At Casa De Popola a trendy literature “hang out spot” bar I shared the stage with Alex Galant and his wife Carmen who where dressed in full 1912 period costume as they read a few passages form the script for the Un-Dead dramatic reading Alex was producing and Directing the next night in Toronto. I made a presentation about the writing and research behind Dracula the Un-Dead, and was honored to have my Uncle Patrick, his daughter Carlotta, her husband Ralph, and my cousin Thornley Stoker in attendance.

Early the next morning I was off to the airport to fly to Toronto, for a day and a half full of interviews primarily TV and radio. The main event the next day was the rehearsal and production of the staged reading at the Bathurst St Theater. Alex did a great job finding outstanding professional actors and actresses, and called in many favors to produce a fine show with excellent effects. Shannon Mulholland and Richard Zampella from MODA entertainment in New York did a tremendous amount of work to promote this event. Their efforts resulted in a very full house for the two hour performance. Penguin Canada’s Barbara Bower also deserves kudos for putting together a fantastic and creative book launch in the three cities where I visited.

No rest for the weary, Ian and I were up at 3:30am to be driven to the Toronto Airport for a 6:20am flight to New York. We were meeting Carrie Thornton and Carrie Swetonic from Dutton publishing at the Barnes and Noble.com headquarters to film a 10 min trailer to coincide with the release of New Moon. The trailer was tracing Vampires in literature starting back with Bram Stoker and moving onwards to Stephanie Meyer’s New Moon.
Later that day I had a series of phone and email interviews from my hotel room, followed by a book signing event at the Borders bookstore in The Time Warner Center.

The next morning I was up early 7:30am for two hours of radio call in shows, a series of nine interviews from all over the country. Our final event was a screening of Todd Browning’s 1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. MODA organized Ian, Alex, Carmen and I to be guest speakers at this screening at the Arts Cinema in Huntingdon Long Island. It was lots of fun to watch the old classic again, and answer questions from a very enthusiastic audience. Flying home on Halloween to South Carolina was very surreal, many airport workers and airline gate attendants were dressed in costumes. It gave new meaning to how the sprits of the night and the dead travel fast!

The next day, Jenne and Belle came along with Patricia and me on the high-speed train to Barcelona for another day full of TV interviews and a book signing. In Barcelona, our escort for the day was the Roca publicist, Sylvie, who could not have been more accommodating. Barcelona is a beautiful coastal city, vibrant and still bustling after hosting the Olympics in 1992. Ironically, in this lively city I spent a majority of my time filming two separate interviews in the same cemetery. It was interesting to note that in Spain, Dracula the Un-Dead had been out for one month and like the Dutch, Roca was already into their second printing.
Back in Madrid, our last day was mercifully a vacation day for me. I joined my wife and daughter as all-out tourists; we took a riotous open-top bus tour, bought some souvenirs, and had a very nice last supper.
As it turned out, a trip to Lisbon was not necessary, as I was able to convince the Portuguese journalist to come to me in Madrid, rather than my using my one free day flying to Lisbon and back.
The trip home was uneventful except it was fraught with the usual frustration of the “cattle being lead to slaughter” system that the Atlanta airport has in place for arriving international passengers. The more I travel thru this airport, the more I build my resolve to pay lots of more money to arrive somewhere else and walk home!

After a restful week, I left on November 9 for Amsterdam for twelve hours of interviews spread over two days. These interviews were a mixture of print, TV and radio, and fortunately, translation was not necessary. In The Netherlands, it seems everyone speaks English-as well as two or three other languages.  The Mynx publicist Marc van Biezen proved to be very welcoming- also efficient, organized and pleasant. Mynx has been very pleased with the early book sales: they are already into their second printing- the first having been released mid October. My schedule was very busy, so I spent very little time outside my beautiful and quaint hotel, which was situated next to a very active canal.

 The twelfth of November was a beautiful clear day, and my flight to Milan, Italy afforded me a spectacular view of the Alps. I could not imagine more beautiful scenery, as every small mountain village nestled under the snow capped peaks seemed special.

