigne)
· The German pilot Hammer (DC comics had a WWI pilot by the name of Hammer who starred in the series Enemy Ace)
· Caleb Croft (Grave of the Vampire, aka Seed of Terror, 1972)
Rob Lewis writes:
· CPT Spenser is the character that becomes PINHEAD in the Hellraiser movies
Matthew Davis sends additional references:
· Courtney is from the film Dawn Patrol
· Robur is from Robur the Conqueror by Jules Verne
· Jaques Lantier is from the film La Bete Humaine
· Ten Brincken is from Alraune by H.H. Ewers
· James Gatz is from The Great Gatsby By F. Scott-Fitzgerald
· Des Esseintes is from A Rebours by J-K. Huysmans
· Hjalmar Poelzig is from the film The Black Cat
· Paul Baumer is from All Quiet on the Western Front
· Sadie Thompson is from the film Sadie Thompson
· Lemora is from the film Lemora:A Child's Tale of the Supernatural
· Lola-Lola is from the film The Blue Angel
· Eddie Bartlett is from the film The Roaring Twenties
· Gigi is from Gigi by Colette
· Jiggs is from the film Tarnished Angels
· Svejk is from The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek
· Jules and Jim are from the film Jules et Jim
· Private Charles Plumpick is from the film Le Roi de Coeur
· Cary Lockwood is from the film The Last Flight
· Greyfriars is the school in the Billy Bunter stories by Frank Richards
· Judex – the caped crusader from 1916 adventure serial Judex by Louis Feuillade
· The pacifist Godfrey –from the sitcom Dad’s Army
· Isolde is from the film Le frisson des vampires (The vampire thrills)
· Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff (Anton Walbrook) & Wynne-Candy (Roger Livesy) are from the film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
· Faustine is probably from the poem by Algernon Swinburne
· Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotton) – Citizen Kane
· Erich von Stalhein & Wilkinson – Biggles books
· Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) - The Bridge On The River Kwai
· General Sir William Robertson – from Oh! What a Lovely War
· General Mireau (George Macready) is from the film Paths of Glory
· Rotwang – the film Metropolis
· Hardt (Conrad Veidt)– from the film The Spy in Black
· The cowboy Severin (Bill Paxton) in the film Near Dark ( a typo – it ought to be "Severen")
· The idealist Knight is Nick Knight from the TV series Forever Knight
· Captain Tietjens is from the novel sequence "Parade’s End" by Ford Madox Ford
· Baron Eric Von Emmelman is the comic book character pilot who becomes The Heap in Skywolf, Airboy, etc.
· Schloss Adler – the name is used for the fortress in the film Where Eagles Dare
· The predatory Dandridge is from the film Fright Night
· Subaltern Raleigh is (I think - it depends upon whether a 2nd lieutenant is also a subaltern) from the play and film Journey's End
· Armand Tesla (Bela Lugosi) from the film The Return of the Vampire
· Lady Marikova is from The House of Dracula by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
· Apperson (John Gilbert) from the film The Big Parade
Steven Costa adds:
· The little white dog that was casually shot and killed by the Red Baron . . . Snoopy. AUGH! (with apologies to C. Brown)
Mark Odell also adds:
· Pontianak - probably a reference to the Malaysian vampire film Anak Pontianak (1958)
Kim Newman writes me to say that:
· In BLOODY RED BARON, Bertie isn't Bertie Wooster but -- along with Algy and Ginger -- a sidekick of Biggles, from the WE Johns books
· Bruno Stachel is from the book and film The Blue Max
· Tom Cundall (from Yeates' brilliant novel Winged Victory, which was written as a 'realist' version of the first Biggles book)
Andrew J. Brook points out that the detective fiction periodical "Crime Time" printed a chapter from The Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman, "The Private Files of Mycroft Holmes," that wasn't included in the finished book. References in addition to the book proper are:
· 'The true identity of the murderer of Edwin Drood' - Charles Dickens' unfinished last novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood
· The Borgia Pearl - from Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons". Cunningly, in the Anno Dracula universe, Holmes was in a concentration camp and so cannot have solved this case
· The Nautilus - Nemo's submarine in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
· 'Griffin's invisibility drug' - HG Wells' The Invisible Man; Griffin appeared briefly in Anno Dracula
· Lyonesse - a kingdom in Arthurian legend
· Atlantis - legendary kingdom mentioned by Plato
· Opar - lost African kingdom featuring in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan novels
· Kôr - city in H. Rider Haggard's She series
· Arsène Lupin - French gentleman thief created by Maurice Leblanc
· Fink-Nottle the under-secretary - Bertie Wooster's newt-fancier friend Gussie Fink-Nottle
1959 Judgment of Tears: Anno Dracula 1959 (aka Dracula Cha Cha Cha)
Again, I'm sure I'm missing at least half of the borrowed characters, especially the Italian references. I'm skipping references to real persons and sticking with the fictional borrowed characters who either appear or are mentioned in Judgment of Tears. Thanks to Mark Brown, Loki Carbis, Chris Davies, Greg Gick, and Lou Mougin. Comments and suggestions are welcome.
