“I LIVE IN ALL OF YOU. IN THE SECRET
CHAMBERS OF YOUR SOUL, I AM YOU.”
Oakland, CA: 10/7/16
Call him Dracula.
Conqueror by moonlight,
bringer of storms, a supernatural terrorist rampaging through our dream world,
Dracula has haunted the souls of readers and moviegoers for over a century, a monster
for all seasons. Now, in a new adaptation originally conjured for the screen,
the King of the Vampires becomes an avatar of untrammeled freedom and absolute supernatural
power: a Superman of Evil.
“I’ve always loved
Dracula, from the moment I saw Bela Lugosi march down that staircase with such
power and authority” says the treatment’s author, Thomas Burchfield. “The other
kids in class all wanted to be Superman. Not me! I wanted to be Dracula! Not in
the sexual aspects, but that promise of absolute freedom, that sense of pure
willpower. To me Dracula was a guy who got to stay up all night and do whatever
he wanted—to whomever he wanted—with no rules or constraints at all, every atom
of the universe within his grasp. Of course, I grew up into a reasonably mature
and responsible adult, but still, his shadow lingers at the edge of my mind.
“I always found the film
versions of Stoker’s novel to be unsatisfying in one way or another,” Burchfield
continues. “They never quite matched the movie playing inside my skull, whether
due to budget problems or just a dearth of imagination. I kept waiting for
someone to see it the way I saw it—it’s so obvious to me—as a tale about sociopathic
power. Finally, I realized I’d have to write it myself. The circumstances that
inspired Bram Stoker have changed since his day. To me, Dracula remains a
strong man fantasy, a symbol of this age of bin Laden, Putin and, dare I say
it, Donald Trump.
“It is a very seductive
and, I daresay, immoral and dangerous notion for the rest of us. My version
will be by no means the last, but I think it captures Dracula’s deadly magic as
it scares the hell out of readers. Originally written as a screenplay, I’ve recast
it in straight narrative prose to make it an easier, more appealing, reading
experience.”
Closely following Bram
Stoker’s classic novel, but spinning its own dark magic, Dracula: Endless Night follows Dracula’s ruthless quest for blood
and power, stretching from the wilds of central Europe to the storm-haunted
coastline of Victorian England. Arrayed against him are a band of flawed souls
who, while locked in desperate battle with the Vampire King, struggle with
their own sins and temptations as they see themselves reflected in his
monstrous visage.
Will they end Dracula’s
reign of terror? Or will they become his cattle, forever imprisoned in an evil
dream world? Thomas Burchfield, the author of Dragon’s Ark, returns with another ripping look at one of the great
myths of human civilization in a version that takes us into Dracula’s heart of
darkness, into its endless night.
Thomas Burchfield was born in Peekskill, New York, and
has been a San Francisco Bay Area resident for the last thirty years. His
contemporary Dracula novel, Dragon’s Ark,
won three awards in 2012, including Bronze Medal for Best Horror Novel
(Independent Book Publishers Association); Best Horror Novel from the National
Indie Excellence Awards; and runner up at the Halloween Bookfest. He has also published four screenplays he
wrote in the 1990s as e-books: Whackers,
The Uglies: A Crime Saga, Now Speaks the Devil and Dracula: Endless Night. He blogs frequently on books and movies at
his web page “A Curious Man.” His latest
novel, Butchertown, a Roaring
Twenties gangster tale, will be out later in 2016.
Review
Copies and Media Interviews:
For an interview with Thomas Burchfield, please contact him
at (510) 817-4432 or tbdeluxe@sbcglobal.net.
If you would like to receive this information as a
Word document, please let us know.
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Cover by Cathi Stevenson--Book Cover Express
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