Happy Friday!
from Mel Odom at blogcritics.org: Book Review: Dracula the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt
Dracula the Un-Dead is a blistering read for the most part. I was disappointed when I saw that the tradition of telling the stories through journals, letters, and newspapers had been pushed aside for the more modern narrative style, but I don’t know how many of today’s readers would have tolerated that antiquated form. So perhaps the writers and editors made a good call in that respect.
There is more action in this novel than in the original, but storytelling has changed in the last 110 years. Readers demand more physical conflict these days, and Stoker and Holt provide it in spades. They also use the fast-cut narrative technique and short chapters that plunge the pacing into overdrive.
Read the full review here
By Alison Flood at the Guardian: Fantasy author to write new ‘Isaac Asimov’ novels
Publishing’s enthusiasm for the undead – which has already this autumn seen posthumous sequels published to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Dracula, Winnie the Pooh and Noddy – is set to bring one of Isaac Asimov’s most enduring creations, Dr Susan Calvin, back to life. A new series of authorised sequels to Asimov’s I, Robot books, which introduced the cynical, workaholic “robopsychologist”, is to be penned by the fantasy author Mickey Zucker Reichert.
The first of three books, Robots and Chaos, will follow Calvin as she goes through a medical internship while coming to terms with what it means to be human in a near-future world populated by robots.
Read More here
via Nick Antosca at Huffington Post: An Interview with William Sleator, YA Novelist
Fingers, in addition to being an unsettling ghost story, seems like a novel about the (mysterious) sources of creative inspiration. How do you develop stories? When/how does a premise come to you? (For example, the house full of endless stairs–where did that come from?)
Sleator: Stories develop from things I read and also from my own experiences, and experiences of people I know. When I wrote Fingers–which is full of resentment and jealousy–I was still working for the ballet company. I had been there for five years…
I got the idea for House of Stairs when I was a fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. All these writers and people who want to be writers are isolated at the top of a mountain in Vermont for two weeks. People behave differently in that situation than in ordinary life–barriers and inhibitions break down because you know you will never see most of these people again. So I got the idea of writing about five teenagers in a similar situation. I got the setting and the title from an etching by M.C. Escher. The characters are all based on friends of mine from high school.
Read More here
We’ve mentioned the new Dracula book here before, but this is the first review I’ve seen. I have to say I’m relieved it’s not in letter form, epistolary novels are very slow reads. And I’m a purest when it comes to books, so I have a hard time reading something that’s based on what an author has done, but isn’t written by them. I’m wary of anything titled “So and So’s…”. I suppose since this author was chosen by Asimov’s estate it might be ok, so we’ll see.
What do you think of the new Dracula book? Will you read the new books based in the Asimov Robot universe?
