Interview: Kim Newman Discusses His Novel ‘Anno Dracula’
Interview conducted by Stephanie Scaife – June 2011
Film critic, journalist, novelist and horror aficionado Kim Newman very kindly agreed to answer a few of my questions regarding the long awaited re-release of his 1992 novel Anno Dracula. An alternative history fictional narrative which poses an interesting question; what would have happened if Van Helsing had not been able to defeat Count Dracula, enabling him to proceed with his conquest of Great Britain?
Paving the streets of Victorian London with characters from fiction and history, along with a few unique creations of his own, Newman has created a wonderfully realised version of events where Jack the Ripper stalks vampire prostitutes and Queen Victoria has taken Count Dracula as her prince consort. The story centres around Charles Beauregard of the Diogenes Club and respected vampire elder Geneviève Dieudonné as they try to unravel the mystery of the Ripper murders whilst all around them the population is increasingly turning to vampirism and Dracula’s Carpathian guards impose a police state on the country.
Long before Abraham Lincoln killed any vampires or Mr Darcy did battle with the undead Newman’s Anno Dracula series was setting the bar extraordinarily high for the now popular mashup fiction genre and with this brand new edition we can revisit or discover afresh this intriguing gothic melodrama. Personally I was new to the novel and it has been the first to completely win me over to the genre, Newman is a compelling writer and he shows a clear passion for the subject matter making it difficult not to get sucked into the world he has created and play along trying to pick out who is who (everyone from Sherlock Holmes to Orson Welles pops up). I’d highly recommend picking up a copy.
BAH: Anno Dracula was first published in 1992, why almost 20 years later is it being re-released?
Kim: You’d have to ask the publishers (Titan) about that, really. They came to me. It’s been doing well for them, so I suppose they were right to think this was the time to bring the book back. It slipped out of print for boring publishing reasons, and I was surprised when I realised how long it had been since it was available. There’s always been an interest in the book, and I’m delighted it’s now finding new readers and satisfying older ones who lost their original copies or are just interested in the new material I’ve added.
BAH: I hadn’t been aware of Anno Dracula until recently and was surprised to learn how old it was as it still feels fresh and original, despite the recent influx of historical mashup fiction. What drew you to this genre originally and keeps you writing today?
Kim: When I wrote the book, it wasn’t unprecedented. I was well aware of Philip José Farmer’s Tarzan Alive and related books, and various Sherlock Holmes, Dracula or Jekyll & Hyde crossover-type books plus the beginnings of what is now thought of as steampunk. I especially liked Brian Stableford’s The Empire of Fear, Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, Harry Harrison’s A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!, Michael Moorcock’s The Warlord of the Air, Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates and Valerie Martin’s Mary Reilly. None of these are precisely what I wanted to do in Anno Dracula, but they were all precedents … if only because I assumed that if there were enough people who enjoyed and understood them they’d be able to get into what I was doing. I’ve always been interested in latching onto older works of fiction and looking at them from the other side or taking a different point of view of the world – it allows a mix of homage and criticism I find appealing, and allows for a playfulness that goes some way towards taking the edge of the undoubted grimness. I’ve not kept up to date with the recent mashups, which – perhaps unfairly – sound a bit gimmicky or contrived for my taste (yes, I know – I can talk).
BAH: One thing that struck me was the amount of research that must have gone into the book. Did you make a conscious decision to make it as historically accurate as possible?
Kim: Like several of my books, it’s probably needlessly over-researched. I get obsessive while I’m working and track down or come up with facts that aren’t strictly necessary. It’s still a fantasy and I put in several things to signal that beyond the supernatural elements. The glimpses of TV aerials in Victorian London are a nod to all those period films which get things a bit wrong and hope you don’t notice. Still, I went to some trouble (well, I read a lot of books) to get convincing material in there, and the plot let me visit every level of Victorian society from the gutters to the palaces so we get a full picture of what living in the world of Anno Dracula is like.
