Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Stoker's Wilde by Steven Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi. It's horror meets urban fantasy with a nod at historical fiction.
Steven Hopstaken was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he spent his formative years watching and reading science fiction and horror. He has a degree in journalism from Northern Michigan University and spends his free time traveling; writing screenplays, short stories and novels;and practicing photography.
Melissa Prusi was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (often mistaken for Canada), and studied video and film production at Northern Michigan University and the University of Michigan. She’s been a video editor,a semi-professional film reviewer,a three-time champion on the quiz show Jeopardy!,and a Guinness world record holder (1990 edition, for directing the longest live television show).
They met in a college screenwriting class and married three years later. They spent a brief time in Los Angeles, where they both worked for Warner Bros. television. They eventually ended up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where they love the arts scene but dread the winters. While they both currently make a living as website content managers, they have sold two screenplays, which have been lost to development hell.
They've indulged their fascination with Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde through trips to Dublin and London to research their lives and visit sites mentioned in Stoker's Wilde.
They live in St.Louis Park, Minnesota with their two cats. If they're not writing, you can usually find them at a movie, local theater production, improv show or pub quiz.
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Buy Stoker's Wilde
About the book
Years before either becomes a literary legend, Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde must overcome their disdain for one another to battle the Black Bishop,a madman wielding supernatural forces to bend the British Empire to his will.
What a wonderful way to combine two very important writers of the 19th century, and a wee bit of horror and the supernatural. Hopstaken and Prusi, the writing duo behind Stoker's Wilde, have melded the creativity of both men to create an entertaining read.
The result is a band of merry werewolf and vampire slaying men. It reminded me of old classic horror stories and films. However it still manages to weave the oppressive morality laws and the way society seeks to conform individuals to their own set of standards, into the story. This defined Wilde's writing and thought processes, which of course should have a place in his letters.
The book is set up with diary form and journal entries placed intermittently throughout, which have been collected and are held by The White Worm Society. Oscar writes to Florence Balcombe, his wife and later also his literary executor. There are also extracts from Stoker's journal relating his version of the events. It gives the story an air of historical fiction, of someone wading in a piece of written history, and yet at the same time it has the exuberance of an urban fantasy plot.
It works because the writers know their stuff and have done their research. It's important, when using a real historical figure in a fictional setting, to get the facts right, especially when it comes to being able to portray them realistically.
I came away from this read with a sense of nostalgia, despite the fang-toothed bloodsuckers and the furry moon-stalkers. With a need to pick up and read Wilde and Stoker and embrace their words. It's horror meets urban fantasy with a nod to historical fiction.
Buy Stoker's Wilde at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Flame Tree Press; Paperback pub date 30 May 2019. Buy at Amazon com.
Huge thanks, as always x
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