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Post by Swampirella on Feb 2, 2020 2:54:30 GMT
I came across this the other day; not new (2016) but it's now in my to-read stack. If you've read it or plan to, feel free to comment!
Amazon/Goodreads Blurb:
"Ravaged by the Nazi Secret Service during WWII, Romanian resistance forces turn to one of their leaders, Professor Van Helsing, for any way out. To fight these monstrous forces, Van Helsing raises a legendary monster from centuries of slumber, Prince Dracula himself.
Once he was the ruler of Transylvania. Prince Vlad Dracul is, above all, a patriot. He proves more than willing to once again drive out his country's invaders. Upshot: No one minds if he drinks all the German blood he desires.
In Berlin, when Hitler hears about the many defeats his forces are suffering at the hands of an apparent true vampire, he is seduced by the possibility of becoming immortal. Thus, two forces are set upon a collision course, the ultimate confrontation: Superpower against superpower.
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Post by Swampirella on Apr 4, 2020 17:02:09 GMT
I came across this the other day; not new (2016) but it's now in my to-read stack. If you've read it or plan to, feel free to comment!
Amazon/Goodreads Blurb:
"Ravaged by the Nazi Secret Service during WWII, Romanian resistance forces turn to one of their leaders, Professor Van Helsing, for any way out. To fight these monstrous forces, Van Helsing raises a legendary monster from centuries of slumber, Prince Dracula himself.
Once he was the ruler of Transylvania. Prince Vlad Dracul is, above all, a patriot. He proves more than willing to once again drive out his country's invaders. Upshot: No one minds if he drinks all the German blood he desires.
In Berlin, when Hitler hears about the many defeats his forces are suffering at the hands of an apparent true vampire, he is seduced by the possibility of becoming immortal. Thus, two forces are set upon a collision course, the ultimate confrontation: Superpower against superpower.
I finally started this one this morning, and am greatly enjoying it.
The author has supposedly found a box of top secret documents and papers in an underground storage unit somewhere in the US & had them translated.
The story proper begins with a diary chapter by Abraham Van Helsing. He and some "hirelings" set out with a coffin in order to retrieve Dracula's corpse and bury him somewhere. We're not told anything about how Dracula came to be vanquished and of course it turns out he's not. Maybe this is an alternate ending to Stoker's Dracula, I can't say. He attacks & kills two men inside the wagon containing his coffin, which has been jolted open by the frozen mud of the roads. After almost losing the fight, Van Helsing manages to subdue Dracula, put him back in the coffin & take it to be buried in a small village graveyard.
Next are letters to and from various Nazi big-wigs about the situation in Romania in 1942 vis-a-vis partisan activity. The action of course shifts to a small country town near Brasov, Romania where Van Helsing and his adult daughter have settled; a new officer, SS Major Reikel, arrives in town to restore order; he starts by killing every seventh person in the town square in retaliation for partisan action earlier. Lucille Van Helsing took part in this, during which several soldiers & officers were killed & several Jewish villagers helped to flee. Finally, Reikel has the mayor tossed out of the window onto the bayonets of waiting soldiers, who then shoot to put him out of his misery. Vlad Tepes would have approved of the impalement.
Many reviewers say this book is too long & often repetitive as well as warning of a Lucille Van Helsing/Jonathan Harker (grandson of the original)/Dracula "love triangle" but I'll see for myself.
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Post by Swampirella on Apr 4, 2020 23:43:14 GMT
I came across this the other day; not new (2016) but it's now in my to-read stack. If you've read it or plan to, feel free to comment!
Amazon/Goodreads Blurb:
"Ravaged by the Nazi Secret Service during WWII, Romanian resistance forces turn to one of their leaders, Professor Van Helsing, for any way out. To fight these monstrous forces, Van Helsing raises a legendary monster from centuries of slumber, Prince Dracula himself.
Once he was the ruler of Transylvania. Prince Vlad Dracul is, above all, a patriot. He proves more than willing to once again drive out his country's invaders. Upshot: No one minds if he drinks all the German blood he desires.
In Berlin, when Hitler hears about the many defeats his forces are suffering at the hands of an apparent true vampire, he is seduced by the possibility of becoming immortal. Thus, two forces are set upon a collision course, the ultimate confrontation: Superpower against superpower.
I finally started this one this morning, and am greatly enjoying it.
The author has supposedly found a box of top secret documents and papers in an underground storage unit somewhere in the US & had them translated.
