Reading Dracula in the Summer With Others

I have read Dracula several times, and I've watched the variety of films starring Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, and countless other undead actors. I've read volumes of short stories about vampires, and I count (ha, ha?) many vampire novels among my most favorite reads.

This summer, I am taking Dracula one chapter at a time. (Cue Count von Count: one chapter, ha ha ha! Two wonderful chapter, ha ha ha. I love to count! If you watched Sesame Street as a little ghoul or goblin, you know.)

I'm doing this re-read at the bidding of Monica Van Fleet , under her scholarly tutelage through her Substack You Want It Darker? She is the mastermind behind this read-along, and her methods are both instructive and creative. Ms. Van Fleet writes about each chapter here each Friday, and discusses further details and interesting facts to know, here and on YouTube, about reading Dracula as if we readers were reading it for the first time, and as Victorian readers would react.

(Bonus Fact: If I were a Victorian, I would be a lady photographer, and I would yearn to capture the souls of the departed on my wet collodian photographic plates. And, oh! What fantastic little hats I'd wear.)

A chapter a week is right about my speed! But even so, I have fallen behind in my study of the accompanying written and video posts about Dracula and its time that are a wonderful source for further contemplation. We have both advanced since the late 1890s, and perhaps stayed much the same when it comes to knowing a good horror tale when we need one.

And most of us can admit that even if we never plan to read this--or any-- horror classic, we could all use something to distract us from the nightly news, and the doom-scrolling that we all know we do.

I have been slowly catching up with reading about the Count and his attempts to relocate in merry old England. He gets a few points for being a real lady killer, but ultimately we already know where and when he'll be staked through the heart. Alas. But perhaps he's eternal, and lives again each time someone reads the tale? It seems that Christopher Lee's on screen vampire persona is continually being reanimated, by someone unlucky enough to attempt such a thing. (See: any Hammer Film of your choosing).

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But I was saying: I am taking things slowly, catching up where I can, and thoroughly enjoying the ride. I've had to limit my activity to just going on the kiddie rides lately, as the Summer days pass by my bedroom window. Summer's warmth and fiery energy, oddly, slows me down. I've only got so many elaborately engraved spoons to use each day, and using even one up by trying to rush things isn't going to get me anywhere.

And what all of this has been a preamble to is this: I have, at least for this moment, come up with a posting schedule here. As my energy levels permit, and if the brain fogs stay relatively reasonable, I will plan to write a longer post one week, and a shorter post the following week. Sometimes a week and a half or two may pass between posts. I don't know ahead of time how things will go. I continually make plans as if I am still fully abled, even when deep down I know when I'm overdoing things.

This post was an example of a short post.

I'm still working on my next post, which is about how reading Anne Rice was a turning point in my life, as a dreamer and a budding writer. At the time I first read Interview With The Vampire I was 11, and I found the newly printed paperback at the corner store on its squeaking metal rack. I found quite a few horror paperbacks on that rack. Now those formerly quickly printed and distributed best sellers are mostly found as e-books. I haven't seen any paperback racks in years.

And that, Dear Reader, is the end of this tale.