Customer Reviews

The Book of Renfield: A Gospel of Dracula

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In this imaginative novel, Tim Lucas fills in the backstory of Renfield, the memorable character from Bram Stoker's "Dracula." Lucas also adds the notion that Stoker's novel was actually a work of non-fiction, and "The Book of Renfield" is made up of Dr. Seward's journal entries and transcriptions of conversations with Renfield. We learn about Renfield's tragic childhood, and Lucas constructs these scenes in a way that is sad without crossing over into the maudlin. Throughout the course of the book, Lucas expertly supplements Stoker's novel without resorting to simply retelling the story (indeed, if you're looking for Dracula's vampire antics, then look elsewhere; the Count is, at best, a peripheral character in this novel), and the deeper you get into the novel, the more you appreciate its intricate construction and bold imagination.

Right now, this book is largely unknown outside of the horror circles on the internet and those who know Lucas as the publisher of the magazine Video Watchdog. This has the potential to be one of the unsung sleeper hits of the year. It's certainly going to be in my top picks of 2005.

After the events that led to the death of Dracula, the four principal players keep quiet about what happened as if by keeping silent, they can pretend Evil doesn't exist in the world. Seven years later, Jonathan and Mina Harker, Dr. Seward and Arthur think the world needs to know the truth that Evil does exist and culling their diaries, journals, letters and photographic recordings, they created a work called Dracula written collectively by four people but credit given to one Bram Stoker.

Dr. John Steward, the owner and chief administrator of Carfax Asylum, feels the book Dracula doesn't dwell enough on the role R.M. Renfield played in the horrific ordeal. Through notes, recordings, papers and journals, Dr. Seward comes to see that Renfield has been Dracula's pawn most of his life, placed in the asylum in order to gain entry to the edifice so he can get close to Mina. Renfield's death (or rather murder) was his last attempt to save Mina from the clutches of his Master.

Told in the form of journal entries, diary comments and conversations between the doctor and Renfield, readers feel sorry for the man who was abandoned as an infant and thus was easy prey for Dracula to convert him into one of his minions. Although at times he is pathetic and acts in a disgusting manner, his lifelong fight to be free of Dracula and his attempt to stop him from going after Mina raises him to heroic proportions in Dr. Seward's eyes years after his death. Dracula fans will love reading this side tale of the legendary vampire.

Harriet Klausner

I was totally unprepared for just how good this book is. Now, if all you're interested in is vapid or sensationalistic blood prose, you should perhaps move on. THE BOOK OF RENFIELD is a serious and thought-provoking book. It is not only a treat for devotees of the original novel, DRACULA, but is so beautifully-written it will be savored by readers who appreciate the well-turned phrase as well as something of an intellectual challenge. In a subtle way, the book also functions as literary criticsm/analysis - or even living history, if you will, as the reader is inevitably led to consider in some depth the original intentions of Stoker and the implications of his plot and characterizations. Lucas actually has me wanting to re-read DRACULA - if only because I am certain I will gain new insights.

Prior to reading THE BOOK OF RENFIELD I read the best-selling JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL, a novel which also takes great pains to evoke the literature of another era - to great success. However, in my estimation, THE BOOK OF RENFIELD is the superior novel.

...has arrived from Video Watchdog editor and cult film expert Tim Lucas: THE BOOK OF RENFIELD-A GOSPEL OF DRACULA, a companion piece to Bram Stoker's vampire classic. It's a testament to the greatness of storytelling when the 400+ pages book telling the tale can be read inside 72 hours. This is the case with THE BOOK OF RENFIELD. I picked this up recently, not knowing what to expect, and was quickly hooked by Tim's fascinating idea. The story is brought to exciting life by an exacting attention to DRACULA's idiom, though all the while being a very accessible read. Indeed, this is one of the most remarkable pastiches I've ever read. It's as if someone discovered a long-lost series of chapters excluded from Stoker's novel, penned by the man himself. But is the story involving? On all counts, a resounding "Yes"! The reader will come to know Renfield, as they never have before, sharing in his pains and fears. The chronicle of his early years in particular is incredibly poignant. But is there horror, macabre imagery? Oh yes. Enjoy the eerie presence of "Milady". Enjoy the whole book, and then savor the novel's brief appendix, which gives rise to interesting interpretation.

Don't miss this unique work. Buy THE BOOK OF RENFIELD!

When I first picked up this book I didn't know what to expect. I've always loved Bram Stoker's Dracula and it just seemed natural to want to read this after I saw a review in Realms of Fantasy magazine. I must say it was very interesting to read the fictional accounts of Renfield from his own perspective and the perspective of Dr. Seward, and I really got into Renfield's childhood narrative. It was interesting to see a probable back history of such a fascinating literary character, and it was equally interesting to read of Dr. Seward's tribulations after the death of Lucy. Parts of the book was basically rereading Stoker as Lucas used excerpts of that book to aide with the story, and that's the part that I feel was an interesting literary experiment. From Seward's perspective Stoker had merely transformed the diaries of the other main characters in the original novel and published the work as fiction. From my standpoint he managed to blend the tone and flavor of his own work with Stoker's really well. The only part I didn't like was near the conclusion where Renfield left his childhood home. I think more detail was needed about this point, and I was left with a feeling that Lucas simply was hurrying to the climax, which was very well written. It's just that it seemed to me there was a buildup and then a bit of a let down in the transition between when he leaves his home and when he first encounters Dracula. If you are a fan of the Dracula lore, then you must read this.

"Yes, I was back at the scene of my earlier, recurring nightmare...but now I was being lifted out of the carpetbag at the foot of that tall tree by Milady! I felt such contentment, such gratitude as she saved me from the darkness...I could see that I was being cradled in the half-human paws of something more animal than human...and from the edge of Milady's wry smile broke a long and glassy strand of heavy drool, wetting me - and then she turned her head swiftly as she became aware of another presence...It was a tall male shadow in a long black cloak...As I looked upon that figure, a pair of red eyes emerged from the darkness above its collar, as fiercely luminous as two blazing coals! Again I screamed...".

And so, in Tim Lucas's new novel THE BOOK OF RENFIELD, the infamous Impaler makes the scene. But let me start by saying that one of the author's triumphs is that this doesn't happen right away. In fact, as a reader, I was already being pulled along so that when this did happen, I actually had to back-track, having nearly forgotten of this character's existence in the tale. And that's no small feat in a book that dove-tails Stoker's masterpiece.

Now it has to be said: I have limited experience in this particular genre. Thinking back, many moons ago I read DRACULA but as far as I can recall that's the only vampire tale I've ever read (seen a few different films though). So as for where to place THE BOOK OF RENFIELD in the collective bastion I'll leave to the historians (pun intended, sorry). Even this being the case I'd forgotten most of the details of Stoker's novel(?). Knowing that I would finish reading it last night, I went out and rented Francis Ford Coppola's film as a post-aperitif. In a nutshell, were one to mirror the two, it seems to me they'd become nearly indistinguishable as far as compatibility issues are concerned.

But for myself I came at it as a tale in it's own right, and, I have to say, it's a great read. Tim Lucas looks to have a fine sense of developing a time and a place that fully engages the reader. One of my favorite literary devices has always been the development of Victorian-era friendships. I'm thinking along the lines of Conan-Doyle's Holmes & Watson, or Edgar Rice Burrough's THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT and any number of H.G. Well's small bands of scientific adventurers. There was a perhaps now seemingly quaint moral code or bond that developed between the characters that seems to have gone the way of the 19th Century itself. Now I don't recall how Bram Stoker fleshed this out, but it's to Tim Lucas's credit that he does a superb job in developing the relationship between Dr, Seward, Lord Godalming, Quincey P. Morris and the Harkers. The way that they care for each other ultimately becomes a barometer of how the reader cares for them.

The icing on the cake comes in the form of a reader's take on old Renfield himself. I won't spoil anything but there are A CLOCKWORK ORANGE-like moments here where sensitive readers could possibly find themselves appalled at their own inclinations. After one of the most brutally evil issuances unto death I've ever encountered on the page, it's odd to ultimately find one's self considering the perpetrator's redemption. Nicely done.

Now in the end any novel is judged on it's writing. The spinning of idealogical webs, the creation of interior and external monologues, character development, etc.. Be it spare and unadorned, or lavish and convoluted, the ability of a writer to create a lasting picture in a reader's mind is central to continuing engagement.

"As I turned my gaze down from on high, I was starled to find a dead bird at my feet - a swallow to be precise...Never before had I beheld a dead thing; it lay perfectly straight and stiff, its wings at its sides and its chest pushed proudly forward, with an expression on its face that I can only describe as noble. It would have looked no different had it been standing in a queue in Heaven, listening to a litany of praises while awaiting a medal to be pinned to its [...]. It looked like a perfectly dressed, serious, little man - with a beak, of course."

It was from this point on that I knew that as a reader I was in good hands. That little bird stayed with me throughout the novel. Masterfully put, I thought.

And it gets better. I won't spell it all out here as the book's available to all who want to read it - do so and you won't be disapointed. There's plenty to take in. Having just finished it myself, I'm still digesting all of the whole (still putting "Mother Nature" in perspective actually - is that who I think it is?). I guess where the author deserves at least one more note of praise has to be that having finished his novel, he has awakened a desire in this reader at least to re-engage the source novel. Something that I'm not sure I'd have done otherwise. Bram Stoker has a friend in Tim Lucas of which there can be no doubt.