 On my first evening in Milan, I had the pleasure of having drinks with two gentlemen, school counselors by profession, who a few months prior had parts in the first Italian production of the Dean- Balderston stage play, Dracula. They had played the characters Renfield and Harker, and their passion was obvious as they described their preparation for the roles.

The next morning I met with the Piemme publicist, Arianna Malacrida and translator Chiara Bertolino who would spend the next 3 days ushering me around Milan, Rome, and Cuneo from one interview to another. On that Thursday morning, my wife Jenne and daughter Belle arrived to join me for a week. My days proved to be quite full, but I did have time in the evenings to be with my family, who seemed to alternate between exhaustion from jet lag and building up their endurance visiting shops and trying out their Italian phrase book.

On Friday, the troupe from Piemme escorted me to Rome for a series of interviews. One of these interviews is most memorable- the lovely Italian television hostess strayed from the usual line of questioning when she brought up a possible film adaptation of Dracula the Un-Dead and asked what I thought about casting George Clooney and his girlfriend, an Italian model, in the lead roles. Of course the audience loved the idea and cheered wildly.

I flew to Turin with Arianna, then drove on to meet Jenne and Belle in Cuneo, a lovely small town at the foot of the Alps. I had a translator with me the entire time, but Jenne and Belle had the adventure of driving the three hours to Cuneo often at 150 kilometers per hour in a cab, with a driver and another passenger who spoke no English. In Cuneo, we attended Scrittorincitta, an annual book festival whose schedule left time to explore. Our hotel was on the town’s very large cobblestone square, which was surrounded by shops, restaurants and hotels. Little alleyways wound throughout the town and led from one amazing architectural treasure to another. Although the weather was cold and gray, we found enough coffee shops to keep us warm and energized. 

I was one of only four foreign authors present amongst the one hundred and twenty Italian authors, and the language barrier kept us from taking advantage of attending other writers presentations. And although we were at a disadvantage at restaurants with only Italian on the menus, we made the best of whatever it turned out we had ordered, and chalked it up to experience.   The Italian language is so beautiful and melodic, we all  enjoyed being surrounded by it. I particularly love how the translation of Jack the Ripper into Italian could smooth out the rough implications of the name; phonetically “Jackolas Quatre Torry”. The publisher, Piemme, had a large presence at the festival, and we were well cared for throughout the weekend.

October 14- 20, 2009

The degree of excitement generated in France by Dracula l’Immortel was both evident, and impressive to Ian and me when we landed in Paris. Our French publisher Michel Lafon went all out, producing a wonderful edition of our book, as well as creating a powerful advertising and promotional campaign.

Two weeks prior to our arrival, the publisher had flown eight Paris based journalists to Romania for two days and a night in Bran Castle, Romania’s only restored castle from Vlad Dracula’s era. The journalists had been given the history of Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula, as well as the connections between the novel and the historical Transylvanian leader Prince Vlad Dracula. They even enjoyed a traditional feast in the castle, with stewed bear as the main dish!

Rather than a castle, Michel Lafon provided us rooms in a wonderful boutique style hotel. Ian and I were quite happy with these accommodations during our five days in Paris- — and the more delicate French cuisine.

Ian and I quickly fell into to what is becoming to us a routine of book launches. This meant two days of back-to-back, hour-long interviews with a variety of journalists, with only short breaks in between.  While in Paris, we worked closely with Michel Lafon’s head of publicity, the lovely Sylvie Gauthier, who had been working with us long distance during the past eight months. Sylvie briefed us each morning, explaining the significance of each interview, and advising us the direction questions may go, based on the readership or audience.

Ian and I lapsed into our own normal routine of dividing the relevant answers based on our areas of expertise. The interviewers provided some welcome deviations with specific and different angles they thought their readers would enjoy. It was evident during interviews that the journalists who had taken the Romanian trip had a far greater degree of interest and insight into our story than some others with whom we met.

