BRAM STOKER'S TRAIL OF BLOOD

Here's a book that's shot right to the top of my "must read" list: Who Was Dracula? Bram Stoker's Trail of Blood by Jim Steinmeyer follows the creative development of Stoker's 1897 novel. DRACULA is a story I've been fascinated with my entire life, but Steinmeyer's book shows how perilously close the novel came to being a momentary blip on the cultural radar. SLATE has a look at the TRAIL OF BLOOD, including a page of notes that shows the development of the villains name.

From SLATE:

"The page shows how Stoker initially named the murderous Count “Wampyr,” the German word for vampire. Stoker discarded this idea after coming across a mention of a 15th-century Romanian warlord in a book on Eastern Europe. Steinmeyer notes that after striking Wampyr and replacing it with the new name, Stoker wrote “Dracula” across the top of the page three times, as though trying out its power."

"Who Was Dracula? Bram Stoker's Trail of Blood" is now available at Amazon.