Eneh Akpan Writes

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Count Dracula: Traits and Peculiarities

Bram Stoker absorbed Central European folktales into his vampire novel which on publication became the definitive volume for every other book and film in the genre. His eponymous character, Dracula has also become the modern vampire archetype. From Stephen King's Salem's Lot to Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles to the Television's Vampire Diaries.

The film 'Dracula' portrayed by Christopher Lee is the first vampire movie I ever watched.
Courtesy: Wikipedia

The name “Dracula” is Romanian and stands for Son of the Dragon. It is the self-given name of Vlad III the Impaler, an historical figure whom it is assumed is a partial inspiration for Stoker's character. It is widely believed among scholars that Stoker, while researching for his novel, came across papers on Romanian history and folklore and was inspired to alter the name of his character which he'd formerly named, Count Wampyr.

Dracula is the most portrayed of all characters in the horror genre and is the second most adapted character in film behind Sherlock Holmes. He is so ingrained into popular culture that he has become an Halloween staple.

According to accounts in the novel, the blood-sucking Count studied the black arts and is a master of alchemy and magic. And that qualifies him as a sorcerer.

He died and was buried in his castle but as we all know, he returned as the nosferatu (undead). Dracula is immortal though not invincible. He is a centuries-old vampire with dreams of world-domination which was his underlying reason for luring Jonathan Harker, the main narrator of the novel and an English solicitor to his castle. Harker taught him a great deal about England.

Dracula, the powerful vampire, lives in a ruined castle on the Carpathian Mountains with three beautiful female vampires. Their relationship to him is unclear with suggestions ranging from lovers to sisters to victims. He is a Transylvanian nobleman, a “voivode” or Wallachian prince. He commands an air of aristocracy. Unlike most modern day vampires, Dracula walks in daylight and the sun is not fatal to him. Even though, his supernatural abilities are drastically subdued by daylight. He can only cross running water at low or high tide.

Being a powerful sorcerer, Dracula is also a shape shifter who on different occasions transforms into a wolf, a bat, and a dog. He can also dissolve into a mist. He possesses superhuman powers to control some animals like bats and rats. Yet, even in his human form, the Count could slip through a crack in the wall.

He craves rest/sleep to regenerate. He can only regain his strength by sleeping on Transylvanian soil which he keeps close to himself inside large boxes. He has hypnotic and telepathic abilities. He also controls the weather, invoking storms on “The Demeter,” the Russian ship that brought him to England and by creating a mist so his presence remains undetected.

Count Dracula Courtesy: Helgi Halldórsson/Freddi

Dracula's bite transfers his vampire genes into his prey automatically making them slaves of the vamp. When the victims die, they turn into vampires. Count Dracula's demise lifts the curse of the vampire off a living victim so that when they die a natural death, they stay dead. That’s kind of a blessing, of course. But would it not be nice to be immortal?

Stoker's vampire character can levitate and he flies when he transforms into a bat. His image is not reflected in mirrors and he can vanish at will and reappear someplace else. However, despite all these supernatural abilities, this most powerful of vampires cannot step into an abode unless invited in.

Dracula drinks blood-fresh blood.

Count Dracula shape shifts freely at night. However, he can also do it at dawn, noon, and dusk but he is restricted. In his employ, are gypsy body guards. These servants of his know his real nature, but remain fearless and loyal to him, regardless. He exercises a certain degree of influence over other vampires, even ones he didn't transform. He can retract his fangs.

The undead blood-sucking fiend is not a big fan of holy symbols like the crucifix and communion bread. Besides, he has a fierce aversion to garlic. The vamp can be destroyed through all the traditional means of killing vampires however, in the novel, he is vanquished by one character slitting his throat and another driving a Bowie knife into his heart.

What Bram Stoker did was give to the world an immortal character; a vampire we love to hate, whose very memory transcends fiction and now lodges in the darkest regions of our hearts.

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan

Friday, January 10, 2014

Still Standing.mp3 (Poetry Recital)

Click the link above.
This is a recital of a poem I did way back 2012 for a poetry challenge called NaPoWriMo. I drafted this as a personal birthday present to eh... me. My birthday usually comes around on April 16th. But you can't be sure these days, that might change in the course of time, ugh?
Happy listening, though.

Akpan

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Bond... James Bond: Thought You Knew 007? Think Again

Ian Fleming's sketch of 007 and Barry Nelson, American actor
noted as the first actor to portray James Bond

While serving in the British Naval Intelligence, Fleming once told a friend with reference to his dream of becoming a writer when he retired, “I am going to write the spy story to end all spy stories.” And that’s exactly what he did.

Since the writer invented 007 in 1953, the books and films have gone on to become the definitive spy stories for every other work in the spy genre. How much of this British spy character do you know? Let’s find out in 20 ways, shall we?

Seems I almost lost you back there, ugh? Well, at least, you can look at this on the bright side; you had a good shot at reacquainting yourself with Bond… James Bond.

Akpan

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Bestseller - Poetry Recital (Audio)

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Click the link and listen to the .mp3 file. It should open in your web browser media player.

A self-conscious poetry recital personifying a bestseller.

Have fun.

Akpan

Friday, January 3, 2014

Color of Water-Poetry Recital (Audio)

National Poetry Month Display @ Forest Hills

Coyrtesy: mySAPL

Color of Water.mp3

Click the link, it should open in the audio player embedded in your browser.

