Fred Saberhagen's Dracula books

I strongly recommend Fred Saberhagen's Dracula books.

It's a lesser-known book series from the 1970s that ran until Fred Saberhagen's death in 2011.

The first novel is The Dracula Tape which retells Bram Stoker's Dracula from Dracula's point of view.

The third book in the series is one of my favorites. An Old Friend of the Family, which is a bit like Taken if Dracula was in Lian Neeson's role. My other favorite is the sixth book, A Matter of Taste which is kind of a direct sequel to An Old Friend of the Family.

Besides the ten novels there are three short stories. (Shameless plug: I wrote the introduction to the Saberhagen Vampire tales collection). Box Number 50 is my favorite short story of all-time. It's a mid-quel to The Dracula Tape. Some homeless children protect Dracula during the events of the original novel and Dracula rewards them with money and the death of those that would do them harm.

There are only two books in the series I'm not thrilled with. Dominion and Question of Time but both are easy to skip while the rest of the series is enjoyable. Thorn (book 4) is kind of... Meh but not terrible either.


The order is:
The Dracula Tape
The Holmes-Dracula File
An Old Friend of the Family
Thorn
Dominion
A Matter of Taste
A Question of Time
Séance for a vampire
A Sharpness on the Neck
A Coldness in the Blood

And The Saberhagen Vampire Tales (short stories).

I LOVE the way this man portrays Dracula as both a protagonist and a bit of a dishonest narrator. He's just so much fun.

Reading Dracula's own account of Stoker's novel sounds like a dark delight. It's always compelling to delve into the mind of the predator and find what ancient drive lurks beneath.

Saberhagen's twist on Dracula not only adds depth to the character, but it also opens up fascinating discussions about morality in horror. It's like seeing the legend through a haunted mirror! 🦇

Thanks for the recommendation! I prefer reading older classics and struggle to find any new titles. I read all of sherlock Holmes and really enjoyed...I see one of your titles above sounds interesting

Oh, yes, two of the books are crossovers with Sherlock Holmes. The Holmes- Dracula File (Fred Saberhagen was made to give it that title and hated it because it spoilt what was meant to be a plot twist. You weren't supposed to know this was one of his Dracula books until about half-way through).

And Seance for a Vampire is another Sherlock crossover, flashing back to the Victorian era.

There's also a Sherlock / Dracula Short story too but it's very short. It's called From the Tree of Time and it's in the Saberhagen Vampire Tales.

@Pipkin thanks! My library sadly doesn't have any of his books I had to request they add to the collection - if not I will buy. Good news they did have Halloween Tree DVD 🎃 yipee!

I hope you like it (The Halloween Tree).