Happy Birthday, Dracula!

If you’ve been reading The Fright Stuff for a little while, chances are you’re familiar with my deep and abiding love for S.T. Gibson’s Dowry of Blood, a queer, polyamorous retelling of the origin of Dracula’s brides. This gorgeously Gothic book is one of my hands down favorite adaptations of Stoker’s novel, and if you haven’t read it yet get ready, because it’s being re-released in hardcover this October, complete with a ravishing new cover.

Speaking of favorite adaptations, last year Innsmouth Free Press released the first English translation of Mexican author José Luis Zárate’s cult Dracula adaptation centered around the captain of the Demeter and his ill-fated crew. Like A Dowry of Blood, The Route of Ice & Salt is another gloriously queer retelling, and Zárate’s beautiful prose shines in the hands of David Bowles careful translation.

There are almost criminal depths to which I would sink to get my hands on a copy of this book. Truly. But for now I’ll just (im)patiently sit on my hands and wait for my copy of Kiste’s forthcoming joint retelling of Dracula and Jane Eyre to arrive. That’s right, Reluctant Immortals is two Gothic adaptations for the price of one as Lucy Westenra and Bertha Mason, two of literature’s most done wrong by women, set out to free themselves at last from the men who tried to destroy them.

One of the most unique vampire novels I’ve had the pleasure of reading, Moreno-Garcia’s Certain Dark Things is praised for, among other things, its rich worldbuilding and fascinatingly varied vampire culture. In Mexico City, street kid Domingo is just trying to survive when he meets vampire-on-the-run Atl. Atl is the descendent of Aztec blood drinkers, on the run from a rival vampire clan. Their meeting happens by chance, but as time goes on, the two find themselves working together to escape the dark streets with their lives (life and un-life?) intact.

You know I never miss the chance to include an anthology if I can squeeze it in, and I’m telling you: if you want a bloody, hungry, fascinating look at where vampire horror is headed in the hands of a new generation of writers, Vampires Never Get Old needs to be on your reading list. Twelve talented YA authors have teamed up to bring you eleven exciting and innovative stories, leaving their own fang marks on the Vampire mythos.

Yet another forthcoming summer vampire pre-order for your TBR! Youngblood has been on my ordering list since it first crossed my radar, which was well before that ridiculously GORGEOUS illustrated cover was released and stole my heart. If teen vampires and vampire boarding schools are your jam, Youngblood is the book for you! Two young vampires from different walks of (un)life take on classism, conservative values, and a dangerous conspiracy as they try to solve the murder of one of their classmates and end up uncovering a dark secret at the heart of Vampirdom itself.