The metafictional style was inspired by the Wold Newton Universe of Philip José Farmer; Neil Gaiman helped develop the series (and was originally going to be its co-author).
Newman's series brings together characters from a large number of legends and fictional works that portray the vampires in many different ways.
Dr. Jekyll also says that "any major breach of the vital organs seems to produce true death," explaining why a stake through the heart is an effective tactic.
Indeed, several characters in Anno Dracula are vampiric prostitutes who service "warm" men in exchange for coin or, preferably, quaffs of their blood.
Zombies exist, but are said to be types of vampires caused by an epidemic bloodline that damages the brain and requires the vampire to chew blood from flesh rather than drink it from the vein; like 'normal' zombies, they spread their infection through simple biting and can only be killed by destroying the brain.
Charles Beauregard, a (non-vampire) agent of the Diogenes Club, is sent to track the murderer down, and finds himself enmeshed in a plot to free England from Dracula's rule.
To give just two examples: the heroine Geneviève Dieudonné is recycled from Newman's own Warhammer novels (first appearing in 1989 Drachenfels, written under the name Jack Yeovil), and Carl Kolchak has a brief cameo as a reporter following the Ripper case.
The Graf von Dracula, after being expelled from the United Kingdom in 1897, spread his brand of unstable vampirism (and with it raging lycanthropy) throughout the Russian Imperial Family.
The Red Baron of the title is the historical ace fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen, who in this altered history leads a squadron of monstrous flying vampires.
First published in November 1995, The Bloody Red Baron was shortlisted for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, Long Form.
The novel is a collection of reworked short stories and novellas written and published by Newman in a variety of ways in between 1998 and 2013, with some new material.
It includes references to Taxi Driver, Ms. 45, Spider-Man, Blade, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Deathmaster, Elvira, The Light at the End, Death Wish, Convoy, Vampirella, Natural Born Killers, Badlands, Nocturna, Cruising, Vampire Junction, The Addiction, The Keep, and The Lost Boys, as well as taking its title from a character in the film Dracula AD 1972.
Johnny Pop, the young-looking vampire who came to America with Coppola's film crew, finds his place in his new homeland, on his way to becoming the next Dracula.
As Special Air Service troops mass for an assault, vampire/journalist Kate Reed is invited into the embassy to meet the leader of the terrorists.
(online) "Who Dares Wins" includes an appearance by Richard Jeperson, the central character in one of Newman's other main sets of stories, the Diogenes Club series.
Orson Welles receives funding from a mysterious source to film the ultimate version of Dracula, and hires a private detective to find out why.
Like One Thousand Monsters, this novel is set in Tokyo, where vampire schoolgirl Nezumi and other unusual guests arrive to "see in the new millennium" at a party in the town's old yōkai ghetto.
Published in the anthology Dead Travel Fast (2005), this story features an untold tale of Dracula's deeds during the events of the original novel.
Set in 1923, Geneviève Dieudonné is recruited by Winthrop and the Diogenes Club to attend a meeting of elders in Mildew Manor.
Kate Reed, in her capacity as an associate member of the Diogenes Club, investigates a series of murders apparently committed by a vampire and targeting living women.
The killings fan the flame of anti-vampire hatred, already at a dangerous level due to Enoch Powell's recent Rivers of Blood speech (which, in this timeline, is not a metaphorical title).
[22] In a 2000 interview, Newman said that he had scripted an Anno Dracula movie for Stuart Pollok and André Jacquemetton, who originally wanted Daniel Day-Lewis and Isabelle Adjani for Beauregard and Geneviève, and then Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche after they became too old.
Other of Newman's suggestions were Jane Horrocks as Katie Reed, Helena Bonham Carter as Penelope Churchward, Colin Firth as Arthur Holmwood, Christopher Lee as Mycroft Holmes, Richard E. Grant as John Seward, and Harvey Keitel as Count Dracula.
[20] According to an interview on May 16, 2008, the rights to an Anno Dracula movie had been optioned, and Newman had written a script, but "I don't know if there's much movement on it...Over the years, I've had a few comics people say they'd be interested and even an occasional game nibble, but no one has ever come up with a solid deal."
[23] In a 2017 interview with fellow critic Mark Kermode while promoting 1895, Newman expressed hope in an eventual film or television adaptation, but cited the production of other Victorian literary pastiches such as Penny Dreadful and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as having an impact on the viability of the project.