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Rome 1959. Along the Via Veneto, the living and the dead enjoy la dolce vita. The Vampire King is to be married, and rumours circulate that his wedding will be the first move in a campaign to return him to his position as Lord of the Undead and power in the world.Tags
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After Victorian England and World War I, the third volume of Newman's Anno Dracula series moves to Rome in 1959 and (for the appended novella) London in 1968. As usual, this installement is crammed full with open and hidden references to all kinds of pop culture, sometimes just barely managing to not bury the story under the avalanche of allusions. It always manages to claw its way out from underneath them however, and both novel and novella remain great fun to read.
They are, however, quite different in tone, which I think is due not just to the varying length and different time periods, but also because they both follow quite different templates. The general atmosphere and elements of the basic plot both appear to be based on movies - show more for Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha that are the over-the-top, extremely artifial horror movies of the Italian Giallo genre of the 70s, in particular those directed by Dario Argento, and for Aquarius another italian film by an Italian director, namely Blow-Up by Michelangelo Antonioni. Some readers seem not to have liked the novella as much as they did the novel, but for my part I am very impressed at how different they are from each other and how Newman manages to adapt to the divergent period styles without being too obtrusive about it - he is actually treading a very fine line here, on the one hand to match his style to the time the stories take place in, and on the other hand to keep the voice of shared protagonist Katie Reed recognisably the same in both texts. It is a testimony to Kim Newman's quality as a writer that he pulls off this balancing act and appears to do so effortlessly.
Overall, this is nothing too deep, but a great yarn that I found very enjoyable to read - not just for the story but also for the way Kim Newman presents and handles it; there is a lot to admire there. I really need to read more by his guy, and branch out to his non-Anno Dracula novels, too. show less
They are, however, quite different in tone, which I think is due not just to the varying length and different time periods, but also because they both follow quite different templates. The general atmosphere and elements of the basic plot both appear to be based on movies - show more for Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha that are the over-the-top, extremely artifial horror movies of the Italian Giallo genre of the 70s, in particular those directed by Dario Argento, and for Aquarius another italian film by an Italian director, namely Blow-Up by Michelangelo Antonioni. Some readers seem not to have liked the novella as much as they did the novel, but for my part I am very impressed at how different they are from each other and how Newman manages to adapt to the divergent period styles without being too obtrusive about it - he is actually treading a very fine line here, on the one hand to match his style to the time the stories take place in, and on the other hand to keep the voice of shared protagonist Katie Reed recognisably the same in both texts. It is a testimony to Kim Newman's quality as a writer that he pulls off this balancing act and appears to do so effortlessly.
Overall, this is nothing too deep, but a great yarn that I found very enjoyable to read - not just for the story but also for the way Kim Newman presents and handles it; there is a lot to admire there. I really need to read more by his guy, and branch out to his non-Anno Dracula novels, too. show less
In this third outing in his Anno Dracula sequence, Kim Newman takes us to Rome in 1959. Count Dracula, now retired from British politics since the end of World War I, has been living at the castle of Otranto, just outside Rome, in effective retirement since helping the Allies defeat Hitler in World War 2. Now, it has been announced that he is to re-marry - again - and everyone who is anyone, living or undead, is turning up for the party.
But the Eternal City holds dangers for the undead; a masked assassin, the Crimson Executioner, is killing elder vampires and no-one can say who they are or what their motive is.
We see a number of characters carried forward from previous novels in the sequence. And Newman's compendious knowledge of show more popular culture is given full rein with a menagerie of walk-ons that many will recognise (though many won't; I'm sure there were plenty of names dropped that I didn't appreciate because of not having researched Italian giallo cinema, for one). There are comic vignettes and a red herring or two. And a number of famous faces have sprouted fangs.
Kim Newman is exactly two years younger than me, so we shared the same media experiences growing up. For that reason, I have always found his books entertaining and on my wavelength, even though I wouldn't normally read horror. But this book defies genre labelling anyway. It is almost a disappointment when the name-dropping has to stop so the plot can be drawn to a conclusion, but all the strings are drawn together without too many obvious loose ends. And there are enough characters left over for future stories..... show less
But the Eternal City holds dangers for the undead; a masked assassin, the Crimson Executioner, is killing elder vampires and no-one can say who they are or what their motive is.
We see a number of characters carried forward from previous novels in the sequence. And Newman's compendious knowledge of show more popular culture is given full rein with a menagerie of walk-ons that many will recognise (though many won't; I'm sure there were plenty of names dropped that I didn't appreciate because of not having researched Italian giallo cinema, for one). There are comic vignettes and a red herring or two. And a number of famous faces have sprouted fangs.