The Paris highlight was our Friday night presentation and book signing at the Virgin mega store on the Champs-Elysees. A two story billboard depicting the beautifully designed Michel Lafon cover of  Dracula l’Immortel, dominated the front of the four story building. Inside the bookstore’s main hall, thirty television screens and one large Jumbo Tron screen streamed live video of Ian and me, as we answered questions (which were all translated) from the stage to the one hundred or so spectators.

 French journalists take Saturday off, so Ian and I were free to play tourist during the day. We took a bus tour and saw all the sights, even managing the obligatory souvenir shopping before reaching our saturation point. I was delighted I was able to schedule a Saturday dinner engagement with the Irish Ambassador to France, Paul Murray, who recently wrote a biography of Bram Stoker. Paul is assisting me as I represent the Bram Stoker Estate, in preparing an application to the Dublin City Council to gain their approval for a statue of Bram Stoker to be placed in Dublin.

The early part of Sunday turned out to be a much needed rest day, in anticipation of our reward for good behavior. Sylvie was able to arrange through Michel Lafon Publishing,  tickets to Moulin Rouge. All I can saw is WOW, an amazing dance revue, beautiful ladies, great costumes-or lack thereof, and exquisite set designs. Ian and I had a great time, and have resolved to behave better more often!

Our last full day in Paris revolved around more interviews, followed by a wonderful send off dinner, given in our honor at a local Romanian restaurant. The dinner was attended by the Michel Lafon staff and assorted journalists, some of whom of had been on the Bran Castle trip. They appeared quite relieved not to be served bear again.

Ian and I can’t say enough about our French publisher Michel Lafon, head publicist Sylvie Gauthier, their entire staff, and all of their efforts toward promotion of our book. We are so thankful that back in 2008, Elsa Lafon, a beautiful and energetic lady, fell in love with our manuscript at the Frankfurt book fair, and made the commitment to publish

Dracula l’ Immortel for us.

The Dublin “tour” was much the same as in London, including three days of nonstop interviews, except this time live national TV was included in the schedule. I had a spot on the television morning show, Ireland AM, and about 20 minutes on the very popular Gerry Ryan radio show.

I love Dublin, and enjoyed soaking it all up as I made my way through the city, on foot or in cabs. Taxi rides zipping through Dublin traffic proved to be very entertaining. Dublin taxi drivers have solid opinions about America, the international economy, local politics, and even more about their native son, Bram Stoker and Dracula, and are not afraid to share their thoughts. One of the drivers even took it upon himself to help prepare me to get “up” for the Gerry Ryan show. He felt I was too relaxed and laid back and should be on the edge of my seat to be ready to go toe to toe with Gerry. His work was not in vain. I met several people over the next few days, who had listened to the show and remembered me.

Other than the many radio and newspaper interviews, I did two power point presentations followed by book signings at the Pearse Street and Ballyroan Libraries, and another signing at Chapters, the largest independent book store in Ireland.

Kudos to the Dublin based Harper Collins publicist Moira Reilly. She had all the details of the publicity tour organized well in advance, and was lots of fun to work with. One day we emerged from a quick lunch at our hotel, Buswell’s, to catch a cab to a book signing, and were nearly swallowed up by a peaceful political demonstration as about 10,000 people blocked the street, adjacent to the Irish Senate. Moira joked that she was quite the publicist to arrange such an impressive turnout for me. I replied that if she were a really impressive publicist all those people would show up at the book signing!  

I was not really sure what reactions to expect from local book enthusiasts, after all this was Dublin. Considering Dublin’s rich heritage in Gothic literature, I wondered if I would be “preaching to the choir”. As it turns out, most of them knew very little of the details of Bram’s life and family in Dublin, or his seven year process of writing Dracula while he lived in London, and were quite interested in the information I presented. Dublin’s Douglas Appleyard, a Stoker cousin, has been very helpful to me in regards to Stoker genealogy. He has been able to fill in many blanks in the family history for me, and I appreciate his help.  Everyone I met in Dublin seemed to embrace my effort as a member of the Stoker family to regain some of the family’s literary legacy. I am grateful for their acceptance.

