The Dracula Tape: The New Dracula, Book 1

Yes. I have waited a long time for this recording. As this book series is usually told by Dracula dictating his adventures into a tape recorder, audio books are the perfect format for this book series. Also hearing Robin Bloodworth as Dracula, telling his own side of the events of Dracula, is just fun. This entire book series is great, it's highly under-rated. This is my absolute favorite Vampire book series though it is a shame it seems to have fallen into obscurity... until now.

Dracula, naturally. Though he is still vicious, predatory and often obviously lying he manages to become a likable narrator.

He did an excellent job, adding the right inflection to the character.

I loved the whole thing though I did have a few favorite moments. I particularly love the interaction between Dracula and Mina and of course his somewhat flimsy explanations about The Demeter and Lucy. There are parts, that from the delivery alone, nearly had me laughing.

I frekain' love the Fred Saberhagen Dracula books. I do hope Audibles remember that there are more than just three of these books in the series.

The Dracula Tape
The Holmes Dracula File
An old friend of the family
Thorn
Dominion
A Matter of Taste
A question of Time
Seance for a vampire
A Sharpness on the neck
A coldness in the blood.

And of course there are the short stories From The Tree of Time and Box number 50. Box number 50 (my absolute favorite short story) can be found in the book Dracula in London by P. N. Elrod and From the Tree of time can be found in Gaslight Arcanum.

An Old Friend of the Family and Thorn can also be found in an omnibus called The Vlad Tapes.

I will confess that I first read this book when it was new in 1975, as a teenager. I was delighted to find it here, along with rest of the series, and also afraid that my long-ago impressions would be tainted by my childhood memories. I am delighted to say its as good now, better even, than I remembered.

This was my first Dracula story and remains my favorite to this day. Dracula asks us to consider the Stoker story from his point of view, complete with rambling reminisces, dark humor, his profound disdain of his nemesis, Abraham VanHelsing, and some unlikely and humorous situations he finds himself in while acclimating to the "modern" mid-19th century world (such as passing himself off as a "portable closet" salesman when one of his crates of earth is discovered).

Bloodworth's portrayal is nothing short of amazing, whether as Dracula in present time, in the past with his Transylvania accent, Renfield or VanHelsing, you cannot help but be drawn in to the story. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was the Prince of Darkness himself.