Kim Newman is exactly two years younger than me, so we shared the same media experiences growing up. For that reason, I have always found his books entertaining and on my wavelength, even though I wouldn't normally read horror. But this book defies genre labelling anyway. It is almost a disappointment when the name-dropping has to stop so the plot can be drawn to a conclusion, but all the strings are drawn together without too many obvious loose ends. And there are enough characters left over for future stories..... show less
Fantastic!
The third installment of the Anno Dracula series takes place in Rome in 1959. Newman brings his impressive font of period knowledge to play, captivating readers with blatant and obscure references (I am in awe of his historical, political, literary and pop culture catalog of knowledge), as well as an engaging plot.
I shake my head to think this voyage began when I won an advanced copy of Johnny Alucard, which I assumed as a stand-alone novel. As soon as I discovered that it was the 4th book of a series, I scoured the local libraries so that I could get up to speed, and have recommend the series to all.
The third installment of the Anno Dracula series takes place in Rome in 1959. Newman brings his impressive font of period knowledge to play, captivating readers with blatant and obscure references (I am in awe of his historical, political, literary and pop culture catalog of knowledge), as well as an engaging plot.
I shake my head to think this voyage began when I won an advanced copy of Johnny Alucard, which I assumed as a stand-alone novel. As soon as I discovered that it was the 4th book of a series, I scoured the local libraries so that I could get up to speed, and have recommend the series to all.
"Judgement of Tears" is apparently several books in to the "Anno Dracula" series by Kim Newman. When I went to look it up at my library (on a friends recommendation) my library only carried this book in the series, so I didn't realize I wasn't getting the first book, whose title is simply "Anno Dracula." I have that one on order now through the Interlibrary Loan system.
I wouldn't recommend reading the series out of order. I have a fair idea of what goes on before this book from reading this book. However, based on reading this one book, I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series!
The Anno Dracula series is based of the concept of what the world would be like if Dracula wasn't vanquished, if the Stoker book was merely a dream of show more what could have been, and if vampires became a part of society.
In "Judgement of Tears" we follow Kate's story. She's a vampire that a warm blood like your or me can identify with. She gets jealous, wears glasses, and has many of those "human" foibles that make a character seem more real. (Yes, they explain the glasses)
Kate finds herself in Rome as Dracula prepares for yet another huge public wedding. Things aren't all flowers and rings though, somebody who's been named the "Bloody Baron" is going around and killing the elder vampires. Then Kate learns there may be an even older power behind this bloody work... show less
I wouldn't recommend reading the series out of order. I have a fair idea of what goes on before this book from reading this book. However, based on reading this one book, I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series!
The Anno Dracula series is based of the concept of what the world would be like if Dracula wasn't vanquished, if the Stoker book was merely a dream of show more what could have been, and if vampires became a part of society.
In "Judgement of Tears" we follow Kate's story. She's a vampire that a warm blood like your or me can identify with. She gets jealous, wears glasses, and has many of those "human" foibles that make a character seem more real. (Yes, they explain the glasses)
Kate finds herself in Rome as Dracula prepares for yet another huge public wedding. Things aren't all flowers and rings though, somebody who's been named the "Bloody Baron" is going around and killing the elder vampires. Then Kate learns there may be an even older power behind this bloody work... show less
I like collecting vampire fiction, and Newman's style makes this different from most I've read. With characters molded from history, literature and legend, the story is witty, satirical and fun to read!
Ultimo (spero) capitolo della saga ucronica iniziata con Anno Dracula, e che vede il mondo dominato dalla stirpe di Dracula.
Esaurita la novità dell'idea, il libro è un pasticcio di sangue e frattaglie miste, e di personaggi famosi trasformati in vampiri, in una Roma degli anni '50 cupa e decadente, contesa tra i vampiri e essere ancora più antichi e spietati.
Due stelline per la buona volontà.
Esaurita la novità dell'idea, il libro è un pasticcio di sangue e frattaglie miste, e di personaggi famosi trasformati in vampiri, in una Roma degli anni '50 cupa e decadente, contesa tra i vampiri e essere ancora più antichi e spietati.
Due stelline per la buona volontà.
