Customer Reviews

The Holmes-Dracula File

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this phenomenal hybridization, Dracula makes his 2nd visit to Victorian London (his 1st being the original Stoker novel). Here he becomes embroiled in an unpublished Sherlock Holmes adventure featuring the heretofore unseen "giant rat of Sumatra." Saberhagen stays faithful to the original characterizations of both Doyle and Stoker, and intermixes the two in a fascinating adventure which, after reading the first several chapters, you will not be able to put down. A real page turner.

An unexpected yet successful association. This sequel to An Old Friend of the Family is even better than the original. It gives interesting informations about how vampires are made and gives a hint to those who always wondered how Holmes manage to be so good at investigating. For those who like detective and vampire novels.

I will state first that I'm a Stoker purist, and a fan of Holmes canon.

So from this perspective, this was a very interesting read. Saberhagen is able to capture the Doyle style very effectively, and the characters are very consistent. The story is told from alternating viewpoints of Dracula and Watson, and deals with events 6 years after Dracula was "killed" in Stoker's novel.

So why the two star reduction? Well, Holmes really departs from form near the end. I just didn't buy it. Also, in the middle of some of Watson's chapters, Dracula adds footnotes, which seemed a bit jarring. This seemed to make Dracula a little too omnipotent, almost like making him an editor of the book.

All in all, this is a fun read, and adds the "Giant Rat of Sumatra" to the chapters of Holmsiana.

Fred Saberhagen's Benevolent Bloodsucker: Vampiric Honor in The Holmes-Dracula File

Science fiction author Fred Saberhagen's 1978 novel The Holmes Dracula File traces its literary ancestry not only to Arthur Conan-Doyle's Holmes canon, but to Bram Stoker's 1897 masterpiece of horror, Dracula. Saberhagen, perhaps best-known for his Berserker novels, presents us with a tale that Dr. John H. Watson refers to as "the most bizarre case in all the long and illustrious career of my friend Sherlock Holmes" (25).

The title character of Stoker's 1897 masterpiece plays an important role in Saberhagen's novel, and narrates every other chapter (alternating with Holmes's faithful biographer, Dr. Watson).

The novel also expands upon a reference to an undocumented Holmes case involving the Giant Rat of Sumatra, to be found in the Holmes story "The Sussex Vampire." In that tale, Holmes refers to the adventure of the Rat as "a story for which the world is not yet prepared."

In The Holmes-Dracula File, Saberhagen imagines what might have transpired if Count Dracula, having survived Professor Van Helsing's efforts to pursue him back to his castle and exterminate him, returns to London to reunite with his love, Mina Harker.

The time is June, 1897, six years after Dracula's first visit to London (as described by Stoker). The city is in the midst of preparations for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. An American scientist, Dr. John Scott, has turned up missing after embarking upon an expedition to Sumatra to study the spread of a rare and deadly plague. His fiancée, Miss Sarah Tarlton, enlists Holmes and Watson's aid in locating Scott. Scott's friend, Mr. Peter Moore, subsequently informs Holmes that scientific equipment that he sold to Scott prior to the expedition has turned up in London.

Toward the climax of their investigations, Holmes and Dracula's paths inevitably cross. The nature of their confrontation is surprising, unexpected, and curiously benevolent. Saberhagen's Dracula is far from the demon he is often portrayed as in the anti-Dracula tracts we have all grown up with. In fact, he is often portrayed in the novel as possessing a number of positive traits; a benevolent bloodsucker, if you will. This portrayal is perhaps not terribly surprising, if the reader considers the fact that half of the novel is narrated by the Count himself.

Dracula's dialogue suggests that he is a man of honor: "I cannot, and never could, abide a thief" (74). "To pay for the damage I tossed a gold sovereign behind me as I left, and I silently vowed a future donation upon a grander scale" (95). "Those who think me unlikely to pay fairly, even generously, for goods got from the innocent do not know me" (107). "Let the serious students of 15th century affairs assure more casual readers that in my breathing days, as Prince of Wallachia, I was accused by some of being too scrupulously honest" (107).

It is likely that this highly-positive portrayal of Dracula is due, in large part, to his own embellishment of the facts. However, it is worthwhile to consider Dr. Watson's account of events late in the story: "I admit, Holmes, that I may owe the Count my life" (248). According to Holmes, Watson, and Saberhagen, Count Dracula was not a miscreant, but a misunderstood soul.

Work Cited

Saberhagen, Fred. The Holmes-Dracula File. New York: Ace Books, 1978.

I only recently finished reading The Dracula Sequence book series by Fred Saberhagen and I think I have grown to adore his version of Dracula. My only regret in regard to these books is that I only recently started reading these books and sadly the author, Fred Saberhagen, passed away in 2007. I wish I had discovered these books while he was still alive. Also, it's very apparent to me that he did not mean for this book series to end where they did. The book series is clearly unfinished.

