Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron

4.5/5THE BLOODY RED BARON is the sequel to Kim Newman's classic ANNO DRACULA and a fantastic (fangtastic?) novel that, nevertheless, didn't quite stick with me the same way the original novel did. I would give it a 4 out of 5, still a respectable number, but it came with a novella at the end that I absolutely adored. "Vampire Romance" is a story every bit as enjoyable as the original Anno Dracula and I wish it was its own separate novel.The premise of the main novel is that the Victorian Age is over and Dracula has fled England to join with the Central Powers during World War 1. Kim Newman's preferred version of Dracula is less the assaulter of young maiden's virtue and more the world's first supervillain. Nothing less than world domination will satisfy the Count and he's working with the Kaiser in order to take over Europe by force. One of his plans is to turn Baron von Richthofen and his Flying Circus into a special breed of vampire that will be unstoppable in the air. Kim Newman blatantly acknowledges that they are based on the Neal Adams and Frank Robbins creation, The Man-Bat.As you can see, this book is already beginning in utterly batguano terms. It's surreal reading about such a depressing and horrifying conflict with machine gun toting mutant vampires having their adventures chronicled by Edgar Allan Poe. Yes, he's a vampire in this universe and a really awful person with sympathies for both the failed Confederacy as well as fascist Dracula. It is a bizarre world where vampires are out in the open and considered to be the perfect weapons for winning war, only to be undermined by their many weaknesses.Like the original novel, the book is curious mixture of historical fact and dozens of period appropriate fictional characters. I feel like World War 1 is a bit of an odd choice for this as the majority of fiction set during it is going to be unknown to audiences unlike the Victorian Era. Kent Allard is a minor supporting character in the Allied aces opposing the Flying Circus but how many modern readers are going to know that is the identity of the Shadow versus Lamont Cranston as popularized by the Alec Baldwin movie?Unsurprisingly, the best characters are the original ones and it is here that a lot of the ones who will define the rest of the Anno Dracula series really come into their own. Kate Reid, Irish journalist, works as both romantic lead as well as chief outside observer to World War 1's evils. Edwin Winthrop is the chief male protagonist, obsessed with destroying Manfred von Richthofen even though it will do nothing to bring the war closer to its end.This is an epic war story and often touches on the very real horrors of the first World War. It's just a bit dissonance with its giant batmen having dog fights. I also felt that the vilification of Edgar Allan Poe and Baron Von Ricthofen was a bit off-putting. The latter especially as he's portrayed as a sociopathic soldier who shoots a dog for no reason. Admittedly, it was a small white beagle but that was really off-putting as a dog owner. I also felt that Dracula once more is a presence ala Sauron rather than a character and that seems like a waste.Ironically, the novella that accompanies the book in "Vampire Romance" is a 5/5 work that I absolutely loved. The premise is Genevieve Dieudonné going to visit a isolated country mansion in order to investigate a bunch of Elder vampires arguing over who shall be the new "King of Cats" (or Queen of Cats). Much of the story is narrated by Lydia, who is a parody of every teenage vampire fiction fan ever made. Much like Christopher Moore's Abby Normal, I absolutely loved Lydia and her aggressive ignorance about vampiredom. There's homages to Dance of the Vampire, The Brides of Dracula, Kill Bill, and Carmilla. The reveal of the villain is a bit underwhelming for an Agatha Christie parody (and could have used more Clue homages) but it was still incredibly fun.In conclusion, I don't quite love the Bloody Red Baron as much as I do Anno Dracula. I really think the Victorian setting was the ideal one and the absence of the Dracula cast is keenly felt. However, it's still a very entertaining novel and so utterly insane that it works well. It really should be a comic book or movie. "Vampire Romance" is great, though, and definitely something worth reading for its mixture of mystery and humor. It's telling that the only objection I have to that story is that it portrays Baron Meinster from The Brides of Dracula as gay when he was one of the most aggressively heterosexual vampires in fiction. Just pretty.