· Dracula, et al. from Stoker's Dracula
· Genevieve Dieudonne (Drachenfels, by Jack Yeovil. Jack Yeovil is a pen name used by Mr. Newman)
· Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Lestrade, the Diogenes Club
· Dr. Fu Manchu and his Si-Fan criminal organization
· Marcello (Marcello Rubini from Fredrico Fellini's movie La Dolce Vita)
· Inspector Silvestri (Blood and Black Lace aka Six Women for an Assassin, 1964 film, Italian)
· Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Hyde
· The Crimson Executioner (Il Boia Scarlatto (The Bloody Pit of Horror aka The Crimson Executioner), 1965 film, Italian)
· Dr. Moreau
· Inspector Clouseau ("the Surete sent one of their best men, and he spent most of his time falling down")
· Lord Ruthven
· Herr Doktor Mabuse (Dr. Mabuse, The Gamber (Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler), 1922 film, German)
· Sergeant Dravot
· An American pilot with a prominent nose, a black hat, and a chilling laugh: Kent Allard, The Shadow
· Fantômas
· Herbert West and Miskatonic University
· Anibas (The Mask of Satan aka Black Sunday, 1960 film, Italian)
· Count Brastov (The Soft Whisper of the Dead by Charles L. Grant)
· Saint-Germain
· Asa Vadja (Barbara Steele, Las Maschera del Demonio aka Black Sunday)
· Armand (novels of Anne Rice)
· Count Gabor Kernassy (L'Ultima Preda del Vampiro (The Playgirls and the Vampire), 1960 film, Italian)
· Malenka (La Nipote del Vampiro (The Niece of the Vampire, Malenka the Vampire, La Sobrina del Vampiro, Fangs of the Vampire), 1968 film, Spanish/Italian)
· Monsieur Erik (The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux)
· Flambeau (former criminal turned associate of detective Father Brown, in stories by G.K. Chesterson)
· Richard "Dickie" Fountain (Incense for the Damned aka Bloodsuckers, 1970 film, English)
· Mr. and Mrs. Addams (cartoons of Charles Addams, television and films: The Addams Family)
· Dondi (newspaper comic strip character)
· British Rocket Group (Quatermass films and television)
· "Lord Graystoke" (Tarzan the ape-man, Lord Greystoke, Tarzan of the Apes et al., Edgar Rice Burroughs)
· Lemmy Caution (American detective)
· Michael Corleone (The Godfather Parts I & II)
· Dr. Hichcock (The Terror of Dr. Hichcock aka The Horrible Dr. Hickcock, 1962 film, Italian)
· Illuminati (Robert Anton Wilson's stories)
· Monsieur Anthony Zenith (Sexton Blake's greatest adversary)
· Klove (a servant of Dracula from the Hammer film series, Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1965) and Scars of Dracula (1970))
· Dr. Septimus Pretorius (Bride of Frankenstein, 1935 film)
· The American yard-wide Kansas quarterback named Kent (Clark Kent. Is he Superman in this universe also?)