I also had several interesting discussions with my good friend Brian Showers, author and enthusiastic supporter of the Bram Stoker Society, which is based in Dublin. He has agreed to provide material to Ian and me for the script development for our upcoming trailer for a book industry website. Brian and other members of the Bram Stoker Society are also working with the Bram Stoker Estate in our efforts to have a Bram Stoker statue commissioned and placed in Dublin. 

On the weekend, the very gracious and learned John Moore, shared his extensive collection of Bram Stoker papers and books with us. He made Jenne and me feel so welcome, but in four hours we were able to digest only a fraction of his library treasures. Hopefully, we will be able to visit him again, perhaps during our next trip to Dublin, tentatively planned for May 2010.

 Jenne’s agenda/desire was finally able to emerge from underneath the Dracula cloak and take center stage on our last day in Dublin. We rode a city bus out to Enniskerry, County Wicklow to get a glimpse of the Irish countryside, and toured the impressive gardens at Powerscourt.

We took a day to completely relax, unwind, and pack our bags, to head home to South Carolina, where we anticipate the US book launch on October 13.

Jenne and I drove the first leg of our trip to London, hoping to avoid a weather delay similar to our experience in May, when our trip to Dublin was postponed for 24 hours. In May, a thunderstorm in Atlanta, GA prevented our plane’s take-off from Columbia, SC, so we were stuck, and missed our connection to Dublin and our first engagement during the “One City One Book” festival. On this trip to London, we were on a tight schedule and could not afford to miss a day, which would have necessitated rescheduling 15 interviews.

So, we drove white-knuckled, three hours to the Atlanta airport in torrential rain during a thunder and lightening storm, which was without a doubt the most perilous part of our travel to London. A very stressful drive, but we got there in time for our flight.

Jenne and I arrived in London at 11:30 AM, thirty minutes ahead of schedule and only slightly worse for wear. We met the driver provided by HarperCollins and set off to the Soho district of London and our wonderful accommodations at Hazlitt’s Hotel. We were determined to fight off jet lag, so rather than take a nap we went for a walk to get our bearings. We discovered we were only a five minute walk from Piccadilly Circus, which like Times Square in NY, is the pulse of the fine city of London. Ironically, it is also the location our Dracula the Un-Dead where a certain body is found impaled!

Waterstones Piccadilly, the largest bookstore in Europe, where the Dracula the Un-Dead presentation and book signing would be held the next evening was just off the circle. We wandered in to scope it out and after fifteen minutes of searching I was in a bit of a panic. We could not find one copy of Dracula the Un-Dead. We were reluctant to ask at first, but I wondered-had we come to the wrong city- got the date wrong or had any of a hundred other things gone wrong? I got up my courage and made an inquiry to a sales lady, who informed me sales were so good, it was hard to keep restocking the shelf, and the present inventory had just been moved into the lecture hall on the 6^th floor for an appearance by the author and book signing the next night. She asked if I want to buy a ticket?  I did not have the heart to tell her who I was.

The next day was a whirlwind of press interviews and call in radio programs at the very comfortable HarperCollins offices. The routine was a 20-30 minute interview followed by a 5 minute break. I was nursing a bit of a cough, so I consumed plenty of hot tea, resulting in many trips to the men’s room during my breaks. Essentially, I found myself repeating many of the same basic answers during all of the interviews, however interesting variations occurred with some of the journalists’ creative questions, as they strived to pique the interest of their particular readers or listeners. I found the journalists who had read our book, really liked it, or so they said, and presented much more in depth questions than those who had only read the press releases and trade reviews.

