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Dracula Author’s Blood Relative to Sign Sequel on May 1 Part of Proceeds to benefit Rotary International’s End Polio Now

Submitted by: Betty Parker Ellis on Apr 26, 2010 at 5:00 pm Tagged with: Bram Stoker, Dracula, End Polio Now, rotary, Vampire Source: Rotary District 7750

Greenville, SC (April 21, 2010) – Vampire fans can meet the great grand-nephew of Dracula author Bram Stoker while also helping Rotary eradicate polio. An Aiken, SC, resident, Dacre Stoker will be available to sign his first book – Dracula the Un-Dead – from 2 – 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 1, at the Books-A-Million store located on 2465 Laurens Road in Greenville.
According to Jeremy Woods, a Books-A-Million manager, during the book-signing hour, 15 percent of all book sales will go to Rotary International’s End Polio Now Campaign. “From 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. on May 1,” says Woods, “all customers may request that we also donate 15 percent of their sales to this worthy cause.”
Also a guest speaker for the Rotary District 7750 Conference, Stoker co-authored this first sequel with Ian Holt, a Long Island, NY-based Dracula documentarian, historian, and screenwriter. Published by Dutton, the U.S. member of the internationally renowned Penguin Group, Stoker’s book was originally released last October and has been on the New York Times Bestsellers List as well as featured in USA Today and Time magazine.
“We saw this true sequel of an original classic as a way to bring Bram’s creation back to life for the modern reader,” says Stoker. “While it is an action-packed, fast-paced thriller, it also pays homage to Bram’s original characters, and gives absolute attention to historical accuracy. We not only used Bram’s own notes for Dracula including unrealized plot threads and characters, but we also relied on the insight from other Stoker family members to explore Bram’s motivations in writing of this tale, Dracula the Un-Dead.”
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About Dracula the Un-Dead
This novel picks up the story in 1912 of all the surviving characters after the events of Bram’s Dracula, 25 years after Dracula “crumbled into dust.” Although they rid the world of “evil” decades ago, the surviving characters have never truly recovered. Jonathan and Mina Harker have their relationship strained to the breaking point. Arthur Holmwood is a bitter man, Ven Helsing is waiting for death, and the once brilliant Dr. Seward is a drug-addicted madman. When Quincey Harker, the son of Jonathan and Mina finds himself on the set of Dracula, a play being directed by Bram Stoker himself, he begins to realize that his parents and their friends have kept many terrifying secrets. As the band of heroes begins to die one by one, Quincey is thrown into the dark past of his parents and is forced to question everything he has ever trusted to be true. Who is behind these attacks? Is Dracula truly the “undead”? Or is there another, far more sinister force at work seeking ultimate revenge?

About Rotary International and District 7750
Rotary International is a worldwide organization of more than 1.2 million business, professional, and community leaders. Members of Rotary clubs, known as Rotarians, provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. There are 33,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Clubs are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races, and creeds. As signified by the motto Service Above Self, Rotary’s main objective is service — in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world. For more information, go to www.rotary.org
With all Rotary clubs divided into districts, Rotary District 7750 is made up of 54 clubs and approximately 3,100 Rotarians located across 19 western S.C. counties and a portion of Lexington County. For more information, go to www.rotary7750.org
About End Polio Now
Rotary International must raise $200 million to match a $355-million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Naming this campaign “End Polio Now,” the resulting $555 million will fund critical immunization activities in developing countries where the crippling disease still threatens children.
Rotary International, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. Worldwide, the number of polio cases has been slashed by more than 99 percent, preventing five million cases of childhood paralysis and 250,000 deaths. The disease remains endemic in just four countries -- Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan -- although other countries remain at risk for imported cases. For more information, go to http://www.rotary.org/en/EndPolio/Pages/ridefault.aspx