His first book in the series begins with the novel The Dracula Tape which is a very tongue in cheek re-telling of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker but from Dracula's point of view. Some of his justifications for the events are somewhat... questionable, such as his claim that what happened on the Demeter was the result of the first mate going insane because he thought a vampire was on board. Okay, so the first mate went insane and caused everything but... the cause of his insanity was true... there was a vampire on board... Then there's his claim that his relationship with Lucy was casual and consensual. But in the next breath he admits she thought it was all a dream. So, yes. Our narrator is not exactly honest and sometimes you have to read between the lines to catch the truth. He leaves out the details he doesn't like, apparently lies, and slants things to the way he wants to remember them. But for all his flaws you start to like Saberhagen's Dracula. He's no Edward Cullen. He doesn't lament being a vampire. He's proud of what he is and has a very strong, personal sense of honor. It also has a very satisfying ending for those who love the idea of Mina and Dracula as a couple, without actually re-writing the ending of Stoker's novel.

The one thing I dislike is that Dracula's only real vulnerability in these books is wood. The reasoning given is that like a vampire wood is something that was once alive and transformed into something new.

The second book in the series is called The Dracula - Holmes file. This story starts with Dracula roaming Victorian London, shortly after the events of Dracula. He accidentally gets involved in a very disturbing case with Sherlock Holmes, who actually resembles Dracula, himself.

The Third book in the series called Old Friend of the Family, serves as a sort of glue linking the literary Dracula to the modern world through his connection to Mina's family. In this novel Mina's descendants are desperate for aide when young Johnny Southerland (the youngest of her line at this point) is kidnapped and his pinky fingers have been viciously torn off. The family, in desperation, use a spell left by "Grandma Mina" to summon help, at which point Dracula (under the alias Dr. Corday) turns up and becomes self-appointed guardian of Mina's family. And it becomes strangely satisfying when Dracula takes brutal revenge for what was done to poor Johnny. He even brutally mangles one of the kidnappers. You find yourself starting to root for him, despite his viciousness. He is a fantastic anti-hero.

This book also introduces us to Joseph Koegh, who marries into the Southerland family (descendants of Mina and Jonathan Harker). Joe becomes a private investigator and recurring character in the series and he serves as a good counter balance to our not-always-nice narrator.

The fourth book of the series is Thorn. In this book Dracula is attempting to win (at auction) a painting of his own "deceased" second wife from his mortal life only to find himself involved in a strange mystery that may involve his own half-vampire wife from his mortal life. The quality of the book series starts to slide a little bit here and the story alternates between the modern setting and the past. It actually has the feel of an episode of Forever Knight (The Canadian Vampire TV series from the early nineties). The best part of this book has to be Dracula's temper tantrum near the end of the book where Mina herself (now a vampire) shows up to warn one of the main protagonists not to go near him until it was over because of how dangerous he could be when angry. It was disturbing and amusing all at once. But considering what happened to lead to the tantrum it was completely understandable. Dracula and his lover were both blown up in a car. He survived by turning into mist and narrowly escaping. The woman was badly mangled to the point that she couldn't even ingest Dracula's blood to be transformed into a vampire and so she died in agony in his arms... which lead to a monstrous, probably warrented, vampire temper tantrum from Dracula.

The fifth book in the series is probably my least favorite. This one is called Dominion and deals with magick and Merlin himself (who has been wandering the streets under a curse that has left him an incompetent drunk...) Fred Saberhagen is not very good at describing magick. It's disjointed, hallucinogenic and a little incoherent. Fred Saberhagen can describe vampire powers fairly well but not generic magick or time travel very well. The best part though has to be when Dracula is tossed up into a whirlwind that tumbles him around through time, by an angry Merlin, who doesn't realize Dracula is actually on his side.

The sixth book in the series is a good one. This one is called A Matter of Taste. In this book it's revealed that the historical rogue Ceasar Borgia became a vampire and now wants revenge on Dracula (for something our narrator claims was accidental but that's debatable considering our narrator isn't very honest...) Dracula ends up poisoned and now it's up to Mina's human descendants to protect him while he is vulnerable. Meanwhile the now adult Johnny Southerland (the one Dracula saved in Old Friend of The Family) has to find a way to explain to his future wife that his "Uncle Matt" is not only a vampire but THE Dracula. The ending is surprisingly endearing and sweet.

In this book we learn that Dracula has a clever way of compensating for not having a reflection. He has replaced his bathroom mirror with a flat screened closed circuit television with a continual live feed of whatever is in front of it.

The seventh book of the series is one of the two I don't care much for. The other is Dominion. In this one, called A Question of Time, a lot of time travel happens and as I discussed before, Fred Saberhagen is not very good at writing magick or time travel. This particular book has no real impact on the majority of the series and I don't feel it was necessary in the grand scheme of things.