· Sergeant Ginko (Inspector Ginko, the arch-enemy of the costumed thief Diabolik, from Italian comics)
· The most prominent borrowed character in this novel, other than Dracula himself, is Commander Hamish Bond, a vampire and British Secret Service agent with a license to kill: Ian Fleming's James Bond (a combination of the character from the novels and the films)
o "Hamish" is the Scottish version of "James"
o silver Aston Martin
o Ronson lighter
o Walther PPK 7.65 mm with Berns-Martin Triple-Draw holster
o cigarettes with three gold bands
o sea island cotton shirts
o Chapter 2: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Fleming book of that title)
o "You only live twice" p. 33, Avon Trade edition, October 1999 (Fleming book of that title)
o Chapter 6: From Moldavia with Love (Fleming book entitled From Russia with Love)
o the Chinese doctor (Doctor No, Doctor No) and the Jamaican voodoo master (Mr. Big, Live and Let Die)
o "The bitch was dead" p. 71 (play on last line of novel Casino Royale)
o Chapter 9: Live and Let Die (Fleming book of that title)
o other car is a Bentley
o East German Ladies Rifle Champion (Fleming short story "The Living Daylights")
o SMERSH
o "shaken, not stirred"
Andrew McLean was able to help me with a few more references:
· Tom, the lost American (Ripley from the novels by Patricia Highsmith, the first being The Talented Mr. Ripley, 1957)
· Lemmy Caution is mentioned as an American detective - He is also from the Jean-Luc Godard movie Alphaville (1965)
· The most important of all - the Mother of Tears (This creation comes via Dario Argento's proposed "Three Mothers" trilogy, of which only two parts ever appeared. The first, Suspiria (1976), featured the Mother of Sighs, and the second, Inferno (1980), featured the Mother of Darkness. The third of the three Mothers never got a film, but thankfully Kim Newman remembered.)
Vincent Fish sent me a few:
· Father Merrin is the exorcist in The Exorcist by William Blatty
· Cabiria is probably from the Fellini film, Nights of Cabiria
Tristan Sargent adds that,
· The items which Tom intends to steal include an ugly but valuable statuette of a bird of prey, and an Egyptian scarab with a set of pinpoint flaws in the shape of the big dipper. These sound rather like Hammet's Maltese Falcon, and Stoker's Jewel of the Seven Stars
· The monkey paw from The Monkey's Paw (big shock there) by F.W. Jacobs
· The last one, and probably the toughest, would appear to be one of the solid gold models of the Eiffel Tower from the Ealing comedy The Lavender Hill Mob
Matthew Davis also sends additional references:
· Jeremy Prokosch is from the film Le Mepris – Le Mepris also features Fritz Lang shooting a film about Ulysses
· Palazzo Otranto is from The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
· Professor Adelsberg is from the film Der Fluch der grünen Augen (Cave of the Living Dead)
· Clare Quilty and Vivian Darkbloom are from Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
· I think "an English subaltern…with whom he had been flogged at school" is some sort of reference from Simon Raven, who is notorious for novels about school floggings – Newman refers to Raven in the credits, but I’ve never read him
· Hamer Radshaw from Fame is the Spur by Howard Spring
· "a button-nosed French reporter whose stiff fore-lock stood up" is Tin-Tin from numerous cartoon strips by Herge
· Flattop is Frankenstein’s Monster (Boris Karloff version)
· clay monster is the Golem from Jewish folklore, but in particular this description is from The Golem film 1920
· robot doll is Olympia from The Sandman by ETA Hoffman
· Basil Hallward from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
· The Kool Tones are from Flying Saucer Rock and Roll by Howard Waldrop
· Roger Penderel is from the film The Old Dark House
· Irena Dubrovna from the film Cat People by Val Lewton
· Anthony Aloysius St. John Hancock is from the film The Rebel
· Bianca Castafiore is another character from the Tin-Tin series
· Cagliostro in a conjuring competition with Orson Welles is an in-joke since Orson Welles played Cagliostro in Black Magic
· Catriona Kaye is from Jago by Kim Newman
· Viridiana is from the film Viridiana by Bunuel
· spies with NHS glasses and Marks & Spenser macs refers to Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) in the The Ipcress File, etc
· Toby Dammit would probably be the actor Terrence Stamp who played the role Toby Dammit in Fillini’s section of Tre passi nel delirio which featured three adaptations of stories by Poe
· Irma Vep is from the film Les Vampires
· Dr Orlof is from the film The Awful Doctor Orloff (aka The Demon Doctor; Screams in the Night)
Paul Chamberlain adds:
· Max Brock - the (excruciatingly bad) beat poet from Roger Corman's A Bucket of Blood
· Flattop/Frankenstein that attacks Bond also seems to be an amalgamation of Oddjob from Goldfinger (the razor brimmed bowler hat) and Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me (the steel teeth)
Paul Andinach adds:
· Don Simon Ysidro is a character from Barbara Hambly's novels (Those Who Hunt By Night (aka Immortal Blood) and Traveling With the Dead)
· There's a lovely joke about Bond reminding Beauregard of Sergeant Dravot: in the 1975 film of The Man Who Would Be King, Dravot was played by Sean Connery...
· Hamish Bond may be based on the Fleming novels, but the sequence with the Russian spymaster (with the white cat -- you know) plays with the movies. Flattop's movie influences have already been noted; the secret base plays on the general perception of Bond Movie Villain Secret Bases, if not on any particular one; and the cat-holding man whose face is always in the shadows is based on the way Blofeld appeared in the movie of From Russia With Love: his face was always off screen or turned away from the camera, and whenever he spoke the camera went for a close-up of his omnipresent pet cat. (A cat which, incidentally, doesn't exist in the books.)
Mark Odell also adds:
· The American yard-wide Kansas quarterback named Kent - Standing in for the late, great Steve Reeves (who was also from Kansas)
· Miriam Blaylock: Catherine Deneuve's character from Tony Scott's film The Hunger (1983)
· Jonas Cord: from Harold Robbins' novel The Carpetbaggers (and the 1966 film starring George Peppard)
· Chriseis: also from Incense for the Damned aka Bloodsuckers, 1970 film
Brian Combe adds:
· Flattop, as the Frankenstein creature, also has the teeth of Jaws from the films The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, and the bowler hat of Oddjob from the film Goldfinger. His name probably refers to the Dick Tracy character and his inclusion is a reference to the film version of Casino Royale. Another pointer to that film is the conjuring antics of Orson Welles. Another connection to Mr Welles is the appearance of the Martian from War of the Worlds.
· The clay creature may also be a link with the DC universe, as besides being the Golem he may also be Clayface from the Batman comics.
Steve Kydd chimes in with:
· The "unhappy-looking hollow-cheeks named Collins...a rare American vampire" (pp 160-1), is Barnabas Collins from the TV series Dark Shadows
· Joshua York (p.163), one of the guests at the wedding, is a vampire from Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
· Edward Weyland (p. 163), another wedding guest, is from The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas
· Hugh Farnham (p. 163) - wedding guest again - is a vampire-like character from Kim Newman's Bad Dreams
· Edmund Cordery (p. 208) is a vampire researcher from Brian Stableford's The Empire of Fear
· And just in case anyone missed it, there's that great joke on p. 261: Genevieve notices that Hamish Bond has changed subtly: "There was something different about him. He was the sort who always seems to be play-acting, taking a part. But the quality of his acting had changed, become broader, less convincing. He'd been expressing himself too much with his eyebrows. The Scots in his accent had faded." This of course refers to the Roger Moore, famed for his eyebrow-gymnastics, taking over from Sean Connery as James Bond in the film series.
Kim Newman writes me with some additional information:
· ANIBAS -- is from the remake of LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO
· PETER BLOOD -- is the one from the film DR BLOOD'S COFFIN
· Though the MOTHER OF TEARS is from Argento's trilogy, her various aspects come from other European films -- the little girl is from Fellini's Toby Dammit, Viridiana from Luis Bunuel's film of that name, Mamma Roma from Pasolini's film of that name and the old furtune-teller from BICYCLE THIEVES.
The author, Kim Newman , December 31, 1998
"Besides the three novels, the Anno Dracula series includes 'Coppola's Dracula,' a novella published in Stephen Jones's The Mammoth Book of Dracula (and his The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: 1998, and available on the web at the Infinity Plus site). I am about to start work on another novella, 'Andy Warhol's Dracula,' which further extends the series into the late 1970s. It is my current plan to fix up these two pieces, along with a section set in Los Angeles, into a novel with the preliminary title Johnny Alucard: Anno Dracula 1976-79. That may well be it, at least for a while."
More recent news: 'The Other Side of Midnight', the last short story in the Anno Dracula triptych, is now finished. It is proposed the three stories ('Coppola's Dracula' and 'Andy Warhol's Dracula' being the previous two stories) will be published as a novel entitled Johnny Alucard.
1976 Coppola's Dracula (in The Mammoth Book of Dracula, Stephen Jones, ed., Carroll & Graf, 1997) or read it online.
Again, I'm skipping references to real persons and sticking with the fictional borrowed characters.
· Baron Meinster (The Brides of Dracula, 1960 film, English)
1977 Castle in the Desert: Anno Dracula 1977. Read it online.
I'm skipping references to real persons and listing the fictional borrowed characters. This list is compiled by Loki Carbis, Jess Nevins, Dennis Power, Jean-Marc Lofficier, and Win Eckert
· narrated by Philip Marlowe
· Castle in the Desert is a Charlie Chan movie with the Manderlys as main characters
· Jim Rockford - The Rockford Files
· The Anti-Life Equation - taken from Jack Kirby's Fourth World comics line at DC
· R.D. (The Rubber Duck) - Convoy
· Khorda/General Iorga - Count Yorga, Vampire
· "A funny little Chinaman from Hawaii" - Charlie Chan
· Ohlrig from Max Ophuls' Caught
· Poodle Springs from Chandler's/Parker's Poodle Springs
· Wild Angels motorcycle gang from the eponymous 1966 film
· Sternwood case from Chandler's The Big Sleep
· Lady in the Lake from Chandler's Lady in the Lake
· Bernie Ohls is Marlowe's cop buddy in Chandler's books
· Sonny Tufts was a minor Hollywood actor with a well-earned reputation for drunkenness and brutal behavior
· Manderly Castle is from Rebecca
· Noah Cross was John Huston's character (also known as "The Epitome of Evil") in Chinatown
· L. Keith Winton and his "new religion that involves the faithful giving himall their money" -- a reference to L. Ron Hubbard
· Geneviève Dieudonné is from Anno Dracula
· "A funny little Chinaman from Hawaii" - Charlie Chan
· Linda Loring - Playback by Raymond Chandler and Poodle Springs by Chandler/Parker
· Chief Ed Exley from L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
· Lew Archer, hard-boiled private eye from books by Ross MacDonald
· Last paragraph: "long goodbye" and "big sleep" are references to Marlowe novels of the same name by Chandler
Kim Newman writes me with some additional information:
· L. Keith Winton is a reference to Hubbard, but the character comes from Fredric Brown's What Mad Universe? I added the L, though.
· I intended Smith Ohlrig Jr to be the son of the character played by Robert Ryan in Caught.
Hooper_X adds:
· Genevieve's red Plymouth Fury is a reference to Stephen King's Christine
Dan Cziraky points out that:
· Diane LeFanu is from the film The Velvet Vampire (1971), and she was played by Celeste Yarnell
Michael Turyn adds:
· Iorga/Khorda -- their being one-and-the-same is a joke on the fact that Robert Quarry played both Count Yorga (Count Yorga, Vampire and The Return of Count Yorga) and Khorda the Deathmaster (Deathmaster)
1978-79 Andy Warhol's Dracula: Anno Dracula 1978-1979. Read it online.
· Tony Manero (Saturday Night Fever, 1977 film)
· Lestat de Lioncourt and Claudia (Anne Rice's vampire series)
· Andrew Bennet (I, Vampire, DC Comics)
· Rozokov (Dimitri Rozokov, Nancy Baker's vampire series)
· Bald detective in a good suit (Kojak)
· Hippy cop (Serpico)
· Maniac driver in the porkpie hat, Doyle, the cop who swore to break the Transylvania Connection ("Popeye" Doyle, The French Connection, film)
· Baron Meinster (The Brides of Dracula, 1960 film, English)
· Jonathan and Jennifer Hart (Hart to Hart television series)
· Batman and Wayne Foundation (Batman, DC Comics)
· Spider-Man and the Daily Bugle newspaper (Spider-Man, Marvel Comics)
· Michael Corleone (The Godfather Parts I & II)
· Corrado Prizzi (Prizzi's Honor, novel by Richard Condon, and film)
· Victor Von Doom (Doctor Doom, Fantastic Four, Marvel Comics)
· Travis, the taxi driver Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver, film)
· Apollo Creed (Rocky films)
This is as far as I got. Then some other Kim Newman fans stepped up to help me out: Loki Carbis, Heath Graham, Andrew McLean, and Hooper_X. Thank you gentlemen. Here's the remainder of the list:
· Sonja Blue (from Nancy A. Collins story Sunglasses After Dark and sequels)
· Skeeter - (Vamps, Vertigo Comics)
· Black hunter who is half vampire (Blade, Marvel Comics)
· Beatnik with the van and the dog (Shaggy and Scooby Doo)
· A couple who look like David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve, but turn out to be someone else (the two vampires from the film The Hunger)
· A red-skinned turncoat devil boy with the tail and sawn-off horns (Hellboy)
· The exterminator with the skull on his chest and a flame-thrower in his hands (The Punisher, Marvel Comics)
· Nocturna (not sure about the character as described, but there was a Nocturna who was a love interest of Batman in the seventies and eighties)
· The Bramford (where Johnny lives - Rosemary's Baby)
· Patrick Bateman (American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis)
· Nothing (Lost Souls, Poppy Z Brite)
· "The demon Pazuzu" is the "star," so-to-speak of William Peter Blatty's novel The Exorcist
· Elvira (well, ... Elvira (aka Cassandra Peterson) - almost going beyond the "fictional" characters with this one...)
