A year before Anne Rice published Interview with the Vampire, Saberhagen published The Dracula Tape (1975), in which he dreamed up a sympathetic vampire of his own, launching a horror subgenre. Now Saberhagen's Vlad Dracula returns for his ninth novel (after A Matter of Taste, etc.), still driven by a sense of honor and still explaining himself to humans; here, to two whose survival depends on their believing his supernatural origins and history. Thrills and chills are provided by Vlad's malevolent brother, Radu. The narrative flickers between two eras: Revolutionary France, where Vlad and his gypsy-vampire companion, Constantia, try to save Phillip Radcliffe, an illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin, from Radu and the guillotine, and modern America, where they kidnap Radcliffe's identically named descendant and his wife in order to save them from the still-vengeful Radu. There's plenty of crisp historical detail, including appearances by Napoleon and the Marquis de Sade. The series' ironic contrast between Vlad's innocence and the bloodlust of humans continues, with Vlad's aristocratic narrative voice (which alternates with third-person passages) continuing to impress. To be sure, the pace is languorous at times, but when you're spending quality time with someone who has centuries on his undead hands, what's the hurry?

This book offers a concise overview of the social and political forces that have shaped the West. In fewer pages than other texts, Hause and Maltby's narrative presents a social history of Western civilization within the essential contexts of major military and political events. Primary sources-excerpts of original documents that flesh out the concepts covered in the narrative, tables and graphs that collect the raw social and economic data of history-bring you right into the pages of history, giving you a fascinating look at the events that have shaped the world in which they live.
REUPLOADED by Pumukl

Tapping the Muse

For me, the secret is always the lead—that’s journalist jargon for the opening of a story, the one provocative idea that will capture a reader’s interest. 
Once I’ve found that gem, the rest of the narrative seems to flow easily from the gray matter in my head down to my fingers pounding on the keyboard...