Issue #0

Powers of Darkness

The Lost Version of Dracula

Plot

Powers of Darkness is an incredible literary discovery: In 1900, Icelandic publisher and writer Valdimar Asmundsson 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 Asmundsson's story. In 2014, researcher Hans de Roos dove into the full text of Makt Myrkranna, only to discover that Asmundsson 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 Asmundsson's Makt Myrkranna. Powers of Darkness will amaze and entertain legions of fans of Gothic literature, horror, and vampire fiction. Contains a forward by Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker's great-grandnephew and author of the bestseller Dracula: The Un-dead, and easy-to-read story annotations that add fascinating insight into the differences between this work and Stoker's original Dracula.

Hans Corneel de Roos is an independent researcher specialising 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. He lives in Munich.

Bram Stoker (1847-1912) was an Irish novelist and short story writer best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula.

Valdimir Asmundsson (1852-1902) was the founder and editor of the Icelandic literary journal, Lady of the Mountains.