Hooper_X adds quite a few:
· Hal Phillip Walker (politician from Robert Altman's Nashville)
· Adrian Woodhouse (Rosemary's Baby)
· Satanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek, From Dusk Til Dawn)
· Roy Race (comic book soccer player)
· Carmilla Karnstein (title character of Carmilla by J. Sheridan LeFanu)
· The characters Youngblood Priest and Tommy Gibbs appear. They are better known as Superfly and Black Caesar, from the films of the same name
Nick Ramos adds:
· Rudy Pasko is the subterranean badass vampire from Light at the End by Skipp and Spector
Michael Turyn adds:
· "And their bodies were weapons, a finished blade, an arrow shaft." (One is Blade, the other is Shaft; Kim Newman tells me that he's "sorry about the arrow-related pun")
· "The money was on the polished oak dining table, in attaché cases. It had already been counted, but Johnny sat down and did it again. Rudy called him 'the Count,' almost mockingly. The boy didn't understand; the money wasn't Johnny's until it was counted." (This is reference to Sesame Street's "The Count" who counts compulsively)
· "He couldn't keep Andy's blood down. His stomach heaved, and gouts poured from his mouth and nose." (Reference to the best-known image (of Udo Kier) from the movie Andy Warhol's 'Dracula'/Blood for Dracula)
Mark Odell adds:
· Scumbalina: from the film Geek Maggot Bingo (1983)
· Frank White: Christopher Walken's character from Abel Ferrara's film King of New York (1990)
· Thana: Zoe Tamerlis' character from Abel Ferrara's film MS. 45 (1981)
· "An architect, on his own crusade...": Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) from Death Wish (1974) and sequels, alas
Kim Newman writes me with this information:
· NOCTURNA -- refers to both the DC Comics character and Nai Bonet as Dracula's disco granddaughter in the film NOCTURNA
1980 Who Dares Wins: Anno Dracula 1980. Read it online.
Skipping references to real persons and noting only fictional borrowed characters:
· Baron Meinster (The Brides of Dracula, 1960 film, English)
· Sergeant Dravot (The Man Who Would Be King, Rudyard Kipling)
· Inspector Cherry (detective, novels by Peter Van Greenaway)
· Caleb Croft (Grave of the Vampire, aka Seed of Terror, 1972)
· Hamish Bond (Ian Fleming's James Bond)
· Lord Ruthven (from the 1819 novel The Vampire by Dr. John Polidori)
· Graf von Orlok (Nosferatu)
Steve Smith adds:
· "An elderly bobby, survivor of a more genial past." I believe this refers to Dixon of Dock Green, a British TV series
And Paul Chamberlain adds:
· A character, Patricia Rice appears. It mentions her great-uncle was a famous comedian. This is probably a reference to Archie Rice, the protagonist of John Osborne's play The Entertainer.
1981 The Other Side of Midnight (in the anthology Vampire Sextette, Science Fiction Book Club)
Again, real people and events are not listed, just fictional cross-references.
· Don Drago Robles (Curse of the Undead, 1959; film about a vampire gunfighter in the old West)
· Baron Meinster (The Brides of Dracula, 1960 film, English)
· Timmy Valentine (rock star vampire in Vampire Junction and Vanitas, novels by S.P. Somtow)
· Esoteric Order of Dagon (Innsmouth cycle of Cthulhu Mythos stories by H.P. Lovecraft and others)
· Marty Burns (former child star (from hit sitcom Salt and Pepper) and detective, created by Jay S. Russell)
· Red 1958 Plymouth Fury (Christine, Stephen King)
· Annie Wilkes (Misery, Stephen King)
· Carmilla Karnstein (title character of Carmilla by J. Sheridan LeFanu)
· Asa Vadja (Barbara Steele, Las Maschera del Demonio aka Black Sunday)
· Barbara Dahl Winters aka Barbie the Vampire Slayer (analogue of Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer film and television show)
· Overlooker (analogue for Watcher, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
· Ernest Ralph Gorse (from the novels The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr. Gorse and Unknown Assailant by Patrick Hamilton; also in The Charmer, British television)
· Crumpled little police lieutentant in overcoat with Frach car and on glass eye who always says, “There’s just one think I don’t understand…” (Columbo)
· Chief Exley (L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy)
· Count Von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne, Dance of the Vampires (The Fearless Vampire Killers))
· Beth Davenport (attorney on The Rockford Files)
· Officer Baker (Officer Jon Baker, ChiPs television program)
· Adrian Marcato (Rosemary’s Baby, 1968 film)
· New Orleans-based Elders (reference to Anne Rice’s vampire novels)
· Visaria (locale in many horror/monster films from Universal)
· Borgo Pass (locale in Bram Stoker's Dracula)
Kim Newman writes to tell me:
· The 'Barbara Dahl' part is also a reference to Mattel's Barbie Doll, if she counts as a character. I know Mattel have put out Star Trek and X-Files Barbie and Ken, but if they did a Buffy and Angel tie-in, the dolls would just look like their regular product.
