Powers of Darkness, Bram Stoker
Powers of Darkness, Bram Stoker
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Powers of Darkness
The Lost Version of Dracula

Author: Bram Stoker, Valdimar Ásmundsson, Hans Corneel de Roos, Dacre Stoker

Narrator: Adam Verner, Robertson Dean, Ralph Lister, Derek Perkins, R. C. Bray, various narrators, others

Unabridged: 7 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/24/2018

Categories: Fiction, Classic, Horror

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included

Synopsis

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, literary 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. With a foreword by Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker’s great-grandnephew and bestselling author, and an afterword by Dracula scholar John Edgar Browning, Powers of Darkness will amaze and entertain legions of fans of Gothic literature, horror, and vampire fiction.

About Bram Stoker

Abraham “Bram” Stoker (1847–1912) was an Irish novelist and short-story writer best known for his vampire novel, Dracula. His other works include The Mystery of the Sea, The Jewel of the Seven Stars, The Man, and The Lair of the White Worm.

About Valdimar Ásmundsson

Valdimar Ásmundsson (1852–1902) was the founder and editor of the Icelandic literary journal Lady of the Mountains.

About Hans Corneel de Roos

Hans Corneel de Roos is an independent researcher specializing in French and British Art of the second half of the 19th Century. He is author of The Ultimate Dracula and numerous other articles on Dracula. He is a recipient of the Research Award of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula.

About Dacre Stoker

Dacre Stoker is the great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker. He lives in South Carolina with his family.

About John Edgar Browning

John Edgar Browning is a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is author or editor eleven academic and popular trade books and more than fifty articles, book chapters, and reviews on subjects that cluster around horror, the undead, Bram Stoker, and the Gothic. He has also been a guest on National Geographic’s Taboo USA and the Discovery Channel’s William Shatner’s Weird or What? to discuss vampires.

About Adam Verner

Adam Verner is a stage, film, television, and voice actor and an Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator. He holds a BS in theater arts from Bradley University and an MFA from Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

About Robertson Dean

Robertson Dean has played leading roles on and off Broadway and at dozens of regional theaters throughout the country. He has a BA from Tufts University and an MFA from Yale. His audiobook narration has garnered ten AudioFile Earphones Awards. He now lives in Los Angeles, where he works in film and television in addition to narrating.

About Ralph Lister

Ralph Lister is an actor, voice actor, and AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. He spent fifteen years in London theater before moving to the United States to focus on film and television. He has held numerous roles in Shakespeare and modern dramas, as well as starring roles in independent films. His voice and character work can be heard in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearland 13 Going On 30. He lives in Los Angeles.

About Derek Perkins

Derek Perkins is a professional narrator and voice actor. He has earned numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, as well as numerous Society of Voice Arts nominations. AudioFile magazine named him a Best Voice consecutively in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Augmented by a knowledge of three foreign languages and a facility with accents, he has narrated numerous titles in a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres.

About R. C. Bray

R. C. Bray is an award-winning audiobook narrator with over 180 titles to his credit. Besides winning five AudioFile Earphones Awards, he won the prestigious Audie Award in 2015 for Best Science Fiction Narration and has been an Audie Award finalist seven times. He has been a finalist for the Voice Arts Award, and in 2014, his narration earned a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award. He is also an accomplished producer and voice-over artist, and his voice can be heard in countless TV and radio commercials.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sean on July 05, 2019

The first 2/3 are actually better than the opening part of Dracula. The horror, sexuality, and mystery are turned up and the Count is even more evil here. Indeed, he is a kind of violent social-Darwinist intent on spreading reactionary thought and undermining democracy, although that part remains in......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on September 14, 2021

Absolutely bonkers! The very idea that this book exists baffles and delights me! In case you are confused: this is the English translation of the Icelandic translation of DRACULA. Why, you ask? Because 115 years after DRACULA was published in Icelandic, translated by Valdimar Asmundsson, someone real......more

Goodreads review by Jonathan on October 02, 2023

For all who've read the classic by Bram Stoker, "Powers of Darkness" is the 1901 Icelandic translation of an unknown manuscript which wasn't discovered until 1986. It adds elements unseen in the other manuscripts and includes forwards from Dacre Stoker and Hans de Roos, the Dracula scholar who'd dis......more

Goodreads review by Terence on May 24, 2017

Powers of Darkness is the version of Dracula found on the bookshelves (or in the databanks, as the case may be) of Star Trek’s Mirror Universe. Further evidence of how screwed up that parallel universe is. Powers of Darkness was the product of Stoker’s collaboration with the author, an Icelander, app......more

Goodreads review by Krodì80 on August 18, 2019

I poteri delle Tenebre (Makt Myrkranna), la versione islandese ad opera di Valdimar Asmundsson del Dracula di Bram Stoker, non è una semplice traduzione del manoscritto dell’autore irlandese. Uscito nel 1900, tre anni dopo l’esordio del conte più affascinante della storia della letteratura, il libro......more

Quotes

“With the discovery of its vast differences from Dracula, [Powers of Darkness] will have a lasting effect on the world of vampire studies.” New York Times Book Review

“Powers of Darkness is a completely new look at this classic text that fans of the book and genre won’t want to miss.” San Francisco Book Review

“Powers of Darkness is an entertaining story, and during the read, it is easy to forget what it’s supposed to be—a translation—and think of it as an entirely new novel…To quote from the original: ‘There are mysteries men can only guess at, which age by age they may solve only in part.’ Powers of Darkness does exactly that, while offering new mysteries in their place.” New York Journal of Books

“Stoker’s great-grand-nephew Dacre Stoker writes that he believes his uncle orchestrated the differences between his original version and the Icelandic one, which is shorter, more forceful, and more erotic since it was not subject to English censorship laws…This thoroughly documented work is recommended for Dracula scholars, but general readers of horror will also enjoy the story.” Library Journal

“Provides an illuminating look at an act of literary interpretation. Icelandic translator Valdimar Ásmundsson was faithful to the basic plot of Stoker’s story, but he took some liberties with its telling, including adding in new characters, having Dracula scheme with the world’s power elite to enslave the masses, and describing in lurid detail a bloody bacchanal…English translator de Roos speculates that Ásmundsson may have been working with an early draft of the novel…The translation, although pulpier than Stoker’s original, is a fascinating gloss on a literary classic.” Publishers Weekly

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