This is a recital of a piece of poetry I did about two years back. I've been meaning to do recitals of my poems then, create a separate blog and dedicate it entirely to that purpose. I'm still trying for that-a blog made up entirely of poetry recitals without a single write-up whatever.

I hope you enjoy this bit.

Akpan

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Profiling Fantasy's Terrific Triple Terrys

I thought I’d start off this year by writing an article that’s been eating me up on the inside for the best part of the previous year. It was all up on the walls of my mind the last months of 2013 like a neon sign in front of a night club. There are three writers whose first name is Terry on the top 10 bestselling fantasy series of all time, I thought I’d profile the Terryfic authors in a unique article.

The trio has managed to sell copies of their series in excess of 20 million each. The least books sold by any of the authors are about 21 million copies. They are all in the same age group born in the 40s; two of the men have wives whose first names start with J; two are American and there are several other similarities.

Terry Brooks

Terence Dean ‘Terry’ Brooks was born in January 8, 1944 in Sterling, Illinois, USA.

Brooks’ choice of genre is epic fantasy of which he has sold millions of books. He practiced law before becoming a gentleman of the page. Brooks’ kicked off his writing career in high school. He wrote in several and diverse genres until somebody offered him a copy of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. That single act decided him. Tolkien influenced the author’s choice of genre—the genre for which he’s become internationally known. Brooks now writes only in the fantasy genre

Despite Tolkien’s influence, Brooks credits Faulkner for his style of writing. In 1977, he began his most famous work—The Sword of Shannara. The series which, combines magic and primitive technology, has spanned over 20 volumes and still counting. The Sword of Shannara has sold over 21 million copies worldwide.

Brooks is quoted as saying, “I find it harder o write short stories than long fiction. Give me a 500 page sprawl as an assignment any day.”

Brooks has written 23 New York Times Bestsellers and as a bestselling fantasy book series author, he is one of the living highest selling fantasy authors.

Terry Goodkind

Goodkind was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1948.

Goodkind was once into painting, carpentry and auto racing. He still finds time to drive a race car for his own Rahl racing team. He also built cabinets and violins before turning to writing.

The prolific author started writing his first novel, Wizard’s First Rule in 1993 while constructing his home in Maine and his writing career was launched by the time he published the book the following year.

Besides, Stone of Tears and Wizard’s First Rule, every other book by Terry Goodkind was a New York Times Bestseller. Even though, he writes fantasy, Goodkind’s works focus on philosophical and human themes and are strongly influenced by the books of Ayn Rand. His first book was auctioned to a group of three publishers at a whooping sum of $275,000!

One critic described Goodkind as part of a “host of brand new writers (with) no previous experience writing fiction but who could turn out one large epic adventure after another.”

The author’s popular series The Sword of Shannara has sold over 25 million copies across the globe making it one of the bestselling fantasy book series of all time.

Terry Pratchett

Sir, Terence David John ‘Terry’ Pratchett (OBE) was born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England on 28 April, 1948.

Terry Pratchett writes comic fantasy; his most notable work is Discworld which apparently, has sold over 70 million copies and therefore qualifies as one of the top 10 bestselling fantasy book series.

From the time he published The Colour of Magic in 1983, Pratchett has churned out an average of two books a year.

Pratchett is the UK’s second most read writer. The famous author had dreams of becoming an astronomer but lacked the mathematical skills required for the trade.

The young Pratchett read H.G Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle and “every book you ought to read.”

He published his first story at age 15. It was during his interview with Peter Bander Van Duren, co-Boss of a small publishing outfit that Pratchett let slip about his then manuscript, The Carpet People. It landed him a publishing deal.

Pratchett resigned his job at the electric firm where he worked after he wrote his fourth Discworld novel and took up writing as a full time job.

Three Terrys doing their thing; strung up on their craft while churning out bestsellers at will you wonder, could being a writer be more fulfilling than this? But who wants more when you can settle for an accomplished less?

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

2013: On One Canvas

Come April, I’d have been writing for the internet for five years. December would mark my fifth year running this blog you’re reading. I’ve had times I wanted to cut and run but I’m still here, though. And after all has been said and done that’s what really counts for anything.

At the beginning of 2013, I typed my three primary goals for that year on a sticky note pad and pasted it on the desktop of my computer where it would be readily available for daily review. Writing 30 poems in 30 days—NaPoWriMo—the first of the trio was simple enough; it was my pet genre. The second one up was a challenge I invented way back 2012—IntShoWriMo—to keep my story writing tools oiled and sharpened. I’d done a lot by way of raising awareness on social media but that didn’t make writing 30 short stories in 30 days a walkover. Although come the month of June, I churned out a word count of over 49,000 words.

I’ve had NaNoWriMo in my sights the past three years. It appears 2013 was my year. Cause by the time November blew out the back door, I had a 52,000 word manuscript smack down on my desk. Ain’t that a treat? 2013 apparently, was cut out to be a year to remember.

For 2014, these three are still my primary objectives for the year plus I gatto get my rough drafts polished up and sent out for publication.

Well folks, that’s 2013 on one canvas. And there’s the canvas at the top of this post. It’s a succinct interpretation of my luxuriant writing the past year in a frame.

Have a happy New Year and an intellectually productive 2014!

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan