The Castle Dracula Podcast on Rosemary's Baby!

The Castle Dracula Podcast kicks off its Evil Baby Retrospective with Rosemary's Baby! You can hear us return to our horror roots after our exploration of Hitchcock, this time with the story of the Caped Crusader facing his most deadly supernatural foe, Dracula.

Hear our latest episode:

• on itunes
• on Stitcher
• on the web 
• Or here:

Launch Day for Alex Van Helsing: The Triumph of Death!

Launch day for the latest Alex Van Helsing adventure is here, which means not only can you find a copy, but we got a new review from Examiner:

The Triumph of Death is a mixture of action, supernatural and mystery, and was reminiscent in some parts of the winding, clue-laden plot ofThe Da Vinci Code, with plenty of vampires, of course. Plot twists abound, the last of which has been building for three books, and readers will find themselves satisfied at the end of this series.

Check it out!

The Podcast on The Batman vs. Dracula (2005)

The Podcast returns with The Batman vs. Dracula (2005)! You can hear us return to our horror roots after our exploration of Hitchcock, this time with the story of the Caped Crusader facing his most deadly supernatural foe, Dracula.

Hear our latest episode:

• on itunes
• on Stitcher
• on the web 
• Or here:

The Podcast Takes on Vertigo

The Castle Dracula Podcast continues its Alfred Hitchcock Film Series with VERTIGO!

Vertigo is the story of a retired police detective suffering from acrophobia who is hired as a private investigator to follow the wife of an acquaintance to uncover the mystery of her peculiar behavior.

Don't forget that whenever we schedule a call you can join in live and ask questions by going to the Castle Dracula Podcast web page of the podcast and launching the chat. Our next episode will be announced soon!

Hear our latest episode:

• on itunes
• on Stitcher
• on the web 
• Or here:

Review: Mexican Bestiary

I am a sucker for legends from around the world-- a whole chapter in the new Alex Van Helsing book involves Alex attending a school where he learns to tell the Scottish centaur-like nuckalavee from the flying-head-with-bat-ears chonchon. And up until now I only had a couple of really great resources. Now there's one more, and it's a pleasure to read: Mexican Bestiary by David Bowles and Noe Vela is a brand new guide to legendary creatures of all shapes and sizes from South of the Border. Published by the nonprofit cultural organization Valley Artistic Outreach, the book presents weird and wonderful myth in both English and Spanish with facing pages.

The stories are all told with a campfire-like flair:
 

Bird Woman: Since the late 1800s there have been reports of a strange bird woman or bird man around Monterey...
Charro: Throughout Mexico stories are told of a skeletal man or ghost dressed in a black and silver suit and mounted on a massive black stallion...
Black Dogs: Black Dogs, also called cadejos, are demonic beasts that lurk in alleys, graveyards, or other dark places waiting to attack...

For me, books like this are a necessity. I mine them for new ideas. But I recommend this one because of its particular regional flair. It speaks to me of the Rio Grande Valley and Mexico, of dust and sun and cool nights and demons that walk the earth. Feathered coyotes and devils at the dance, chupacabras and horsemen that warn of impending plague. I really recommend Mexican Bestiary and hope you pick it up.

Scifichick: Alex Van Helsing: Triumph of Death "wild ride of action-packed adventure, mystery, and fast-paced thrills."

We got our very first blog review of Alex Van Helsing: The Triumph of Death from SciFiChick, who says:

Alex Van Helsing teams up with a new classmate (who happens to be a witch) after discovering that a vampire queen is planning an apocalypse that will turn the world dark. ...

Henderson’s imaginative characters and historic literary foundation are a springboard for a wild ride of action-packed adventure, mystery, and fast-paced thrills. The creative twist on classic gothic novels are not only a fascinating center point for the story, but make me want to re-read the classics such as Dracula and Frankenstein again.
.... The Triumph of Death is certainly my favorite of the series. And the main story arc begun in the first book does have a huge twist that resolves in this climactic ending. ...

 Read the whole thing here!

Thanks SciFiChick! And who knows, maybe there will be more Alex. Or Ronnie, Alex's sister, who shows up in this one, or at least helps out by remote.