Mr Stoker and the Vampires of the Lyceum

by Matthew Gibson

Today I'm taking part in the blog tour for this intriguing book. I have an extract to share with you all which definitely piqued my interest! First here's a bit about the book and then you can get stuck in. And make sure you don't forget the cocktail at the end 🍸

Book Summary

London, September 1888. Jack the Ripper roams the streets. A scream rings out from beneath the stage of the Lyceum Theatre…

A young ‘actress’ has been attacked, suffering peculiar bite wounds to her neck; an event that announces a series of strange, vampiric happenings, and thrusts an unwitting Bram Stoker – acting manager of the Lyceum and aspiring author – into the limelight, and the action.

Perplexed hereon by the unsettling behaviour of ‘the Guv’nor’, the brilliant but mercurial actor, Henry Irving, and Irving’s acclaimed leading lady, Ellen Terry, Stoker soon starts suspecting the worst. And then, another attack reveals a vicious Prussian baron, returned to London as a vampire seeking revenge…

Alive with Gothic intrigue, reversal and surprise, Mr Stoker will keep the reader enthralled and confounded until its final, shocking scene – indeed, until its very last word.

Extract

‘Bram, there was one more thing I wanted to ask you.’ Stoker felt a stab of fear: would his brother return to questioning him about his trip to the druggist?

He looked at George, and then, with as much calm as he could muster, replied, ‘Please, by all means, little brother.’

‘Well, it’s maybe more to ask your advice about something – and I’m sorry, but it’s a bit of a long story.’

‘Go on,’ replied Stoker, signalling that they should both sit back down.

‘Well, a very odd thing happened to me some few days ago – Thursday before last, in fact. It was about eight o’clock in the evening, and already dark. The surgery was closed, and I was on the ground floor, checking stock; not something I normally do myself, but my nurse and assistant surgeon had both gone home and, to be frank, it doesn’t hurt if I attend to these things myself occasionally.’

‘I should imagine not,’ replied Stoker, relieved to hear that his own activities were to escape George’s further investigations.

‘I heard a rustling sound, like the feet of a small animal, so looked up to see whether some cat or rat were there. Then, from behind me, I heard a cough, making me nearly jump out of my skin. I turned round to see a man. He was immensely tall, with a full head of hair – completely grey – and a pale, lined face with an aquiline nose. He was wearing what looked like some form of evening dress under a black cape. “How the devil did you get in?” I spluttered, and he replied, quite coolly, “Please, Dr Stoker, don’t be angry. Your door was unlocked, and so I came in.” While his English was excellent, he was not, I thought, a native Englishman, as his accent and intonation were clearly Slavic; I could tell that from my time as a surgeon in the army – when I was stationed in Danzig. “Well, you must leave immediately!” I shouted. The man did not budge, however, and just looked at me mockingly. I went to move him on, but he gripped me with prodigious strength and held me as I stood. “Please, Dr Stoker,” he repeated, “I have only come for one of your famous vapour pipes. I will gladly pay you for it.” And then, with his free hand, he removed some gold sovereigns from his trouser pocket and let them fall onto the floor. I looked into his black eyes, curiously restless and mobile, and wondered what he would do next. And then he let go of me, as suddenly as he had taken hold of me, so I walked briskly to the cabinet behind my desk where I keep a few of my vapour contraptions. Once there, I heard the clank of metal and turned to see the man prising open the locked medical chest where I keep my phials of blood.’

‘Phials of blood?’ queried Stoker with some astonishment.

‘That’s right,’ replied George, ‘blood.’

To make a Cold Blooded cocktail, muddle some rosemary in the base of a shaker, add 45ml Grand Marnier, 60ml cranberry juice, 15ml lemon juice and 15ml sugar syrup and ice. Shake well then strain into an ice filled rocks glass and garnish with a sprig of rosemary.