Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula (Book required, appropriately, on Halloween, 2016)

Ha! Look what showed up in today’s mail?

Powers of Darkness was Valdimar Ásmundsson’s 1901 Icelandic “translation” (Makt Myrkranna) of Stoker’s Dracula; however, translator Hand de Roos discovered that Ásmundsson had actually repurposed and added to the story.

Publisher Duckworth’s blurb:

Powers of Darkness is an incredible literary discovery: In 1900, Icelandic publisher and writer Valdimar Ásmundsson set out to translate Bram Stoker’s world famous 1897 novel Dracula. Called Makt Myrkranna (literally, “Powers of Darkness”), this Icelandic edition included an original preface written by Stoker himself. Makt Myrkranna was published in Iceland in 1901 but remained undiscovered outside of the country until 1986, when Dracula scholarship was astonished by the discovery of Stoker’s preface to the book. However, no one looked beyond the preface and deeper into Ásmundsson’s story.

In 2014, researcher Hans de Roos dove into the full text of Makt Myrkranna, only to discover that Ásmundsson hadn’t merely translated Dracula but had penned an entirely new version of the story, with all new characters and a totally reworked plot. The resulting narrative is one that is shorter, punchier, more erotic, and perhaps even more suspenseful than Stoker’s Dracula. Incredibly, Makt Myrkranna has never been translated or even read outside of Iceland until now.

Powers of Darkness presents the first ever translation into English of Stoker and Ásmundsson’s Makt Myrkranna. Powers of Darkness will amaze and entertain legions of fans of Gothic literature, horror, and vampire fiction.

The intro to the book is fascinating—lots of historical detail, newspaper clippings, and a thorough mapping of Castle Dracula. The text proper is riddled with comparative annotations. A sample: