In the Footsteps of Dracula

The 33 stories and one poem in this overstuffed horror omnibus combine in a sanguinary celebration of Count Dracula and the malleability of the vampire theme. Beginning with a dramatic prologue that Bram Stoker adapted from his own landmark novel, Jones (In the Shadow of Frankenstein) organizes his selections into a “loose historical chronicle of Count Dracula” over the centuries and stitches several classic stories—including Manly Wade Wellman’s Dracula-versus-Nazis gem, “The Devil Is Not Mocked,” and Ramsey Campbell’s EC Comics–style shocker, “Conversion”—into a tapestry primarily fashioned from contemporary tales. Nancy Holder’s “Blood Freak” recounts Dracula’s meeting with Timothy Leary. Brian Hodge proposes a Pope Dracula in “The Last Testament.” In Kim Newman’s behind-the-scenes tell-all, “Coppola’s Dracula,” the movie’s fiasco-filled filming is clearly modeled on Apocalypse Now. Not all of the book’s stories feature Dracula himself—Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse zinger, “Dracula Night,” tantalizes with his possible appearance—but all attest vividly to the long shadow he has cast over supernatural fiction. (Oct.)