The Dracula Tape
Dracula's own account of events, in which Stoker's novel is the propaganda of the men who killed him.
Saberhagen retells Dracula from the Count’s point of view, as a tape recording, and his case is that Stoker’s novel is the propaganda of the men who murdered him. Van Helsing becomes a dangerous incompetent whose transfusions killed Lucy; Dracula becomes a fastidious gentleman with reasonable explanations. Published in 1975 and largely forgotten, it did the sympathetic-monster reframing well before it was fashionable.
Recommended by 1 Person
Grady Hendrix
The reason people still read Dracula for fun is that it’s a really great book. There have been so many re-imaginings of it – there’s Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula; Tim Lucas’ The Book of Renfield; even Stoker’s great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker has written a retelling. But my favourite is Fred Saberhagen’s The Dracula Tape, which is a bit forgotten now.
Interview · April 2025
As an Amazon Associate, bookstoread.org earns from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Spotted an error on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.