Wampyr

Do you know I had never read Bram Stoker's Dracula? Until just now? I'm not even finished with it yet. Wow. All of my Dracula knowledge comes from common lore, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Yes, Joss Whedon and Mel Brooks are the creators of my vampire world. I've never even seen a true film adaptation. I hear the 1992 version is okay? Is that the one with the psychedelic love scene?

Anyway, in the long run, I feel my lack of true Dracula understanding will serve me well because now I can read the book without too many preconceived notions of how it ought to be. It is also very depressing that it took me this long. I keep being surprised by things. For instance, half of the characters that are in the book, never make it into common knowledge. I thought the story consisted solely of the Harkers, Lucy, and Van Helsing fighting against (or being killed by, in Lucy's case,) Dracula, Renfield, and the three sisters. There's three other guys involved! I am enjoying the part I'm reading just now, where the Harkers have joined the trio of Lucy's suitors - Arthur, Dr. Seward, and Quincey Morris - and Van Helsing at Dr. Seward's home/asylum. They've all caught up on their past run-ins with the Count and are about to hatch their plan to capture the monster. They're like the Scooby-Gang and it's cute how excited they all are to be in this little clique. They need t-shirts. Also, I really enjoy that Dracula lives next door. If only we had known!! Also-also, Van Helsing is Dutch and does not have a great grasp of English and I love it. I'm proud of Stoker for taking the time to write him flubbing English grammar rules.
P.S. Entirely unrelated to Dracula, I have a pet peeve about plastic-handled eating utensils. The kind where just the handle is plastic and the rest is metal. Ew.