Saberhagen was inspired to write the first novel in the series, The Dracula Tape, as a result of "re-reading Stoker's original, and being struck by the fact that this titanic character was hardly ever on stage, though of course central to the book. Naturally in my contrarian way I wondered what he was really doing and thinking while the other characters made their plans to hunt him down, and as soon as I started listening for his voice, I heard it."[2]
Saberhagen's Dracula novels are based on the premise that vampires are morally equal to normal humans: they have the power to do good or evil; it is their choice. The Dracula Tape is the story of
Bram Stoker's Dracula told from
Dracula's point of view. Saberhagen depicts Dracula as the historical voivodeVlad Ţepeş (known as Drakulya, meaning "Dragon") who, in Saberhagen's stories, became a vampire after being assassinated. According to the character, he refused to die "by a transcendent act of will", but it is apparent that even he is uncertain how he really became a vampire. Most vampires in the series are created when a human drinks the blood of another vampire, which he claims he never did. In this version, Dracula survives the best efforts of Harker, Van Helsing, and company, who are portrayed largely as bungling fools; Van Helsing in particular is seen as sacrilegious, manipulative, and not as knowledgeable about vampires as he believes himself to be. ("Imbecile is one of the most charitable names that I can find for him.")[3]
Dracula is depicted as violent and ill-tempered but nonetheless bound by his own sense of honor and loyalty to his loved ones. Dracula, in his mortal life, fought the encroachment of the
Ottoman Empire into Europe. ("Why, there is hardly a foot of soil in all this region which has not been enriched by the blood of men, patriots or invaders.")[4] In later novels, Dracula interacts with other literary characters, including
Sherlock Holmes. This series was often listed in Ace promotional materials as "The New Dracula", but the flyleaf of the Tor editions of the books published from A Matter of Taste onwards list the other books in the series under the heading "The Dracula Series". His success with this series was such that he was hired to write the novelization of the 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula.
The Dracula Tape (Warner June 1975/Ace January 1980)
The Holmes-Dracula File (Ace November 1978) (Note: Seance for a Vampire, set in 1903, is next in the reading order.)
An Old Friend of the Family (Ace June 1979)
Thorn (Ace September 1980; text restored and/or revised: Tor February 1990)
Dominion (Tor June 1982)
"From the Tree of Time" (short story), in: Sorcerer's Apprentice #14 1982; also in The Vampire Tales (JSS Literary Productions 2019)
A Matter of Taste (Tor July 1990)
A Question of Time (Tor May 1992)
Seance for a Vampire (Tor June 1994); republished as The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Seance for a Vampire (Titan Books, June 2010)
A Sharpness on the Neck (Tor October 1996)
"Box Number Fifty" (short story), in: Dracula in London, ed. P. N. Elrod (Ace November 2001); also in The Vampire Tales (JSS Literary Productions 2019)
A Coldness In the Blood (Tor October 2002)
Volumes 3 & 4 were reprinted in an omnibus version called Vlad Tapes (Baen July 2000)
The three volumes were reprinted in an omnibus version called The Complete Book of Swords (SFBC/Nelson Doubleday January 1985), later called The First Swords (Tor February 1999)
The Books of Lost Swords
Woundhealer's Story: The First Book of Lost Swords (Tor October 1986)
Sightblinder's Story: The Second Book of Lost Swords (Tor November 1987)
Stonecutter's Story: The Third Book of Lost Swords (Tor May 1988)
Farslayer's Story: The Fourth Book of Lost Swords (Tor July 1989)
Coinspinner's Story: The Fifth Book of Lost Swords (Tor December 1989)
Mindsword's Story: The Sixth Book of Lost Swords (Tor December 1990)
Wayfinder's Story: The Seventh Book of Lost Swords (Tor June 1992)
Shieldbreaker's Story: The Last Book of Swords (Tor February 1994)
Volumes 1, 2 & 3 were reprinted in an omnibus version called The Lost Swords: The First Triad (SFBC/Nelson Doubleday September 1988); Volumes 4, 5 & 6 were reprinted in a second omnibus version called The Lost Swords: The Second Triad (Tor/SFBC May 1991); Volumes 7 & 8 were reprinted in a third and final omnibus version called The Lost Swords: Endgame (SFBC/GuildAmerica Books June 1994)
Original Swords anthology
An Armory of Swords (Tor June 1995), an original anthology of Swords tales edited by Saberhagen:
The Berserker stories tell about an ongoing war between humanity and the Berserkers. Saberhagen's Berserkers are
self-replicating war machines programmed with one main objective: destroy all life. After destroying both their creators and the opposing side in a long-ago galactic war, the self-replicating Berserkers have continued to wipe out all forms of life that they encounter in the Milky Way, which leads to the cooperation and coordination of most of the sentient races in major attempts to defeat them. Humankind, although relatively new to the galactic scene, is a major player because of its aggressive nature. The series spans a large range of both time and space, and so has less plot continuity than Saberhagen's other series.
