The Newly Revived Afterlife

By Brian Truitt

“The Everafter”
By Amy Huntley (Balzer + Bray, $16.99 hardcover)

Amy Huntley’s debut is a heartfelt coming-of-age story set after its heroine’s death. Madison Stanton understands that she’s dead but doesn’t know what happened or where she is—she’s surrounded by a vast amount of nothing. The things that light up her afterlife, though, are what help to bring her back to her former life—little aspects, objects and moments from her past that any other child might take for granted. She holds on to figure out how to navigate her next existence.

“Dracula The Un-Dead”
By Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt (Dutton, $26.95 hardcover)

During the current vampiric renaissance, who better to remake Bram Stoker’s 1897 tome “Dracula” than his great-grandnephew, South Carolina writer Dacre Stoker? Teamed with “Dracula” historian Ian Holt, this new tale is set 25 years after the original ended. Van Helsing’s protege is cutting a swath across Europe, Jonathan and Mina Harker’s son is involved with a stage production of the Stoker classic, and somebody’s taking out all the dudes who took down big Drac all those years ago.

(November 2009)