The eighth book of the series is called Seance for a vampire. And yet again our "Hero" makes some questionable decisions, such as wanting to seduce a young Medium whose brother has just been killed, But he was "considerate enough" to wait a night or so after the brother's death to seduce her. This was a fairly interesting one but the one thing about the book I don't care for is Fred Saberhagen sometimes puts his own opinion into the character. For example he has Dracula feel that all Mediums are frauds. He does not believe in ghosts. He believes in magick, time travel, spells, wizards, vampires, werewolves, and even karma but ghosts is the thing Dracula doesn't believe in? I don't buy it. It just doesn't make sense to me. This book deals with the historical Rasputin and is another cross over with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

The ninth book of the series is A Sharpness on the Neck and here Fred Saberhagen seems to poke fun of himself a bit, poking fun of how "Mr. Graves" (Another alias for Dracula) shifts from third person perspective to first person perspective. And it also pokes fun at how boring and long winded he can be when explaining things to people. In this story we learn that Radu (Dracula's vampire brother) wants a man named Phillip Radcliffe dead as revenge against his ancestor. It's up to Dracula and a masked band of helpers (Mna's human descendants) to save them.

The story alternates with the past, particularly The French revolution, and the present day. There are subtle nods to A Tale of Two Cities and The Scarlet Pimpernel. At one point Dracula disguises himself as an executioner (and actually carries out several executions) to save a man he is honor-bound to protect.

The funniest part of this book is when Dracula makes a three to five hour long video tape of himself sitting at a desk explaining the back story and the people who are being made to watch the video find it boring and even try fast forwarding it. At one point he even enthralls them to watch it and they still fall asleep about five minutes into it.

Little things are there to remind you of the viciousness of our protagonist. Even though he goes out of his way to try to rescue a little girl at one point, he still mangles a group of vampires who side with his brother Radu, thralls animals to remain still so a little boy can kill them with his mini guillotine, and carries out executions he doesn't even really agree with. He also mentions beating his brother with a wooden cane and tells us that his brother only cried out in pain to "annoy" him. He is... still... Dracula.

The Tenth book in the series is called A coldness in the blood and deals with a self-proclaimed Egyptian deity and a quest to find the Philosopher's Stone. A serious and not-quite resolved strain is put on "Uncle Mathew" (Dracula) and his relationship with Mina's human family (who he's been more or less stalking ever since the book Old Friend of the Family, set twenty years earlier...) The strain comes when Andy (Joe's son) goes to Uncle Matt's apartment to put together a website for him. While there he gets unintentionally wrapped up into the chaotic adventure which subsequently leads to Andy's mother forbidding him from ever helping Uncle Matt with his computer and or going to his apartment again. I can't help but feel sorry for Dracula here because he's clearly grown attached to these people that he has made himself protector of and it's apparent they're all still quite afraid of him. Well, I suppose I'd be a little nervous too if Dracula decided to become my guardian Angel but I've grown to like the guy.

Dracula has been trying very hard to get others to adopt the term Hmo-dirus or Homo-sapien-dirus as a subspecies title for Vampire or as he says Nosferatu. ...It doesn't seem to catch on.

The one thing I dislike about this novel is yet again, like with ghosts in Seance for a vampire, Fred Saberhagen puts his own views in Dracula and it doesn't make much sense that a man from fifteenth century Romania would have issues with a young man having an earring and yet he does. And the author goes out of his way to have multiple characters unrealistically hate the earring, including even a very young character named Dolly. Since when does Dracula have a 1950s middle America mind-set about Jewelry? It doesn't fit.

In any event it's obvious here that this was not meant to be the last book of the series. And it's disappointing to know the book series never truly will be completed since the author passed away.

There are two short stories set in the world of The Dracula Sequence but I haven't had the chance to read those yet.

For anyone who misses vampires who could be terrifying and charming, charismatic yet violent, and not sparkly, I strongly, strongly recommend these books. I think this book series is highly under-rated and Fred Saberhagen's version of Dracula has become one of my favorite literary characters.

Before I purchased this book I had already bought Seance for a Vampire. I read that it would be best to read this book first, and I did so - and I was glad I did. I found the novel to be very enjoyable. Fred Saberhagen captured the spirit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I enjoyed his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, Watson, Lestrade and Gregson. I also thought Saberhagen's presentation of Dracula was good too. I hope to read The Dracula Tape in the future which would fill me in on some points which I was I unclear about. Due to this book, I definitely have plans to read Seance for Vampire next - Saberhagen's second pairing of Dracula and Holmes.

This is a solid little read for vampire fans and Holmes fans alike. A fast moving, atmospheric romp through the streets of Victorian London with a pair of characters who ought to have been paired together a long time ago. Well worth the read. I'm looking forward to hunting up the rest of the series. (or should I say "digging" up.)_

Yours in horror,

Steve Vernon

I really enjoyed this book. It stayed faithful to both Stokers' and Doyles' creations, and make for a fast, yet fascinating read. Some people might find the alternate chapter writing of Dracula and Watson a bit of getting used to, but definitely worth taking the time to purchase and read.

I like Fred Saberhagan's Dracula series, as much as I love his his Merlin series. Theyare great reads and extensions on the original myths.