· Shadow Bay is the setting of Dennis Etchison's novel Shadowman. And the Nighthawks Diner is from his short story 'The Late Shift' (not to mention the painting by Edward Hopper). Jack Martin is a pseudonym Dennis uses, and has appeared as a character in his books and stories.
Dennis Power and Brad Mengel add:
· Moondoggie (Gidget)
· Dirk Diggler (main character of Boogie Nights, film, 1999)
and Dennis Power also identified these:
· Noah Cross (Chinatown)
· Mariphasa lupino lumino (flower from Werewolf of London)
· Audriensis junior (man-eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors)
· Triffidus celestus mobile (intelligent plants from Day of the Triffids)
· Sharkko Press (a reference to the person who cheated Phil Farmer out his money for the first Riverworld novel)
· Tenebrous Twilight (another name for Dark Shadows)
· The Dude (Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski from the film The Big Lebowski, 1998)
· The Sawyers (Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
· Anchor persons Karen White and Lew Landers (from the film The Howling, although Lew also makes an appearance in Gremlins)
· Lina Lamont (silent film star from Singin' in the Rain)
· Blanche Hudson (former film star from What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)
· Norma Desmond (from Sunset Boulevard)
Loki Carbis adds:
· "Simon Sharp" the slayer's stake, is a parody of "Mr. Pointy" (the name of Buffy's favourite stake in the TV show)
· 'In-bred backwoods brood... struck it rich down in Texas, and moved to Beverly Hills.' (The Beverly Hillbillies)
· Orson Welles Count Dracula has stage directions which parallel those of Touch of Evil, and his The Other Side of Midnight has stage directions which parallel those of Citizen Kane
Matthew Davis adds:
· Jack Horner is from the film Boogie Nights
· Griffin Mill is from the film/book The Player
· Boris Adrian is from Blue Movie by Terry Southern
· Pat Hobby is a hack screenwriter from a series of short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald
· Miracle Pictures is from the film Hollywood Boulevard
David Serchay adds:
· One of the porn actresses is Holly Body, and while there is a real porn star with that name, I have a feeling Newman was referring to Melanie Griffith's character in Body Double
1984 You Are the Wind Beneath My Wings: Anno Dracula 1984 (in Horror Garage No. 3)
Real people and events are not listed, only fictional cross-references. This list is compiled by (in no particular order) Jess Nevins, Dennis Power, Steven Costa, Loki Carbis, Greg Gick, Dan Cziraky, Matthew Rutsala, Rick Lai and Win Eckert.
· Rogers (Steve Rogers, aka Captain America)
· Nazi vampire superman with scarlet skulls (a reference to the Red Skull from the Captain America comics)
· The Shop (covert government agency from Stephen King's Firestarter)
· Maverick and Iceman (Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and Lieutenant Tom 'Iceman' Kazanski from the film Top Gun)
· Desire (female vampire-demon played by Barbara Stock from 1982 TV-movie Desire, the Vampire, aka I, Desire)
· Jedburgh (Darius Jedburgh, a CIA agent, Edge of Darkness, 1986)
· The Confessor (a vampire from Kurt Busiek's Astro City comics)
· Nikita (from the French film Nikita, aka La Femme Nikita)
· The Angel (this character affects white eagle feathers instead of leathery bat wings, and dies in the process; he is probably meant to be the Angel from Marvel Comics' X-Men)
· Vincent Velcro (Sgt. Vincent Velcro, a vampire soldier from DC Comics' The Creature Commandos)
· Dr. Paul Beecher (The Vampire, 1957)
· Dr. Darryl Revok of the ESP division (Scanners, 1981)
· Alexis Ziska (Baron Alexis Zane Ziska from The Vampire by Sydney Horler)
· Baron Lajos Czuczron (Baron Lajos Czuczron fought Jules de Grandin in Seabury Quinn's The Man Who Cast No Shadow)
· Baron Meinster (The Brides of Dracula, 1960 film, English)
· Asa Vajda (Las Maschera del Demonio, aka Black Sunday)
· Rainbird of Infiltration and Liquidation (character from Stephen King's novel Firestarter)
· Caleb Croft (Grave of the Vampire, aka Seed of Terror, 1972)
· CIA analyst named Ryan (Jack Ryan, from Tom Clancy's series of techno-thrillers)
· Graf von Orlok (Nosferatu)
· Andrews, the gaunt pilot (from Stephen King's The Night Flyer)
Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series has even inspired online fiction by other writers:
1988-1989 Tim Burton's Red Reign: Anno Dracula 1988-1989 by Dan Cziraky. Read it online.