The evening “power point” presentation and book signing at Waterstones was very well attended by about 60 people, including some familiar faces; World Champion Court Tennis player, Australian Rob Fahey, and Hampton Court Palace Tennis Club members, John Clark, Richard East, and Robin Mulcahy. It was also really an honor to have in attendance graphic novelist Tony Lee, his lovely wife Tracy, and Tony’s publisher Harry Markos of Markosia Publishing.

The next morning involved a few radio interviews at the BBC studios, followed by a lunch meeting with my cousin Robin McCaw (great grand son of Bram), as we discussed my upcoming audience with a Dublin city official and the procedures to gain approval for a Bram Stoker Statue in Dublin.

Throughout our London visit, the HarperCollins staff could not have been nicer. The three ladies who ushered in our book and organized the promotional events in London affectionately became known as Team Un-Dead. Led by the extraordinarily organized and charming Liz Dawson, everything went off without a hitch, even an impromptu photo shoot in a nearby churchyard.

September 25- Oct 3  London and Dublin

October 7 or 8 Press Conference The Wilcox Aiken SC

October 10 Aiken County Library Power Point Presentation  2 or 3 pm

October 13 Radio Interviews & 7-8:30 pm Books a Million launch and signing

October 14-20 Paris signings interviews and presentations

October 21 Philadelphia Rosenbach Museum and Library Dracula Festival lecture and book signing.

October 24 Depart to Canada

25 Ottawa International Writers festival

26 Montreal Power Point and Book signing

27-28 Toronto Staged reading Bathurst St Theater and reception Bill Jameson

October 29 New York Borders in Columbus Circle book signing

October 30 New York MODA event Licensing & merchandising

October Halloween ??

Nov. 8-10 Holland & Belgium: signings interviews and presentations

Nov. 11-15 Milan, Italy: signings interviews and presentations

Nov. 16-20 Madrid, Spain: signings interviews and presentations

    Trying to find my place at my first Comicon, I realized I was undeniably a fish out of water. In fact, I cut short my annual fly-fishing pilgrimage with clients to Montana and British Columbia in order to be in San Diego July 24, 25, & 26. I had been looking forward to the Comican adventure, anticipating the whole scene, especially my participation in a panel discussion. I pride myself at being able to act as a chameleon in life, blending in with any environment, while I familiarize myself with the surroundings, determine how long I want to stay, and decide what impact I want to make. Outfitted in my first-ever all black clothing ensemble, next to my co-author, Ian Holt, I still looked like Roy Rogers at a Pow Wow.

    The Westgate Hotel, where our US publisher, Dutton had rooms for us, was lavish, and better yet, within walking distance to the Convention Center. Ian and I both checked in Friday afternoon, about 3 hours apart. We decided to head to the event, in search of our credentials, which was no easy task. About two blocks from the convention center, we were struck by the enormity of the crowd. Once near, we began asking specific directions, and funnily enough, the most accurate information was delivered by scantly clad “marketing representatives” of a dating service, whom I initially mistook for Comicon workers in costume. 

     As we entered the hall, we showed our initial paperwork, were quickly and efficiently processed through the “professionals” area, given our passes, and a bag full of informational booklets. As I tried to adjust to my initial sensory overload, Ian and I decided to map out the lay of the land and find the rooms where we would be “performing” on Saturday. As we walked, probably in circles, the massive size of the convention hall buildings was hitting home, and we realized no one gave as good directions as the dating service girls. We ran the maze like intelligent little mice, and eventually found our panel hall, the author’s autograph area, the bathrooms and the food court— all essentials accounted for.  I finally relaxed, knowing at least I would be able to show up at the right place on time.

   So, it was time to start trying to blend in and look like I belonged there. Not easy.  There were many people dressed in character costumes, who looked as if they had just walked off a Hollywood set, very impressive indeed. There were others, I am sorry to report, who should have looked into the mirror and left the spandex at home.

