a standard gateway into a magic land that initially
seems a pleasant place but whose underlying cor-
ruption becomes increasingly apparent. She en-
counters a man of that world on a magical quest
and inadvertently derails his plans, although she
eventually redeems herself, saves the day, and
then seeks a return to her original world. Nelson
switched to mystery and suspense before the ex-
tent of her abilities as a fantasy writer were
known, but the relatively small body of work she
did produce stands up well compared to most con-
temporary fantasists.
DraculaBram Stoker(1897)
When Bram STOKERwrote Dracula, he penned
possibly the most famous novel of the supernatural
of all, established the prototype for vampires for the
following generation of writers, and created one of
the most recognizable fictional characters of all
time. The character Dracula is loosely based on
Vlad Tepes, a 15th-century sometimes prince of
Wallachia who became known as Vlad the Impaler.
There had been previous stories of vampires. John
Polidori’s The Vampyrehad appeared in 1819, Va r -
ney the Vampyreby James M. Rymer appeared in
1847, and CARMILLAby J. Sheridan LE FANU, for
whose newspaper Stoker occasionally wrote, was
first published in 1871. The legend of the vampire
was not consistent from place to place, and Stoker
was free to choose which portions to use and which
to discard. Modern readers of vampire fiction often
forget that Dracula could walk abroad in daylight
and that he could be killed by gunfire. Later writers
would vary from the formula, sometimes dramati-
cally, but the basic rules of vampirism were carried
on—drinking blood by means of a bite on the neck,
the aversion to religious objects and garlic, the con-
version of victims to vampirism in turn, and in
many cases the ability to physically change shape.
We first meet Count Dracula through the eyes
of Jonathan Harker, who is acting as an agent of
his employer to help arrange the count’s relocation
to England from his native Transylvania. Harker is
only mildly disturbed by the attitude of Dracula’s
neighbors, who fear and loathe him, and his initial
impression is favorable. As his stay at the castle be-
comes extended, he discovers that he is a prisoner
rather than a guest, and his eventual escape comes
only after he has experienced such a shock that he
becomes seriously ill.
The scene shifts to England, specifically the
home of Lucy Westenra, a spoiled and rather
empty-headed young woman who has recently
chosen Arthur Holmwood from among her various
suitors. Lucy’s companion is Mina Murray,
Harker’s fiancée. They are intrigued by the appear-
ance of the mysterious and vaguely romantic
Count Dracula. However, shortly after he arrives
Lucy begins sleepwalking, and her health declines.
Doctor Abraham Van Helsing is called in, and he
correctly diagnoses the problem as a vampire, al-
though his companions are understandably skepti-
cal. A battle of wits ensues as Dracula slowly
subverts and eventually kills Lucy, who returns as
one of the undead but is destroyed by Van Helsing
and the others after a brief series of depredations.
Dracula, however, now has his sights set on Mina,
and his evil infects her, although she remains
among the living.
Dracula recruits the assistance of Renfield, an
inmate at the asylum of Dr. Jack Seward who
seems able to enter and leave the premises at will.
Renfield proves to be an unreliable servant, how-
ever, and Dracula eventually destroys him. The
company of friends has his number by now, and
they systematically destroy all but one of the
coffins of native earth he brought with him from
Transylvania. Having decided that discretion is the
better part of valor, Dracula abandons his new
home and sets out on the long trip back to Transyl-
vania, pursued by the others who can acquire some
knowledge of his movements by means of a psychic
link to Mina. They catch him in the nick of time,
destroy him and his three wives, and lose one of
their number in the process. There are parts of the
novel that seem overly sentimental, particularly
the constant homages to Mina by her friends, but
the story has an undeniable power that comes
through the somewhat archaic prose.
There are hundreds if not thousands of stories
and novels that were influenced at least indirectly
by Dracula,as well as more than 40 sequels. Some
of the more interesting of these include Sherlock
Holmes vs Dracula(1978) by Loren Estleman,
Dracula Began(1976) by Gail Kimberly, which is92 Dracula