The Royal family are vampires - a thank-you and some queries

[Trout]

Quick thanks to whoever (I forget) recommended the books of Kim Newman on this site, during a discussion about the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

I picked up Anno Dracula in the library yesterday and was totally absorbed in it.
It's tremendous fun and genuinely creepy.

Plus there's the fun of spotting the literary/historical characters mixed in all over the place.

But I have a couple of queries, inevitably.
(Please avoid spoilers when answering, because I've only read a few chapters.)

1. What order should these books be read in? Anno Dracula seemed to be the earliest one there, but should I have sought out Jago first?

2. Has he lifted these other characters from elsewhere: the vampire Genevieve and the vampire who made her a vamp (French name?) - ?

3. Where's this spy-type who's investigating (I forget his name) bloke come from?
Was he real?

$. The villains. I got Fu Manchu, Bill Sikes and Moriarty, but the others?
Was that Raffles? Who's Colonel Moran?
And who's the third incredibly evil person who wasn't there but they were referring to him?

In my own defence, I'd like to point out that reading From Hell 20 times has given me a fair grounding in the period and many of the other characters.

I'd be really grateful for a bit of guidance, if anyone can provide it.
Sorry to be so clueless and demanding, but I know I can rely on you all...

Cheers!
- Trout

[GordonR]

>>1. What order should these books be read in? Anno Dracula seemed to be the earliest one there, but should I have sought out Jago first?

Jago's unconnected with the Anno Dracula books.  A.D is the first in the series.

>>2. Has he lifted these other characters from elsewhere: the vampire Genevieve and the vampire who made her a vamp (French name?) - ?

Loads adn loads and loads.  Genevieve comes from the vampire books KN wrote at the beginning of his career for Games Workshop, under the name Jack Yeovil.

>>3. Where's this spy-type who's investigating (I forget his name) bloke come from?
Was he real?

He's a Newman original, I think.

>>$. The villains. I got Fu Manchu, Bill Sikes and Moriarty, but the others?
>>Was that Raffles?

Fictional gentleman jewel thief.

>> Who's Colonel Moran?

Moriarty's henchman, from the Holmes stories.  As seen in 'The Adventure of the Empty House', when Holmes comes back from the dead and Moran is out to kill him.

>>And who's the third incredibly evil person who wasn't there but they were referring to him?

No idea.  It's been a while since I read A.D.

[paulvonscott]

Not entirely unconnected.  Jago does appear in one of the books, I think it may be bloody red baron.  But it's not neccesarily the same character and isn't really relevant.

Read Anno Dracula and then Bloody Red Baron, followed by Dracula-Cha-Cha-Cha (interesting but the least succesful of the books).  THE GW books are worth getting: he did Drachenfels (ace), Geneiveiev Undead (mixed), and beasts in velvet (good - slight genevieve cameo).

To my mind Jago was rubbish, as is bad dreams and orgy of the blood parasites.  If you are into Sado-horror you might enjoy them.

I think you've only scratched the surface of the characters trout, theres loads of vamp references as well as other fictional people.  I tend to let it wash over me and not worry about it.  

Good stuff though.

[GordonR]

Further to the above, you'll find a pretty exhaustive list of all the Anno Dracula cameos at the link below.

I reccomend reading all three books in the series, and some of the short spin-off stories, although there's a definite law of diminishing returns as the series progresses.

And the in-jokes, references, cameos etc do get a bit wearing after a while, especially as since, by the time of Dracula Cha Cha Cha, you begin to suspect their main point is to cover up the serious lack of plot in the last book.

Link: http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Dimensions.htm#AnnoDracula" target="_blank">Who was that one?  And what about that reference o

[GordonR]

>>To my mind Jago was rubbish, as is bad dreams and orgy of the blood parasites. If you are into Sado-horror you might enjoy them.

Agreed.  Jago's the one KN book I've never really finished.  It's at least 200 pages too long, and just plain boring.

I quite like Orgy, but it has the same problem as Bad Dreams, Night Mayor, Quorum, Bloody Red Baron and Cha Cha Cha.  Read enough KN novels, and you see a problem developing:

He often has big problems with endings, and too many of them end with some vague mystic/metaphysical/hallucinogenic/psycho-sexual bollocks.  Seven Stars, a series of linked horror-detective stories, is a very fine case in point.

Anno Dracula has a perfectly brilliant ending, and its no coincidence that it's still his best novel.

As paul said, the GW vampire books are all also very good, and have all been reissued and can be found quite easily.

[Mangamax]

Anno Dracula actually started out as a one off short story in a Vampire compilation which was great fun

[GordonR]

>>Anno Dracula actually started out as a one off short story in a Vampire compilation which was great fun

Yep.  It was called 'Red Reign'.

[paulvonscott]

I finished Jao, but it took me about a year to read as I just gave up at one point.  I think he was trying to do a steven king with this one.

Still have the quorum and night mayor to read and I've had them for ages, as I've also had life's lottery (can't be bothered to sort my own life out never mind anyone elses).

Cheers

Paul

[Trout]

Oh, tremendous stuff, folks. Tons of thanks!

I'm particularly glad to fill in a few blanks as I start reading it, so I'm not wondering if I'm missing something major all the way through.

I'll keep the link to the guide for later, I think. If there's a great ending to come, I'll have to be very careful not to have it spoiled.

(But wouldn't it be better if Raffles The Gentleman Thief was replaced with Viz's Raffles The Gentleman Thug? "Good sir, get that stitched, ya c***!" Sick and great fun.)

Anyway, I'm once again grateful to be a part of this board; valuable information and friendly help at my fingertips!

Cheers, and have a great weekend,

- Trout

[Quirkafleeg]

The evil man who's not there is Griffen, the Invisible Man.. if my memory serves me correctly

There were at least two of the Johnny Alacard stories out on the web (A Coppala/Apocalypse Now cross-over and one with Andy Warhol and Sid Vicious)

If you like his stuff the best by far are the USSR stories. I read the originals in Interzone but they have been collected.

And whatever happened to his planned 'England Loses WWII book'

Also he's got a great regular column on the BBC's web site re films. His non-fiction on genre movies is great.

He's a nice bloke as well.

Link: http://www.quirkafleeg.freeserve.co.uk/Clever.htm

[Quirkafleeg]

Also this:

Link: http://www.quirkafleeg.freeserve.co.uk/Silver.htm" target="_blank">Pretentious article on Newman?s fiction

[Trout]

"And whatever happened to his planned 'England Loses WWII book'"

England did lose. Scotland is in charge now. Look at who's in the cabinet, fools!

Anyway, on that subject, I can recommend the collection of related stories Hitler Victorious, edited by Gregory Benford.
I particularly like David Brin's Thor Meets Captain America, which has nothing to do with comics at all, despite the title.

And there's always Fatherland by Robert Harris, too. Good book, shit film.

- Trout

[Trout]

In an astonishing (for me) feat of concentration, I finished Anno Dracula the day after I started it and strongly recommend it to anyone who hasn't sampled its bloody delights.

Thanks again to the above for advising me.

And Gordon - shit, what an ending!

Cheers,

- Your mighty king