    I actually recognized about half of the characters; Ian filled me in on the rest. To be honest, most of my trepidation regarding Comicon was rooted in the fact that I do not play video games, and have not read a comic book in 35 years. I can distinguish a green drake mayfly from a mottled brown caddis fly from 30 feet, but an original Green Lantern from a modern Green Lantern, forget it. But, I do like a challenge.

   The enormous popularity of the vampire genre really struck home with me at Comicon, and I began to put it all into perspective, including the marketing budgets of book publishers for an event like this, versus the enormous budgets for TV and movie marketing. The super popular HBO series “True Blood” had special door hangers mimicking “this rooms needs cleaning” or “please do not disturb”. Theirs were printed in red and black with the phrases: “Please clean this room, we’ve stepped out for a bite” on one side and “Please do not disturb, The Un-Dead aren’t morning people” on the other side. Brilliant! Instant souvenir.

   The highlight Friday was trying to connect with our friend and  “Dracula the Un-Dead” researcher, Alexander Galant and his wife Carmen from Toronto. They had a Star Wars short films entry, and had been selected as one of the finalists for the Lucas Awards. Ian and I quickly realized seating for any Star Wars event entailed a minimum of 2 hours standing in line. Not possible. Alex tried his best to snag some VIP passes for us, but this turned out to be an unrealistic challenge. Tolerating standing in line has never been my strong suit, so I eased back to the hotel for a quick supper and bed, wishing the best for Alex and Carmen. 

    As it turned out, although their film was not the big winner, Alex and Carmen were runners-up in a few categories. They didn’t have much time for disappointment, they were back again in the morning to hand out promotional cards at the Penguin booth and assist us as we prepared for our panel discussion.

   Saturday morning, I had breakfast with cousins of my wife, Thomas Hughes, his wife Tammy, and their two lovely daughters Carolina and Mary Susan, South Carolinians transplanted to Southern California. Thomas works for MGM in their website design department, and he and his family were looking forward to Saturday at Comicon. Thomas recently unveiled MGM’s new website for “Stargate”, with very cool new technology from Microsoft called Silverlight. Thomas also had to find a way to score VIP passes for his boss for the TV series LOST panel, later that day. Not an easy task.

  After breakfast, Ian and I met up with the film crew organized by our licensing and merchandising agent, Shannon Mulholland of MODA. The crew was on assignment to chronicle our “coming out” party at Comicon, film all of our events, and to capture the spirit of our reception.

    Once in the publishers aisle I found where Dutton had displayed its goods.  Besides our book, Dutton was also highlighting Level 26, by the creator of CSI, Anthony Zuiker. I looked across the aisle to see the Twilight booth, in all its glory with many people lined up for an author’s autograph. Sadly, not Stephanie Meyer, or I might have gotten in line myself, or maybe not.

   So, I hung out at the Penguin booth, handed out promo cards, smiled a lot, introduced myself to visitors who showed an interest in the corner of the table with our book cover display and the boxes of red hots.

   Dealing with marketing to a moving conveyor belt of Comicon fans was a new adventure.  My mission was to identify the vampire fans and anyone else who may be interested in “Dracula the Un-Dead”, out of the throngs of thousands just shuffling by with glazed looks in their eyes.  I realized that the 125,000 people in attendance had already been running the gauntlet of hundreds of other marketing people, offering swag and thrusting cards at them, in an attempt to grab their attention for anything more meaningful than a 5 second “walk by”. 

   My strategy was simple: get eye contact and share a smile, then I had a chance to get them to look at our booth. Ian and I had a book sized poster of “Dracula the Un-Dead” on our table, next to 20 other books Penguin was promoting. And, we had the mini-book replica box of “red hots” to lure them in. The red hots were unique– I did not see them anywhere else at Comicon. Obviously, there were plenty of much bigger giveaway’s: inflatable swords and massive over the shoulder bags, which became walking billboards for a variety of TV shows, movies, and video games. I suppose they also represented a status symbol; the more full the bag, the more endurance one possesses.