Mr. Kim Newman has fast become one of my favorite writers. It started with Anno Dracula which is one of my favorite books. It combines some of my favorite elements in fiction: Victorian fiction, alternate universes, meta-fiction, shades of the Wold Newton Family, Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes references, but most of all good writing, an engaging plot, and interesting characters. I couldn't put it down and eagerly waited for the sequel hoping for it to be as good as the original...It wasn't-But it is damn close.The book actually contains two separate stories, The Bloody Red Baron which takes up the first 2/3rds of the book and a new novella Vampire Romance which finishes out the last third. In the interest of fairness I will review the stories separately.Bloody Red Baron is a four star book. It suffers a little bit due to the absence of Geneviève but mostly makes up for it with a larger role for Kate Reed who had a smaller part in the previous review. Charles Beauregard also has a reduced role to the books detriment. His replacement character is not as strong but works well enough. The real sticking point is the over reliance on the flying scenes which is understandable considering it is about the Red Baron but they just distracted from the stuff I loved with stuff I just liked. But if you like action scenes in a book this won't be a problem for you.Vampire Romance is on the other hand a five star story.It heavily features Geneviève at a party to try to find the new King of Vampires. It is both a manor house mystery as well as a wicked burn on the Paranormal Romance genre that has become so popular. This novella is worth the nine buck by itself. One of Newman's best abilities is to combine humor and horror without detracting from either. This book gets a strong recommend.

Not quite as good as the first one, but that's to be expected. I also thought Genvieve should actually appear as a character, a change the author himself apparently wishes he had made as noted in his commentary. Here we have the world we left in at the end of Anno Dracula, twenty-odd years later and embroiled in a world war with vampires serving on both sides. New technologies are being tested, from chemical warfare to the newfangled aeroplane. Dracula serves as the Kaiser's right hand, some say ruling from behind the throne. Charles Beauregard is back again to oppose the designs of the chief vampire, joined once more by stubborn war correspondant Kate Reed as well as the Diogenes Club's newest addition, the young operative Edwin Winthrop. Will these intrepid heroes be able to discover Dracula's designs in time to foil them? Or will Dracula and his vampire flyers led by the Bloody Red Baron himself, Baron Richtofen, triumph over the Allies?

I ordered this bookon my Kindle after a friend told me it was a great re ad. I can't stop thinking about the book and have ordered the other two in the series. Dracula is now Queen Victoria's consort in the late 19th century. Mayhem is the order of the day since Vampires have gone public. We also have a behind the scenes group of "agents" who are on top of the real threats. Victorian life is covered in detail and the famous characters included in the series make for some great guessing games. Jack the Ripper is included along with other notables...... The book gives you shudders galore and is an amazing story. It includes historic detail which seems to fit the changed scenery. All in all I would recommend the book highly to fright buffs, alternate history addics and anyone who just enjoys a good read.

Just under a year ago, I found myself immersed in Anno Dracula, Kim Newman's tale of Jack the Ripper operating in a Victorian England where Dracula has wed the Queen and vampirism is rife. It seems only appropriate that I mark today by reviewing the sequel to Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron.Anno Dracula was one of the vampire stories that I have read over the last year that have restored my faith in the vampiric sub-genre, after the recent onslaught of sparkly emo vampires that seem to be so prevalent at the moment. As with Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron is very much rooted in historical fact, much to my delight. Newman skillfully takes the already horrific events of The Great War and perverts them with a vampiric taint.Where Anno Dracula introduced the reader to some of the principal players still present in The Bloody Red Baron, the characters in this sequel include some of the most popular vampires from pop culture; and as with this novel's predecessor, various fiction and horror favourites turn up such as Dr Moreau, Herbert West, Dr Caligari, Biggles are drafted in and added to a cast of figures from history such as Kaiser Wilhelm II, Winston Churchill, Rasputin and even a brief appearance by Adolf Hitler... It would be quite easy for a lesser author to become distracted in an attempt to cram as many names as possible into such a tome; but Newman's use of figures from fact and fiction simply make his work all the more entertaining and add a depth and colour to proceedings with the inclusion of characters that already have a well-established backstory. And of course, this tale includes Manfred von Richthofen, The Red Baron himself.Critically, some of Newman's creations, I choose not to reveal what they are, could be considered entirely implausible, even in an alternate universe where man and vampire co-exist. However, the author has developed the backstory of his creations to such a degree that you cannot help but be caught up in the tale that he tells.Newman maintains the same tone, humour and wit from Anno Dracula and portrays the events of The Great War in a suitably sombre fashion while still telling a tremendous vampire-based yarn. My first passion has always been history and Newman continued to delight me with a work of horror fiction, that is impressively rich in historical fact ... and twists much of it to its own end. Adhering to factual accuracy as much as is possible in an alternate universe populated by vampires is no mean feat but Kim Newman achieves this and in doing so, manages to tell a fantastic story at the same time.As an added bonus for fans of Newman's work, this edition of The Bloody Red Baron comes with an additional chapter (one of my favourite parts of the story!); and a novella Vampire Romance, which is a bit of a murder mystery, typical of the 1920's era in which it is set, advancing the story of Genevieve Dieudonne from Anno Dracula and once again, is peppered with characters from the genre such as Dorian Gray among others.

