’Salem’s Lot (1975)
An ancient vampire moves to a small town in Maine, and the town does not believe it.
Run Stoker’s plot again in 1970s America — the old vampire who has himself shipped in, the servant who prepares the ground, the small group who work out what is happening — and see how a modern town copes.
You want Dracula’s plot as a modern horror novel, with a small American town in place of London.
What it keeps and what it changes
Keeps: the shape of Stoker’s plot: the arrival, the house bought in advance, the human servant, the hunters, the stake.
Changes: every name and the century. None of Stoker’s characters appears.
Keeps the shape: an old vampire arrives, a house has been bought for him, a human servant prepares the ground, and a few people work out what is happening. None of Stoker’s characters appears.
Whose story is it?
the town’s, and the handful of people in it who will act.
How much time does it ask?
688 pages in Vintage’s trade paperback.
Vintage trade paperback, 24 September 2013, 688 pages, with an introduction by Joe Hill.
Where to find it
Buy the paperback — Bookshop.org
Other ways to get it: Paperback — Amazon · Ebook — Kobo · Kindle — Amazon
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby · Find at your library — WorldCat
More Draculas: The Norton Critical Edition, second edition · The Oxford World’s Classics edition (2011) · The Penguin Classics edition (2003)