   When I spied a T shirt that had anything remotely relating to vampires I would ask the shirt-wearer if they were a Dracula fan. Then I would thrust my 5 by 7 card at them with a box of red hots and blurt out, “Here is the family supported sequel that I have written. I am Dacre Stoker, great grand nephew of Bram Stoker”. I would follow with, “Our publisher is giving away 100 free ARC’s in the signing area, my co-author and I will be glad to sign them at 2:30 after our panel discussion.” How was that for two sentence, two breath marketing?

    Panel discussion-minus 40 minutes.  I went upstairs to sit down, collect my thoughts, relax, and use the bathroom before going “on stage”. With 15 minutes to go, I headed to the discussion panel, and was pleasantly surprised to see such a large line up to access to our room. It was not quite Star Wars’esque, but it seemed pretty close!  The other panelists were all gathered in the alcove near the entrance, and Carrie Swetonic, our Dutton representative, introduced me to each of them. One of the other panelists, Jeanne Stein said,  “You don’t look anything like what I was expecting of a relative of Bram Stoker”, so a few of us expanded on that theme for a few lighthearted moments. I admitted that I had not read their books, so we shared synopses of our stories in those last few moments before we were ushered into the room to be seated.

   Prior to this panel discussion entitled: “Josh Whedon, is he the Bram Stoker of his day”? , each participant was given some general questions which the moderator, fellow author Les Klinger, (Annotated Dracula) would pose to the authors. He was very effective:  kept us on track, stimulated interesting discussion, made sure we all participated, and assured the audience heard something at least remotely related to the topic. We then fielded a few questions from the audience before our hour was up, and the organizers ushered us out to make room for the next panel.

   At the conclusion of the discussion, Ian and I moved into to the authors’ autograph area, to sign advanced reader copies of “Dracula the Un-Dead”. We had a hundred to sign, which were gone in about 45 minutes. One interesting element to me are some of the comments and fan reactions while signing, although the family cards are stacked in my favor, most people are very curious and somewhat skeptical of my true bloodlines. Initially, people seem confused when I explain what it means to be the great grand nephew, but the  look in their eyes usually clears, when I clarify by saying, Bram Stoker’s youngest brother, George, was my great-grand father.

  I got a bit of a pleasant surprise when preparing to sign one copy. As I asked if he would like the signature personalized, I looked up for the book holder’s name on the pass dangling around his neck.  I realized the man smiling down at me was none other then J. Gordon Melton, a very well known Vampire scholar and author. I was flattered he was there, pleased that I recognized him, and delighted I had the opportunity to arrange a photo with him and some of the other authors.

    Once the signing was history, we retreated back to our hotel, where the MODA film crew had set up to tape interviews with me, Ian and Alex. Being a rookie at this, I needed Carmen to wave a small card behind the camera to remind me to repeat the question from the interviewer, as he would be edited out of the finished product.

    On Sunday morning, I wandered back to the convention center, but this time in obscurity, no longer wearing black or trying to assimilate, and under no pressure to perform. Now, I could simply take it all in, and buy a few souvenirs for my family members. I found some very appropriate bat earrings for Belle, and a bat necklace for Jenne.  If they are going to hang with any of this crowd at book launch events, now they will have a head start on trying to fit in.

   I started up a conversation at a “Famous Monsters” booth, and one of the attendants noticed my name. After the initial recognition, he asked if he might arrange taping an interview for a podcast for his website. Now, I am learning, take the free advertising when you can get it. No black shirt, but the guy asked great questions. Ten minutes, all done. 

   Ian and I had lunch with Mike Kuziack from AEI, our literary management company, and Terrance Coles, the head of the MODA filming crew. We brainstormed about the upcoming Vampire-con in LA, potential marketing plans involving vampire mystery cruises, and custom built vampire theme caskets. Ian and Terrance then departed to LA, as Ian had a full week of meetings regarding possible “Un-Dead” movie rights, as well as some of his other film projects. Mike set off on his motorcycle to Arizona to visit his parents, and I retreated once again, to chill out in my hotel room.

