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- Dracula
universe144 books1897
Start hereDracula · Start here
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"Come freely. Go safely. And leave something of the happiness you bring" — so the Count greets his guest at the threshold of the Carpathians, and the great door shuts behind. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) is the wellspring of the modern vampire: the account of a centuries-old Transylvanian nobleman who quits his crumbling castle for the crowded lodging-houses of London, and the handful of ordinary people — a young solicitor, a doctor of the mad, a professor of stranger learning — who must piece together what he is before he makes the whole city his fold. It is told wholly in fragments: journal entries, letters, telegrams, ships' logs, phonograph cylinders, each hand recording only its own sliver of the dark. Around that single novel a whole crypt of continuations has grown, raised by many writers across a century. Fred Saberhagen's Dracula Sequence hands the Count the microphone, retelling the old events from his own wry, aggrieved lips and following him into later intrigues. Robert Lory's brisk 1970s Dracula Horror Series revives him as a reluctant weapon turned against fouler things; Peter Tremayne's trilogy reaches back along his bloodline; and further sequels, a Quincey Morris spin-off, and Dracula's Children carry the shadow onward. This is a loose shared world built upon a public-domain figure, not one governed continuity — each author remakes him as villain, antihero, or sympathetic narrator. Begin, always, with Stoker's original; the letters and the mounting dread stand entirely on their own. From there follow whichever door tempts you — Saberhagen's The Dracula Tape for the monster's own confession, Lory or Tremayne for tales that never glance back at the Borgo Pass again.
- The Stress of Her Regard Universe
series3 books1989
similar byvampireshistorical fantasydark19th century+1 more
Tim Powers's The Stress of Her Regard reimagines the lives of Byron, Shelley, and Keats through a secret history in which they are stalked and inspired by a nephilim, a shape-shifting vampiric being that acts as a deadly muse. Physician Michael Crawford is drawn into their orbit after inadvertently marrying himself to one of the creatures, setting off a pursuit across the Alps to break her hold on him. The 2012 sequel, Hide Me Among the Graves, moves the same secret history forward into Victorian London.
- The Dragon Waiting
John M. Fordstandalone novel1983
similar byvampireshistorical fantasydarkeurope
The Dragon Waiting: A Masque of History is a 1983 historical fantasy novel by American writer John M. Ford. It won the 1984 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. This book, set in an alternate history, contains such plot elements as vampirism, the House of Medici, and the convoluted English politics surrounding Edward IV and Richard III. It also deals with the fate of the Princes in the Tower.
- James Asher Chronicles
series8 books1988
similar byvampires+3 more
The James Asher Chronicles opens with Those Who Hunt the Night, in which the vampire Don Simon Ysidro coerces a former British spy, Oxford professor James Asher, into finding out who is killing London's vampires in their sleep - forcing Asher and his physician wife Lydia into an uneasy alliance with the undead. Barbara Hambly's series follows the trio across eight books and three decades of settings as new supernatural and human threats draw Asher back into Ysidro's world.
- The Vampire Chronicles
series15 books1976
completed
similar byvampiresdark+1 more
The Vampire Chronicles is a series of Gothic vampire novels and a media franchise, created by American author Anne Rice, that revolves around the fictional character Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman turned into a vampire in the 18th century.
- Mircea Basarab
series1 book2014
part of Cassandra Palmer
similar byvampireshistorical fantasydarkeurope
- Vampires of El Norte
Isabel Cañasstandalone novel2023
similar byvampireshistorical fantasy19th century+1 more
Vampires of El Norte is a 2023 novel by Isabel Cañas. The novel centers on the romance between Nena, daughter of a ranchero, and the vaquero Néstor. The novel takes place during the Mexican–American War, with the addition of vampires.
- Blue Dawn Over Gettysburg
Joe DeSantisstandalone novel2008
similar byvampireshistorical fantasy19th century+1 more
A newly turned vampire escapes from his master and tries to use his abilities to win the battle of Gettysburg and the US Civil War for the North.
- The Blood of the Vampire
Florence Marryatstandalone novel1897
similar byvampiresdarkeurope19th century
The Blood of the Vampire is a Gothic novel by Florence Marryat, published in 1897. The protagonist, Harriet Brandt, is a mixed-race psychic vampire who kills unintentionally. The novel follows Harriet after she leaves a Jamaican convent for Europe, and her ill-fated attempts to integrate with Victorian society.
- The Golden
Lucius Shepardstandalone novel1993
similar byvampiresdarkeurope19th century
Deviating from traditional tales that feature lonely vampires who prowl through human society in search of victims or solace, this account of vampires flourishing in their own "inhuman society" takes place in the year 1860, when their centuries-long breeding experiments have finally produced "The Golden," a mortal whose blood is perfect and powerful. Mobilized by the news of this discovery, aristocratic vampire clans arrive at the looming Castle Banat, where they plan to partake of the sublime blood. To their shock, the guests find that The Golden, a young girl, has been brutally murdered and her blood already drained. The story also follows the Inspector Michael Beheim—a recent vampire—assigned to track down the killer. Recounted in full 19th-century literary style with gothic elements and foreshadowing, the inspector navigates his way through the vampire world and the crime therein.
- The Secret Life of Laszlo, Count Dracula
Roderick Anscombestandalone novel1994
similar bydarkeurope19th century+1 more
From the front flap of the Hyperion first edition: "In his mesmerizing fictional debut, psychiatrist Roderick Anscombe takes readers into the fevered mind of Count Dracula the man - aristocrat, doctor, and helpless killer of young women. There are no vampires in this stunningly erotic reinvention of the classic myth, only tormented human beings. Tortured by his own perverse desires, the distinguished Dr. Dracula is drawn to possess and destroy young women, first in Paris where he is studying with the renowned pioneer of hypnosis, Charcot, and then in the Hungarian countryside, as the Count takes over the deteriorating family estate. Even as he maintains the facade of the aristocratic life, Dracula is drawn inexorably into a world of violent emotion, blood lust, and self-loathing. Swirling between the scientific fact and superstition of the day - and propelled into the medical epidemics and politics of the Austro-Hungarian empire - Dracula becomes a public saint and a private savage, and all the while a plausible and pitiable human being."
- Fevre Dream
George R. R. Martinstandalone novel1982
similar byvampiresdark19th century
Fevre Dream is a 1982 vampire novel written by American author George R. R. Martin. It is set on the antebellum Mississippi River, beginning in 1857, and has been described by critics and Martin himself as "Bram Stoker meets Mark Twain". About writing the novel, Martin said that "It was strongly influenced by the time I spent in Dubuque, Iowa, where river steamboats were once built".
- All Souls
series5 books2011
similar byvampireshistorical fantasyeurope
A Discovery of Witches is a 2011 historical-fantasy novel and the debut novel by American scholar Deborah Harkness. It follows Diana Bishop, a history of science professor at Yale University, as she embraces her magical blood after finding a long-thought-lost manuscript and engages in a forbidden romance with a charming vampire, Matthew Clairmont.
