Dracula Never Dies a passionate, eloquent read, provides unique assessments of Bela Lugosi, Hollywood

Review by Doug Gibson

Picture this passage from author Christopher R. Gauthier's new novel, Dracula Never Dies: The Revenge of Bela Vorlock," (Arcane Shadows Press, 2021): 

Our protagonist, Vorlock, one-time horror film star, reduced to poverty row through two decades of abuse and betrayal by fellow actors, family members and media hacks -- who rival Ayn Rand's "Ellsworth M. Toohey" in evil -- believes he is to receive a peer appreciation award for his decades as "Dracula" and other roles.

It turns out to be an elaborate, cruel joke. At that last minute the award is snatched away and instead given to a well-fed, successful acting rival, one who has abused Vorlock, and his immediate family, personally. With much laughing and sniggering, the Toohey-like MC thrusts a jester's cap on Vorlock's head.

It is an indignity gone too far. But I don't want to give away too much of Gauthier's excellent novel, part one of a planned trilogy). 

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I have a blurb on this edition's back cover, and I have read earlier versions of Chris' draft that total several hundred pages. Dracula Never Dies is nearly 300 pages. An appropriate one-sentence summary of the novel is an elegant primal scream of abuse, survival, more abuse, justice, and revenge. 

There are no chapter breaks once Dracula Never Dies gets going. The narrator describes a life -- with prose -- that moves from passion to emotion to anguish to anger to regret to survival to despair to grief to irony to love to hate to gothic horror to revenge to resignation, and to perhaps 20 other emotions.

In an Amazon review, Robert Cremer, biographer of Bela Lugosi (Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape), notes how Hollywood, its dreams and schemes that can destroy dreams, contributes to the gothic horror of the novel. (Cremer also has a blurb on the back cover.)

Cremer also notes a plus to the novel, that genre fans will recognize many references to characters, and events from the times of Bela Lugosi. 

And, of course Dracula Never Dies' protagonist Bela Vorlock is Bela Lugosi. This is an alternate biography of Bela Lugosi existing in another multiverse, with much of the plot including Lugosi's times and life in our universe.

The plot -- and I wish to reveal very little of particulars, more for the reader to enjoy -- involves Vorlock's youthful escape from patriarchal tyranny, an interlude of happiness and love, a period of success in the entertainment world, and his efforts to endure and survive while suffering personal and professional setbacks/betrayals.

Gauthier's prose is magnificent. Expression is a key strength of his writing. Although their styles are different, Gauthier's word craftmanship reminds me of the satisfaction of reading a good novel from E. Annie Proulx, author of "The Shipping News" and "Brokeback Mountain." 

Dracula Never Dies' text demands to be read carefully. If it is glossed over the reader will get lost. Careful reading will provide a rewarding long, satisfying read. 

After finishing the final two score of pages (in which a character who Ed Wood and Lugosi fans will recognize is included) I am already eager to read the next installment of Gauthier's trilogy. Alas, it may be a while. I'll be patient. Dracula Never dies is priced relatively inexpensively. I hope I can add a Kindle version to the dead tree edition I own.

Dracula Never Dies ... a sample of Christopher R. Gauthier's signature work

Readers of our blog are familiar with narrative writer and poet Christopher R. Gauthier, who started the popular Facebook page A Celebration of the Life and Art of Bela Lugosi (here). We interviewed Chris nearly two years ago in which he talked about his admiration and love for Lugosi and we also shared some of his poetry. And, about 20 months ago, Chris joined a few other reviewers in a Lugosi post, reviewing Bride of the Monster for our readers (here).

Chris' signature work, still in progress, is an extensive novel titled "Dracula Never Dies: The Revenge of Bela Vorlock." I have read early draft versions and it's an impressive accomplishment. He has already recited excerpts of the work on radio shows. The first publication of this book is scheduled for August 16, 2020, by Arcane Shadows Press. There will be more books, all comprising the story, published in later years.

Also, an excerpt of "Dracula Never Dies ..." is published in an anthology, by Midnight Marquee Press (buy it here). Below is an excerpt from the MMP contribution. It captures Chris' unique style that blends passion, emotion, pride and enduring love of a horror icon:

Bela Vorlock obtained his flask of Hungarian plum brandy that rested alongside his sterling silver cigarette case. A short sketch of written lines rested on the dresser that he had been told to review for this evening's theatrical performance, in the defunct slum encrusted theatre. The brandy soothed his tingling throat as it swam down his parched canal, bringing him back to the almost vanished rays of peace … the deception that solitude had given him. He thought of the vivid recollection of his reality and it shook his jagged nerves that were fragile as glass. He whispered about peace, the lone true human emotion that was both an edacious need of starve and greed for his soul of crumbled blemished torment. There was a vacant dream of havened internal amity, and it was all that Bela Vorlock had longed for. To finally grasp in the cores of his mangled and tortured soul, a permanent slice of peace, which was a diminishing primeval haze of a subservient memory so utterly vague and almost forgotten to him in the final mournful days of his life.."

As a fellow Lugosi fan, and frankly fan is too small a term; I adore the iconic actor, "Dracula Never Dies ..." hits me with emotion. It places me in a location and time I have never been. Early 1951, in a shabby theater on the east coast for a midnight spook show, with Lugosi adding dignity to a tacky program, with a bad film, and poor accompanying actors, populated by unappreciative teenage fans more liable to laugh than applaud. That really happened to Lugosi, who was struggling to support a career and family. He never gave less than 100 percent. I can't locate this reference, I apologize, but I once read of Lugosi, while doing one of the above-mentioned spook shows, finally having enough of the catcalls and hooting. As I recall reading, he stopped, became silent, and coldly stared down the audience. What magnificence by a great thespian. What an appropriate rebuke to a boorish audience.

In "Dracula Never Dies ...," Chris captures the enduring dignity of a great actor. The prose speaks of a distinguished, iconic artist refusing to compromise his dignity and talent, no matter what the circumstances. There's deep passion to the prose. I suspect the author shares some of the challenges "Bela Vorlock" faces. His prose is perhaps also his response to the world he lives in, and underscores his continued devotion to a man, Bela Lugosi, that he emulates to the best of his ability. 

One more note: "Dracula Never Dies: The Revenge of Bela Vorlock," will be published as four separate, roughly 100,000-word novels, with Part 1 slated to be published by Arcane Shadows Press (Facebook page here) in October. Thanks Chris, for allowing us to share an excerpt of your work in this post.