   I did manage some final excitement, prior to very frustrating flight delays which necessitated my taking the red-eye home. I was able to catch up with Tony Lee, a friend from London, and graphic novelist of the soon-to-be- released “Harker”,  and Harry Marcos from Markosia publishing. Ian and I are writing the afterward to Tony’s graphic novel sequel to Dracula.

Tony Lee and Harry Marcos are very talented indeed, and seem to know everyone in the graphic business, probably because they are both genuinely very nice people, and have been in the business for quite a while. Over a few beers and dinner, they both very kindly pledged to assist me with my quest to help the Bram Stoker Society raise funds to have a bust of Bram commissioned and erected in a suitable location in Dublin.

   This was going to be an early evening for everyone, there had been enough action the last few nights. So, we all headed back to our hotels to rest up before beginning the arduous journey home.

    I am not sure what is more daunting to consider: another Comicon, the upcoming Vampire-con in L.A. in August, or having to travel via airlines these days.

   I will keep you posted.

Dacre

I have been sequestered up in Saluda North Carolina since early June working feverishly finishing off the final copy edits on “Dracula the Un-Dead”. With great joy and relief I sent off my final version on July 3^rd to my publisher.

Since then, Ian Holt, my co author and I have been engaging in a necessary form of marketing. (torture)  It is called social media marketing, Website, Facebook, Blogging and Twitter. Up until a year or so ago this was not necessary, but since pop culture has embraced this form of communication as necessary it has become expected of authors, producers, musicians and actors who want to get into and remain in the buzz! I have been told that 50% of the success in writing a book is in the writing of the book, the remaining 50% is in the marketing, both by the publisher and by the author. So I have been learning how to be hip and engage in all sorts of social media interaction on a daily basis.

In addition, I have been working with foreign publishers setting up my tour, speeches, power point presentations and book signings in various countries this fall.

Ian and I have attended the Book Expo of America in New York back in May and the Comicon July 24-26 in San Diego. We are getting primed up for the Vampire-con in Los Angles in mid August. At all of these events we usually sign advance reader copies of our book, give a talk or participate on a panel discussion with other authors.

In the mean time we have hired a Licensing and Merchandising agent to investigate possible licensees or tie ins to products that will pay us to be associated with them.

We have a few leads; T shirts, credit cards, bottled water, to name a few.

I am also pursuing a related cause with the Bram Stoker Society in Dublin. When in Dublin this spring with Jenne I noticed that there is no statue or bust or even a painting of Bram displayed in a prominent location. In fact no one could tell me if anything like this is in existence, other then one done by the Romanians in the Borgo pass. So I am embarking on a fund raising mission to raise the necessary monies to have a bust commissioned once the Bram Stoker Society gets the necessary permissions to have it displayed in an appropriate location in Dublin. This may take a while. We were originally aiming for a 2012 unveiling at a proposed literary conference in Dublin coinciding with the hundredth anniversary of Bram’s passing. This I am told may be too optimistic a time frame. Nonetheless, I have verbal pledges of nine thousand US once we get the go ahead to start collecting the funds.  

If you care to follow the action as we build up to the book release in mid October visit our website www.DraculatheUn-Dead.com  I will be posting a new blog about once or twice a week. Join our new Facebook fan page, or sign up to follow me on a Twitter account. Really it does not hurt too much! (But then again that is what the count said to Mina Harker.)

Topic: Bram Stoker, The Joss Whedon of his day?

It will be easy to point out the impact that Dracula has had over the first 112 years, by providing a wide variety of material for analysis. Bram’s creation has helped many scholars, writers, directors and actors make a living off of his product. What is interesting to me is that it has been on so many levels. Dracula has been credited with making commentary on social reform, repressed sexuality, making statements about technology, religion, to name a few.

The present interest in horror and vampires in pop culture, to a certain extent, is great entertainment, but may not approach the level of depth for the critics to analyze as has been the case for Dracula.