The story proper begins with a diary chapter by Abraham Van Helsing. He and some "hirelings" set out with a coffin in order to retrieve Dracula's corpse and bury him somewhere. We're not told anything about how Dracula came to be vanquished and of course it turns out he's not. Maybe this is an alternate ending to Stoker's Dracula, I can't say. He attacks & kills two men inside the wagon containing his coffin, which has been jolted open by the frozen mud of the roads. After almost losing the fight, Van Helsing manages to subdue Dracula, put him back in the coffin & take it to be buried in a small village graveyard.
Next are letters to and from various Nazi big-wigs about the situation in Romania in 1942 vis-a-vis partisan activity. The action of course shifts to a small country town near Brasov, Romania where Van Helsing and his adult daughter have settled; a new officer, SS Major Reikel, arrives in town to restore order; he starts by killing every seventh person in the town square in retaliation for partisan action earlier. Lucille Van Helsing took part in this, during which several soldiers & officers were killed & several Jewish villagers helped to flee. Finally, Reikel has the mayor tossed out of the window onto the bayonets of waiting soldiers, who then shoot to put him out of his misery. Vlad Tepes would have approved of the impalement.
Many reviewers say this book is too long & often repetitive as well as warning of a Lucille Van Helsing/Jonathan Harker (grandson of the original)/Dracula "love triangle" but I'll see for myself.
Jonathan Harker appears in the next chapter, having been captured by partisans and brought to the Van Helsing "villa". He tells them how he and his sergeant, code name Renfield, on a mission from SOE to help the partisans, were dropped off in the mountains miles from the designated drop zone. Poor Renfield has suffered a brain injury, rendering him speechless but still able to sing very vulgar "ditties".
I hope the next chapters return to their previous style; I'm sure the author didn't intend readers to laugh at phrases such as "Her brilliantly red hair was long, falling over her shoulders in great rubiginous waves; startlingly green eyes peered through a profusion of bangs much like a wary jungle cat watches through tall grass" (Bulwer-Lytton would have been proud) or "Her face clouded and she (Lucille) spoke quietly. "I will kill them all. Every one of the bastards. I will kill them all." (Harker) "It was then that I knew I was in love."
PS - Just started the next chapter; thankfully Harker (more accurately, the author) has redeemed himself. He describes the brutal execution of two members of the local underground, who are staked out and run over by the various drivers ordered to stop beforehand. Next he is shocked to discover the name of the man sheltering him, bringing back family memories of The Book (Dracula) & the history his parents kept from him but his name-sake grandfather secretly shared.
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Post by Swampirella on Apr 5, 2020 20:58:30 GMT
I finally started this one this morning, and am greatly enjoying it.
The author has supposedly found a box of top secret documents and papers in an underground storage unit somewhere in the US & had them translated.
The story proper begins with a diary chapter by Abraham Van Helsing. He and some "hirelings" set out with a coffin in order to retrieve Dracula's corpse and bury him somewhere. We're not told anything about how Dracula came to be vanquished and of course it turns out he's not. Maybe this is an alternate ending to Stoker's Dracula, I can't say. He attacks & kills two men inside the wagon containing his coffin, which has been jolted open by the frozen mud of the roads. After almost losing the fight, Van Helsing manages to subdue Dracula, put him back in the coffin & take it to be buried in a small village graveyard.
Next are letters to and from various Nazi big-wigs about the situation in Romania in 1942 vis-a-vis partisan activity. The action of course shifts to a small country town near Brasov, Romania where Van Helsing and his adult daughter have settled; a new officer, SS Major Reikel, arrives in town to restore order; he starts by killing every seventh person in the town square in retaliation for partisan action earlier. Lucille Van Helsing took part in this, during which several soldiers & officers were killed & several Jewish villagers helped to flee. Finally, Reikel has the mayor tossed out of the window onto the bayonets of waiting soldiers, who then shoot to put him out of his misery. Vlad Tepes would have approved of the impalement.
Many reviewers say this book is too long & often repetitive as well as warning of a Lucille Van Helsing/Jonathan Harker (grandson of the original)/Dracula "love triangle" but I'll see for myself.
Jonathan Harker appears in the next chapter, having been captured by partisans and brought to the Van Helsing "villa". He tells them how he and his sergeant, code name Renfield, on a mission from SOE to help the partisans, were dropped off in the mountains miles from the designated drop zone. Poor Renfield has suffered a brain injury, rendering him speechless but still able to sing very vulgar "ditties".
I hope the next chapters return to their previous style; I'm sure the author didn't intend readers to laugh at phrases such as "Her brilliantly red hair was long, falling over her shoulders in great rubiginous waves; startlingly green eyes peered through a profusion of bangs much like a wary jungle cat watches through tall grass" (Bulwer-Lytton would have been proud) or "Her face clouded and she (Lucille) spoke quietly. "I will kill them all. Every one of the bastards. I will kill them all." (Harker) "It was then that I knew I was in love."