BAH: I felt that I actually learnt a lot from reading the book and I found myself constantly looking up characters to discover who they were and where they came from. Originally written before everyone had the internet, do you think this ability to instantly look something up hinders the reading experience or benefits it?
Kim: It might interrupt the flow a bit, and I tried to give the upfront action and character interplay enough charge so that if the reader doesn’t know who, say, Raffles is then they shouldn’t trip up on it. Whenever I use someone, it’s for a reason not just a contractually-obligated cameo. And I usually try to put in a bit of background context. I’m happy that people can puzzle it all out, though it’s not my primary interest in the books and I wasn’t intending to write a book that was like a crossword – there are a lot of things in there which are personal to me or just arbitrary, and so no amount of Googling is going to explain them away. I’m interested that you feel it’s educational – I think a lot of people read novels to learn about things, which does imply an obligation to be at least convincing. I also enjoy what amounts to painting the backdrops or marshalling the extras.
BAH: In the notes you mentioned having written a draft of a screenplay, do you think it’s likely we’ll ever see a film version of Anno Dracula?
Kim: There’s always interest, but I’m wary. Apart from anything else, it’s a big project – which means great expense, and there are factors mitigating against big expensive movies being as good as solid mid-list ones.
BAH: Each book in the Anno Dracula series is concerned with a different period in history, if you could go back in time, where and when would you go?
Kim: 1968, maybe. Get too far back and things like pre-anaesthetic dentistry start looking very unappealing. I’m going to write an Age of Aquarius Anno Dracula novella for inclusion in the third book (Dracula Cha Cha Cha) and I suspect I’d enjoy that year more as a grown-up.
BAH: Along with Anno Dracula your book Nightmare Movies, about the history of the contemporary horror film, has also just been updated and re-printed. Was this a conscious decision or merely a happy (if not busy) coincidence that they’ve both been released so soon after the other? Going back to these books with hindsight, was there much you wanted to change?
Kim: It’s a complete coincidence. In the case of Nightmare Movies, I had to write an entirely new book to stick onto the old one (it’s more than 50% new material); with Anno Dracula, I picked up a few misprints (properly, mistypings since they were mostly my fault) and added DVD-type extra materials because there seemed to be interest in making it a special edition. For The Bloody Red Baron and Dracula Cha Cha Cha, I’m adding substantial new novellas as sweeteners for those who already had the old editions. Plus notes and other items. I’m very happy both books are out again and winning new friends. I especially like that Amazon UK offers one of those buy-them-together deals to unite my two readerships. I feel a bit odd in that I’ve spent a couple of months publicising work I did over twenty years ago, though in both cases I’ve had bursts of recent activity to get the projects into shape. My next novel, Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the d’Urbervilles (from Titan), is new, so I’m not just resting on my laurels.
BAH: I love your Video Dungeon column in Empire, but after all these years and all these terrible movies, what keeps you interested and excited about the genre? Are there any films coming out that you are particularly looking forward to or recent releases that have impressed you?
Kim: Whenever I sit down to watch something, I try and set expectations aside and give a fair viewing … even when all previous experience suggests disappointment will ensue. I still love movies, and I can even enjoy films others might deem terrible – though the sameyness of, say, SyFy CGI monster movies or chained-up-and-tortured pictures gets wearisome. Still, I think it’s been a good year so far … Super 8, Drive, The Guard, Melancholia, Kaboom, True Grit, My Dog Tulip, Source Code, Hanna … plus reissues and revivals like Deep End, Cria Cuervos, Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, 1984. And I find gems every month for my ‘dungeon break-out’ spot. I insist you see all Larry Blamire’s films, starting with The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. I’ll have to watch a lot of schlock (I’m about to plunge into a weekend of it), but I know there’ll be good stuff there too.
BAH: Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions.
Kim: Thanks for the thoughtful enquiries. I hope the answers are of some interest.
Anno Dracula is now widely available from Titan Press and soon to follow are The Bloody Red Baron, Dracula Cha Cha Cha and the brand new fourth instalment in the series Johnny Alucard which is due to be published in 2012.
