Decoding Dracula: Handy Horror Guides Book 1

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Perfect for Dracula fans, you have to have this book! … I learned so much from this book. – Amazon Review

Decoding Dracula: Handy Horror Guides Book 1

Dracula, fiction’s most infamous monster.

An icon of evil. A shape-shifting, blood-slaking, creature of the darkness, both inhuman and super-human. Ruthless, cunning and ageless, he can spread his vileness like a plague, and no one is safe. Well over a century after his story was first published, Dracula’s influence still grows in every corner of popular culture.

From vampire erotica to children’s Halloween outfits, the mysterious count still holds our imagination as tightly as his fangs once gripped his victims’ throats. But here’s the thing. If you only know the evil Transylvanian aristocrat from the countless films, television shows, plays and games featuring him, you’re in for some surprises. For instance, the count wasn’t afraid of sunlight, and had no need to be. Neither was he killed by a stake through the heart.

Dracula’s a first edition ran to three hundred and ninety printed pages. And always needs heavy editing for screen adaptations. Decoding Dracula guides you through the action in this elaborate tale. It also delves into the REAL beliefs, practices, and people that combined to produce the story:

How the vampire myth took hold throughout Eastern Europe and spread globally.
Actual vampire scares in Europe and America.
Possible real-life models for the book’s heroes and villains.
The Irish connection.
Practical advice on how to become a vampire or defend against one [garlic & crucifixes will NOT always do the trick].
Tell-tale signs of a vampire.
The inspiration for the count’s castle.

Plus, we see how differently the tale affected those first Victorian readers than it does us. And learn how our modern love-hate relationship with pale lord of darkness developed from lowly beginnings…

About the Author

Dan Brand

Once, long, long ago, in an almost forgotten dark age, mankind lived in a state of primitive savagery. It was impossible to read a book on your phone, or even your computer. Those with a need to read were forced to leave the house and go to places called ‘book shops’. There, they handed over cash in return for bundles of tree pulp stamped with inky words and held together with glue (no, really!). Those short of money could borrow stories from ‘libraries’ – warehouses of tree pulp bundles. But the choice on offer was limited by book storage space and travelling distance.

Born in this backward era, little Dan Brand read whatever he could get his hands on. Without Amazon and Kindle to feed his addiction, he became a scavenger of libraries and book shops. And read everything from Dickens to pulp fiction about martial arts hit men. Grown-ups told him that being obsessed with books is poor preparation for real adult life. But, though a kid, he grasped what every story lover knows… real life SUCKS! Having turned author, Dan still champions the imaginative magic of fiction over the suckiness of real life.