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Author Information
196+ Works 10,252 Members
Kim Newman is a novelist, critic and broadcaster. His fiction has been translated into many languages and he is a past recipient of, among others, the International Horror Critics' Guild Award for Best Novel
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- Original title
- Anno Dracula: Dracula Cha Cha Cha
- Alternate titles
- Judgment of Tears; Judgment of Tears: Anno Dracula 1959
- Original publication date
- 1995
- People/Characters
- Dracula; Gomez Addams; Morticia Addams; Adelsberg; Armand; Mr Big (show all 151); Miriam Blaylock; Peter Blood; James Bond (Hamish Bond); Gregor Brastov; Cabiria; Zé do Caixão (Coffin Joe); Madame Cassandra; Bianca Castafiore; Lemmy Caution; Marguerite Chopin; Jacques Clouseau; Barnabas Collins; Jonas Cord; Edmund Cordery; Michael Corleone; Honoria Cornelius; Toby Dammit; Waldemar Daninsky; Vivian Darkbloom; Clare Quilty; Karol de Lavud; Sebastian de Villanueva; Norma Desmond; Dondi; Daniel Dravot; Elisabeta; Erik [The Phantom]; Webb Fallon; Fantômas; Hugh Farnham; Faethor Ferenczy; Frankenstein's Monster; Fu Manchu; Ginko; Génessier; Tarzan (Lord Greystoke); Casper Gutman; Tony Hancock; Hichcock; Yorga; Golem; Clark Kent; Gabor Kernassy; Rosa Klebb; Klove; Jeddidiah Leland; Doctor Mabuse; Malenka; Marcello Rubini; Meinster; Lankester Merrin; Mitterhaus; Luna Mora; James Moriarty; Julius No; Adolf Oblensky; Olympia; Orloff; Septimus Pretorius; Maxim Arturovitch Pyatnitski; Hamer Radshaw; Kate Reed; Richmond Reed; Tom Ripley; Drago Robles; Ruthven; Tintin; Anibas Vadja; Asa Vadja; Irma Vep; Radu Vladislas; Anton Voytek; Herbert West; Edward Weyland; Joshua York; Simon Ysidro; Monsieur Zenith; Mater Lachrymarum; Charles Beauregard; Geneviève Dieudonné; Anthony Armstrong-Jones; Elizabeth Báthory; Simone de Beauvoir; Lavrenty Beria; Junio Valerio Borghese; Asa Briggs; Cagliostro (Alessandro Cagliostro); Nicolae Ceausescu; R. Chetwynd-Hayes; Winston Churchill; Alan Clark; Mark W. Clark; Salvador Dalí; Charles de Gaulle; Gilles de Rais; Kirk Douglas; Amintore Fanfani; Daniel Farson; Mel Ferrer; Errol Flynn; Sari Gábor; Andrey Gromyko; Rita Hayworth; Ernest Hemingway; Audrey Hepburn; Valerie Hobson (Valerie Profumo); John Huston; John F. Kennedy; Ludovic Kennedy; The Aga Khan; Nikita Khrushchev; Fritz Lang; Dino de Laurentiis; Gina Lollobrigida; Sophia Loren; Clare Boothe Luce; Pope John Paul I (Bishop Albino Luciani); Magda Lupescu; Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon; Dean Martin; Enrico Mattei; Yves Montand; Alberto Moravia; John Osborne; Pier Paolo Pasolini; Edgar Allan Poe; Carlo Ponti; Enoch Powell; John Profumo; Elvis Presley; Edmund Purdom; Comte de St. Germain; Jean-Paul Sartre; Moira Shearer; Frank Sinatra; Simone Signoret; Lytton Strachey; Montague Summers; Ilona Szilagy; Palmiro Togliatti; Totò; Gore Vidal; Orson Welles; Dennis Wheatley; Colin Wilson
- Important places
- Rome, Italy; Italy
- Epigraph
- I would have liked to do a vampire sequence in one of my films, even though, personally, I cannot even look at blood, let alone drink it ... But the vampire is a concept too strong for fantasy.
... (show all) -- Frederico Fellini, I, Fellini
It is time for our culture to abandon Dracula and pass beyond him.
-- Robin Wood, "Burying The Undead: The Use and Obsolescence of Count Dracula" - First words
- Asa Vajda, Princess of Moldavia, is to be married to Vlad, Count Dracula, formerly Prince of Wallachia, Voivode of Transylvania and Prince Consort of Great Britain.
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- Later reprints also include a 17 chapter novella, Anno Dracula 1968 - Aquarius; works of that type are in a separate entry.
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- Reviews
- 6
- Rating
- (3.72)
- Languages
- English, French
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- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 4