Although I had read this book in its previous "Avatar", this edition, brought out by the good folks at Titan Books, really works much better. During my first reading, I had found this novel lot more dark & sinister compared to even the first novel that had described the atrocities perpetrated by Dracula as the Prince Concort and the Jack-the-Ripper killings (perhaps because the truth about the violence of 1st World War was stranger and bloodier than fiction); but the new edition makes me look at it in a different way. Since the core concept of this novel, set in the alternate universe which is so unlike ours (because Dracula had won there) and yet so similar (we have nearly everything of "this" universe, including Americanised pop-culture!) is rather well-known, I would confine myself simply in gushing about the new things that have been incorporated in this version by Da Man. They are: -1) The annotations, and a fragmentary piece that would have (should have!) brought Anno Dracula and some of its major personalities in the realms of Hollywood.2) A whole new chapter in the novel that had not appeared in the novel (it concerns secret files of Mycroft Holmes, so the chapter going missing is not entirely unexpected).3) A brand-new novella "Vampire Romance", which takes place in England of 1920-s, and (fulfilling a long-standing demand from the admireres of Genevieve) places our beloved elder bang-in-the-middle of an adventure involving: selection (election?) of the supreme elder among vampires (since Dracula wasn't hanging around), a conspiracy to place a really nasty King in the throne, power-struggle among the Ruthven-Croft and Diogenes Club group, the mysterious brother of Carmilla Karnstein, gothic happenings in & under Mildew Mannor, and romance...that curls your toes.If you have read this much and yet have not placed the order, I really don't know what to say!

More a continuation of the alternate, vampire-ridden history established in Newman's 'Anno Dracula' than a sequel, this novel moves on thirty years, and plunges the reader into The Great War. With vampires and humans on both sides, there are brand new atrocities to perpetrate, particularly in the skies above No Man's Land. For all of of the richly sourced vampire mayhem, the war itself is startlingly familiar in how it's portrayed here, exactly as grimy and bleak as it should be, and Newman avoids the trap of turning the aerial hijinks into a boys own adventure parody. Where characters from the first novel pop up again, it's great to see them, but the new cast hold their own, and fold themselves into this evolving mythos.The book also contains the novella 'Vampire Romance', set shortly after the war and featuring Genevieve Dieudonne (a primary character in these books, missing from 'Baron' except via the occasional reference). It's an amusing shift in tone, setting up a nineteen twenties murder mystery in a country manor, and throwing a bunch of ancient predators in as suspects. Extremely good fun. Vampire novels are usually a hard sell for me, but the Anno Dracula series continues to be utterly refreshing.

Anno Dracula the Bloody Red Baron is a fantastic & bloody rip-roaring yarn, continuing on from Anno Dracula & building on the premise of what might have happened after Bram Stoker's original Dracula story. Newman models the motives of all his vampires very individually & very distinctly but the story is steeped in vampire mythology & he shows some real understanding of the pioneering aerial combat of First World War. The monstrosity of the von Ritchthofen & Winthrop's own descent into obsessive bestiality maybe being a comment on what war does to men. There's a huge cast of interesting characters based on real and fictional people, Albert Ball (who is almost forgotten by history), Edgar Allen Poe, Mellors (who I guessed was Lady Chatterley's lover) surviving in No Man Land & Bela Lugosi playing his part were all great fun. The post-war story is almost a pastiche of the Famous 5 type investigate, very readable, very funny but it does seem quite a lurch from the war-time tale to the other.Newman was one of the first (credit also to Philip Jose Farmer) to create a world where real people & characters from fiction could co-exist & seems to be given little credit for his pioneering approach. I increasingly get the feeling that many things packaged as "entertainment" are becoming instantly forgettable once they been consumed, almost as if it's inviting you to instantly need something else to consume, as I said in the title, this will at least give you something to think about as well. If you decide to buy it, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Loved the premise of this series of books. Kim Newman takes the traditional Dracula characters and those from other genres and seamlessly blends them into the narrative and has t the reader wanting more if you like your vampire stories with a difference and a bit of BITE this series is for you cha cha cha was my favorite as I love BOND sorry for minor spoiler !