In general, real people and events are not listed (except to demonstrate parallel themes), only fictional cross-references.
· Gomez, Morticia, and Fester Addams, and Thing (The Addams Family; actor Jack Nicholson's flirtation with Morticia is a play on his prior relationship with Angelica Huston, who played Morticia in the film versions of The Addams Family; Nicholson's role in Burton's third film, Red Reign, is analogous to Nicholson participating in the "real" Tim Burton's third film, Batman)
· The character Renfield (actor Tracey Walter plays Renfield; in our universe Walter was also in Burton's Batman as Bob the Goon)
· The character Charles Beauregard (actor Michael Keaton plays Beauregard; in our universe Keaton played Bruce Wayne/Batman)
· The character Van Helsing (actor Michael Gough plays Van Helsing; in our universe Gough played Alfred the butler in Burton's Batman)
· Baron Meinster (The Brides of Dracula, 1960 film, English)
· The dictator Von Doom (Dr. Victor von Doom from Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four)
· Janos Skorzany (Janos Skorzeny from the original Kolchak: The Night Stalker novel by Jeff Rice and T.V. movie; another Janos Skorzeny was a character played by Chuck Connors in the television program Werewolf (1987-88))
· Lord Ruthven (from the 1819 novel The Vampire by Dr. John Polidori)
· Graf Orlok (Nosferatu)
· Anton Phibes (Vincent Price, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, 1971; Dr. Phibes Rises Again, 1972)
· The Paris Opera House and Monsieur Erik (Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera)
· The character Dr. Caligari (Danny DeVito plays Caligari in the film sequel, The Bloody Red Baron; in the real universe, DeVito was in the Batman sequel, Batman Returns)
· Many other actors involved in Burton films in this universe, such as Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, and Kim Basinger, are mentioned as appearing in analogous Burton films in the Anno Dracula Universe)
Dan Cziraky adds the following:
· I'd add Raoul Duke, author of BLOOD AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS. Duke, of course, was Hunter S. Thompson's pseudonym in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS. Since Newman put Carl Kolchak in the first ANNO DRACULA book, set in 1888, I decided that Duke would be the substitute reporter that stakes Skorzany in Las Vegas. Of course, Johnny Depp played Duke/Thompson in the film version of FEAR AND LOATHING.
· You might also add Tommy Lee Jones and Joel Schumacher, as the film THE LOVES OF GENERAL IORGA is meant to parallel BATMAN FOREVER.
· Dr. Quincy, mentioned in passing in reference to BLOOD AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, is the Jack Klugman TV-series character.
· "Kate had seen such pendants before. They had been sold around 1975 to raise money for Baron Meinster's Transylvanian Movement, which had hoped to establish a vampire homeland on Dracula's old estates in Transylvania." Of course, this whole sequence refers to the Dracula's Castle Dirt pendants sold by the Captain Company in Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, and Famous Monsters of Filmland magazines in the '70s.
· It should be noted that while this story is set in the ANNO DRACULA universe, it DOES violate continuity in that is supposes Dracula is STILL DEAD. Once Newman publishes JOHNNY ALUCARD, we'll see Dracula resurrected. (C'mon! It's Dracula -- he NEVER stays dead!)
Many thanks for their assistance on all the lists: Paul Andinach, Andrew J. Brook, Mark Brown, Loki Carbis, Brian Combe, Steven Costa, Dan Cziraky, Chris Davies, Matthew Davis, Vincent Fish, Greg Gick, Heath Graham, Hooper_X, Steve Greenfield, Steve Kydd, Rick Lai, Rob Lewis, Jean-Marc Lofficier, Andrew McLean, Brad Mengel, Lou Mougin, Jess Nevins, Mark Odell, Dennis Power, Nick Ramos, Matthew Rutsala, Tristan Sargent, David Serchay, Royce Testa, Michael Turyn, and, of course, Kim Newman(!)
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