PS - Just started the next chapter; thankfully Harker (more accurately, the author) has redeemed himself. He describes the brutal execution of two members of the local underground, who are staked out and run over by the various drivers ordered to stop beforehand. Next he is shocked to discover the name of the man sheltering him, bringing back family memories of The Book (Dracula) & the history his parents kept from him but his name-sake grandfather secretly shared.
Returning from a meeting with fellow underground members, most of whom are less than pleased to have a vampire joining them, Dracula efficiently murders the two Nazi soldiers on patrol who ask for their ID. The next day or shortly after, he's provided with false identity papers in the name of "Vlad Wallach", a mortician from Bukovina. Lucille brings them to him, to find him reading "The Pocket Book of Ogden Nash", which he finds most amusing. Abraham Van Helsing has provided him with a stack of reading material from his library to pass the time.
After sleeping in various hidden shelters for a week or two, and receiving explosives, a new transmitter and other items by air drops from SOE, they are ready to blow up their first target - "a railroad switching station at a vital confluence of four rail lines from all four points of the compass." A resistance member procures a hearse for them to pose as a medical transport while actually going to blow up important rail links. The injured Renfield, demolitions expert, is sedated so he can't "suddenly burst out into song at some inopportune moment and give away the game." Harker drives, Dracula poses as the hearse owner, so off they go after sunset, with other underground members following in an old truck.
The operation proves successful, so they next blow up a railway bridge, the main means of transport from the nearby oil refinery. Dracula is sent to attack the hotel living quarters of various experts about to catalogue the looted contents of a nearby freight warehouse before shipment to Germany. The local partisans were to retrieve the art works and jewellery for safekeeping in nearby caves. He returns despondent, although entirely successful.
Poor love-smitten Harker is totally ignored by Lucille, until she can take his sad-eyed looks no longer and tells him it would be best if they "find a way to be friends". Did I forget to mention she casts spells. reads tea leaves & tarot cards, and creates good luck amulets? Some she learned in Brazil from a Santeria priestess, the amulets it seems in China. She gives everybody an amulet to wear around their neck, made of stones or deer horn with protective carvings. Harker thinks this is really a sign of her affection that he's sure she's only hiding temporarily. The Prince refuses to wear his so Lucille puts it on, musing on what he's witnessed over the centuries.
They successfully attack target after target, having to move south-west to remain free. Lucille tries to comfort The Prince, who feels great remorse at not always being able to resist his hunger to feed off non-Nazis. At one point, Harker accompany him to retrieve the journals of a Rumanian physicist who died under interrogation. They are successful again, although Harker is nauseated by the carnage The Prince creates. Lucille, The Prince, Harker and the others, with Van Helsing along to "give advice" turn two Nazi luxury train cars into bloodbaths, and free two cattle cars of various locals being shipped to Neugengamme concentration camp. For good measure, they destroy the Brasov railroad terminal by exploding the aviation fuel tankers which the cars were attached to after driving it to the terminal.
Further along, the author has a chapter of an unconfirmed diary of Hitler, written in the third person and calling himself Herr Wolf, describing his viewing of the train car carnage from a found camera one of the officers was using. He demands the capture of The Prince, "alive or un-dead".
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Post by Swampirella on Apr 6, 2020 19:56:26 GMT
To sum up most of the remainder of the book:
Lucille seduces Dracula; just as she is begging him to make her like him ("Bite me!") her father barges in to tell them the Nazis are close at hand.
Dracula is captured by and held prisoner in Bran Castle. Despite attempts at torture (eventually resulting in the death of the chief torturer) including unsuccessful tests of garlic and holy water he remains fairly resilient.
Jonathan Harker is almost captured, having remained behind trying to find explosives expert Renfield after the group evaded the Nazis who tricked them into attacking a long-distance armament factory. Renfield is captured and tortured, leading to the arrest and torture of other underground members; a third manages to escape.
Van Helsing and Lucille barely escape with their lives via an underground tunnel when their home is bulldozed by the Nazis with them inside it.
Jonathan arrives shortly after, too late to warn them, but they find each other and together make their way deep into the mountains until they find the band of gypsies whom they rescued from the cattle cars earlier.
The gypsies, Van Helsing, Lucille and Harker successfully climb up and gain entrance to the castle. "Herr Wolf" (Hitler) is also there, having come to see The Prince in captivity in person.
Who will survive (in whatever sense)?
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