Berserker (Ballantine January 1967/Ace September 1978) (short fiction collection)
Brother Assassin (Ballantine January 1969) / as Brother Berserker (Macdonald February 1969/Ace December 1978);
read online; book version of the following linked novellas:
"Stone Man" (novella) Worlds of Tomorrow May 1967
"The Winged Helmet“ (novella) If August 1967
"Brother Berserker“ (novella) If November 1967
Berserker's Planet (novel) If May/June 1974 (+1/DAW April 1975/Ace May 1980)
Berserker Man (Ace April 1979)
The Ultimate Enemy (Ace September 1979) (short fiction collection)
The Berserker Wars (Tor December 1981) (short fiction collection; only 2 original/uncollected stories);
read all stories online
Berserker Base (Tor March 1985); Mosaic Berserker novel with several guest authors contributing original stories; Saberhagen wrote the overarching story in segments between them, using the Niven story as the novel's fulcrum point:
"With Friends Like These“,
Connie Willis (novelette) F&SF February 1985
"Itself Surprised“,
Roger Zelazny (novelette) Omni August 1984
"Deathwomb“,
Poul Anderson (novelette) Analog November 1983
"Pilots of the Twilight“,
Edward Bryant (novella) Asimov’s mid-December 1984
"A Teardrop Falls“,
Larry Niven (short story) Omni June 1983
The Berserker Throne (Fireside/Simon & Schuster May 1985)
Berserker: Blue Death (Tor November 1985)
The Berserker Attack (Tor/OtherWorlds Club 1987) (short fiction collection; no original/uncollected stories)
Berserker Lies (Tor September 1991) (short fiction collection; one original story)
Berserker Kill (Tor October 1993)
Berserker Fury (Tor August 1997)
Shiva in Steel (Tor September 1998)
Berserkers: The Beginning (Baen July 1998) (omnibus of Volumes 1 & 5 above)
Berserker's Star (Tor June 2003)
Berserker Prime (Tor January 2004)
Berserker Man: Mega Book (Baen October 2004) (omnibus of Volumes 2, 3, 4 & 7 above)
Berserker Death: Mega Book (Baen February 2005) (omnibus of Volumes 8, 9 & The Berserker Wars, above)
Rogue Berserker (Baen January 2005)
The Books of the Gods
The Face of Apollo (Tor April 1998)
Ariadne's Web (Tor January 2000)
The Arms of Hercules (Tor November 2000)
God of the Golden Fleece (Tor August 2001)
Gods of Fire and Thunder (Tor August 2002)
Volumes 1, 2 & 3 were reprinted in an omnibus version called The Books of the Gods, Part One (SFBC December 2000); Volumes 4 & 5 were reprinted in a second omnibus version called The Books of the Gods, Part Two (SFBC October 2002)
Pawn to Infinity (with Joan Saberhagen) (Ace June 1982)
Machines That Kill (with Martin H. Greenberg) (Ace December 1984)
Fred Saberhagen memorial anthology
Golden Reflections (Baen February 2011); an original anthology of short fiction set (more-or-less) in the world of Saberhagen's novel The Mask of the Sun, edited by
Robert E. Vardeman & Joan Saberhagen;
Read free samples